Lisa was flabbergasted. She never expected to hear the voice of a man answering the phone, especially when it sounded like..."Are you... Jackson Valor?""Yes," was the short reply she got before the call was swiftly ended.Lisa stared at the phone in her hand and was in a daze for a few seconds before she came back to her senses. If Serenity was already asleep... Why had Jackson answered her phone?! Did that mean that he was by her side?And if she was not at her place, where else would she be staying right now?!Lisa's gaze shifted from the phone to the door to Serenity's rented room, which was closed shut. Could it be that... she was staying with Jackson Valor?!Could something so outlandish even be possible?Meanwhile, Jackson put Serenity's phone away and very carefully carried the woman who was sleeping in his arms out of the car. Worried that she might get cold on the way, he took off his coat and laid it over her body to keep her warm.All the servants who saw them alon
No... No!Give her back her mother! Give her back her little brother!She desperately tried to shout, but no sound escaped her throat. Just then, the sound of a bell rang, pulling her out of the nightmare...Serenity slowly opened her eyes, only to hear an alluring voice ask her, "Are you awake?"Her eyes, still disoriented by slumber, were greeted with a strikingly handsome face with shimmering eyes that shone with indescribable tenderness."Yeah..." she answered blankly, still half-asleep. It was as if the world of her dreams and reality intermingled with each other, overwhelming her mind."Answer the phone, then," he said, then held up the phone to her ear.Serenity listened vacantly to the phone, then suddenly heard a familiar voice from the other end of the line asking her, "Serenity? Is that you? Are you awake?"The voice jolted her awake, and she instantly came to her senses."Lisa!""Yes, it's me! Where are you right now? Are you staying with Jackson Valor? I called
She spoke almost hysterically. That photo album contained the most cherished memories in her life, after all.Jackson frowned without him realizing it as he asked her, "Were you going to throw your life away just for that photo album? You were lucky yesterday because only your fingers were blistered, and they were not that serious, but what if the flames had consumed more parts of your body?""But that photo album is very important to me!" she insisted."More important than your own two hands?" he countered, his voice deepening. "Were you really going to sacrifice your hands just to protect that photo album?"Serenity took a deep breath and said, "It's important enough to me that I'd protect it without any hesitation, even if it means sacrificing my hands."To her, this was not just an empty wish, but it was her conviction and resolve, because the album contained the memory of the purest and most genuine love she had ever received, and it was also the happiest period in her life.
"No one will fire you," he assured her with full confidence. "Just rest and let your fingers heal. Besides, what do you think you can do at work when you can't even pick anything up with your hands? How are you going to sweep the streets?"Serenity hung her head low and fell silent. At the moment, with her hands like this, she truly could not do anything at all."Just let your hands heal," said Jackson, "and you can do anything you like after that."Then, he looked like he suddenly thought of something and asked her, "Are you going to meet Lisa this evening? Why don't you change the date and wait for your hands to get better?"Anyone who knew Jackson Valor would have been shocked to hear what he had just said. The most mysterious and unfathomable man in Solaria certainly never showed such a level of concern for a woman whose hands were injured!If it had been anyone else, they could stand before him covered in blood and on the brink of death and he still would show no sign of pity
Serenity looked so small in the photographs. Her cheeks looked chubby with baby fat. Her hair was thick, luscious, and black. She was such an adorable and cherubic child.Jackson never knew that he would ever be so fascinated by a little girl before, yet at that moment, as he was looking at the tiny toddler in the photo, a peculiar love grew from the bottom of his heart. In fact, he even had a feeling that if the girl in the picture would appear in front of him right now, he would not be able to stop himself from hugging and kissing her.Was it just because the little girl was Serenity? Was that the reason why he thought the girl was so cute? In any case, he had never felt this way about any other child.Jackson continued to pull out each photograph carefully one by one. It started with photos of Serenity and her mother, but afterward, there were mostly photos of Serenity alone. She looked slightly older in these photos than she did in the photos with her mother. She was probably ab
"Sick? You got sick?" He suddenly sounded nervous."It was just a fever. It lasted a few days and made my mind blurry. But after I recovered, I was still as lively as ever. Unfortunately, the dress was gone," she said regretfully. However, her Granny later secretly promised her that if she managed to get the best grades in her class in the final exams, she would buy Serenity another beautiful dress.But when Serenity managed to do that, she had to leave her Granny to go back to her father.Before she left, her Granny secretly slipped a new dress into her luggage.While Serenity was lost in thought, a large hand suddenly reached over and touched her forehead. Serenity looked at Jackson in surprise. "I... I don't have a fever right now.""I know," he said softly, "From now on, I'll buy you any dress that you want."His words made her heart tremble, "I'm not a kid anymore. I'm no longer interested in dresses." She bit her lip and quickly lowered her eyes.The longer she looked at h
The problem was, someone like him must have seen a lot of cute people. Was she really so cute when she was little that he must have that photo?However, she did not have time to think too much about it because she had to go meet Lisa.Jackson asked his driver to take her there.She knew from past experiences that protesting was futile. When he had decided on something, there would not be much room for negotiation.Serenity got in the car and told the driver her destination.And so, she arrived half an hour earlier than intended.Serenity went into a fast food restaurant, found a seat, ordered a drink which cost a dollar, and sent a text to Lisa.While waiting for her friend, she looked idly at the delivery riders who were dashing in and out of the restaurant.Deliveries... Serenity was intrigued. Her driving license had been revoked, but that did not mean she could not ride an electric scooter. She would also be paid according to how much labor she put in. Although the base sal
"Are your hands okay?" Lisa asked with concern."They're fine," replied Serenity, "The injury looks worse than it is because of the bandages. My hands barely hurt anymore. I can hold things just fine."Lisa heaved a sigh of relief.The two girls chatted as they ate. Lisa finally explained to Serenity what she meant when she said she found a witness. Lisa's co-worker shared a video in their work chat group in which Lisa saw one of the witnesses from Serenity’s case.The man recently got married to a relative of one of Lisa's co-workers. He was currently living in San Marco.Lisa pretended to casually ask her co-worker for his name. Unfortunately, her co-worker did not know. She did say that his surname was York, though."York" was not a very common surname, so Lisa was pretty sure it was not a mistake.But just in case, Lisa showed Serenity the video.It was a video of a pair of newlyweds being teased. The scene was joyful and filled with laughter. Serenity eyes were fixated on
“……” Morgan suddenly found himself unable to retort. She... wasn't wrong. “But when you play house, you can pretend to be parents with one person today and another person tomorrow. Real marriage is different; you can’t choose someone else.”Renee widened her eyes, listening intently.“The only person you can choose is me. Do you understand, Renee?” he continued.She nodded vigorously. “I understand!”“Do you really?” Morgan asked, a little skeptical. He was already fifteen, so he could grasp the concept of marriage, but she was only eight. Could she truly comprehend it?“So, in the future, I can only marry Morgan and be your bride, right? I can't be someone else's bride, right?” she asked. “I don’t want to marry other boys anyway. I like you the most, Morgan. Of course I’ll only be your bride!” she happily declared, her worries fading away.So she could be Morgan's bride when she grew up! That's great!After finishing another piece of snack, Renee thought of something. She put o
Despite her unease, she couldn’t resist when she saw the sweet desserts. She indulged herself.However, as she ate, her eyes remained fixed on Morgan, clearly still waiting for him to clarify Lucy’s claims.“You want to know if you’re a child bride, right?” Morgan began.Renee nodded.“Do you know what a child bride is?” he asked.She blinked. She had a vague idea, but not enough for her to articulate it.“To put it simply, a child bride is a girl raised by a boy's family. The girl will marry the boy when she comes of age. In the old days, some families were too poor to raise their daughters, so they would sell their daughters to become child brides for richer families,” Morgan explained.Renee blinked. “But my parents aren’t poor, and I'm raised by them, not by other people. That means I’m not a child bride, right?”“Correct, you are not,” Morgan affirmed.She breathed a sigh of relief, and a bright smile spread across her face. “I knew it! My parents would never sell me! The
"Morgan!" Renee turned to Morgan, unease etched on her face."The Moon family, eh? I'll remember this," Morgan replied calmly, then lowered his head to meet Renee's anxious and confused face. "Let's go, Renee. I’ll tell you what you want to know later."He led her away holding her hand.Benson looked worried. "Miss Lucy, how could you say that?""It's the truth!" Lucy shook off her fear and spoke defiantly. "Daddy and Mommy said she’s a child bride. A child bride is a girl sold by her own parents!""But the White family is not like that. Those things only happened to daughters of poor families in the old days," Benson explained. "You really shouldn’t have said that, Miss Lucy. You shouldn’t do that again.""Why do I have to listen to you?" Lucy retorted, displeased.Benson was too ashamed to tell Lucy in front of others that the Moon family simply couldn’t afford to offend Morgan. Dealing with the White family was already a headache, and Morgan's background was even more formi
Benson and Lucy were also dumbfounded. Benson started getting anxious. He felt like things were starting to unfold in ways that he did not expect."Mr. Grimes, I..." Benson stepped forward, intending to speak to Mr. Grimes.However, Mr. Grimes moved past Benson without so much as a glance at him. He went up to Morgan and said, "Master Morgan, I apologize for the oversight!"Everyone was stunned to hear that, including the security guards who had been called over. They were secretly relieved they hadn't forcibly removed anyone yet. If they had offended someone Mr. Grimes was showing so much respect to, it would have been really bad for them!Morgan regarded Mr. Grimes with an unreadable expression. He calmly recounted the situation to Mr. Grimes.After hearing about what happened, Mr. Grimes responded, "This set of stamps was not pre-ordered. If you like it, please take it. Feel free to take anything else in the exhibition that catches your eye."This declaration shocked every
"Who are you?!" Benson exclaimed, astonished. The mysterious figure remained silent, simply looking at Morgan.Morgan calmly reiterated to Benson, "I said, wait for Mr. Grimes." He then pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "I'm Morgan Wood. Please have Mr. Grimes from Lazy Cat Culture come to the Sleepy Cat Exhibition in Solaria. He should be in the area, right?"After ending the call, the person on the other end stared at the phone in disbelief.The Sleepy Cat Exhibition? What's going on?Benson, Lucy, and the staff stared at Morgan in shock, but the look in their eyes quickly turned to ridicule."Ah, a young man's naive bravado – how impudent!" Benson scoffed."Sir, please don't cause trouble," the staff member warned. "Or I'll have to call security."Morgan simply lowered his head to say to Renee, "Looks like we'll be here for a while. If you're bored, I can ask someone to walk around with you."Renee shook her head. "Morgan, what if this stamp set has really been p
Benson's words were not only meant to exert pressure on the staff, but also to inform him that they were on the same side.As expected, when the staff heard what he said, there was an instant change in his expression. He turned to Morgan and Renee and said, "I'm sorry, but it turns out this stamp set has already been pre-ordered by this customer."Morgan saw through the so-called pre-order as nothing more than an act. "When I asked you to wrap it up earlier, I didn’t hear you mention it was pre-ordered.""We forgot to mention that. Our apologies," the staff replied.Lucy, wearing a smug expression, raised her chin at Renee, causing Renee to puff out her cheeks in frustration.Benson calmly observed Morgan and Renee. The White family's White Maple Group had numerous overlapping businesses with the Moon Group. They were often competing with each other. Originally, the White Maple Group’s business activities weren't concentrated in Solaria, so even though there was competition wi
But before Morgan had even finished speaking, a girl's voice piped up, "I want this stamp set!"He turned to the voice and, upon seeing who it was, narrowed his eyes slightly. It was Lucy Moon, the girl Renee mentioned earlier. At the sight of Lucy, Renee immediately reacted like an angry little kitten. "Lucy Moon, why do you always try to take my stuff away?""Your stuff? How is this your stuff? You haven't paid yet!" Lucy shot back, her eyes fixed on Morgan.Morgan was well-known in their class, admired by many girls who claimed he was even more handsome than movie stars. If only Lucy had a big brother like that! She would be the envy of all the girls in class... no, all the girls in school!Unfortunately, her own big brother was not as good-looking.Last time, Lucy had tried to give Renee Sleepy Cat toys, asking for Morgan's email address in return. However, Renee accepted gifts from everyone but her, which infuriated Lucy."But if you want, I can give this stamp set to Re
Unlike many wealthy kids, Renee was quite restrained with her spending. She had never spent recklessly and often saved leftover money. Of course, when she wanted something beyond her budget, she would act cute and ask her Daddy or Morgan to buy it for her.Lisa was the least susceptible to her charms, so Renee didn’t dare to bother her!When they arrived at the exhibition, Renee’s eyes sparkled with excitement. There were so many adorable Sleepy Cat merchandise! They're all so cute! She wanted a lot of them, but realizing her limited budget, she knew she needed a sponsor! The best one was right beside her: Morgan!"Morgan," she said, flashing him a super bright smile.Seeing her like this, Morgan immediately knew she wanted to ask him for something. "What is it? Do you want me to buy you Sleepy Cat merchandise?""You’re so smart, Morgan! No wonder so many girls in our class like you and asked me for your phone number!" Renee praised him.As soon as she mentioned it, Morgan'
"Okay," Renee replied obediently, snuggling up to Morgan and acting cute. "Take me to the exhibition, Morgan! I know you’re the best. You’ll definitely take me, right?"Morgan pursed his lips. At 15, he was no longer a little boy. Although Renee was only 8, she was his destined wife.He had been protecting her since the day she was born. At first, he thought that he would only marry her because according to the family prophecy, she was the one most suitable for him. Over the years, however, he realized that his feelings for her ran deeper than he had initially thought.He found himself wanting to help her fulfill her wishes, and would clean up the mess when she caused trouble. Things had become different from what he had expected, but he welcomed them. He felt grateful that she was the one who was destined for him!With her by his side for the rest of his life, he would never feel lonely."Will you get into fights again?" Morgan asked."No more fighting, I promise!" Renee quickly