A waiter walked over with a glass of champagne and Daneil and Arabella each took a glass. Daniel looked back at President William with his dark eyes and calmly said, “President William, you’re quite the jokester. It’s already nighttime, so why would the sun be rising now?”President William studied Arabella from the corner of his eyes and smiled. “President Garcia, aren’t you going to introduce your companion?”Daniel frankly said, “This is Arabella, my female companion tonight.”Most in the world of business had a shrewd mind, and President William was no different. Curiosity got the better of him as he started to wonder about the relationship between the two as he politely greeted Arabella.“Miss Arabella, President Garcia never brings a female companion to a banquet. To be the first one to get his attention, you must count your lucky stars.”Arabella still had her arm in Daniel’s so she raised her glass of champagne in one hand and said with a smile, “It is indeed my honor.”Since
The scent of John’s perfume entered her nose and Arabella felt as if she had just woken up from a dream and pushed him away.Her reaction was so intense that he was caught off guard. He staggered a few steps back. After he steadied himself, he looked at her with a sad gaze. “Ara…”“Don’t say my name like that!” Her sharp voice was unusually clear under the silent night sky. She glared at him coldly and spat out more harsh and cold words. “You don’t have the right to do so anymore.”His eyes dimmed, and his voice became unusually hoarse, seemingly suppressing something. “I didn’t think you’d hate me.”She had loved him for so many years, and yet he had to marry her sister without a word of explanation. The heart-wrenching pain was still vivid in her mind.The corners of her lips curled into a cold smile, and her eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of ice. “Shouldn’t I?”Her cruel words were like a sharp blade that mercilessly pierced his heart. It hurt so much that his breathing sud
“Your way of thanking people is really special.” She smiled coldly, too lazy to guess whether he was telling the truth or not. Then, she suddenly raised her voice. “Stop the car!”Caleb glanced at Daniel through the rearview mirror and stopped the car by the roadside.Arabella opened the car door and got out of the car. Daniel got out too and grabbed her by the wrist. His cold and tough side profile looked especially prominent under the dim yellow street lights. “What’s wrong?”She glanced at him indifferently and revealed a sarcastic smile. “What does my madness have to do with you?!”Daniel knew that she was in a bad mood, so he softened his tone. “Get in the car. I’ll send you home.”She broke free from his grip and took a deep breath. Her violently heaving chest gradually calmed down. “I’ll take a taxi back myself.”Daniel grew angry at her ungrateful attitude. He raised his left hand and tapped his right index finger on the expensive watch. “Look at the time. Have you had enough?
“Thank you.” She had already thanked him many times tonight.Daniel turned around and walked out. Just as he placed his hand on the door handle, he stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at her. “I’ll get Francesca to call home. Sleep peacefully.”Just as she was about to thank him again, he closed the door. She could not help but laugh at how pretentious she had been tonight.After Daniel left, she walked to the window and pulled open the curtains. South Bay was the only villa in the area. There were no lights outside the window, but a lawn and a flower garden.She stood by the window and enjoyed the breeze for a while. Her muddled mind gradually cleared up. Seeing that it was almost midnight, she went into the bathroom to take a shower.After coming out of the bathroom, she dried her hair and lay down on the bed. Perhaps it was because too many things had happened tonight or because she was in an unfamiliar environment, but she could not fall asleep no matter what she did. I
A thin light shone into the room through the gap in the curtains. The woman in the room was sleeping soundly, her bathrobe strewn messily on the floor.There was a knock on the door, and Arabella propped her aching head up before sitting up. She was immediately greeted with an unfamiliar environment. The soreness she felt all over her body gradually cleared her chaotic consciousness.The knocking on the door continued, and she pulled up the blanket that had fallen to cover the marks on her body. “Please come in.”Mrs. Winstead pushed the door open and saw two bathrobes on the floor. She was surprised for a moment as she put the clothes she had just brought in on the stool next to her. “Miss Arabella, the sun is already high in the sky. It’s time to get up.”“Thank you,” said Arabella, rubbing her temples.After Mrs. Winstead had left, Arabella went over to the clothes on the stool. Other than the business attire she wore to work, there was also a new set of underwear that was exactly
John saw her reaction and rolled down the window again. The smell of tobacco inside gradually dissipated.Arabella looked out of the car window, knowing how tense John’s face was. The two of them were silent throughout the journey, making the atmosphere in the car quite suffocating.Alfred, the driver, couldn’t help but look at the two people behind him through the rearview mirror. He was anxious and worried.John had booked a private room at a restaurant in advance. The waiter led them in and handed them the menu.Serenity took the menu and asked suspiciously, “Will it be just the two of us?”John took off his suit jacket and hung it on the hanger in the corner. He pulled out a chair and sat down. “Is that not OK?”When her eyes met his deep eyes, Arabella fell speechless again, and she quickly buried her head into the menu while flipping through quickly.Some time passed, but she hadn’t ordered any dishes, so John casually ordered for the table.When Arabella heard the names of the
When John returned home, Serenity had just finished bathing Eva Grant. Upon seeing her father, Eva immediately stretched her arms and cried out for him. “Dad…”Eva Grant’s small face was chubby, and her watery eyes looked longingly at him. He pursed his lips slightly and did not reach out to his daughter.The little girl wriggled unhappily in Serenity’s arms and pouted her pink lips.Serenity saw that he was in a bad mood while her daughter looked aggrieved. She tried to calm Eva down by saying, “Eva, do you want Daddy more than Mommy? In that case, I won’t tell you any more stories in the future.”Although the little girl was young, she knew what her mother meant. She turned to kiss her mother’s cheek, causing Serenity to laugh.Serenity carried Eva Grant into the bedroom, and not long after, a gentle female voice could be heard telling the story of a little tadpole looking for its mother.Once Eva Grant had fallen asleep, Serenity came out of the bedroom. When she passed by the stud
Benjamin Rivera had wanted John to be the guarantor, but when he called his son-in-law, Alfred answered instead, saying that John was on a business trip for at least half a month. The following calls to John immediately went to voicemail.If the bank refused to lend them money, then Arabella would have to marry someone through a business marriage. That was why she came to look for Yanis Linde but did not expect to be rejected twice.The lobby manager came out of the private room and saw that Arabella was still there. He remembered what President Linde had told him earlier and walked up to her. “Miss, please leave. President Linde doesn’t have time to see you.”But Arabella was not going to go down easily. In all seriousness, she said, “If he’s not free, I shall wait until he is.”The lobby manager still had a smile on as he said, “Miss, this is a restaurant. If you’re waiting for someone, please wait elsewhere.”“This is the hotel lounge. Besides, I am not obstructing your business. T
The phone in his pocket rang. He took it out and saw that it was her calling. He threw the phone on the seat next to him. After a few seconds, the phone stopped ringing.He took out a cigarette and put it into his mouth. His phone rang again. He took a glimpse at it from the corner of his eye and saw that it was still from her.He let it ring and took out a lighter to light the cigarette. He rolled down the window and blew out smoke rings that were carried away by the night wind.When it rang for the third time, he pressed the reject button in frustration and turned off his phone. The night was quiet again.Arabella paced around the room in her pajamas, holding her phone in her hand. She had called Daniel many times, but his phone was eventually switched off.It was already two o’clock in the morning but she was also hesitant to call Caleb since it was too late in the night.She walked to the bed and sat waiting. Her phone was always in her hand, ready to pick up a call the moment it
Master Samson took a single look at her before turning the other way, turning a deaf ear to her words.The pale yellow liquid in the medicine bag flowed down the white tube drop by drop into his bloodstream through the needle on the back of his hand.Arabella didn’t care about Master Samson’s attitude as she silently retreated to the side and stood there. Helena Turner patted her hand lightly, indicating to the former not to take it to heart.The attending doctor listened to Master Samson’s heartbeat with a stethoscope and wrote down a string of numbers in a folder. Then, Benjamin Rivera followed him out of the ward.Master Samson looked at Serenity who was sitting by the bed and holding his hand. “For the sake of your future with Eva, you should remarry John.”The old man had been trying to get Serenity and John back together after returning from Oakland, but his granddaughter had been avoiding him. Because of this, Master Samson had gotten so angry that he was hospitalized.“We won’
While Arabella was stunned for a moment, John took the tissue from her and carefully wiped the water off her sleeves. Then, he pulled out a small part of her inner sleeve over the sleeves of her windbreaker a little so that the wet parts would not stick to her skin.“Are you feeling better?” His clear voice was low and gentle.She pulled her hand back, still feeling the warmth of his fingertips on the skin of her wrist. “Much better.” After a pause, she said, “Thank you, President Grant.”The immediate distance she put between them simply from her words felt as if she had just stabbed John. He pursed his pale lips and difficultly said, “Arabella, we shouldn’t be like this.”“From the moment you decided to marry my Sis, we were already destined to end up like this.” She was unfazed.John held her shoulders and seriously said, “But you know-”“That won’t change the truth!” She interrupted him, though rather calmly which scared John a little.He could see the prideful stubbornness in her
She took a sip from the glass of water. Since they were already married, there would always be a chance for her to meet the aunt in the future.Still, since she was angry at him for acting on his own and Daniel was not someone who would admit his mistake or apologize first, the couple did not speak to each other for the rest of the day – they simply minded their own business and nonchalantly ignored each other.Daniel rested at home for a week before going back to work. Once he did, only Arabella and Mrs. Winstead were left at home.XXXOne day after lunch, Arabella drove to the cafe at which she had agreed to meet Sam.It had been a week since they last met and Sam seemed to have become a lot more dispirited. But when he saw her, his usual cheeky smile returned. “A rich lady is indeed different. I would never dare dream of driving a car like this in my entire life.”Indeed, Arabella was driving a luxury car worth millions. He hadn’t even saved enough money to wed a wife yet. Such was
Julia Silver Garcia looked around the room at the others present before her eyes finally landed on her son in bed. “Such a big thing happened and yet you did not think to tell me and your father?”“Even if I didn’t call you, someone would have informed you.” The corners of Daniel’s lips curled into a mocking smile.Julia didn’t care about his tone. “I heard about what happened this time. You were too impulsive. No matter what, you shouldn’t have risked your own life-”“If you’re here to teach me a lesson, you might as well not come,” said Daniel, interrupting her in a tone devoid of respect.Julia’s expression changed slightly. There were outsiders present, yet he didn’t seem to care.Arabella decided to step in as she said, “Mom, don’t misunderstand. I’m very happy that you came to see him. You know his temper very well. It’s just that he can be a bit cold sometimes.”Unfortunately, Julia didn’t ease up. Mrs. Winstead had called the main residence to inform the Master and Madam of th
A Blatant InvitationHis deep yet bright eyes watched Arabella quietly, reflecting her silhouette. He had spoken with such seriousness that her eyes started to heat up and she had to do her best to suppress the layers of mist forming.Arabella gently held his right hand, her slender fingertips hooked the bandage wrapped around it, and her eyes turned sour.If he had not found her in time, she would probably have lost her life.Daniel used his left hand to caress her pale face. “You must be hungry. Mrs. Winstead sent over black chicken soup this morning. I’ll go get it for you.”He pushed the wheelchair to the table, opened the thermos flask, and poured some chicken soup into a bowl. He held the bowl with his bandaged left hand and pushed the wheelchair back to the bed with his other hand.” It’s still hot.”Arabella received the bowl of soup and took a few sips but did not touch a single piece of chicken.Daniel knew she must not have much of an appetite yet, so he did not force her. I
The Child Is Very HealthyHowever, he now knew that John and Serenity had put on a wedding ring for a fake marriage, so Daniel knew Arabella was referring to them, the young master and young madam of the Rivera family.He untied the wish on the branch, came down from the bamboo ladder, and put it into his suit pocket.The little monk complained, saying, “Why did you take down her wish? It won’t come true like this.”“I will be the one to fulfill all her wishes.” Daniel left this sentence with the monk and entered the temple. He took off his raincoat and threw it to Caleb, who had been following behind him.Caleb and Xeno were stunned by the appearance of the man before them. He was drenched, his black hair was messy, and his trousers below his knees had been soaked in mud and water. His walk was not as strong as usual and the movement of his legs was a little stiff.When they arrived at the guest room, Daniel was already sitting by Arabella’s bedside, his large palm placed on her abdo
If Something Happened To Her, It Would BeA Dead Body And Two Lives (2)Ms. Lewis and the others looked at him in shock while Mr. Shiloh muttered a realization to himself. “No wonder President Garcia was so anxious and reckless.”“The signal tower collapsed?” Caleb frowned.“Ms. Arabella is at the signal tower.” Mr. Shiloh nodded.“What?” Caleb’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Young Madam is pregnant. If anything happens to her, both of us will die!”“What?” Sam had just reached the door when he heard this. “What?”They looked at the door and saw a man supporting Sam, both wearing large black raincoats.Sam took off the raincoat, revealing his frighteningly pale face. “No wonder she said her stomach hurts. She’s pregnant.”As soon as he said that, not only Caleb, but even Mr. Shiloh and the others broke out in cold sweat.Ms. Lewis looked at Xeno, scared and anxious. She was afraid that something had happened to Arabella.“I’ll go up the mountain to find them,” said Xeno after pondering
If Something Happened to HerSam’s eyes widened as he gritted his teeth. “What did you see me write?”He had been talking all day long about his dream to be a great photographer in the future. Everyone in the magazine agency knew about it. So what did she need to peek for?“I didn’t peek.” Afraid that he wouldn’t believe her, she continued to say, “Everyone in the magazine agency knows what your wish is.”Sam felt a little embarrassed and scratched his head. “Don’t tell them that we had already come here to make a wish. You mustn’t tell them. Otherwise, they’ll make fun of me again.”“It depends on my mood,” said Arabella teasingly.Sam’s face turned pale.The wind started to pick up, and the red wishes on the branches started to dance wildly. Arabella looked up at the sky and noticed the gathering dark clouds. “I think it’s time we meet back with the rest.”“What’s the hurry? We-”A loud boom followed a bright bolt of lightning, cutting off Sam’s words. The two looked at each other,