Serenity fastened the seat belt. She watched in disbelief as Jackson drove the car out of the Valor Residence. Earlier, the person on the phone had informed Jackson of the place where Terry White had headed after taking Lisa away. Jackson was clearly driving in that direction.Was Jackson... Was he taking her there?Jackson's face was livid. His tightly pursed lips and darkened eyes clearly showed his displeasure.Serenity kept staring, wanting to say something, but then she stopped and said nothing. She feared making him angrier, which would make things worst.At the moment, finding Lisa and figuring out what was going on was the top priority.Serenity figured that she could wait until Jackson was less angry and then thank him. When the car arrived at Crescent Bay, the security guards stopped them."Send Terry White a message. Tell him Jackson Valor wants to see him. Ask him if he'll come or not." Jackson was straight to the point.The security guards were clearly astonished
Was that even a question? Of course Lisa was anxious, particularly when she was unsure when Terry would let her go."I don't want to make my friend and parents worried," Lisa said.What Lisa said seemed to have triggered Terry. His eyes turned cold, his smile ice-cold."You don't want to make them worried, but did you ever think about me when you left me before? Whether I would be worried?"A look of guilt flashed across her face. "I... Well, it was an emergency...""Emergency?" Terry snorted. "By emergency, do you mean running home to help your friend in the lawsuit? You didn't even tell me anything and returned to your country. Were you just playing games with me?"Lisa knew she was in the wrong for ditching Terry. Lisa had been traveling abroad to see her future school and had met Terry during her trip. Lisa did not think about what would happen between the two. They had met as fellow countrymen in a foreign country and had then gotten together naturally.Terry would take L
Lisa felt guilty as she recalled that night again.Lisa blamed it on her excitement that night. She had been in high spirits and had been unable to control her drinking. She thought having some fruit wine would be fine, but she had ended up so drunk and turned everything into a mess. Sure enough, her drunkenness soon led to mistakes.Unfortunately, Lisa had woken up and remembered everything she had done while drunk. She remembered how she had forced herself on Terry and told him countless sweet words.Lisa even recalled the sweet words afterward. She found them very similar to the sweet words men would say to women in TV shows. Some of the lines she had said were taken from the TV series she had been watching. In conclusion, too many romantic shows were simply unhealthy. She had ended up saying all sorts of sweet words she learned by watching too many shows while drunk.Surprisingly, lady luck had been smiling upon her, and the sweet words worked! She had thought a handsome man li
"I don't know him." Still, Lisa could guess why Jackson had come to her. It probably had something to do with Serenity."If you don't know him well, why would he come to you like this at night?" Terry's voice was ice-cold. "Would he treat another woman like this? You didn't look for me all these years because of him?!"There was an imperceptible hint of jealousy in his voice.Lisa felt speechless. Oh, please! That was only possible if Jackson had taken a liking to her, but the truth was that Jackson had his eyes on Serenity!"It's not about him. I just didn't think to look for you," Lisa clarified. When she returned home, so many things had happened that she had no time to think about anything else.Besides, Lisa only thought of their encounter as a vacation fling. She regarded their night as an accident. She even planned to keep this secret forever and never told her parents and Serenity anything.Terry was clearly indignant at her reply. He pressed his thin lips together and sh
"You must be Serenity Lewis." Terry's statement was not a question but an affirmation. When Terry happened to see Lisa on the street that day, he had begun to investigate everything about her.Serenity's information was naturally among the information he found.Serenity Lewis, Lisa's best friend. Three years ago, Lisa had suddenly returned home to help Serenity fight the lawsuit. She had taken the earliest flight back and spared no effort to help Serenity find a lawyer and gather evidence.In other words, Serenity was the reason why Lisa had left him so suddenly and quickly.Terry felt somewhat uncomfortable at that thought.If Serenity was a man, Terry would have treated her as a love rival."Yes. That's me." Serenity raised her chin."You shouldn't meddle in our affairs. It's best to leave us alone. I never show mercy to women," Terry warned icily.Lisa got anxious. "Terry! Don't drag my friend into our business!"Terry felt the sting of her reaction seeing Lisa getting an
Terry pulled out a crumpled and yellowed piece of paper from his pocket. The words "I'm sorry, I'm leaving." were written on the paper.Lisa had left this behind back then. He had been carrying it with him all these years.Terry had had several episodes of anger where he had crumpled the paper into a ball and thrown it in the trash, but after that, he would rummage through the trash can and retrieve it again.The note Lisa had left behind was like a thorn in his heart. He could not remove the thorn and was even more reluctant to pull it out.The note was the only thing she had left behind for him. If he lost this, he would have nothing left of her.'But, it's all right now...' He had finally found her!"Lisa... Lisa..." Terry murmured her name repeatedly and pressed a kiss on the piece of paper in his hand. He seemed to have missed her dearly.***Lisa followed Serenity into Jackson's car and said to the two, "Thank you."Jackson replied indifferently, "I'll send you home. Whe
Could someone like Jackson really ever find himself in danger? If that happened, the threat would be beyond Serenity's means. Whether she got on her knees to beg would not matter.She could get on her knees and beg until she broke her legs, but it would not benefit a man like him.The light in his eyes dimmed at her silence. He was silent as he restarted the engine and drove away.At this moment, Serenity found the stinging silence in the car unusually oppressive.***Serenity went to see Lisa the next day. The two met up and got a table in a restaurant near Lisa's house.Seeing Lisa's swollen eyes, Serenity reckoned Lisa had probably not slept well last night."What happened after you got home yesterday?" Serenity asked."Don't even talk about it. My parents were starting to prepare a ransom amount. They almost punished me when they saw me back," Lisa grumbled.Serenity looked puzzled. "What? You didn't tell them about Terry?""Uh... I told them a friend I hadn't seen in a w
"Can you deal with him? If you can't, just tell me. I..." Serenity started to speak, but Lisa interrupted her before she could finish."Serenity, you were a huge help to me yesterday. Jackson wouldn't have come to get me if not for you. Regardless, I did cause Terry some problems. At the worst, I'll let him take it out on me."Lisa made it sound easy, but Serenity was still a little worried. Would it really be that simple?"Hey, don't worry. I left Terry without saying goodbye, but I didn't do anything bad. It's not a grudge either. It's just... Well, it was a one-night affair. I hope he won't be too harsh on me," Lisa reassured.Lisa did not want Serenity to worry about her. She knew Serenity was already having a hard time just staying by Jackson's side."But if you have any trouble, tell me!" Serenity insisted, "I may not be able to help much, but... I can beg for Jackson's help. He might help."Serenity sounded embarrassed and depressed when she talked about begging Jackson.
“……” 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