Stanley dared not look back, as he had caught a glimpse of how depressed Tia looked when he was on his way out. All it would take was a second of hesitation, and Stanley might change his mind and stay back.'Let it be. Perhaps Cherry could help me out. If Tia cries for me, I will do my best to create a future for the both of us. But if she doesn't, I could only give her my blessings and leave her,' he concluded.After Stanley had vanished from the doorway, June and Lulu's whispering became even louder."Why is Cherry so rude?" Lulu asked."She looked alright the last time we saw her, though. Sheesh, I guess you can never judge a book by its cover," June said with a hint of disapproval."Perhaps they're in their honeymoon phase. People tend to act differently when they're in that phase, you know," Nicole stated calmly, though her gaze went to tell June and Lulu to quit it with the topic.Fortunately, the duo picked up on Nicole's signal almost instantly, and proceeded to change th
"I have no idea," Nicole replied.Shocked, both Lulu and June asked, "How could you not know?""Due to the fact that I've been very busy lately, I haven't had the time to ask about it. Besides, the date isn't even set, so there's no rush," Nicole said calmly.After hearing that, the two women rolled their eyes at Nicole. "There is nothing more important than this.""It's alright. Although we didn't have a wedding, we have been officially married for a long time now," Nicole said.She felt that a wedding would just be purely ceremonial since her situation with Jared was completely distinct from that of Lulu's and June's.Lulu sighed and shook her head, prompting Nicole to chuckle and ask, "What's wrong?"In response, Lulu looked at Nicole with envy and said, "Jared really does spoil you.""Hey, if you phrase it like that, a certain someone might get sad," Nicole teased.Knowing what Nicole meant, Lulu blushed. "I'm not saying Spencer's bad or anything."Lulu was just teasing N
Nicole opened her eyes and slowly sat up. Out of nowhere, Jared grabbed her and kissed right at the temple.Blushing, Nicole playfully frowned at Jared. "Get up already, would you?"With a gentle gaze, Jared planted a kiss on Nicole's forehead before releasing her for her morning shower.Nicole hurried off to the bathroom after she had gotten off the bed.She then calmed herself with a splash of cold water on the face. 'Will that jerk just chill in the morning? His appetite is almost too much for me to handle.'After washing up and preparing to make her way downstairs for breakfast, Nolan and Lana approached Nicole just as she was leaving her room."Mommy," the kids called out.With each of them clinging to Nicole's arms, the kids' faces lit up with delight as they headed to the first floor with their mother."Oh, you're all awake. Let's have breakfast then," Gloria greeted once she had seen them.As they were sitting at the dining table, Nicole noticed Stanley's pale complexi
Nicole chuckled and went on to encourage Lulu. "I sure will. Waiting for your good news.""The banquet is in the evening. Let's head there after lunch," Lulu suggested."I'm fine with that," Nicole agreed, as she was not planning to go on an empty stomach.Events such as these would usually provide wine and finger food instead of proper meals in large quantities."Nice, let's go grab lunch together." Lulu smiled.Nicole nodded and walked into her office, while Lulu returned to hers.Soon, it was lunchtime, and the two met up before heading out together."Ellison Group's annual celebration this year must be exceptionally grand, am I right? I heard many influential figures in San Joto are coming over," Lulu asked.Lulu had been to annual banquets before, but this was her first time attending one considered to be grand and high-budget."It should be." Nicole snorted.Regardless of how elaborate and grand it would be, she still had very little interest in it."Well, with Harvey
"Are these for Mr. Ellison?""Who would send so many flowers to him?"While everyone was busy discussing the flowers, the men carrying the bouquets unexpectedly stopped in front of Nicole and handed them to her.As Nicole could not hold all the flower bouquets on her own, she asked Lulu for help."What's going on?" Lulu whispered.Nicole shook her head, saying, "I have no clue."Then, a thought crossed Nicole's mind. 'Could it be from Harvey? Since everyone is here to congratulate Ellison Group, nobody else would dare to send me flowers on this occasion. Such frivolous extravaganza is something only Harvey would typically do.'"Thank you for coming to our annual celebration, Nicole. Your presence truly graces our celebration, so here is a little token of my appreciation. I hope you like it," Harvey announced as he sauntered into the venue."So it is Harvey's gift to Nicole.""But why did Harvey give Nicole presents?"As expected, the murmurs and whispers among the guests reac
With everything said and done, she turned around and left the crowd of screaming women. 'This is way too scary, even for me.'Nicole turned to look at Harvey after she had thrown the bouquet of flowers to the crowd of hormonal teenage girls, and in a monotonous voice, she said, "Mr. Ellison, I assume that everyone from your family is already here for the annual dinner. Shall we start? It's getting quite late."'I would like to see you try. You have the nerve for tricking me into coming. I'll show you how it's done. I can't believe he had the temerity to waste so many people's time.' Nicole sneered.Harvey smirked and gritted his teeth, trying to maintain his composure before making his way up to the stage to give an opening speech."He's flirting with you in front of so many people. Is he out of his mind?" Lulu asked in hushed whispers with a look of disgust plastered on her face.'I can't believe he really did that in front of everyone here. Come to think of it, I'm really starti
"Don't even bring it up. Harvey Ellison really is a piece of shit! He was up to no good from the very beginning!" Lulu ranted.Patricia frowned, "He really was pushing his luck, wasn't he? And in front of such a huge crowd too. He really wasn't afraid of any backlash, it seems.""I'd rather think that he's simply too thick skinned to be bothered by any sort of significant backlash," Lulu grumbled as a grimace crossed her face.Patricia nodded in agreement, "Fair point."As Lulu did not expect Patricia to nod along to her angry rants, she busted out into fits of laughter as she maintained her stare on Patricia's expression. Patricia, on the other hand, looked serious and unamused.Patricia then turned to Nicole, "Ms. Riddle, I would advise you to avoid any further interaction with Mr. Ellison in the future.""Don't worry about that, Patricia. I will make sure that he will be avoiding Nicole in every way possible," Lulu said with a smug smile plastered on her face.However, what s
Nicole sat there in silence as she pondered to herself, 'If Everett is coming back and Lawrence is already here...I wonder...were the both of them hiding abroad together and are now coming back one by one here to crack the code for the Water Crest?'But if cracking the code for the Water Crest is a piece of cake, why did it take Lawrence this much time?' she wondered. 'But if the Water Crest isn't the reason, what could have gotten Everett to come back so hastily?'Three days later, time passed in a blink of an eye, and Damien was still keeping his whereabouts under wraps. He had only kept his chef around, and had made no movements that could rouse the suspicion of those who were watching him.Patricia furrowed her brows, as worry glinted in her eyes. "He isn't plotting some kind of grand revenge plan at home, is he?"Nicole nodded. "It's a possibility we can't rule out so easily."'Something must be terribly wrong. How can he be so silent and subdued?' Nicole wondered."We could