Before Serenity got off work, she asked Clara, the restaurant owner, "Could I take half a day off tomorrow, Clare? I'd like to visit my mother's grave."Although it was Memorial Day tomorrow which was, in fact, a national holiday, the restaurant would still be open, and it would definitely be even busier tomorrow since many people would have a lot of free time. The restaurant even stayed open during festive seasons as well.Clara was a little taken aback. She never knew that Serenity's mother had already passed away, so she told her, "Okay, no problem. You can get the kitchen to prepare some dishes for you to take to your mother's grave before you leave tomorrow.""It's fine," Serenity replied, "Thanks. I'm going to prepare the food myself."She really looked forward to preparing some food to take with her to her mother's grave. She had been very young when her mother died, but now, she was all grown up, and she even knew how to cook. She wished to let her mother see that."I'm le
Once Serenity had put all the groceries in the fridge, she turned around and discovered that Jackson had been leaning against the kitchen door and staring at her, seemingly with his mind full of thoughts.She turned away disconcertedly, trying to evade his eye contact, but as she walked out of the kitchen, there was simply no way for her to avoid him. He grabbed her arm and said, "You haven't said good night to me yet."She was startled, but then quickly said, "Good night."He stared at her and suddenly smiled, saying, "Your good night wishes are starting to sound more and more forced and hollow, Sis.""..."Serenity's chest tightened, unable to find the right way to respond to him."Someone suggested," Jackson said, "that if I want to make you like me, I should try to please you."He then bent down so that his eyes were on the same level as hers, and he added, "What do you think? Would you really like me if I tried to please you?"Serenity almost bit her tongue as her eyes wid
"Have you forgotten what happened to your father in the end?" asked Zack, back to singing his old tune."I'll never forget about that," replied Jackson, "and as I've told you before, I will never repeat my father's mistakes.""If that's true," his grandpa snapped angrily, "You should kick that woman out of Valor Residence now and never let her back into your life ever again!""I'm afraid I can't do that," said Jackson, his eyes dark and gloomy. The second he heard what his grandpa said, his heart tightened suddenly, as if he instinctively rejected the notion right away, so much so that he was not even willing to think about it."You–" Zack almost choked on his breath as he glared at his grandson."I'll never repeat the same mistake my father made, Grandpa, so trust me when I say that I'll have everything under control. I'll make sure that Serenity gets used to my existence to the point where she won't be able to leave me."Jackson then smiled, but there was no mirth in his eyes,
It was usually a difficult journey to the graveyard, not to mention a time-consuming one. In fact, even the grave was cracked in many places, and fixing it would require a big undertaking, so Serenity felt that it would be much better to just move her mother's grave to a proper cemetery.Alas, just as she was planning to do so, she had been thrown into prison and forced to abandon the idea temporarily. When she was finally released, she found herself penniless. She could not afford to pay the workers to relocate her mother's grave, much less buy a spot in a cemetery.As she walked to the foot of the hill, she saw the graveyard administrator working the registration in the shed that was set up there. There were many people who had gotten there earlier queueing up to register one after another.Serenity joined the queue, and when she got to the front to register her mother's grave number, the administrator noticed it and quickly asked, "What are you doing here? This grave has been mov
A neighbor then told her that her father and stepmother had gone on a vacation and were not at home. As for Aria, the neighbor said she very rarely ever came here after having bought a big house somewhere else and had been basically living there. Hearing this, Serenity started to worry if they had done this on purpose. They must have known that she would visit her mother's grave today, so they made sure not to be home.10 million dollars! When she thought of her father's demand, her whole body went numb all over. How could she possibly find 10 million dollars to give him in her current state?!After saying goodbye to the neighbor, Serenity quickly called Aria."Where are you?" she asked her sister. "I need to talk to you.""I'm sorry," replied Aria in a voice tinged with cold contempt from the other end of the line, "but I'm really busy right now.""Then let me just ask you," Serenity responded, "where has Dad moved my mother's grave to?""I don't know anything about that," ans
Suddenly, a pair of beautiful lips with no lipstick applied flashed through his mind. Those rosy pink lips had a natural appearance, and he felt it was the most suitable color. “Wipe it off,” said Lucas. “Huh?” His words were so sudden that Aria failed to react in time.“I said, wipe off your lipstick.” Aria was left dumbfounded. They were on the way to the banquet. She had deliberately dressed up today because of the event. If she removed her lipstick, her makeup would be ruined. Not only would she not stand out from the rest, but she was afraid that others might start laughing at her. “Now? But we’re almost there…” “Now,” interrupted Lucas impatiently. Aria noticed the displeasure in his gaze, but she didn’t want to risk angering him. She bit her lip as she pulled out a napkin which she used to wipe off her lipstick. Lucas then pulled out a silver bracelet from his pocket. He glanced down at it with unprecedentedly gentle eyes while stroking it with his fingertips, as
Jackson knew that she was afraid of the dark. She had the habit of leaving the lights on even when she slept. There was a period of time when she was renting her own place. At the time, she could sleep with the lights off, but she seemed to have reverted to her old habit of sleeping with the lights on. Jackson frowned at the possibility that she wasn’t in her room. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard a muffled sound coming from within. So she was in her room the whole time! He paused in his tracks and reached for the light switch in the dark. The room was engulfed in brightness the moment the lights were switched on. Immediately, he noticed a slender figure curled up in the corner of the room. She buried her face in her knees, and her shoulders twitched as she sobbed silently. Was she crying?Jackson’s eyes narrowed instantly. He approached her and knelt down next to her. “What’s wrong? What happened?” His voice made her freeze up momentarily. Then, she slow
“I know,” replied Serenity through her sobbing. Now that things had come to this, she had no idea what other method she could use to acquire fifty million dollars. Jackson smiled at her. “I’m not gonna pay you,” he said. Serenity froze up immediately. All of a sudden, she felt like a deflated balloon as the last glimmer of hope faded from her eyes. Of course, he wasn’t going to pay her. What made her think that he would fork out such an outrageous sum of money just because she promised to stay with him?Serenity laughed at how pathetic she was. Did she really think that his interest in her was worth that much money? She silently lowered her head, and her grip on his hand gradually loosened. Jackson gazed at her silently. After a while, he stood up and said, “Sis, I think you should get a proper rest first. I’ll get the servants to prepare some food for you. After that, you should go get some sleep.” After telling her that, he got up and left the room. That left Serenity alo