“Grandmom is sick. It’s liver cancer, but the good news is that it’s at an early stage,” Mike said on the phone.“The doctor recommended going for treatment in the city. You and your sister have settled down in the city and have a better idea of the hospitals there. Make a hospital appointment for Grandmom. We’ll set out in a bit and take Grandmom to the hospital. “This way, Grandmom can see a specialist right away when she arrives. I heard that you must pay some sort of deposit for a treatment, so don’t forget to make the payment. Although your parents are gone, you still have a responsibility to your grandparents. You girls have never contributed to Grandmom and Granddad’s living expenses. Now that Grandmom is sick, you should cover for her medical expenses to make up for the neglected family support.” Serenity grimaced as her cousin went on about the plan. She lost her parents at the age of ten. Serenity and Liberty then received their parents’ life insurance payout of 1.2 mi
After the couple finished breakfast, Zachary took his keys to send Serenity to work. As the couple walked down the stairs, the awaiting squad of bodyguards downstairs scattered and pretended to be passers-by. Taking notice of the luxury sedans parked downstairs, including a Rolls Royce, Serenity said to Zachary, “I know we’re living in a nice neighborhood, but I didn’t expect to see a Rolls Royce here.” Since the Rolls Royce owner could afford such an expensive car, they should be living in a huge mansion. Why did they live in an apartment building instead? Was it because the place was closer to work or their children’s school? Serenity could never understand the world of the wealthy. Zachary answered, “Yeah. Looks can be unassuming. There are many who are rich but keep a low profile.” Serenity thought to herself, ‘As if a Rolls Royce screams a low profile.’Playing it cool, Zachary took the wheel of his national MPV and drove his wife to work. Once he was gone, the b
Serenity responded to her sister, saying that she and Zachary would be there for dinner tonight. After Serenity hung up on Liberty, Zachary asked, “Do you get along with your extended family?” “No.” Serenity was frank and honest. She added, “My parents passed away in a car crash when I was ten. No one from my paternal or maternal sides of the family wanted to raise my sister and I.“However, all of them wanted a piece of the insurance payout. Since my uncles had no right to the money, they instructed my grandparents to get more out of us. My dad was the youngest son, so he didn’t get much attention in the family. My grandparents favored my uncles instead.“They said that we don’t have to pay for family support in exchange for a bigger chunk of the insurance payout. They took six hundred thousand dollars and signed the contract to relinquish care for us and our responsibility to them. My grandparents also moved into the two-story house my parents had built just before passing aw
Zachary believed Serenity should not fork out even a dime. Serenity would be labeled ungrateful whether she dished out the cash or not. She might as well save herself the pain and not pay for the medical fees at all. The sisters were underaged when they lost their parents. Yet, the relatives had the heart to abandon them, by not only taking a chunk out of the insurance payout but also occupying the sisters’ family home. Thank goodness Liberty was old enough to overcome any difficulties. Otherwise, the sisters would be living a miserable life. Seeing that Zachary had a point, Serenity thought about it and said, “You’re right, Mr. York. I’ll take your advice and give them nothing. I couldn’t care less what they say about me.” Those people were not ashamed of their own actions back then. Why should she now? For those coming at her about how Grandmom was old and that she was family, they would feel Serenity’s wrath. They should walk in Serenity’s shoes before they had any right t
Meanwhile, Zachary arrived at York Corporation and instructed his secretary as he was heading into his office, “Tell the administrative executive to see me.” The secretary made an internal call to the administrative executive, Josh Bucham. “Mr. Bucham, Mr. York wants to see you in his office.” Josh took the request without a question and hung up. A few minutes later, Josh knocked on the CEO’s office and entered the room. Zachary was knee-deep in his paperwork. With Josh stepping into the office, Zachary put down his pen and beckoned him to come over. “You need me for something?” Josh and Zachary graduated from the same college. Knowing well what Josh was capable of, Zachary signed him to the company. Josh proved his worth as an elite at York Corporation, paving his way up to the position as Zachary’s administrative executive. Josh had Zachary’s utmost trust. “Yeah, but it’s for something personal. I need a minute alone with you.” Josh took a seat and said with a smile,
“Josh!” Zachary was peeved. It was the truth when Zachary said it was all for his pride. Serenity was his wife. It would be a slap on his face if Serenity was harassed. He could not possibly let that happen. “Fine, fine. I let you be. It’s all for your pride and dignity. Alright, I’ll look into the matter. Your wife is Serenity Hunt, right? You could’ve asked Duncan to help you. As your administrative executive, I had a lot on my plate with the business side of things. I don’t even have time to get a drink of water.” Getting up, Zachary went to pour a glass of water. “Drink up. I don’t want you going around saying you don’t have time to even drink water.” “Well, that took you long enough.” “I thought you weren’t thirsty. You would’ve poured yourself a drink if you were. When have you ever asked for permission? Are we buddies or what?” Josh chuckled. “Duncan doesn’t know how to keep a tight lid.” “That’s true. He can be a blabbermouth.” Josh was smug. “Don’t forg
Nothing good ever came out of Zachary’s mouth, to be honest. Perhaps Zachary should show his apology through his actions. “What’s the matter? Were you wrong about your wife? What did you do to warrant an apology gift?” Josh was in the mood for gossip. “None of your business. Get back to work. You’re going to be speaking with Mr. Williams about the partnership tonight. I'll be busy tonight.” Zachary had dinner plans with his wife at his sister-in-law’s.“Why are you busy? Where are you going?” “You should know that a married man shouldn’t spend all his time on work, or else it’ll give his wife an excuse to cheat on him.” Josh, “…” He was speechless. At least Josh found out that the work was pushed to him so his boss could spend some time with his wife. Zachary sure thought he was all that just because he was married. Josh could get married too. He could then skip social engagements and overtime to go home to his wife. Alas, he did not have a girlfriend. There wa
Hank’s mom said Liberty’s education was for nothing. It was not like she could share the financial burden at home. A woman who could manage the house and earn an income suited Hank best. Most importantly, Liberty did not bother to primp herself. She lost her beauty and grace, content with becoming an overweight, unkempt blob. Liberty was no longer the person she was before marriage. Hank would not dream of taking Liberty to social engagements, worried that his colleagues and clients would make fun of him. Liberty had nothing on Jessica. Hank’s words saw Liberty’s blood pressure rising. Liberty hung up the call. She forgot to tell Hank that she had invited Serenity and her husband over for dinner tonight. If both the in-laws and newlyweds came for dinner, there was bound to be a huge fight between her and Hank once the in-laws were gone.If her in-laws could come to dinner whenever they wanted, so could her sister and her husband. Liberty had a say in the family too.
“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