After saying that, Zivon took Wendy with him, turned around, and left. It took Mark a moment to recover, but after that, he did not pay any more attention to Zivon.Outside.Wendy looked curious and concerned as she asked, “Ziv, what’s going on? You asked Mr. Newman to customize a ring? For whom?” Could it be Xavia?“Mom, I’m going to the washroom. Go and wait for me in the car.” Zivon did not reply, and turned around and walked towards the corridor. He was breathing quickly, his steps were fast, and he was tugging at his tie, indicating his irritability. Wendy frowned deeply. She had not cared about her son for more than twenty years and she wanted to care for him now, but it felt like she could not seem to intervene. She walked out with a heavy heart, and to her surprise, saw Xavia in the exhibition room. She quickly entered it and approached her. “Miss Lockhart, can I talk to you for a moment?”When Xavia heard the voice, she turned around. She smiled politely when she saw t
The man did not turn around after he heard her. He continued standing there indifferently, not saying anything at all.The sky was bright and there was a calm breeze blowing, but the atmosphere was extraordinarily depressing. Xavia did not know what was going on in his mind, but she knew that it was not pleasant. She said weakly, “Young Master Burton, if there’s nothing to discuss, I’ll leave…”“Is that all you can say to me?” The man’s low voice finally rang out, accusatory and dangerous. Xavia was startled by the question. She knew what he meant, and also why he had called her here. Unfortunately, she could not explain much at the moment. “Mark’s studio preparation finished today, so he asked me to have a look and give him some comments on it. I saw the news, by the way. Congratulations. I hope you get along well with Aunt.”Zivon chuckled coldly, then turned around and glared at her as he sneered, “Is that all? You cheated on me, betrayed me, broke up with me, and did so ma
When he touched her cold clothes, he took his jacket off immediately and put it on her. “You're freezing, let me send you back.”It was only then that Xavia came back to her senses. “Ah. Okay.”After getting into the car, Xavia realized that she had not done anything today and remorsefully apologized, “I’m sorry. I came here to give my opinion on the studio but I ended up not helping at all.”“It’s okay,” Mark said comfortingly. As he drove, he looked at the bright city lights ahead. He was struggling to contain his feelings. In the end, he could not stop himself from asking, “What's going on with you and Young Master Burton? He ordered an engagement ring from me a long time ago, with both your names on it.”An engagement ring?Xavia was startled. “Really?” She had no idea!“Mm.” Mark hummed slightly. Since they had stopped at a traffic light, he took out his cell phone and went through his chat history before handing his cell phone over to her. The conversation between Zivon a
Was she seriously saying she was still in love with him? When she had slept with her first love and refused to explain the situation? When she had threatened him the second they met…?! Just who was hurting who now…?! With his expression now incredibly icy, Zivon lit a cigarette and began taking heavy puffs out of it, hoping that it would help numb out the emotions… Sophia herself was now done with work, and when she saw Zivon standing amidst the cloud of thick cigarette smoke, she couldn’t help but squint before walking over and asking, “…Is something troubling you, Young Master Burton?” With the cigarette now so short that it could almost burn his fingers, Zivon snapped out of it and put his cigarette out before saying, “…I’m fine. Now that the celebration is over and you’re done with work, go get some rest.” Following that, Zivon headed upstairs without another word… Naturally, this left Sophia incredibly disappointed! To think that he’d still refuse to open up to her even in s
The letter itself looked ordinary enough, and upon opening it, Xavia was greeted by a long piece of text… Text that was clearly in Mark’s handwriting… Her train of thought was cut short when Cara added, “…W-well take your time reading that letter! I’ll start cleaning the house up and making a bed for myself! As promised, I’ll be taking good care of all of you…!” Before anyone could even reject her offer, she had already pulled the rest of her things inside! Unable to just tolerate this, Dolly grumbled, “…Xavia, we can’t just-” “It’s fine. She’s pretty hard to get rid of and I should know. Regardless, we need a helper anyway, and since she’s going to be doing all this for free, we may as well let her stay. With that said, I’m heading off to read Mark’s letter first…” What on earth had he wanted to tell her three years ago…? Heading to the bench beneath the big tree outside, Xavia then began reading through the letter… and by the end of it, she couldn’t help but feel absolutely a
Since Dolly had been by Xavia’s side the entire time, she finished reading the letter about the same time as Xavia did… and now, she couldn’t help but experience mixed feelings. After all, to think that Mark had been waiting for her this entire time… In the end, that one trip to Darlsbury ruined their initially enviable relationship…! However, all this could’ve been avoided if only…! “…Hey! Why didn’t you give this letter to us earlier?!” growled Dolly, instantly causing Cara to freeze in fright. Following a gulp, the guilty woman was prompted to mutter, “I-I did think of passing it to Xavia back when Mark handed it to me… But she only returned nine months later with a child, and by then, I had completely forgotten about it…! I only remembered about the letter when I was cleaning up yesterday…! I-I’m sorry, it’s all my fault…!” “B-but now that Mark has returned to Darlsbury as Young Master Talton and become a top-class designer, don’t you think things ended up pretty well…? B-bes
With that in mind, Cara sighed before starting to tidy up the yard… It was around noon when she heard a knock on the door… and upon opening it, she was surprised to see a man in a black cap at the door. With a pen and paper in hand, the man smiled as he said, “Good day, I’m a reporter. Is this where Miss Xavia films? Are you her foster mother?” “…I am… Is there anything I can help you with…?” asked Cara who had a feeling that this person was here to get some news regarding Xavia… Should she say a thing…? …No, she couldn’t. Both Xavia and Mark were now successful people, and if she wanted to get on their good side, she needed to behave! With that in mind, she was prompted to reply, “…She went to the studio early this morning, so she’s not in right now. If there isn’t anything else, please leave.” “Now hold on. I’m actually a fan of Miss Xavia, and I’ve heard some bad rumors about her lately… Essentially, someone said that she got pregnant before marriage when she was selling her
Since she had a ‘fatherless’ child for so many years, she had always faced claims that stated that she had sold her body to older men, which resulted in her getting bullied for months on end… Because of that, several of the posts urged the public to put their prejudices aside now that they knew the truth, and that blessing Mark and her was only right. Other articles covered Yulia and how hard Xavia had worked to care for her. Naturally, there were also posts that talked about how Xavia and Mark had separated due to their misunderstandings. Due to all this, the people were left utterly stunned. ‘To think that the girl is already three! How did she manage to keep the girl hidden for so long?’ ‘Not only is she the youngest artist to receive an award at the YouTube event, but she’s also the youngest to bear a child!’ ‘Don’t forget, she’s also the youngest to be a single mother! I’m speechless!’ ‘For her to continue raising the child for three whole years without asking for anythi
Staring in shock at the kneeling man, Yulia mustered her remaining sanity as she replied, “B-but you’re younger-” “Even if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean that I’m much more ‘capable’ than your older pursuers…?” …Why were his words so suggestive all of a sudden?! Forcing herself to calm down, she took a deep breath before saying, “…Elliot, I’m not sure what spurred this decision, but… I’m not the one for you. Please find someone your age. I’m sorry.” After saying that, she strode straight for the car… but before she could start the engine, she couldn’t help but notice how desolate he looked standing under the pouring rain… Clenching her fists, it took her a while to finally sigh and walk back to him… “…Are you really sure about this?” asked Yulia, much to Elliot’s delight. “I am! Please! Give me a chance! You won’t regret it!” …When he put it that way, all Yulia could do was help him up before finally deciding to return his kiss… Sure, things had taken a sudden, unex
She stared in horror as he removed his shirt right there and then! “W-what are you doing?!” yelped the startled woman as she quickly looked the other way. “…Huh? I mean, I’m drenched, so…” “E-even so, you shouldn’t change right in front of me!” “…Yulia, we bathed together as children… It’s not like you haven’t seen everything already…” “Y-you can’t compare that to this situation…!” “Fine, fine, I… Um… Go cook, I guess… I’ll go get a change upstairs first…” muttered Elliot as he headed upstairs. Yulia herself had to try her best to calm down! After all, Elliot had been plaguing her mind in the past few days, and… she even had dreams where he had… …No! She couldn’t be thinking about such things! She needed to cook! Maybe that would help get her mind out of the gutter! Once that was done, she’d leave and finally start devising a plan to get rid of him…! As Yulia scurried off, Elliot himself was currently staring at an old photo that showed him eating some candy in Yulia’
Just as she had arrived at her car, the president of the Halls Group suddenly walked up to her, a bouquet in hand! The Halls Group had collaborated several times with the Burtons before, and because of that, she was well acquainted with the man. Sadly, he had also proposed to her on multiple occasions… and though she kept rejecting him, he never seemed to get the hint! “There you are, Miss Burton… Since you’re off work, I was wondering if you’d join me for dinner tonight…” asked the charming man. Feeling awkward, she was just about to come up with an excuse when Elliot suddenly grabbed her by the waist and said, “Oh? Another one of your admirers, Yulia…? Sorry, but she already has a boyfriend, my man. If that doesn’t deter you enough, then you should know that she prefers her partners younger. Now please leave.” Startled to hear that, the man glanced at Yulia, his eyes begging for an explanation… Yulia herself was eager to just escape this embarrassing situation, but before s
With that tale done, it was now time to return to Yulia’s story… Ever since she was a child, she had undergone countless hardships with her mother… and even after she was able to reunite with her father, things didn’t go much easier from there. To make matters worse, Fabiola ended up getting kidnapped for the longest time, resulting in Frank ending up the way he was today… Because of all that, it only made sense that she’d mature much sooner than others her age, and unlike the naïve girl she used to be, she was an extremely competent woman today. Alas, because of how used she became with working, she soon lost the urge to find herself a romantic interest… Things continued that way until… Well, that time that Elliot… …Wait, what was she thinking?! He was younger than her, for heaven’s sake! Quickly shaking her head, she attempted to force herself to concentrate on work again… But before long, a knock was heard on the door. After being allowed in, the department manager entered t
Knowing that there was no point in keeping things a secret anymore, Rea took a deep breath before saying, “…Alright, so… The truth is, I’ve always been highly competent, but… I’ve been pretending to be useless just so that you’d eventually marry me… The trip my parents are taking… That was my suggestion too…” Feeling speechless, it took Frank a long while to reply, “…So you weren’t really drunk when you did all that last night?” Pursing her lips, Rea awkwardly muttered, “…I wasn’t… Luna suggested it, and since it sounded like a good idea to accelerate things…” …Fucking hell, to think that he had fallen straight into her trap without even putting up a fight! Watching as he glowered at her, Rea gulped before adding, “A-anyway, now that we’re married and there’s potentially a baby in my belly, you won’t divorce me, right…?” “…Oh, believe me when I say that divorce is the easy way out! From today onward, I’m making you pay for your actions for the rest of your life!” Fast forwa
Fast forward to the next morning, Rea awoke with a yawn… What a nice sleep… Wait. Why was she naked? And why was Frank…?! Her following scream immediately woke the icy man up… and upon looking at her, he was immediately reminded of what had transpired last night! Essentially, Rea ended up clinging to him, and though he initially wanted to just carry her to bed to let her rest… Damn it! Had she really been that sensual?! How had he lost control so easily?! His train of thought was cut short when he realized that Rea was bawling her eyes out… and after rubbing his temples, he was prompted to say, “…Why are you crying when you’re the one who initiated this? I’ll have you know that I never forced you-” “I-I know, but…! I’ve just…! This is my first time…!” whimpered the quivering woman, prompting Frank to purse his lips. As if he wasn’t in the same situation… “…You’re not alone there.” “It’s not the same! Men are free to sleep with whoever they want but when it comes to women, I’l
“Say, wouldn’t you agree that the food smells delicious…? Why don’t I teach you how to grill, Rea…? Oh, but make sure to take your clothes off first before we start! Wouldn’t want them to get dirty…” With how drunk Rea was, she wasn’t able to fully register his words… and just as he was about to touch her clothes, an icy voice roared, “Stop right there…!” Instantly feeling a shiver run down his spine, the man turned around… and to his horror, it was Frank! Young Master Burton’s perpetually icy son…! Why the hell was he here?! Before the frightened intern could think of how to even react, Frank walked up to him and growled, “Leave now before I chop your hands off…! Don’t make me repeat myself!” Nodding in terror, the man frantically bolted off… and once he was out of sight, Frank glared at the tipsy Rea before adding, “This is what you meant by learning how to be more responsible…?!” “Huh…? But the food really did smell super good… I want to learn…” mumbled the drunk woman.
After leaving his office, he headed off to look for Rea. She had said that she wanted to use the bathroom, but… It had already been half an hour since she disappeared. What trouble had that idiot gotten herself into this time? Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he found her laughing along with some of his interns… When the interns saw him, they were quick to bow and say, “Good morning, Mr. Burton.” Barely even glancing at them, Frank looked at Rea and said, “It’s time to head home.” “I… Won’t be following you back…” “…And why is that? Are your parents back?” “No, it’s just… These are my good friends back from school, and they’ve been staying together to learn to be more independent… With that said… I think that staying with them will be a good start for me to learn more about how the world works. Thank you for taking care of me up till this point, Frank… I won’t bother you anymore.” Raising a slight brow, Frank then looked at the interns for a while before saying, “…Are you
Regardless, after leaving her in the room, Frank returned to the shower to cool himself off… but no matter what he did, he simply remained irked. It got to the point where he couldn’t relax at all, and after wrapping a towel around his waist, he grabbed his phone to send his father a text. ‘Was there really nobody else who could’ve taken care of Rea?’ ‘What? Can’t even care for a woman properly.’ ‘I’m a busy man.’ ‘I trust in your time management skills.’ …Though he really wanted to tell Zivon that he had misplaced his trust in him, he didn’t want to disappoint his father either. With that, all he could do was clench his fists before giving Rea’s parents a call… “Hello? Frank? Why are you calling at this time of night?” “…When are you and Uncle Saltman returning, Aunt?” asked Frank who wanted them to take back their idiot already! “…Huh? What was that? Sorry, the line isn’t very good… I hope Rea isn’t giving you too hard a time! Don’t worry, we’ll be back after about a