"Ms. Riddle," Patricia greeted politely."There's no need for you to be so formal with me. Since you'll be working with me from now on, it'll be more casual," said Nicole. She pointed to the pile of documents on her desk."Are these doable for you?" asked Nicole.Patricia nodded. "Yeah."Nicole quickly filtered out the documents and workload for Patricia before handing it over to her. "Great. This is for you.""Thank you," Patricia said as she took the documents in her hand and started going through it by Nicole's desk.Nicole pointed to the coffee table in her office. "You can go and sit over there to work. I'm glad you're here. Lulu's going to be on leave soon for her wedding and honeymoon. I really needed the extra hand."'With Patricia here, my workload will surely be lighter,' she thought to herself."Ms. Riddle, if there's anything you need me to do, you can leave it to me," said Patricia.Nicole chuckled and smiled. "If you keep acting like this, I'll think you're a rob
"It's okay." Lawrence did not show any disappointment. He just glanced at Nicole and said, "Since that's the case, how about having dinner together?""No need to trouble yourself. Mr. Johnston is on his way to pick up his wife now," Patricia said. She stood by Nicole's side with a cold and indifferent expression.Lawrence glanced at Patricia with dark eyes. He had a strong feeling that Patricia was not someone to be messed with.Patricia's presence, next to Nicole, was nonexistent when she remained silent earlier. But it was the complete opposite when she started speaking."This is..." Lawrence pretended to be somewhat puzzled."My assistant." Nicole kept it vague.Lawrence's gaze darkened. "Isn't Lulu your assistant?""Lulu has been busy lately, and she's going on her honeymoon soon, so I hired a new one," Nicole explained with a smile, coming up with a convincing reason.Hearing this, Lawrence did not press further and simply smiled. "Well, too bad then.""Let's do it anothe
"Not yet." Gloria glanced at the time and said, "They should be back soon.""Okay." Nicole and Jared sat down, waiting for the children to return.Meanwhile, Tia had picked up Nolan and Lana, and they were already on their way home.In the car, Lana leaned against Tia and looked at her with innocent eyes. "Aunt Tia, do you know that Uncle Samuel is going on a blind date?"Tia's expression froze for a moment before she replied, "I heard.""It's great, right? Mr. Samuel should indeed find a girlfriend." Lana paused for a moment before adding. Lana could not help but sigh inwardly. 'Why did it seem like Aunt Tia didn't really care? Could we have misunderstood something?'She turned to look at Nolan and whispered, "Nolan, could we be mistaken?""Whether we're mistaken or not, we'll find out later," Nolan insisted. Since they had already made up their minds, they had to know the final result to avoid any regrets."Okay." Lana nodded in agreement."Aunt Tia, do you have time this we
After glancing at the time, Nicole said, "Sure."Once Tia left, Nicole pinched Lana's little cheek and smiled meaningfully."Mommy, shouldn't you have dinner by now? We'll go upstairs first," Nolan said as he beckoned to his sister. Then, they went upstairs.Nicole smiled gently as she watched them."Come on, it's time for dinner." Daniel emerged from his study and called everyone to eat.Nicole looked around and noticed that no one else was home. "They're not coming back?""Yeah, Stanley said he has work, and Samuel and Spencer probably went on a date," Gloria explained.As they sat down in the dining room, the atmosphere at home felt a bit desolate with so few people.Daniel looked around and said, "We'll have to get used to days like this from now on."Then, he turned to Nicole and added, "Once you all get married, it might just be your mother and I eating together in this house.""Well, it is a bit quieter, but I still hope they all get married soon," Gloria said. "Come o
"Mommy, hurry up! Aunt Tia is waiting for us," Nolan urged."Alright, let's go."Once they left the house, Tia was already waiting for them. She immediately greeted them as they approached.After getting into the car together, Lana seemed somewhat excited, taking in everything on the street as if it were all new to her."Mommy, are we there yet?" Lana looked outside, seemingly unable to contain her excitement."We're almost there," Tia replied, glancing outside.Nicole gave Tia a quick look and then shifted her gaze to Lana. Lana's gaze returned to the car window as if nothing had happened.Nicole smiled ever so slightly. She obviously realized Nolan and Lana's intentions. Stanley had a blind date today, and the kids insisted on going shopping, requesting to bring Tia along. She could imagine that they would definitely run into Stanley later.Sure enough, when Nolan and Lana got tired, they suggested going to a cafe for pastries.They deliberately chose a shopping area that wa
After sitting alone at the table for a while, the girl got up and bid farewell to them. "You're Stanley's sisters and nephews, right?""Yes. Hello," Nicole politely responded."I have to leave now. Hopefully, we'll meet again someday," the girl said with forced composure."Bye," Nicole replied with a faint smile, nodding in acknowledgment.Perhaps they would meet again in the future, but her relationship with Samuel would likely not progress any further.The girl turned and walked away, appearing rather disappointed."Mommy, can we leave now?" Their mission was accomplished, so Nolan and Lana had lost interest in shopping.They had never been fond of shopping to begin with. Everything they did was for Stanley and Tia. Now that there was nothing left to do, they obviously wanted to return home. Going home to enjoy the air conditioning and some watermelon in this hot weather sounded much more appealing."We're leaving now?" Tia was a bit surprised to be heading home so soon."Ye
"Of course it's a no." Lana seized the opportunity and continued, "Great-grandma, I think Uncle Samuel doesn't like blind dates, so maybe you shouldn't arrange any more for him.""I think if he's not satisfied, we should arrange another one until he is. Otherwise, all our previous efforts will be in vain." Nolan shook his little head like a grown man.Lana furrowed her small brows, looking displeased at Nolan as if she were saying, "What are you doing?! Why are you on the other side?"Gloria pondered and responded, "You're right. Maybe this one just didn't click with Stanley. I believe there's someone out there meant for him."With that, Gloria busied herself to arrange the next blind date.Lana pulled Nolan away and said in a lowered voice, "Nolan, why aren't you helping Aunt Tia?""I am," Nolan said with a meaningful look. "I'm just trying to help. That's why I said that.""Is this your idea of helping?" Lana did not quite understand.Nolan gave her a look that seemed to say,
"No idea. I just found it strange, so I thought I'd tell you." Lulu shook her head.Recently, Nicole would not let Lulu do anything as she was getting married soon. Lulu had overheard this information by chance and had come back to inform Nicole."I'll arrange for someone to investigate," said Patricia.Nicole nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea."It was indeed strange for Chloe to seek out Martin. While Martin was a medical professor, his expertise was primarily in neurology. He might not be of much help regarding Chloe's paralysis.It was necessary to investigate and gather information as she still had to keep her guard up against their family because of Everett.Lulu felt relieved after Nicole had taken notice. "Please look into it carefully."As long as they could find out the truth, whether it was useful to Nicole or not, it would still be beneficial to her.After seeing that there were no further matters to discuss, Patricia left. "Miss Nicole, I'll take my leave now."Lean