Sighing inwardly, Zachary lay down next to Serenity. Even if he were to take her, it should not be in such circumstances. Serenity had to be at least willing and conscious. Otherwise, everything would be a blur to her, and she would not know who she got in bed with. Serenity slept like a log despite the change of environment, but Zachary was a different story. He had never shared a bed with anyone before, let alone a gorgeous and hot young woman. This woman happened to be his legal wife too. He was a fish out of water. Amid deep slumber, Serenity even curled up against him like he was a heater. Feeling frustrated, Zachary reached out to unbutton her pajamas, but he gave up after the first button. He looked at the sleeping beauty before leaning over for a kiss on her lips. In the end, he defeatedly let her snuggle up against him while meditating in his mind, ‘I am in control of my body. I can do without!’ Once he got the green light from her, Zachary was not going to h
Rain poured the whole night and only stopped at first blush. Serenity woke up at her usual time. Opening her eyes, she had a full front view of Zachary’s handsome face. Serenity was caught in a daze until last night’s events entered her mind. She sat up and tried to tiptoe her way out of there. After much thought, she looked back and stared at Zachary before nudging him. Zachary was lost in dreamland, but it made sense since he survived yesterday by drinking coffee. He took off work today anyway, so he should sleep in. Although Serenity did not want to disturb Zachary, what she was doing was harassment. With his aesthetically pleasing face right in front of her, Serenity could not help but steal a few kisses. She murmured to herself, “You have a better-looking face than mine. I would’ve gotten it on with you if you didn’t always have a long poker face. I’ve got to toughen myself before I can canoodle with you.” It took a few smooches before Serenity remembered the matter at
By the time Zachary woke up, Serenity was gone. Looking rather upset, he mumbled to himself, “You slipped away and didn’t even wait for me to wake up after sleeping with me.” Serenity would be telling Zachary to watch his mouth if she was here. Sure, she slept with him but only in the same bed minus the hanky-panky. Zachary would be rendered speechless. He walked out of his room to find the three ladies missing. Only the pets were around. Needless to say, the women must be getting groceries at the market. Zachary sat down on the swing on the balcony. He relived the beautiful moment of sharing a bed with his wife. In short, Zachary was not used to it, but he did look forward to doing it again. It did not take long before Serenity and the other ladies returned. Apart from groceries, Serenity also bought bed linens. Since the furniture shops were not open this early, she had not gotten a bed frame picked out. She was going to head back out later to get a new bed to set u
Serenity was startled. There were too many cases of one party moving their wealth elsewhere during a divorce. In light of the Browns’ character, Hank was likely to transfer his assets away. “Nana, I’ll tell my sister about it.” Grandma May replied, “Good. Let Zack know if you need help. He’ll get someone to investigate it.” “I won’t hesitate to look for Zachary when the time comes, Nana.” The old lady was pleased with Serenity’s readiness to seek help from Zachary. Zachary had smiling eyes, but he put on a straight face when Grandma May looked at him. Grandma May criticized him in her mind, ‘Go on. Go on with your act! We’ll see how long you can keep up with it.’After breakfast, the group went to Bright Boulevard. Liberty was already waiting with her son at the neighborhood gate. Sonny had adapted to the new routine after going with his aunt in the past few days. He did not kick up a fuss today. “Nana.” Seeing that Grandma May was around too, Liberty said hello to
Liberty did not say much to her sister. After handing her son to Serenity, she waved to her brother-in-law and the old lady before quickly riding away.She arrived at the office fifteen minutes before working hours started.In the beginning, it took her twenty minutes to run five laps. Now that she had gotten used to running, her speed increased slightly.She could still make it.After parking the bike, she locked it and started running.Liberty ran five laps around the small garden in front of the office building before going to work every day. Everyone in Lewis & Co. knew about it. At first, they watched Liberty like they were watching a show.Not two days later, some people joined the run. Sitting in the office every day with minimal exercise made it easy for them to get out of shape, too.Liberty spent fourteen minutes running five laps, and the last minute was spent sprinting to clock in.She went out late today, so she got a little stuck. Fortunately, she was not late.“
Duncan’s words made Liberty’s face burn red.Her being out of shape was a result of being a glutton and neglecting exercise."I will, Mr. Lewis. I promise I'll get into shape during the probation period."In fact, Liberty planned to run not only in the morning but also at night. She firmly believed that she could shed the excess weight, regain muscle mass and be healthy again."Good. Your probation period is now reduced to one month. Good luck."Duncan offered a few encouraging words before leaving Liberty and heading towards his private elevator. In the blink of an eye, his robust figure vanished inside the elevator.When Liberty could not see him anymore, she finally looked away and turned her head to find that her boss was glaring at her with displeasure.She pursed her lips and silently returned to the finance department office.Liberty used to be a CFO. Although she was now a small clerk in the finance department, everyone tacitly agreed that there was something going on b
On the way to Westyard Resort, Serenity called Jasmine. “Jas, I’m going out with Nana for a walk today and can’t go back to the store. I’ll leave the store to you.”Jasmine laughed. “No problem. You can stay with Grandma May and take a break. I’ll take care of the store. Everything will be fine.”It was the weekend tomorrow anyway.The store was usually closed during weekends. If they did open, it would only be Serenity inside, rushing her orders.After ending the call, Jasmine muttered to herself, “Seren’s life after marriage is getting more and more exciting.”“Jas.”The familiar voice made Jasmine’s pretty face turn cloudy.She looked at Shawn as he walked in, and said to him unpleasantly, “Shawn, are you ignoring what I said to you last time? Don’t come here again. There’s no chance between Seren and you!”It had just been a few days, but Shawn looked haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his stubble grew out. At that moment, he did not look like a young man
The Lowe family was the in-laws to Jasmine’s aunt, and she grew up witnessing how hard it was for her aunt to live in that family. The Lowe family became tycoons by demolishing buildings and relocating their inhabitants. They had many houses and shops for rent and possessed assets worth nearly a hundred million.Her aunt had it hard even after marrying into a wealthy family, let alone Serenity.Jasmine was not trying to belittle Serenity. She was just telling the truth.“Serenity—”“Serenity went on a date with her husband.”Shawn’s face instantly turned pale.He quickly searched for Serenity in the store, and Jasmine let him search every corner of the shop.He only believed his cousin’s words when he could not find Serenity. She really was not in the store.He left, dispirited.Jasmine sighed.She hoped that Shawn would get over it sooner and not do something extreme and stupid because of love.As someone caught in the middle, she was in a dilemma.She was heartbroken for
Serenity agreed empathetically, “You can offend anyone, but don't ever offend Nana. Luckily, she's my nana.”Out of all her in-laws, Grandma May was Serenity’s favorite because the old lady treated her the best. Whenever she had conflicts with Zachary, Grandma May would always stand by her side first. Only when she was ready to listen would Grandma May try to reason with her and speak up for Zachary. Even though Grandma May was Zachary’s grandmother, she treated Serenity like her own granddaughter; more so than Serenity's biological grandmother.“Are you going to help Dylan?” Jasmine asked.“How? He’s wooing his future wife. No one can help with that,” Serenity replied. “Zachary never meddles in his brothers' private matters. As long as they don’t ask him for help, he doesn’t care about anything.”In Zachary's words, he only wanted to take care of her. In his world, she was his priority.“True. Let’s just watch for now, unless Dylan comes to you asking you to speak well of him
“Now he's suddenly trying to pursue Imogen again? Did something happen to him? Or was it that his beloved turned him down, and then when he saw everyone else all coupled up, plus Grandma May’s pressuring him to get married, he decided to try to win Imogen back?“Who does he think Imogen is? Does he think he can just have her when he wants to, and throw her aside when he doesn't?”Even though Dylan was Serenity's cousin-in-law, Jasmine could not bring herself to take his side. Back then, when Imogen followed him from Huntington to Wiltspoon and even asked Serenity for help, all she ended up getting was an apology from Dylan that he could never love her. He even mentioned that he was in love with someone else, a woman he called Fox. How could a vixen be any good? Was she better than Imogen?Jasmine thought Dylan was out of his mind, but that was someone else's business. She was just a bystander. Even Serenity did not interfere much since she was only a cousin-in-law. After all,
Without a second thought, Leticia replied to her daughter.[Of course you should. As long as you can win that boy over, you'll be happy in the future. I’ve met so many young men, but I still think he’s the most suitable for you.]Despite her earlier anger, Leticia still hoped her daughter could win Dylan’s heart. She had always regarded him as a potential son-in-law, after all.Imogen smiled and left it at that. She had already made up her mind.In truth, when Dylan rejected her, she was not all that upset because the person he loved was still her. It was just that she had kept Dylan in the dark. One could say that he had been made to dance in her palm.However, when he realized that he could not love Imogen, he was honest with her and decisively left without bothering her further, not wanting her to fall even deeper when the situation was hopeless. In this aspect, she appreciated him.Now that she knew she was the one Dylan’s grandmother had chosen for him, Imogen was curious ab
When Dylan overheard Imogen’s phone conversation with Leticia, he realized that Leticia was trying to match her with someone named Kade. Now, he had a rival.Even though he was being asked to leave, Dylan did not get angry, nor did he shamelessly insist on staying. He stood up and said, “I’m sorry for disturbing you, Ms. Doyle. I know you’re Imogen Doyle. I also know what I’m doing, and I won’t make the same mistake again.“Ms. Doyle, you were on the nose earlier. Yes, I do want to pursue you again. Starting today, I will try to win your heart once more. No matter what your attitude is toward me, I’ll accept it.”The first time, she had offered her heart, but he did not accept it. That was his fault.This time, it was his turn to offer his heart. If it took more time to win her over, he was willing to be patient.“My nana isn’t forcing me.” He continued, “When it came to our generation, she only pushed Zachary to marry Serenity.”Zachary had been a special case. For the rest of
Imogen felt a surge of satisfaction when she saw Dylan was rendered speechless by what she said. She deliberately leaned closer to him, her beautiful face coming right up to his, and their gazes met.They were so close that Dylan could smell a faint, delicate fragrance on her. It was a little familiar, but it was not the same as Chameleon Fox’s scent, because she never used fragrance when she appeared—probably to avoid being recognized by scent.It was the scent he smelled on Imogen back when he was initially pursuing her—it was Sugar’s. Imogen smelled the same as Sugar, a scent he remembered when he was in close proximity to Sugar.Imogen was Sugar.Dylan was now sure of this, but he did not bring it up. Even if he asked, Imogen would not admit it anyway.Besides, he no longer needed her to confirm it. As Zachary had said, he only needed to trust his nana; she would not mislead him when it came to marriage. His nana knew very well that he loved Chameleon Fox, and yet still aske
Unexpectedly, Kade had to return to the country due to a work transfer and would be staying in Huntington long-term.Leticia’s best friend Jade immediately called her again to bring up the idea of a marriage match. Leticia then thought about it and decided to arrange for her daughter to fetch him from the airport.“Mrs. Doyle, the person Imogen likes is me, so please stop trying to match her with someone else.” Dylan boldly interjected.Imogen glanced at him but did not say anything.On the other side of the line, Leticia asked Imogen when she heard Dylan’s voice, “Jen, has that York scoundrel gone to look for you again? He came by once a few days ago, but you weren’t home. We didn’t even let him past the gate.“He didn’t show up again after that, so we thought he left, but he actually went to your office to look for you. Jen, what does he mean by this? Is he trying to pursue you once more? If that’s really the case, all the more you have to give Kade a chance—to make Dylan York
“Why are you looking at me like that, Mr. York?”Just as Dylan was about to respond, Imogen’s phone rang from her desk where she had left it. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was her mother calling, so she had no choice but to answer.“Hey, mom.” She was busy with work and usually would not answer personal calls during office hours unless it was from her family, which usually meant something urgent. If there was no urgency, her parents would not call her.“Are you free this weekend?” Leticia asked over the phone. “What’s going on?”“Tell me if you’re free first. I need you to do something for me.”Imogen replied, “Does it have to be me? If not, please ask someone else. I have a client meeting scheduled for the weekend.”“You're still meeting clients this weekend? Is Davidson Group really lacking business? Can’t you even rest on the weekend?” Leticia complained. Her daughter went out early and came home late every day. Sometimes, even though they lived under the same r
The one who was hurt was her. The one who would suffer was also her. When it came to love, the one who fell first was the one who lost. She had lost once and did not want to lose again.Even though she still had feelings for Dylan, Imogen did not want to be in a passive position anymore. She wanted to be the one in control, making Dylan the one who was passive. “Ms. Doyle, I’m here today to apologize.”“Apologize? Apologize for what?”Dylan then took out the set of jewelry and placed it in front of Imogen. “Ms. Doyle, months ago, I pursued you first. When you were moved, I withdrew and said that I didn’t love you. That was my fault, and I’m here to apologize for that. This bouquet and this set of jewelry are my way of offering an apology.”Imogen put down the bouquet and took the red velvet box. She opened it right in front of Dylan. Inside was a set of ruby jewelry.With trained eyes to recognize valuable items, she could immediately tell that they were very expensive when
Huntington was having another bout of snow.When Dylan arrived, he spent the first day at the hotel to rest. Afterward, he picked up the gifts that Sam had prepared for him, rented a luxury car, and drove to the Doyles’ residence with a car full of presents.However, Imogen and her older sister, along with several younger cousins, had gone on a trip. Dylan did not even get the chance to go past the Doyles’ gate and the gifts he brought were refused by Winston.Once Winston learned that the woman Dylan truly loved was actually his own daughter, he guessed that Dylan would soon return to pursue her again. To make sure Dylan left with nothing to show for it, he persuaded his daughter to go on a trip.Imogen also missed her master and her fellow disciples. So, she took her cousins and went to visit her master. All of them together enjoyed a lively reunion, and she completely forgot about Dylan.It was not until after Davidson Group resumed work after the holidays that Dylan would have