Zachary said stubbornly, “No!”“Really?”“Really!”Serenity straightened her back and said with a regretful expression, “I was thinking that if you didn’t want me to leave, I could tell Mrs. Lane to stay at my sister’s house while I accompany you. Since you don’t need it, I’d better go keep my sister company.“The weather is getting colder. It sure feels like winter is approaching. I always feel uncomfortable sleeping alone during this time.” Serenity sighed.Zachary was speechless.‘Is she implying that if I said I didn’t want her to leave, she would hug the pillow and quilt and hog my bed?’Serenity was still carrying a regretful look. She reached out and patted his face twice, before trailing her finger down to his neck, and finally rubbing his chest. When Zachary’s eyes deepened and he stared intently at her, she withdrew her wandering hand.“I’m hungry. Let’s eat. I want to see if the dishes my husband cooked for me are any good.”Serenity was done teasing him and left.
After flirting with each other before and over dinner, Zachary showered Serenity with meticulous care.Serenity was a little overwhelmed by it.At the same time though, she thought, ‘Sure enough, a good husband has to be trained by oneself.‘I hope the husband that I’ve trained won’t be snatched away by others.’The couple went to Liberty’s house together after dinner.Sonny had woken up but refused to play by himself. He stuck to his mother like a piece of gum.Serenity was the only other person he allowed to hold him. He even refused Mrs. Lane to carry him.“Liberty, are you going to work tomorrow?” Serenity asked while she was hugging her nephew.Liberty looked at Sonny and deliberated before saying, “Seren, I want to quit and start my own business.”She was feeling uneasy with the way Sonny was now. However, she had just started her job. It would be easy to lose her job if she took a leave of absence.After a day of consideration, she decided to take her son with her to s
“Seren, you should go to work tomorrow or open your shop. You don’t have to come over. I can take care of Sonny.”Serenity was still worried. “Then I’ll ask Mrs. Lane to stay here.”Mrs. Lane was hired with the priority to take care of Sonny during the day anyway, and cleaning up Zachary’s and her home was secondary.Liberty felt a little embarrassed.Her brother-in-law hired Mrs. Lane because he did not want his wife to be tired, but Mrs. Lane was always helping her instead.“We’re sisters, Liberty. We should support each other.”Serenity did not want her sister to be burdened psychologically. “As long as Sonny and you are doing well, nothing else is more important.”“You pay Mrs. Lane’s salary for now. I’ll pay you back when I’m back on my feet.” Liberty was grateful for her sister’s help, but she could not take it for granted.Zachary said warmly, “Liberty, we’re family. Don’t be such a stranger. Serenity and I have a good income now with no children yet, so we don’t have ma
After comforting Serenity, Grandma May yawned gracefully. She put down the TV remote control, got up, and said to the young couple, “I’ll head in to rest up. I’m old and can’t stay up late.”She took a few steps and stopped before turning around to ask Serenity, “Seren, should I bring your pillow out?”Serenity smiled and said, “No need. There are pillows in the guest room for me.”Grandma May glanced at her grandson twice, but did not say anything. She proceeded into Serenity’s room.By the time Serenity went in to take a shower, the old lady was already snoring loudly.Serenity was speechless.Ten minutes later.She came out of the room in her pajamas. Just after closing the door, she saw her man in his robe, leaning against the door of his room with his arms across his chest.“Not sleeping yet? You have to work tomorrow.”Serenity casually said to him, pretending to not remember teasing him earlier. She walked past him toward the guest room.However, when she pushed open t
Serenity climbed into his bed and lay down comfortably, saying, “I’ve only slept in your bed once, but I feel like it’s particularly warm. Maybe it’s my imagination.”She pulled the quilt up to cover herself and smiled. “Good night, Zachary.”Zachary’s dark eyes flashed. He stared at her for a long time before suddenly lifting the quilt off her and was about to pin her down.However, she sat up and removed herself from the bed at once. She put on her slippers and left.“Serenity.”Zachary reached out to pull her back.“I, uh—I need to use the bathroom.”Aunt Flo might have come to ruin the atmosphere.The man did not understand. “There’s a bathroom in my room.”“Your bathroom doesn’t have what I need. I’ll come back to sleep in your bed after I use the bathroom, but—I won’t be able to sleep with you for a while.”Serenity playfully pinched his face. "Put on a little weight."No matter how slow Zachary was, he finally understood and slowly let go of his hand, letting her retu
Audrey took the tissue handed to her by her husband and wiped her tears. She then finally said, “Sonny does look somewhat similar to my sister. His mother, Liberty, would resemble my sister more if she was a little thinner.“When Elisa first met Serenity, she said she had a feeling of wanting to be close to the latter. I had that feeling too when I met Liberty and her son.“I think it’s because of our blood relation.“Darrell, maybe this time, I have really found my sister...”Audrey’s tears slipped down again when she thought about the fact that her sister was long gone.“But she’s no longer here. She died fifteen years ago. It’s no wonder I couldn’t find her despite searching for so long. How could I find her when she’s no longer in this world?”Darrell comforted her. “It’s just a feeling. Sometimes, fate acts in mysterious ways. Don’t cry yet and wait for the DNA test.”If his sister-in-law whom he had never met was dead, Darrell would feel shaken too.When he first met his
“I have no appetite.”“You haven’t eaten or drank anything all day. Do you know how worried I am about you? Your children are worried too. Even Anthony came back after hearing that you were feeling down.”They had three children. Their eldest was mature and steady, their second-born was never at home, and their youngest was the apple of their eye, who used to hover around Zachary all day in the past and only revert to her normal self a few days ago.“Think of it as me going on a diet.”Audrey then lay down on the bed. “I’m going to sleep.”Darrell was helpless when it came to Audrey.She did not want to eat, and he could not coax her into it.Her temper had always been very stubborn, and their daughter took after her.She loved Zachary for many years and refused to give up no matter how many people persuaded her to. She only turned around after hitting a dead end.The night passed without a word.The next day, it was drizzling again, turning the already cool morning into a ch
Zachary took the breakfast that Jim packed and placed them on the dining table. He had second thoughts and entered the kitchen again.He was brewing hot cocoa for Serenity.“I thought you made the breakfast yourself, but it turned out to be takeouts.”A teasing voice came through and Zachary did not even need to look back to know that it was his nana, neither did he say anything.“What are you making? It smells sweet and chocolatey.”Grandma May walked into the kitchen, uncovered the saucepan, and took a look.“I thought there was some progress.”The old woman muttered and glanced at her grandson in disdain before turning to leave.Zachary’s handsome face tensed. He could not help but defend himself, “I tried very hard.”There was originally a chance last night, but God played a trick on him.“The heart. You have to go after the heart first. Didn’t you see that all of Serenity’s ten fingers are still empty?”Zachary was speechless.He tried very hard to go after her heart.
Camryn smiled, “You spoil me too much. You’ll turn me into an absolute sloth who only waits around for you to take care of me, and it might tire you out.”“That won’t happen. I enjoy taking care of you,” Callum assured as he reached to help her with the snacks, but she would not let him feed her anymore. Callum had no choice but to hand her the snacks.“Although Trenton is young, he has mettle. When we put his parents away, it was hard for him to accept, but in the end, he did. As long as he has the right values, even the hardest things can be accepted over time and he won’t resent anyone else for it either.”Camryn pushed the snack box closer to her husband, indicating that he should have some too. “If Trenton didn’t have the right values, I wouldn’t care for him so much. Given the hurt and pain I suffered during the twenty-odd years under his parents, if I hated them, they’d have nothing to say in defense.“Because Trenton has treated me well since he was little, respects me as
Just now, Carrie came here and made a scene, and he had given her fifty thousand dollars. Although he had not spent much time with her, they were siblings. He could at the very least still recognize her. However, when Camryn asked him that, Trenton's heart started to race, not daring to confidently say that the lady really was Carrie.As for the young lady beside her? He had watched the video a few times but had not paid much attention to her. All he could see was a beautiful, young woman dressed in luxurious attire. In the video, he heard Camryn refer to her as Mrs. Longbottom, so her husband’s family name had to be Longbottom.Mrs. Longbottom had a good attitude toward Camryn and even supported her. He was not familiar with Mrs. Longbottom at all, though. Why did Camryn ask him that? Should he know her? Trenton watched the video two more times but could not find anything unusual about her. It was just that he was not acquainted with Mrs. Longbottom. If he had not seen the video,
The young couple looked at Trenton, then exchanged smiles.“How much did you give Carrie?” Camryn asked her brother gently. Camryn could harden her heart to completely ignore Carrie and not give her a single cent, but Trenton could not be as ruthless as she was, mainly because while Carrie had not been particularly kind to Trenton, she also had not bullied him outright. She had treated Camryn very poorly though and had never shown her any respect at all, so their sisterly bond had deteriorated to the extreme. It was already generous of Camryn not to completely destroy Carrie after taking charge, which was probably out of consideration for the fact that they shared a mother.“I-I gave her fifty thousand. She said it was almost Christmas, and she wanted to buy gifts and new clothes, so I-I gave her fifty thousand.” Trenton looked down as he spoke, not daring to look at Camryn, afraid she would scold him.Camryn gave her brother a long look but did not scold him. Instead, she took o
Callum was silent for a moment before he said, “I wanted you to get familiar with the route to my office, which is why I asked you to deliver the flowers yourself.”“Did you ever think about how difficult it was for me as a blind person? It was so hard for me to walk all the way to deliver those flowers,” Camryn retorted.Callum pulled her into an embrace and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Camryn. It was my fault for not thinking it through, which put you through a lot.”Camryn pushed him away, “We have customers constantly coming in. Don’t just hug me out of nowhere. You’re as thick-skinned as a rhinoceros, but I’m not. At that time, I was angry and silently cursed you a hundred thousand times, but your insistence actually did help me learn the way to your office and now, I can find my way there even with my eyes closed.”At that moment, Trenton returned. After Carrie left, he felt a bit down and stayed outside for a while to compose himself before coming back in. He did not wan
Just then, a customer came in wanting to buy a bouquet. Camryn first brought over some sample pictures for the customer to choose from. “No need to choose, just help me arrange a bouquet of roses. I’m going to confess my feelings,” said the young boy, a hint of shyness on his face as he spoke.Camryn smiled gently. “Alright, please wait a moment while I prepare it for you.”Callum assisted by inviting the young boy to sit down and poured him a glass of water.The boy glanced between Camryn and Callum and quietly asked, “Are you and the boss married or dating?”“We’re married. She’s my wife.”The boy expressed his envy. “You both seem very happy.”“Yeah, we are very happy. I love my wife very much, and she loves me too.”Thinking about the girl he was pursuing, the boy’s face lit up with anticipation. “I also have someone I like, and I’m going to confess to her, though I just don’t know if she feels the same. I’m a bit nervous.”Callum, drawing from his own experience, advised
“She hasn’t paid. Stop her.” Camryn was not going to let her get away with it. With a command, her two bodyguards stopped Carrie.Carrie said furiously, “Camryn, I only took a few flowers from you! You have so many flowers here. What's the big deal if I take a few? You still want me to pay? I’m your sister! Don’t you know that blood is thicker than water?!”“Blood might be thicker than water, but business is business. Anyone who buys flowers from me has to pay, including you. Besides, you’ve never treated me like an older sister. You always bring up how we’re sisters when you want to take advantage of me, but that won’t work here. My roses are freshly transported, and since you’re my sister, I’ll let you have them for twenty bucks each. You took about five stems, so just give me a hundred. I won’t rip you off.”Carrie’s expression changed in an instant. “Camryn, why don’t you just rob a bank? You’re charging twenty bucks each? You’re just a thief! Here! I don’t want them! I’d rather
“If Mom said she would create an opportunity for you to get with the king, would you really believe her? It’s just talk—nothing actually happened.” Trenton could not resist poking Carrie’s forehead a few times. “Carrie, can you please come back to earth? In your current state, forget about finding a great guy like Callum—even a regular, decent guy would be turned off by you.”Carrie swatted away her brother’s fingers, irritated and embarrassed. “Am I really that bad? I’m young, beautiful, have a great figure, and a dignified heiress. If the monarchy still existed, I could marry the king and be his queen without a problem.”“Carrie, you have sky-high ambitions, but be careful, don’t fly too close to the sun and end up like Icarus.”As soon as he said that, Trenton was met with a smack from his sister.“Is there a brother who curses his own sister like that? What do you mean by that? I’m destined to have the princess life. I’ll be fine.”However, deep down, she was still worried bec
Camryn was right—he was just too soft-hearted. If he were as ruthless as her, Carrie would have found a job long ago after running out of money.To encourage Carrie to become independent, Trenton decided that after Christmas, he would stop giving her living expenses. He would also tell their parents during his visit to prison that Carrie was truly hopeless.“Trenton, you keep siding with her, and one day you'll regret it. She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing who has deceived who knows how many people. Do you really think she cares about you? She just wants to win your complete trust to take everything that belongs to you for herself. By driving us out of our home, she’s not only seeking revenge on Mom and Dad but also on us—especially you. She’s just pretending to be nice to you to sow discord between us siblings.”“Carrie!” Trenton said seriously, “Don’t talk about Camryn like that. She’s not that kind of person. I believe in her, one hundred percent.”Carrie was so furious she wanted
“Alright, alright, I can't win with the two of you against one,” Carrie sulked. “Give me money to spend. I'm out of money.”She reached out her hand toward Camryn, wanting her to give her money. Camryn slapped her hand away. “Even Trenton knows to take advantage of the winter break to find a part-time job and earn some pocket money. You’re perfectly capable, yet you don’t look for a job.“To put it bluntly, if you’ve gone to sweep the streets, you'd still have a source of income. I have money, but I won’t give it to you. Don’t think that just because we’re sisters—estranged, too, at that—I have an obligation to support my adult sister. I’ve said it before: if you want money to spend, earn it yourself.” With that, Camryn walked away to tend to her plants.As Christmas approached, the flower market was bustling. Every day, many people came to buy flowers, and all her employees were out delivering flowers to clients. Sometimes, when it got too busy, she even had to ask her two bodyguar