Austin was extremely patient with the boys. Although they occasionally caused trouble, most of them were minor issues. They would never do something they were not allowed to do.After breakfast, Austin brought them their bags. With a boy in each hand, he left the house. It was to prevent the boys from saying he was playing favorites. Dominic was used to that scene. Initially, Austin was simply Ms. Isabellaâs private chef. However, he gradually took on more responsibilities.He would take the two young masters to school. If he had time in the evening, he would also fetch them from school. Austin also made sure Louis and Phillip did their homework, supervised their hobby classes, and played with them. Sometimes, he would even teach them martial arts and train with them. Dominic felt Austin was an all-rounder. It seemed like there was nothing Austin could not do. No wonder Ms. Isabella thought highly of Austin. However, Austin was a young master of a wealthy family. He w
Wiltspoonâs 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 sisterâs family of three. She then grabbed her birth certificate and slipped away in the silence. âWeâre going Dutch from now on, and Iâm talking about everythingâthe living expenses, the mortgage, and auto loans! Your sister should be splitting the cost since sheâs staying at our place. Sure, she pays two thousand bucks a month, but it doesnât stretch very far. Sheâs basically mooching off us.â Serenity overheard her brother-in-lawâs comment during the coupleâs argument last night. She had to move out of her sisterâs place. However, there was only one way to put her sisterâs 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 Mayâs offer. Serenity had saved the old lad
âI wonât back out on a promise.â 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, âThe house I bought is in Brynfield. Nana told me that you own a bookshop near Wiltspoon School. My place isnât too far from your workplace. Itâll take around ten minutes by bus.âDo you have a driverâs 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. Itâll be easier for you to commute to work.âI can get very busy at work, so you wonât see me much. There will be business trips too
âI will, Nana,â 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 sisterâs 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 Libertyâs case about being a bad wife. In short, the son was always family while the daughter-in-law remained as an outsider. âYou must be heading to work, so I should get out of your hair. Iâll get Zack to get you home for dinner tonight.â âNana, Iâm closing the shop pretty late at night. I probably wonât be able to make it. Can we reschedule for the weekend?â The school was off on weekend
âYou said it yourself, Liberty. Itâs his prenuptial property. It doesnât make sense to add my name to the title deed since I didnât pay a penny for the house. I think we should forget about it.â 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 sisterâs 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. âYou should atte
With his game face on, Zachary said, âBack to the meeting.â 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, âZack, I overheard your conversation with Nana. Did you really marry that Ser- girl?âZachary 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 Nanaâs lifesaver. Unaware of all that, Serenity got the location details and was busy dragging her
Serenity said with a smile, âWhat do I need your cousin for? He has a girlfriend. Itâs too late now because the papers are signed! Keep it between us and donât let my sister know. I donât want her to be sad.â Jasmine was speechless.Her best friend sure pulled one heck of a move. âThere are all those Lifetime movies and romance novels about blindly marrying a multi-billionaire. Maybe thatâs the case with you too, Seren.â Smacking her best friend in the head, Serenity remarked with a grin, âI 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?â Jasmine rubbed on the bump and sighed as Serenity had a point. Jasmine then asked, âWhereâs your husbandâs place?â âBrynfield.â âNot bad. Itâs a good neighborhood and easily accessible. Plus, itâs 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, âDonât forget to bring around the national car I bought.â It was a façade to fool his wife. What was his wife called again? âOh, right. Whatâs the name of the missus again?â 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, ââĶ The young missus is Serenity Hunt. Sheâs twenty-five this year. You might want to remember that.â 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 ladyâs name even if they met every day. âSure. Got it.â Zachary responded offhandedly. Judging by Zacharyâs tone, the bodyguard knew he would not be bothered to learn the young missusâ name. Refusing to waste more brain cells on Serenity, Zachary slumped agai
Austin was extremely patient with the boys. Although they occasionally caused trouble, most of them were minor issues. They would never do something they were not allowed to do.After breakfast, Austin brought them their bags. With a boy in each hand, he left the house. It was to prevent the boys from saying he was playing favorites. Dominic was used to that scene. Initially, Austin was simply Ms. Isabellaâs private chef. However, he gradually took on more responsibilities.He would take the two young masters to school. If he had time in the evening, he would also fetch them from school. Austin also made sure Louis and Phillip did their homework, supervised their hobby classes, and played with them. Sometimes, he would even teach them martial arts and train with them. Dominic felt Austin was an all-rounder. It seemed like there was nothing Austin could not do. No wonder Ms. Isabella thought highly of Austin. However, Austin was a young master of a wealthy family. He w
Louis and Phillip were downstairs having the breakfast Austin had prepared for them. The food was different every morning, and everything was delicious.Having gotten used to Austinâs cooking, Louis and Phillip could no longer stand the food provided in the school. They thought the food there was terrible. Louis was enrolled in an elementary school not far from home. As he was a first grader, he did not need to stay in the dormitories and could have his lunch and dinner at home. Phillip, who was a year younger than him, was still in preschool. He would have breakfast and dinner at home. Actually, the preschool did provide breakfast, but Phillip refused to eat in school and insisted on having breakfast at home. In order to eat the breakfast Austin made, he would get up early in the morning without the adults waking him. After putting on his clothes and washing up, he would head to Louisâs place with his bag. âAustin.âLouis suddenly asked, âDid my sister come back last n
Isabella had always thought Tati was teasing her. Therefore, she did not take her words seriously. She thought it was completely normal for Austin to treat her well as she was his boss. From Austinâs perspective, she was his source of income. Now that Isabella pondered about it deeper, she realized perhaps Austin did come to Satbury for her. It was not just to be her chef. He always said Grandma May only gave the York lads a year to pursue their fiancÃĐes. However, Austin had never left since he started working for Isabella. Even if he did, it was to accompany her on business trips. He was busy feeding and taking care of her every day and had never gone to pursue his so-called fiancÃĐe. He did not even try to gather information on her. Was he not anxious?A year would go by pretty quickly. Although it felt like it had not been long since Austin started working for Isabella, three months had passed. Time really flew. Three months had gone by in the blink of an eye. Neve
When Austin reached the door, he stopped and turned to say, âMs. Isabella, I only care about my future wife. Other young women are simply strangers to me.âIâm polite to other women when I need to be. If theyâre unimportant, Iâll ignore them. Even if that woman is my boss, I wonât cross any lines. If I do, there must be a reason behind it.âGet some rest, Ms. Isabella. You might have a headache when you wake up tomorrow. Iâll prepare a warm honey drink for you in the morning.âAfter speaking, Austin left. Isabella turned to look at where he last stood. What did his words mean?He said he only cared about his future wife.Aside from this lady, he would not step out of line with any other young woman, even if she were his boss. What did he mean by crossing lines?Was it showing concern? Did he mean that if his boss was a young woman but not his fiancÃĐe, he would simply do what was required of him without any personal feelings involved? Was that what he meant?If so, was
Isabella was cold sometimes, but that was not her true personality. She was a reasonable person. Austin was not worried that he would be mistreated as a live-in son-in-law. âMs. Isabella.âIsabella looked toward him and waited for him to speak. He asked, âThis may be abrupt, but may I ask what your ideal type is?âIsabella was stunned. Why did the question come to her? What was the type of man she liked?âSomeone like Austin,â she thought. After a moment of silence, she said, âI like men who are capable, responsible, and have correct values. Even if his family isnât as financially well-off as mine, I donât mind so long as heâs honest, competent, and sincere about his feelings for me.âOf course, itâll be great if we have the same social status. That way, weâll have similar perspectives and more common topics. If we get married, weâll be joining forces instead of it being a one-way financial aid.ââAlthough you can accept someone who isnât from a similar family backgrou
After a moment of silence, Isabella said, âItâs okay. I know I was forcing it.âThere was no point in asking Austin if he did not want to reveal anything. If he wanted to tell her, he would do so without her asking. However, her curiosity spiked with his silence. She was eager to know who his fiancÃĐe was. He was already so protective of his fiancÃĐe even though he had not met her before. It made Isabella jealous. It was her first time feeling that kind of emotion throughout her life. Although it was not a strong feeling, she still felt it. âYou werenât forcing me to tell you. You were simply curious. Most people have a curious side. Itâs only natural for you to be inquisitive as well.âAustin said gently, âItâs not just you. Those who knew that my nana had chosen fiancÃĐes for my brothers and me were also curious about who the ladies were.âTo be honest, we didnât even know Nana had been choosing fiancÃĐes for us since a few years ago until she handed their pictures to us
âYou can drink it now. Itâll turn cold if left aside for longer.âIsabella took the ginger ale and drank it with elegance. She put it down after drinking half of it. âIâm drunk, but only slightly. I can walk, and my brain is still alert. I know what Iâm doing and saying.âIâve had enough ginger ale.âShe did not want to consume too much liquid late at night. âWhich family is your fiancÃĐe from, Austin? Where is she? Do you mind telling me?âIsabella was insistent on getting answers. Austin had never told her when she had asked him about it before. He kept saying he would focus on working and that he was not in a rush to get married. After all, he was only in his twenties; Zachary only got married at thirty years old. If he was unsuccessful in wooing his fiancÃĐe that year, he did not mind waiting for a few more years. Isabella suddenly felt jealous of Austinâs fiancÃĐe, having had his heart without even doing anything. She wondered what Austinâs fiancÃĐe had done to cat
Austin stared into Isabellaâs eyes. He could detect some feelings in her gaze, but it was not obvious enough. What she felt for him was still mostly admiration. It was not the right time for him to confess yet. He would continue to wait. âYouâre the best and most outstanding lady in my heart, Ms. Isabella. I admire you more.âAustin added gently, âYou give off a strict and cold aura sometimes, but youâre always a nice person in my eyes.âIsabella had treated him well ever since he became her private chef. It only got better after she discovered he was a young master of the Yorks. Austin believed her when she said she viewed him as a friend because her actions reflected it as well. However, he was not content with being just friends. He wanted to be her husband. He wanted her to trust him and love him forever. He would also reciprocate her feelings and trust. Isabella smiled. âEven my parents are scared and avoid me when Iâm in a serious mode. Louis and Phillip w
Austin responded, âDonât worry, Ms. Edith. Iâll take good care of Ms. Isabella.âEdith had come in a hurry and left just as quickly. The hidden meaning in her cousinâs words was not lost on Isabella, but she did not comment on it.She allowed Austin to accompany her into the house. The lights were still on inside, but the first floor was empty. Everyone else had already gone to bed.Since Isabella had not returned yet, the housekeeper had left the lights on for her.The house was warm, so once inside, Isabella took off Austinâs coat and handed it back to him.Austin accepted the coat and followed her to the sofa. After she had sat down, he asked gently, âMs. Isabella, would you like some ginger ale for a hangover remedy?âIsabella rubbed her temples and said, âYes, please. I donât want to wake up with a splitting headache tomorrow.âAustin immediately went to prepare it for her.Isabella leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes to rest. After some time, she heard Austinâs