After a while, the car stopped, indicating that they had already arrived at the entrance of the preschool."You're here." Lawrence's voice greeted, surprising both Nicole and the rest of her family."Godpa!" Nolan and Lana exclaimed in surprise, though they did not run up to him as they had done before."Why are you here?" Nicole asked, finding it weird that Lawrence had shown up.Lawrence shrugged. "I really wanted to participate in the kids' events, so I wanted to give it a try, even though I didn't receive any invitation cards from the school.""There are no invitation cards for this activity, as it's only for the parents of the students here," Nicole explained, as a sense of awkwardness loomed over her.She had not sent him an invitation, for there never was one to begin with."I know, so I came here to ask you about this. A godfather should qualify, right?" Lawrence confidently asked.To Lawrence, being a godfather was pretty much the closest thing to being a parent, and s
"Mummy! Daddy!" All of the kids cheered, and gave the flowers they had to their parents.All of the other children had two flowers each, with the exception of Nolan and Lana, who had three flowers instead. After they had gifted the flowers to Jared and Nicole, they each gave Lawrence one, shocking him."Thank you, Godpa," Nolan and Lana said, and hugged him,Lawrence had a conflicted look on his face as he embraced the two little ones.He gently patted the kids on their backs and thanked them, "I'm the one who should be thanking you."As the performance continued, Lawrence sat there absentminded and lost in thought."Leo?" Nicole called out upon noticing how unusual he looked."I'll get going first. I've got a few things to settle. Do inform the kids about my departure," Lawrence requested, and hurried out of the venue.Safe to say, Lawrence's sudden departure left a strange feeling in Nicole's stomach. 'Lawrence seemed to have some kind of motive for coming here today. He wasn
"Well, of course you can," Nicole promised.Hearing Nicole's promise, Nolan added, "What about some ice cream?""You can have that too," Nicole agreed.Then, she turned to Max and ordered, "Let's go to a hamburger restaurant.""Sure thing," Max replied, and drove them to the nearest highway. As soon as he spotted a hamburger joint, he pulled up in front of it.The family got out of the car, entered the restaurant, and ordered two sets of hamburger and ice cream, which the kids enjoyed. As for the couple, they had only bought some fresh fruit juice for themselves.While sipping on her glass of apple juice, Nicole caught sight of two peculiar figures near their car. 'Wait, what's up with that?'Nicole was perplexed at the sight of Cherry locking hands with a man, both of whom were smiling from ear to ear. As the news from this morning was still fresh in her mind, she could not help but wonder what was going on."What are you looking at?" Jared asked, noticing Nicole's fixation on
With a plop, the pasta fell back onto the plate as Nicole snapped back to reality."Don't get nervous. You'll get to decide the time," Jared teased with a smile.Nicole blushed in embarrassment. "I'm not nervous. It's just that it felt so sudden."Jared had never mentioned the wedding preparations to Nicole, who thought it was still in the process. Thus, she was rather shocked to be informed that everything was ready."Everything has been ready for a while now," Jared said softly.Nicole lightly bit her lip, realizing that Jared had indeed waited on her for quite a while. Due to their current circumstances, it would not be wise for them to carry the wedding ceremony out. They had yet to neutralize Lawrence and Everett, and now, the sudden emergence of the Eastern Falcon had only added to their laundry list of threats to be dealt with.All of these groups and individuals had their eyes on the couple, so Nicole thought it was best for her to wait a little longer.Even then, she co
"Oh, you're at home," Gloria was surprised when she saw Jared and Nicole walking down the flight of stairs with the kids.She waved to the kids and said, "Come to Grandma!""Grandma!" Nolan and Lana responded, and sprinted toward Gloria.Nicole and Jared soon caught up and sat down on the couch next to Gloria. "Dad? Mom? Did you guys visit Grandpa?""Yes, we just came back from his place. Your grandfather wanted to have dinner with us, but we've declined his invitation. We wanted to come back and have dinner with you," Daniel explained."Is Grandpa alright?" Nicole asked with concern."He's fine. But it's taking quite some time for him to let go of things," Daniel sighed.This was inevitable. Fortunately for them, Benjamin's current condition was relatively stable, which was a relief to them."It will get better with time," Nicole reassured, knowing her parents were worried for Benjamin.Fortunately, the old man had done his best to remain composed and rational. Although he wa
"What's she up to?" Nicole frowned. 'Is Cherry using Stanley as a shield?'"It's just a deal between us. She's getting her visa. But there are some problems causing the delay," Stanley admitted, relieved after sharing his dirt with Nicole.Nodding, Nicole instantly understood Cherry's plan, as well as Stanley's. "You're using her to stop the inflow of dates Mom's setting up for you?""You can say that, but you're not entirely correct," Stanley replied."What do you mean by not entirely?" Nicole asked, becoming even more confused.It was obvious that Cherry was using Stanley as a smokescreen to lull her family into a false sense of security until her visa was approved. After that, she would leave the country with her real boyfriend.However, Nicole could still not figure out Stanley's motive in this deal. Once Cherry had left, his family would still pressure him into getting married. This much would be true."She's helping me," Stanley murmured. "It's between Tia and I.""You an
Nicole then wondered, 'I guess only Stanley with his thick skull would think Tia has feelings for someone. How could he not notice that Tia has no men around her?'"What are you thinking about?" Jared's voice blared out from behind her.Looking up, Nicole asked, "Are the kids asleep?""Yeah," Jared replied, and sat down next to Nicole.He held her hand, and went on to ask, "You look like you've got something on your mind. What's going on?""Ugh." Nicole sighed, and she proceeded to tell Jared about Stanley and Cherry's situation.After hearing her out, he calmly replied, "They didn't look like a couple at all.""How did you notice?" Nicole frowned, puzzled that the situation had gone unnoticed by her."They look like friends, or even siblings. Compare them to Samuel and Spencer. You'll see what I'm talking about," Jared explained, shrugging his shoulders.And indeed, he knew full well how couples interacted in contrast with how siblings and friends did.After thinking about i
If Harvey was not so obsessed with ruining Nicole's life and flexing, they would not have gotten a chance to make a move."But it's best for you to be more careful. Harvey is still capable of pulling tricks." Nicole advised."Don't worry. I got it." Lulu replied solemnly."Yeah." Nicole nodded.She would always have faith in Lulu, but she figured that she should still offer her some advice.After a slight pause, Lulu lowered her voice, "Oh right, there's another thing. Harvey seems to be in contact with Thomas recently. I'm not sure what he is up to now again.""Thomas?" Nicole frowned.Thomas had been undergoing treatment abroad, and he seemed to be doing well, so it was strange that Harvey would contact him out of the blue."That's right. Do you think he's planning something? I mean, he had never seemed to care about Thomas in the past." Lulu said."It's possible." Nicole agreed.Indeed, Harvey's sudden attention for Thomas had made it obvious that he had a motive.The onl