The manager would be to blame if anything were to happen to Mr. York.The headquarters had full confidence in him and entrusted him with a managerial role at the subsidiary company. Yet, the subsidiary company went south fast to the point the CEO had to be here to deal with it. The CEO caught a bad cold and fever from tiring himself out. Thankfully, it was detected early. Otherwise, the CEO’s life would be at risk if the illness dragged on. The manager had lingering fears at the mere thought of it. “Where am I?” Zachary tried to sit up. “Don’t get up, Mr. York. Lie down, lie down. You still have a fever. You’re on IV drips.” Furrowing his brows, Zachary’s memory came back to him. He took a cold medicine from the pharmacy, but it did not work. His temperature kept rising until he passed out in the end. Zachary was on a video call with Serenity before he blacked out. He ended the call before Serenity could catch him passing out on her. Zachary wondered if Serenity was wo
“Mr. York, don’t try to adjust the drip. The nurse mentioned that you can’t rush the IV drip.” The manager stopped Zachary from adjusting the speed of the IV drips. Zachary helplessly gave up. “We’ll wait until your wife is here before heading home, Mr. York.” Zachary abruptly lifted his head and stared at the two men. “Is Seren coming over?” The two men nodded in unison. “Mr. Bucham said that your wife is worried about you and insisted on coming here to take care of you. Mr. Bucham arranged for a private plane to fly her here. She should be arriving any minute now.” Zachary tried to get out of bed. “The missus will give me a call when she gets off the plane, Mr. York. Mr. Bucham has given her my phone number. Don’t worry, Mr. York. I’ll get the missus here safe and sound.” Zachary sat back down and gave Serenity a call. He intended to wait until dawn before contacting her. It never occurred to him that Serenity would rush here. It gave Zachary a feeling that
Serenity said, “Okay. We’ll do as the doctor said. We’ll keep him in the hospital for a few days until he’s well enough to be discharged. His work… His salary…” With Zachary in the hospital, Serenity was hoping to get him to rest for a few days. His boss owned the company. The company was not Zachary’s, so why must he devote his everything when he was sick? The manager jumped in. “Don’t worry, Ms. Hunt. We’ll take over Mr. York’s work. We promise that we won’t bother him about work while he’s in the hospital. Mr. York is on a business trip, so his salary is not affected.” York Corporation belonged to Mr. York. Yet, the CEO’s wife was asking about Mr. York’s salary. She was worried whether his salary would be cut since he had to remain in the hospital.“Thank you.” Serenity expressed her gratitude, under the impression that she got her man a few days of paid leave. “Ms. Hunt, do you need us here to look after Mr. York?” Serenity asked, “How many bags of IV fluid does he n
With the messages sent out, Serenity stuffed the phone back into her pocket. Everybody must be asleep since it was late at night. She did not count on receiving an immediate reply. Zachary gradually came around. Opening his eyes, Zachary deliberately made a bewildered face as if he could not believe Serenity was here. He lifted his free hand and rubbed his eyes while mumbling to himself, “Is the fever getting to me? Are my eyes deceiving me? Why is my Seren here?” Serenity pulled his arm away from his face and gave him a hard pinch on the hand. “Ow!” “Does it hurt?” Serenity asked him. Zachary pulled those cute puppy dog eyes. “It hurts. It hurts so bad.” “It’s good that you felt the pain. You’re not dreaming. This is reality. I told you I’ll make my way here if you don’t get a doctor’s appointment.” Zachary was about to sit up. “Lie down. You’re in a hospital. You’re still burning up. I don’t know why you want to tough it out.” Serenity pressed him down. “Now lie
Zachary retorted in his mind, ‘The company does belong to me.’ Serenity went on saying, “Is Mr. Tank the manager here at the subsidiary company? That’s how he introduced himself. “He said you’ll need to remain in the hospital for a few days. You don’t need to do anything but rest. You might appear healthy, but all the work and tiredness finally caught up to you. Your immune system went down, and now you got one nasty cold. “You’re on paid medical leave. Mr. Tank asked me to look after you and will be paying me on the clock. At least, they had everything thought out for you.” Serenity was impressed by the subsidiary company of a huge corporation. Every aspect was considered thoroughly as family members were offered some form of remuneration without needing to ask for it. Zachary enjoyed his chicken soup while thinking to himself, ‘It’s my money nonetheless.’ However, it was not something he had the guts to blurt out. “How long do I have to be in the hospital? It’s only a c
Serenity immediately put her arms up in surrender as she exclaimed, “Zachary, don’t talk that way. It doesn’t sound good when you elongate your creaky voice. You’re trying to act cute, but it’s not working. You sound like you’re going through puberty. Fine, I’ll kiss you, okay? Stop the cute act. It’s giving me the creeps.” Zachary stared at Serenity begrudgingly. It was not like he wanted to do it. He did not know how to act cute anyway. Thankfully, his voice had turned hoarse. Without the raspy voice, Serenity would call him out for using the high pitch tone. Never mind. He could forget the moé act. Serenity gave Zachary what he wanted and tenderly kissed him on the cheek. She asked, “Happy now?” During the kiss, Zachary closed his eyes and felt the affectionate tingle on his cheek. Although he could not feel the warmth as she had a mask on, Zachary could feel the love she had for him. That was right—love. Zachary was content. It left him more satisfied than when
Seeing that Zachary was still staring at her, Serenity put her phone aside and got up. She drew close and kissed him on the cheek. Tenderly she uttered, “Go on to bed now.” Serenity then touched his head. “Is there a thermometer here? I’ll check on your temperature. You still feel hot. You’re on IV drips and the pills already, but the fever hasn’t really gone down.” Zachary replied in all honesty, “I don’t know if there’s a thermometer here too.” “I’ll ask for one at the nurse’s station.” Serenity grabbed her phone and took off. Zachary’s phone happened to ring when she left the room. It was Josh. Zachary took the call. “Why aren’t you asleep this late in the night?” “I have the habit of checking my phone when I wake up. I saw the message from your wife that she made it there safe and sound. Since I was awake, I thought I might as well call to check on you. Has your fever gone down?” Zachary faintly said, “Not completely. The doctor said I had to stay in the hos
“Do you want some water?” “I don’t feel like drinking any. I don’t want to rush to the loo so often. It’s not very convenient for me to go to the loo right now.” Serenity had no words. Since Zachary did not want to sleep, Serenity stopped watching videos on her phone and chatted with him. She did most of the talking while he listened intently. As she blabbered on, Zachary’s eyes grew heavy until he finally drifted into slumberland. Once the bag of IV fluid hooked to Zachary was empty, Serenity rang the nurse to change a new bag before returning to the dependent’s bed and getting on her phone. However, her eyes began to grow heavy as well. She could barely stay awake. In case she fell asleep, Serenity put down her phone and got out of bed to head to the loo. She removed her mask and splashed her face with cold water to freshen up. Serenity waited until the last bag of IV fluid was emptied before waking Zachary up for his medicine. It was only then she caught up on sleep
Liberty smiled. “Not yet. Maybe you can continue sleeping in the car until the sun rises.“We’re home. Let’s get out of the car. Even if you’re sleepy, you should still take a bath first. The year is ending in a few days. The weather isn’t that cold now. I checked the weather forecast. It says it’ll rain a little on New Year’s Day, so the temperature might drop slightly.”Duncan sat up and touched his forehead. Indeed, there was some sweat. “It really isn’t cold. I’m even sweating.”Liberty did not turn on the car’s air conditioning. In that weather, it would be cold if the air conditioning was turned on and hot if it was turned off. Thanks to the wind, it was still cooling when the car was moving. However, once the car stopped, it became stuffy inside. Liberty got out of the car and went to the passenger seat to help Duncan. Duncan declined her help and insisted on doing it himself. Then, he held her hand and walked into the house slowly. After heading upstairs, he belatedl
Liberty did have a fatty liver back then. However, that was resolved after she lost weight. Indeed, having an unhealthy weight could bring about health issues. Purchasing plus-sized clothes was also a problem. Once she started maintaining a healthy weight, she looked fantastic in whatever she wore and often received compliments for having a great figure when shopping for clothes. Most people marveled at her healthy and youthful complexion. She did not look like she was already in her thirties with a four-year-old son. “Do you want to take a nap? There’s heavy traffic ahead.”Liberty saw a stretch of road highlighted in red on the navigation app, signaling slow traffic. “Aren’t most people on holiday and traveling? Why is the traffic still congested?”Duncan muttered, “Maybe there was a car accident.“I don’t need a nap. I’m energetic now. I won’t be able to fall asleep.”He was extremely excited. “If you think I’m too talkative, you can play some music. We can liste
Since Audrey would take care of Sonny, Liberty and Duncan were in a good mood as they exited the Stones’ residence. Duncan’s bodyguards were to return home instead of following him around. He had Liberty anyway. Besides, it was his and Liberty’s wedding night. They even left Sonny with the Stones, so there was no way he would be letting his bodyguards follow him home. Liberty was the one who drove as Duncan’s legs were still recovering. She would glance at him from time to time. She said, “You’ve been staring at me the entire night. Haven’t you seen enough?“It’s not our first time meeting each other. What’s there to look at?”“You’re beautiful. You’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”Duncan was particularly generous with sweet words that night. To him, his wife was the most beautiful woman in the world. “I can’t get enough of watching you. I controlled myself in Aunt Audrey’s house because I didn’t want her to laugh at me. Now that there’s only the two of us,
Sonny asked Liberty, “Mom, is it okay? I want to stay at Grandaunt’s house for one night. Tomorrow, you can come pick me up and take me to Dad’s house.”After receiving a call from her former mother-in-law, Liberty had already asked Sonny after he woke up that morning if he wanted to stay with the Brown family for a couple of days, to spend time with his grandparents. Tomorrow, she would take him to the Browns.Liberty smiled, “You can stay the night if you want. Tomorrow, I’ll come pick you up and take you to your dad’s house for lunch.”She planned to call Hank soon and let him know that she was not taking Sonny there early in the morning, so the Browns would not have to get up early to wait.Sonny jumped up happily and said to Audrey, “Grandaunt Audrey, my mom agreed! I’m going to stay here tonight and play with Elias."With that, he rushed upstairs. Elias was getting cuter. When he talked to him, the baby would respond with cooing sounds, which was really fun.“Aunt Audrey, I
After a long while, Jessica finally asked, “You have swollen eyes because Liberty is getting remarried? You’ve lost your chance to remarry her.”“Jessica, I’ve never thought about remarrying Liberty. That’s impossible. I’ll wait for you to be released. No matter how many years it takes, I will wait for you,” Hank quickly explained. “It’s true that I’m upset that Liberty is remarried, but it’s mainly because of my son.“In the future, Sonny will call someone else ‘Dad’, and I’m not around him often. I’m afraid that one day, he’ll only end up closer to his other dad and not me, his biological father.”Jessica quietly looked at him for a moment before coldly replied, “If you have time, you should spend more time with Sonny. Even a biological father and son need to nurture their relationship.”“Who did Liberty marry?” Jessica asked. “Is it Duncan Lewis?”“Who else could it be? It’s Duncan. He kept Liberty close, never letting anyone else near her. Whenever any other man got close to L
Why was he crying? He knew the reason deep down but could not bring himself to say it out loud. Instead, he simply slumped over the steering wheel and cried his heart out. After he was done crying, he finally started the car and left the city hall, heading to the prison to visit Jessica.When Jessica saw him, she noticed his eyes were red and swollen. Thinking something bad had happened in his family, she immediately grabbed the phone and asked, “Hank, why are you crying? Your eyes are all swollen. Did something happen to your parents?”She still harbored hatred toward Olivia and Chelsea, hoping something would happen to that mother-daughter pair. Ideally, she wanted the old woman to face judgment in hell.Back when she stabbed Hank and Chelsea came to the rescue, Jessica felt she should have made sure to stab Chelsea to death. It was because of Chelsea’s incitement that she and Hank ended up like this. The two women had torn apart Hank and Liberty’s marriage, and now that Liberty’s
Liberty did not need them to push her husband. She continued to push Duncan toward the car, and only then did the bodyguards help him into the vehicle. Soon, the luxurious car carrying the family of three drove away from the city hall and merged into the street traffic, gradually disappearing into the distance.It was not until the car was out of sight that the car parked not far from the city hall slowly began to move.The driver was Hank.He would not stop Liberty and Duncan from registering their marriage and neither did he have the right nor the standing to do so. He had intended to take customers but had not received any orders, and without any particular destination in mind, he ended up at the city hall by chance, arriving before Liberty and Duncan.However, his car was parked farther away, and many other cars were occupying spaces near the city hall. After the divorce, Liberty no longer paid much attention to him and did not notice that Hank’s car was already there, waiting.
Liberty was his wife now.Sonny was completely confused. He had come here with his mother and Dunc. Everyone here was so friendly and smiled at them as they congratulated Liberty and Duncan. Why, though, did they not congratulate him?“Mom, Dunc is smiling so brightly. What’s so special about that paper? Mom, can I see it?” Sonny asked, looking up at Liberty, curious about what was so interesting about the marriage license that made Dunc smile so widely.Liberty glanced at Duncan and teased him, “Duncan, the corners of your mouth are almost reaching your ears.”“I’m happy. Very happy,” Duncan responded with an even brighter smile.The weather today was cloudy, though occasionally, the sun took a peek while sometimes it became overcast. Still, the power of the sun today certainly could not compare to the beam of Duncan’s smile.Liberty handed the marriage license to Sonny to view.Sonny eagerly took it and started reading it. Some of the words he recognized, but overall, he did n
“That brat is already at that age and still doesn’t think about settling down. Every time we pressure him, he hides away.” When Audrey talked about Anthony, who did not want to get married, she could not help but feel a headache coming. Out of her three children, the one who worried her the most was Anthony.Serenity walked over to Audrey and affectionately linked arms with her, smiling, “Aunt Audrey, you don’t need to worry. Anthony’s a good man. When the right person comes along, he’ll get married.”“Let’s hope so—he’s not young anymore. Children are always a worry, aren’t they? There’s always something to be concerned about. What about Sonny? Why didn’t he come along?” Audrey asked. “Didn’t you come from your sister’s place?” “Sonny went with my sister and Duncan to the city hall. They said they wanted to go as a family of three,” Serenity replied.Audrey laughed, “Duncan doesn’t mind bringing along a little third wheel, huh? Well, that’s fine. They’re going to be a family, aft