Nicole reached out to hug Lana affectionately. "It's your nap time, right? Let's bring you back to your room.""Okay," Lana nodded, after which she rested her head on Nicole's shoulder and shut her eyes.Jared placed the storybook and tucked Nolan in. After the boy had fallen asleep, Jared emerged, bumping into Nicole who had also just exited Lana's room.Looking at Nicole, Jared smiled and led her back to their own bedroom."You must be tired," Jared remarked, having noticed how fatigued Nicole was."It's alright. But I do feel like taking a nap," Nicole replied, walking up to her bed.As Nicole laid herself down on the mattress, Jared flashed her a smile. "Go ahead."Not wanting to interrupt Nicole's nap, he quietly walked over to his desk and switched his computer on. As for Nicole, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, knowing that Jared wanted to get back to work.The moment Jared switched his computer on, an unread email popped up on his screen. Upon opening the email and
They had checked every flight from every airline yesterday, but none of them had Damien's boarding information."So..." Nicole trailed off, her eyes widening. "You mean, there's a possibility that he was taking a private, chartered flight?"Lulu bit her lips, her eyes wandering in contemplation. "If you put it like that, there is a possibility he was doing just that. However, Patricia could not find any evidence, and they were not able to get an answer from Damien either. What are we going to do?"If they could not determine where Damien was planning to go, they would have to keep him seized, which was an option they would rather not explore."Where are the people who were in contact with Damien?" Nicole asked."Patricia is on the case, but we have not received any updates," Lulu answered."We'll just have to wait then," Nicole said.Lulu nodded and looked at Nicole, before changing the subject, "Have you prepared the gifts, Nicole?"Knowing exactly what Lulu was talking about,
"You knew about it?" Nicole blurted, taken aback by the fact that he was privy to such information."I can't say I know everything about it, but I had a hunch," Martin admitted.He was well aware of Stanley's feelings for Tia, but the misunderstanding involving him and Tia was a recent discovery to him.Nicole chuckled, finally understanding what he was on about. "So, what about you? Don't tell me you're going to remain single forever.""If I could, I should hope so. Unfortunately..." Martin sighed. 'Unfortunately, that's just not impossible. My family has been urging me into getting married for the past few days. I have a feeling they have been driven into a frenzy because of the amount of weddings they've been attending as of late.'Getting what Martin was trying to convey, Nicole laughed. "If that's the case, you must really consider it. There's a huge possibility that another wedding is coming your way."Martin turned to look in the restaurant's general direction and sighed.
"It's our turn now since you've given her your gift already," Lulu teased."Of course," Stanley said, not in the least surprised by how others had come to know about Tia's birthday.He felt that Nicole knew that today was Tia's birthday, and that she had seen her plan to surprise from a mile away. If his guess was correct, Nicole had informed others of the occasion and its purpose."You've all prepared gifts too?" Tia asked, her eyes widening in surprise.The last thing she had expected him to do was throw her a surprise party by inviting all of their close friends to celebrate her birthday this year. The only other thing she did not see coming was that they had shown up bearing gifts."Of course we did. Preparing gifts is a must for such an important occasion," Lulu replied, before handing her gift to Tia.After everyone had given the items they had prepared to Tia, Preston lowered his head awkwardly and apologized. "Sorry, I didn't prepare any.""Did no one tell you?" Samuel a
"Erm" Tia hesitated, turning to Stanley.Stanley gave Tia's hand a squeeze and said to Cindy, "There's really no need for any gifts. You're more than welcome to join our next gathering if you like.""Woah, really? Does that mean we're friends too?" Cindy exclaimed, becoming even more excited as she had no friends here."Of course. Just come whenever you want," Lulu chimed in."I would love to!" Cindy nodded. "Oh gosh. I'm so happy to be your friend."She had left her native country and traveled all the way to San Joto for Martin, but the prospect of being able to make more friends delighted her, nonetheless."I'll remember to hit you up the next time we gather," Lulu said.She then turned to Martin and asked, "Will you join us next time?"Everyone proceeded to stare at Martin, taking him aback.Feeling awkward and uncomfortable, he answered, "I'll see how things go."Martin would usually be indifferent to casual gatherings, but should the occasion be a special one, he would m
After receiving the bundle of roses, Tia wrapped her hand around Stanley's and helped him up.With his eyes still locked with Tia's, Stanley produced a velvet box from his pocket. After opening it, he took a diamond ring out and gently placed it on Tia's left ring finger."Oh my gosh, congratulations!""Finally, you've taken a load off everyone's mind."Everyone congratulated the couple with joy, though they did not forget to complain about how long they had waited for this day to arrive.Tia's cheeks reddened from the fanfare, while Stanley caressed her hair, smoothening them for her."I'm truly thankful we didn't slip past each other," he said.Stanley would often still cringe thinking about how foolish he was to put Tia at the sidelines. Fortunately, everything had played out the way they wanted now, and from this point onward, they were going to be together forever.With the proposal over with, the restaurant's ambient lights returned to normal, and Stanley led Tia back to
Spencer and Samuel pulled their respective wives over. "Don't worry about them. Let's go back and rest.""Hey, we were just talking," Lulu said, smiling at Spencer.They were concerned about Ellar and Patricia, but deep down, they knew that it was not their place to interfere with other people's business. All they could do was wait and see how it would unfold."Let's go," Cindy said, pulling Martin over as everyone began to go home.Martin, uncomfortable with being touched, broke free from Cindy's grasp. "Alright."Shrugging her shoulders, Cindy went on to bid her farewells to the Riddles. "We'll get going now. Please remember to call me over next time.""You can leave that to me," Lulu promised.She then flashed Cindy the good-luck sign, telling her not to give up on pursuing Martin.Cindy smiled and nodded in understanding, before turning around to catch up to Martin."Are they going to be a thing?" June asked, unfamiliar with Cindy and her situation."I'm not sure, but I d
Nicole could not help but smile at how ridiculous yet valid his concern was. "Come on, dude. That's just an excuse I came up with to comfort Nolan and Lana."In reality, her marriage would concern nobody but herself and Jared. No one else would be able to exert any sort of meaningful influence on the wedding."That's great." Preston issued a sigh of relief.Everything would be fine as long as he did not have a hand to play on whether the wedding ceremony happened or not.Taking on a more serious look now, Nicole looked at Preston and added, "But, you should really start thinking about your own love life.""Yeah, I will." Preston replied.He did not want to suffer the torture of being the only single person in the room every time he hung out with them. Being around these love birds while they harped on the idea that he needed to find someone soon was agonizing to say the least.Nicole then smirked and shook her head. She thought it would be a good idea to just remind him about it