“Josh was very mischievous when he was young. I’d never think he could be that naughty until I heard my mother-in-law telling me stories from his younger days.”Jasmine had always been under the impression that Josh was gentlemanly and more approachable than Zachary.After their marriage, he treated her well and doted on her a lot.Jasmine did not have to worry about a thing because she could always turn to Josh for help.However, such a man used to be a troublemaker when he was younger. He would climb every wall he saw and give his parents terrible headaches.“Nana brought her daughters-in-law out to gallivant,” Serenity said as she stared at her phone.She just saw Grandma May’s post on Instagram. It was a video of her with Rosella and Sasha. “Nana didn’t even tell me that she was heading out,” Serenity muttered and caressed her bump. She sighed. “I can only travel after this baby is born. Zachary and I haven’t even gone on our honeymoon. He’ll make it up to me after I give
Wiltspoon’s hot weather in October was a killer. Still, the mornings and evenings were eased by the late autumn breeze. Serenity Hunt got up first thing in the morning to make breakfast for her sister’s family of three. She then grabbed her birth certificate and slipped away in the silence. “We’re going Dutch from now on, and I’m talking about everything—the living expenses, the mortgage, and auto loans! Your sister should be splitting the cost since she’s staying at our place. Sure, she pays two thousand bucks a month, but it doesn’t stretch very far. She’s basically mooching off us.” Serenity overheard her brother-in-law’s comment during the couple’s argument last night. She had to move out of her sister’s place. However, there was only one way to put her sister’s mind to rest, and that was to get married. Since Serenity wanted to tie the knot on short notice without ever having had a boyfriend, she decided to take up on Grandma May’s offer. Serenity had saved the old lad
“I won’t back out on a promise.” It took Serenity a few days to consider before reaching a decision. Now that she had made up her mind, she was not going to go back on her word. There was nothing more Zachary could say at that point. He took out his document and placed it in front of the officer. Serenity did the same. The pair swiftly went through the formalities in less than ten minutes. Once the officer issued the marriage license, Zachary fished out a bunch of keys from his pocket and gave them to Serenity. He said, “The house I bought is in Brynfield. Nana told me that you own a bookshop near Wiltspoon School. My place isn’t too far from your workplace. It’ll take around ten minutes by bus.“Do you have a driver’s license? If you do, you can get a car. I can help with the down payment while you will be responsible for the monthly payment. It’ll be easier for you to commute to work.“I can get very busy at work, so you won’t see me much. There will be business trips too
“I will, Nana,” Serenity casually responded. Although Grandma May was nice to her, Zachary was her blood relative while Serenity was only related to the family by marriage. Serenity found it hard to believe that the Yorks would stand by Serenity during a conflict between her and Zachary.Such was the case with her sister’s parents-in-law. Before marriage, the in-laws were nothing but good to Liberty to the point their birth daughter was jealous. It was a different story after the wedding. Every time Liberty got into a disagreement with her husband, Hank, her mother-in-law would get on Liberty’s case about being a bad wife. In short, the son was always family while the daughter-in-law remained as an outsider. “You must be heading to work, so I should get out of your hair. I’ll get Zack to get you home for dinner tonight.” “Nana, I’m closing the shop pretty late at night. I probably won’t be able to make it. Can we reschedule for the weekend?” The school was off on weekend
“You said it yourself, Liberty. It’s his prenuptial property. It doesn’t make sense to add my name to the title deed since I didn’t pay a penny for the house. I think we should forget about it.” Zachary did Serenity a huge favor by handing her the keys to the house the moment they got married. She could move in right away, solving her housing predicament. Serenity was not going to request that of Zachary. Of course, she would not refuse if Zachary added her name on his own accord. Now that they were husband and wife, Serenity made up her mind to spend the rest of her life with him. It was just a passing mention by Liberty, but knowing her sister who was self-reliant and not driven by greed, Liberty did not dwell on the matter. After a series of interrogations, Serenity successfully moved out of her sister’s place. Liberty wanted to drop her off at Brynfield, but Sonny happened to wake up. The little guy was crying for his mama the moment he opened his eyes. “You should atte
With his game face on, Zachary said, “Back to the meeting.” Sitting nearest to Zachary was his cousin, Callum. Among the cousins within the same age range as Zachary, Callum ranked second.Callum drew close and whispered, “Zack, I overheard your conversation with Nana. Did you really marry that Ser- girl?”Zachary shot him a glare. Scratching his nose, Callum straightened his back and ended the probing. Even so, Callum had nothing but sympathy for Zachary. There was no need for the York boys to secure social and financial standing through marriage, but Zack and his new bride were not a match in every single way. Poor Zack. He merely married the girl because Nana took a liking to her. Once again, Callum offered Zachary his deepest sympathy through his thoughts. Thank goodness Callum was not the oldest in the family. Otherwise, he would have to step up to the plate and marry Nana’s lifesaver. Unaware of all that, Serenity got the location details and was busy dragging her
Serenity said with a smile, “What do I need your cousin for? He has a girlfriend. It’s too late now because the papers are signed! Keep it between us and don’t let my sister know. I don’t want her to be sad.” Jasmine was speechless.Her best friend sure pulled one heck of a move. “There are all those Lifetime movies and romance novels about blindly marrying a multi-billionaire. Maybe that’s the case with you too, Seren.” Smacking her best friend in the head, Serenity remarked with a grin, “I bet you read all the chick lit in the shop. Dream on about marrying a billionaire at first sight. Do you think the place is crawling with billionaires?” Jasmine rubbed on the bump and sighed as Serenity had a point. Jasmine then asked, “Where’s your husband’s place?” “Brynfield.” “Not bad. It’s a good neighborhood and easily accessible. Plus, it’s not far from our shop. Where does your husband work? He must earn a lot of money since he bought a house in Wiltspoon and in an expensive ne
Zachary got into the Rolls-Royce and instructed in a husky voice, “Don’t forget to bring around the national car I bought.” It was a façade to fool his wife. What was his wife called again? “Oh, right. What’s the name of the missus again?” Zachary could not be bothered to dig out the marriage license. Oh, it was likely Nana did not return it to him after he showed her. Anyhow, the marriage license was not with him. The bodyguard replied, “… The young missus is Serenity Hunt. She’s twenty-five this year. You might want to remember that.” Mr. Zachary had an exceptional memory, but when it came to people who he was not fond of, he jammed them out. This was especially true with women. He probably would not know the lady’s name even if they met every day. “Sure. Got it.” Zachary responded offhandedly. Judging by Zachary’s tone, the bodyguard knew he would not be bothered to learn the young missus’ name. Refusing to waste more brain cells on Serenity, Zachary slumped agai
“Josh was very mischievous when he was young. I’d never think he could be that naughty until I heard my mother-in-law telling me stories from his younger days.”Jasmine had always been under the impression that Josh was gentlemanly and more approachable than Zachary.After their marriage, he treated her well and doted on her a lot.Jasmine did not have to worry about a thing because she could always turn to Josh for help.However, such a man used to be a troublemaker when he was younger. He would climb every wall he saw and give his parents terrible headaches.“Nana brought her daughters-in-law out to gallivant,” Serenity said as she stared at her phone.She just saw Grandma May’s post on Instagram. It was a video of her with Rosella and Sasha. “Nana didn’t even tell me that she was heading out,” Serenity muttered and caressed her bump. She sighed. “I can only travel after this baby is born. Zachary and I haven’t even gone on our honeymoon. He’ll make it up to me after I give
Meanwhile, Serenity, Elisa, and Jasmine were in the office of their fresh produce company.However, the only person working was Elisa.The two pregnant women were simply there to watch her and pass the time.“Has Dylan’s livestream of him eating chili peppers ended?”Jasmine had just returned from the bathroom. She got curious when she saw her two friends no longer watching their phones.“It ended long ago. Imogen stopped him before it even got to fifteen minutes. She got soft-hearted too quickly.”Serenity was eating a plate of fruits. She said, “The person who falls in love first will always give in quickly.”“Dylan can’t eat spicy food. Eating chili peppers for more than ten minutes is enough. He might really die from the heat if he continues.”Elisa smiled and said, “Well, it’s not as if Dylan isn’t in love too. At least he was willing to eat hot chili peppers for Imogen. He even ate them for over ten minutes. From the livestream, it seemed like the chili peppers Layla had
Grandma May had the next two months all planned out.She would gallivant to other places for two months.Half a month after her return, she would become a great-grandmother. Rosella had no opinions. She would simply follow her mother-in-law’s plans.She left and returned to her place to pack her luggage. However, she met Sasha on the way back. When Sasha asked what she was up to, she told Sasha about the plan. Sasha ended up wanting to tag along.Just as Grandma May was ready to leave with Rosella and Sasha, Tania returned home. Upon seeing her mother-in-law taking her two sisters-in-law to roam, Tania held Grandma May’s hand and insisted on going with them.Grandma May was speechless. She glanced at Rosella, who smiled sheepishly.Ultimately, Grandma May and her three daughters-in-law left Wildridge Manor together.When her sons returned home and realized their wives had been “kidnapped” by their mother, they were utterly dumbfounded.Liam immediately called Zachary and co
“Yeah. I thought of that old man. He left me alone in this world so soon.”Grandma May wiped her tears. “I’ll stop thinking about him. I’m more fortunate than him to be able to see my grandsons get married. If I am luckier, I might even live to see Rowan married too.“However, I want nothing more than to have a great-granddaughter before I die. My husband’s biggest regret before he passed away was not having a daughter or granddaughter.”Rosella consoled her. She said, “You’ll definitely be able to live a long life, Mom. You’ll live till you’re a hundred and twenty years old, see Rowan get married, and carry your great-granddaughter. You have nine grandsons and granddaughters-in-law. Surely one of the pairs will be able to give birth to a daughter.”Actually, Rosella was not too confident about it.After all, the York family had not had a baby girl born into their family for three generations. While there were a few daughters before that, they all passed away at a very young age.
Grandma May was truly the anchor of the York family.Nine of her grandsons were nurtured into talented young men who could hold their own. Even if York Corporation was gone, they could start anew and rise again with their capabilities.Of course, with such capable grandsons, York Corporation would only reach greater heights. It would never fall.Grandma May did not have other wishes aside from hoping she could live to see a daughter being born into the York family and Rowan growing up into an adult.After completing her late husband’s wishes, she could meet him in the afterlife without regrets.Grandma May recalled her marriage with Old Mr. York. She had accompanied him to build an empire when they were young, and they educated their grandchildren after they retired. She thought they could grow old together. Well, they did grow old together, but he passed away before she did.Time flew, and a few years have passed since then.When Old Mr. York passed away, none of the York bro
Imogen knew many powerful people.She had great connections.Upon learning that Dylan had told Grandma May that he could not fall in love with Imogen last year, Rosella complained to her husband that it was Dylan’s loss. How could he give up on an elite daughter and choose a fox instead?Moreover, he still did not know that woman’s name or background even after pursuing her for over half a year.His brothers also refused to help him to obtain any information.Clearly, they wanted Dylan to have a hard time. His elder and younger brothers had listened to their nana. He was the only one who went against her arrangements. It was no surprise that the York brothers did not want to help Dylan.It was only in the new year that Rosella found out Imogen was the Chameleon Fox that Dylan had been pursuing all along and she was also Silver’s student, Sugar.Imogen had even been to Wildridge Manor several times as Sugar. At that time, Rosella could sense that Grandma May was playing matchma
Immediately, someone brought a large cup of water for Dylan. Imogen took the cup and handed it to him, urging him to drink. Dylan accepted the cup and drank it all in one go, which eased the spiciness in his mouth a little. “Imogen, your cousin said I need to finish these peppers, but I haven’t even eaten half yet.” Dylan looked at the basket of peppers and saw that he had not eaten even half of them. He had never eaten this much spice in his life. Right now, his throat felt like it was on fire, and his voice was hoarse. The intense heat was affecting him badly.If this had happened in Wiltspoon where the climate was warmer, after eating so many peppers, his throat would have been terribly inflamed, and he probably would have an upset stomach and a serious case of indigestion. Then, he would be stuck in the toilet for half a day.However, since it was cold in Huntington, eating a little chili every day was not a problem, though not as much as Dylan had just eaten. His stomach
“Did you need me for something, Layla?” Imogen, despite being in a rush to stop Dylan from continuing to eat the chili peppers, asked Layla.“Of course, I came to talk to you about work,” Layla replied.“But the discussion might take a while. Are you going to discuss work with me first, or go downstairs to stop Dylan from eating more peppers first?”Imogen hesitated for a moment but decided to stop Dylan first. Layla guessed that her cousin would choose Dylan and sighed inwardly. Imogen was already wrapped around Dylan's finger. However, Dylan had not entirely escaped Imogen’s influence either. Though he had not fallen in love with Imogen herself, he had fallen for her alter ego, who was still her cousin in the end.Fortunately, the woman Dylan loved was her cousin's alias. If he had chosen another woman, Layla would never have allowed her cousin to take him back. The Doyle ladies did not settle for second place.“Layla, give me about ten minutes.”“Alright, I’ll wait for you
It was already so spicy, there was no way it could get worse. Thus, following his family's advice, he began grabbing huge handfuls of chili peppers and stuffed them into his mouth. The heat made his eyes water, and it felt like his mouth was swelling from the spice. Imogen also saw the comments and watched as Dylan continued to eat the peppers in large mouthfuls. She turned off the livestream, not wanting to keep watching. However, her heart was in such a mess that she could not focus on her work. A few minutes later, she tossed her pen aside, pushed her chair away from the table as she stood up, and walked out quickly. She ran into Layla as soon as she left the office.“Layla,” Imogen called out. “You heading out?” To be honest, Layla knew the answer without asking. “He’s eaten quite a lot of chili peppers already. He doesn’t usually eat spicy food. And eating so much at once will harm his stomach.” Imogen still felt sorry for Dylan. Layla smiled, “If you're worried