Seeing that Imogen was protective of Dylan, Kade did not say anything else. The three of them chatted while eating, but it was mainly Kade and Imogen talking. Dylan rarely spoke. Only Imogen would talk to him from time to time. At that moment, Imogen’s phone rang.Looking at the caller ID, she told Kade, “It’s Maria. She must be calling to ask if you’ve arrived.”Kade’s smile faded. “I already posted on my Story once I landed. She must’ve known I’ve already arrived safely.”Imogen glared at him. She decided not to scold him and answered the call first.“I just picked Kade up, Maria. He arrived safely.”Imogen immediately told Maria not to worry as she had picked Kade up.“Oh. I wasn’t going to ask about him though. I just thought of talking to you since you’re free this weekend.”Maria denied that she was concerned about Kade. She had seen Kade’s Story on Instagram. She did not comment or like the post, but simply swiped upon seeing that he had arrived safely. Howev
Once Maria hung up, Imogen glared at Kade.With an innocent look, Kade asked her obliviously, “Why are you glaring at me like that, Jen? Did I do something wrong?”“You didn’t do anything wrong. I just know now why Maria’s lost hope and said stuff like she’s entrusting you to me. You couldn’t even call or text her? You seriously only posted on your Story? If she had muted your Story, she wouldn’t have seen anything.”Kade replied without thinking, “She probably wouldn’t have muted my Story, would she? If she did…”He was suddenly at a loss for words.Listening to their conversation, Dylan was sure that Kade was an indecisive man when it came to his feelings. A man like that was probably not a very big threat to him.Still, he did not dare be careless and would continue viewing Kade as his rival in love, staying on guard against him.Imogen took up the thread of conversation and replied to Kade, “If Maria had muted your Story, that would mean she’s on the verge of blocking you an
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
Once Maria hung up, Imogen glared at Kade.With an innocent look, Kade asked her obliviously, “Why are you glaring at me like that, Jen? Did I do something wrong?”“You didn’t do anything wrong. I just know now why Maria’s lost hope and said stuff like she’s entrusting you to me. You couldn’t even call or text her? You seriously only posted on your Story? If she had muted your Story, she wouldn’t have seen anything.”Kade replied without thinking, “She probably wouldn’t have muted my Story, would she? If she did…”He was suddenly at a loss for words.Listening to their conversation, Dylan was sure that Kade was an indecisive man when it came to his feelings. A man like that was probably not a very big threat to him.Still, he did not dare be careless and would continue viewing Kade as his rival in love, staying on guard against him.Imogen took up the thread of conversation and replied to Kade, “If Maria had muted your Story, that would mean she’s on the verge of blocking you an
Seeing that Imogen was protective of Dylan, Kade did not say anything else. The three of them chatted while eating, but it was mainly Kade and Imogen talking. Dylan rarely spoke. Only Imogen would talk to him from time to time. At that moment, Imogen’s phone rang.Looking at the caller ID, she told Kade, “It’s Maria. She must be calling to ask if you’ve arrived.”Kade’s smile faded. “I already posted on my Story once I landed. She must’ve known I’ve already arrived safely.”Imogen glared at him. She decided not to scold him and answered the call first.“I just picked Kade up, Maria. He arrived safely.”Imogen immediately told Maria not to worry as she had picked Kade up.“Oh. I wasn’t going to ask about him though. I just thought of talking to you since you’re free this weekend.”Maria denied that she was concerned about Kade. She had seen Kade’s Story on Instagram. She did not comment or like the post, but simply swiped upon seeing that he had arrived safely. Howev
Kade patted Imogen’s head again. “Thanks, Jen, but no one can help with relationship problems.”He had patted her twice. Whenever Dylan saw that intimate action, he desperately wanted to chop Kade’s hand off and feed it to the dogs.Dylan had not even touched Imogen’s head before. He had only held her hand. They had held hands many times and were near each other when she was Chameleon Fox, but they never did anything beyond that. Although Dylan was jealous, he did not rush forward to push Kade away. Kade’s and Imogen’s mothers were best friends who had known each other for a long time. Dylan was at a disadvantage, so he would not do anything rashly. Not only did he not push Kade away, he simply walked behind them quietly with Kade’s luggage in tow. He did not butt in their conversation either. Imogen brought the men to a restaurant. They sat down. Dylan placed Kade’s luggage beside him. He wanted Kade to look after his own luggage. The three of them ordered a se
She loved Dylan, not Kade. “You, Maria, and I are best friends. In my heart, you two will always be my older brother and sister.”Imogen emphasized the words “older brother and sister.”She truly viewed them as siblings. She had never had a crush on Kade, nor would she have feelings for him in the future. Their families were only thinking about their own benefits. However, her parents knew the man she truly loved was Dylan. The York family was better than the Butchers and more suited for her.To be honest, if Imogen and Kade were to be together, she would be used by the Butchers. The Doyles would also have to aid the Butchers financially. If she were with Dylan, she would not have to worry about being used or giving away money. York Corporation was slightly superior to Davidson Group. Even Leticia wanted Dylan as her son-in-law. Kade understood Imogen’s words. She did not want to follow her family’s arrangements. She liked another man, and that man was more capable
“It’s lunchtime, Kade. Let’s find a restaurant and have some food.“It’ll take an hour or two to return to the city center, and there’s also the weekend traffic. If we head back without eating, you might get very hungry.”Imogen was already hungry. Kade smiled. “Okay. Let’s go with that.”Imogen led the way. Kade pushed his luggage to Dylan and said, “Please help me with my luggage, Dylan.”Without giving Dylan a chance to refuse, Kade quickly went after Imogen with a small bag, probably a laptop bag.Dylan had the urge to kick the luggage away. However, he held it in to maintain a good image before Imogen.Imogen’s attitude toward Kade was likened to that between siblings and friends. There were no romantic feelings involved as her gaze was too calm. It made Dylan feel reassured. Although Kade and Imogen looked intimate, Dylan could sense their intimacy was due to them reuniting after a long time. After Kade caught up to Imogen, she turned back and saw Dylan pulling
Kade did not know if what he felt for Maria was love or friendship. There were two reasons behind his return to Huntington—his career and the time for himself to analyze his feelings. He had been friends with Maria for over two decades. They had a close relationship. In the past, when their families had similar social status, they wished Kade and Maria could get married. However, Kade and Maria seemed to be just friends and had no romantic feelings for each other. He had never even confessed to Maria. As Maria’s family business declined and they went bankrupt, the Butcher family’s attitude changed. They no longer allowed Kade and Maria to hang out because they were worried about Maria’s family dragging them down. Kade had helped the Sprearings a lot in private. Despite having a successful career, Kade was poor. Maria’s father had borrowed all of Kade’s money to salvage his company. If the company made a profit on the borrowed money, Kade could get his money back. The
“Okay.”Kade said gently, “I’ll hang up and send you my location. We can talk when we meet.”Soon, Kade ended the call and sent Imogen his location. It took Imogen and Dylan about ten minutes to find him. “Kade.”Imogen was happy when she saw him. She ran toward him elatedly.Dylan saw a man about his age or a few years older than him. The man looked handsome and gentlemanly. He wore a gray suit without a tie, which made him look like a successful person. From Imogen, Dylan knew his love rival was a senior executive of a multinational company. He was competent since he was assigned to return and handle the business in the country. Kade’s mother and Leticia were best friends. Kade was also Leticia’s godson. Imogen had known him since he was young, and the parents of the two families intended to bring their kids together. Upon seeing Kade in the flesh, Dylan felt threatened. If he wanted to win, he had to put effort into pursuing Imogen. If Imogen loved him and was will
“You can decide what we have for dinner, Mom. I don’t have any opinions.”Some of the Doyles were busy during the weekends, while others would take a rest. Either way, they still had time to have dinner together. After ending the call with her mother, Imogen told Dylan, “When we meet Kade at the airport, we can have lunch there first. We’ll only eat with my family during dinner.”Dylan had heard Leticia’s words through the phone. He said, “Will Mr. Butcher be staying with your family?”Dylan found it normal for them to have dinner together. After all, that Kade guy was his future mother-in-law’s godson. Since he was finally back in the country, it was customary for Leticia to invite him over for a meal. However, Dylan could not help but feel jealous about Kade staying at the Doyles’ mansion. When he could not even enter their mansion most of the time, Kade could immediately move in. If Kade got closer to the Doyles, he would be a more significant threat to Dylan. Imogen
“We can head there in my car.”Dylan was delighted that Imogen allowed him to go to the airport with her. “Any car is fine.”Imogen led him out of the house. Dylan quickly followed after her and opened the car door for her. He even hovered his hand above her head to prevent her from hitting the roof of the car.“You’re so attentive.”Imogen complimented him as she fastened her seatbelt in the car. “I’ll only be gentlemanly to you aside from my family members.”Imogen glanced at him but did not say a word. A few minutes later, Dylan drove out of the Doyle residence with Imogen in his car.Not long after they left, Leticia went downstairs.She noticed the gifts on the table but did not see Imogen anywhere. Thinking he had kidnapped her daughter, she quickly called Wendy over and asked, “Did Jen head out?”“Yes. Ms. Imogen had gone out with Mr. Dylan. She said they were heading to the airport to receive someone.”Wendy had overheard Imogen and Dylan’s conversation, so she