In the spur of the moment, Ito Nanako’s willpower gave her the strength to push forward. Even with the painful wounds on her body, she pressed forth. It was during that split-second, her body radiated with explosive energy!Immediately, Ito jumped from her position, and in midair, her body turned two hundred and seventy degrees before swinging her slender right leg across Michelle’s face.Michelle was surprised by Nanako’s performance. She didn’t expect her to suddenly strike her with that much energy and power.Plus, the sudden burst of energy in her which was released by Charlie took her by surprise.Nanako’s strike far surpassed her performance during her prime!Michelle gradually recovered from the shock and was about to defend herself against the incoming kick, but it was already too late. The reaction time that Nanako gave her had already passed.She felt as though a shadowy figure had struck her face with a lot of force. The moment she lost focus and tried to recover from it, th
The referee held the microphone to his mouth and spoke, “The Arena Winner is Japan’s very own ITO NANAKO!!!”“The battle today was spectacular! It was truly unexpected that both arenas would have winners that took out their opponents with a single blow! Both the winners are qualified for the finals!”“Firstly, our contestant from Oskia, Ms. Aurora Quinton! Previously she defeated her opponent, Joanna from Brazil! Once again, she has showcased her ability to defeat her opponents in a single strike! Amazing performance!”“Now, Ms. Aurora Quinton will go head-to-head against Japan’s contestant, Ito Nanako! They shall have their showdown during the finals!”“As for the losers of this round, Ms. Victoria from Italy and Ms. Michelle from America shall battle for third place! Stay tuned!”The crowd cheered and applauded!It was unexpected that the Oskian contestant would be able to make it to the finals and even perform extremely well in the competition! She was indeed the black horse of the
Every gift basket was the size of a business suitcase. The entire package was black with strings of gold, which made it look low-key luxurious.Charlie couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Why are the packages so big?”Isaac promptly replied, “Young Master, I purposely chose the best gift baskets which contained all of the most expensive gifts which are worth three hundred eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars. It is the complete package with all their most exquisite products which includes the eye and face cream in big quantities as well.”Charlie nodded. “Thanks for the hard work.”Isaac replied hastily, “This is nothing, Young Master.”Charlie snorted, “Isaac, I’m heading over to Eastcliff for a bit. I’ll pass the stuff here to Albert and you. Please take care of it, especially my wife’s family. You must protect her from the shadows. The Webb family is still lingering out there, I’ve got a bad feeling that they are still unwilling to give up.”Isaac quickly excla
Charlie nodded with a smile and asked. “Is Aunt Matilda there?”“Of course!” Jacob smiled widely and spoke in a very soft voice, “Your Aunt Matilda is sitting next to me now. I am teaching her how to appreciate Yan ZhenQing’s writings!”“No problem, father!” Charlie laughed. “So, you’re currently researching Yan ZhenQing?”“Yes.” Jacob said happily, “Anyway, since when do I only perform research about Yan ZhenQing? I also research Wang XiZhi, Huang TingJian, Liu GongQuan, OuYang Xun, and more. I, your father, do all kinds of research!”Charlie laughed. “Alright. One of these days, I will have to learn from you.”Charlie continued, “Oh, yes! Father, the skincare products that you requested are with me now. Why don’t I send it to you now? If I bring it home and mother finds an extra set, it’s going to be difficult to handle.”The main reason why Charlie had prepared 3 sets of skincare products was because instead of just giving Elaine one as a gift, naturally, he needed to give one to hi
Charlie knew that his father-in-law had a lot of dissatisfaction with Elaine. All these dissatisfactions had been accumulated throughout the years they had lived together.Even more so when Matilda had returned to the country, his father-in-law had seen that Matilda was so much better than Elaine, and this only made him even more dissatisfied with Elaine.It was to the point that he wanted to divorce his wife, Elaine, but she didn’t give him the chance, so naturally, he despised her even more now.Although his intention was good, Charlie didn’t think that it would be appropriate for him, especially when it came to giving Elaine a fake set of skincare products. It was quite embarrassing to present someone else with something fake.It was not because he was afraid that Elaine would find out that the products were fake, but instead, he was more afraid of what his wife would think of him if she found out that he had presented her mother with fake goods.Thus, he turned to Jacob and said, “
Claire pulled Charlie to the side and chided him, “Mom was just fooling around this morning! Why did you go and get her such an expensive skincare product? One set costs four hundred thousand dollars?! This is too much! We’re not that kind of family…”Charlie laughed, “I relied on some connections to get these, don’t you worry.”Claire lowered her voice, “Truthfully, I’m more afraid of mom being overly demanding in the future. What if she constantly asks you to buy her such expensive skincare products? What are you going to do then?”Charlie smiled a little. “Don’t you worry. Didn’t you realize that mom has changed a lot? Let’s just say… This is a reward for her? To encourage her to be better in the future?”As he was talking, Elaine had already taken a short video on her mobile phone to send to her friends, and she said, “Look at these two sets of caviar skincare products that my good son-in-law bought for me. They are both platinum packages! Both of them add up to more than seven hun
Claire didn’t believe what her mother had said. She had felt Charlie’s sincerity toward her, so how could he possibly cheat?Claire then turned to Elaine and said, “Mom, you’re overthinking it. Charlie couldn’t possibly cheat!”“What do you mean “couldn’t possibly cheat”?!” One of Elaine’s eyebrows arched upward, and she rebutted, “If that’s the case, tell me, why did Charlie buy three sets of skincare products, and yet, he only brought back two sets? Where is the last one? Where did it go?!”Claire replied, “Most probably he bought it for a friend of his? Maybe his friend asked him to buy it for them?”“Friend?!” Elaine responded with a face hardened from anger. “Only brainless people like you would believe that! It is obviously bought for a woman! You said he was an orphan and did not have a mother, he doesn’t even have relatives here! If so, who else would he buy the skincare products for?! Of course it’s for that vixen!”Claire looked a little uneasy. She knew that whatever her mot
She had never viewed this problem from this angle before, but due to her personality, she was afraid and embarrassed to initiate such motives.After listening to her mother, she felt the anxiousness build up within her.Elaine continued yapping on the side, “Sigh. I used to look down on Charlie thinking that he was nothing but filth and garbage, seemingly useless but after taking a good look, now he does seem very capable! Look at how he controlled all those bigshots! That is what I call talented! Plus, this million-dollar villa is indeed great! The air here is fresh, and it makes you feel energetic! Who knows, maybe in the near future, he might even be able to use his talent and get himself his very own island in the Maldives!”“This…” Claire spoke awkwardly, “Mom, stop daydreaming already.”Elaine replied solemnly, “We need dreams! Who knows, maybe that dream might suddenly come true!”As she was speaking, she suddenly lowered her voice. “You… Quickly go and do the deed with him alre
Reservations in Heaven Springs had always been unpredictable, and most rooms weren't open to the general public—even if said rooms were vacant for the night.It was not as if Albert Rhodes didn't want to make money when he built Heaven Springs. He simply didn't do it solely for profit, but only mostly for social events and posturing.Back when he was a humbler member of society, he realized that many bigwigs and even his fellows cared for pride a lot. Be it food, liquor, or even simply everyday consumption, they always strove for the best and the most expensive.That was why polite society valued their privacy and established their respective social circles, which was why Heaven Springs ensured that everything was first-rate: atmosphere, service, food, and clientele.Just like how bigwigs wouldn't dine at the same table as their goons, said goons wouldn't eat at the fancy places those bigwigs frequented even if they had money, as it may appear as if they were overstepping.That wa
As such, intent on keeping up his pretense, Jacob answered the phone, "Looking for me, Matilda?""Uh-huh," Matilda replied, and asked, "You didn't show up at Senior University, and your sub is saying you probably won't be coming for a while? Is that true?""Oh—right, that," Jacob quickly said. "Well, it's true—the gist of it is that the Association is getting busy with a project. As the vice president, I probably shouldn't be staying at Senior University all the time, right?""Heck, Mr. Bay called me last minute, telling me how busy we're going to be and that I was needed. That's why I had to go back, but I will head over to campus again when I have the time."Matilda knew right then that those were all excuses.However, she did not expose Jacob, instead asking, "Well, when are you free? So that I can send you my wedding invitation?""Oh, the invitation?" Jacob quickly chuckled. "You really didn't have to come to me—just pass it to Walker, my sub lecturer. He can pass it to me wh
The next afternoon, there was a sudden change of lecturers for the calligraphy class.Despite being the vice president of the Calligraphy and Painting Association, Jacob never showed up, instead getting a substitute instructor to replace him.Matilda had come with the invitation Yolden had written for Jacob, but seeing that Jacob wasn't at the lecture hall, she waited until the class was over to ask the sub, "Excuse me, can I ask why Mr. Wilson wasn't teaching this class?""He's busy at the association," the sub replied. "So, I'm taking over his class."Curious, Matilda pressed, "Then, would you happen to know when he will be coming?""Probably not for a while," the sub replied. "He delegated other classes to me as well, telling me that I could just stick to the PowerPoint slides."Then, he asked, "Do you have business with Mr. Wilson?"Matilda nodded. "Yes, but I can call him myself. Thank you."Leaving the lecture hall, Matilda called Jacob, who was goofing off in his office
On the other end, Matilda was left staring at Jacob's reply in confusion.She had presumed that Jacob would understand when she mentioned inviting his whole family that he should be coming up with an excuse to skip attending her wedding.That was the most ideal solution.As such, she was shocked that instead of playing along, Jacob's reply was short and blunt.[No problem. The four of us will be there!]Perplexed, Matilda was left wondering what Jacob meant. Was he really going to attend her wedding with Elaine?The thought left Matilda frowning as she absolutely didn't want to see Elaine—especially not at her own wedding.Yolden was writing an invitation when he saw the somber look on her face, and he couldn't help asking, "Is there a problem?""Jacob replied," Matilda admitted. "And he's saying that he will bring his whole family.""Really?" Yolden was confused too, as he was hardly as eccentric as Jacob. "But he's afraid of his wife and shouldn't be telling her at all…
Charlie was driving Jacob to Thompson First when the latter received the text from Matilda.Seeing that they were reaching the front gates, Jacob promptly snapped at Charlie, "Charlie, stop the car now!"Charlie did so and asked in curiosity, "What's wrong?""Matilda just texted me," Jacob replied, showing the chat log between him and Matilda.Charlie was just glancing at it nonchalantly when he saw that Matilda's contact name was 'AAA July Florist'."Wait, why is that Aunt Matilda's contact name?" He exclaimed in surprise."I changed it."Jacob explained gingerly while reading through the text Matilda sent. "Her profile picture is an iris, so I changed her contact name to a florist since I'm mostly worried Elaine would peek into my phone.""Anyway, she's asking if I'm attending her wedding with Yolden. They would send us an invitation if I accept, extended to our whole family… what do you think I should say?"Charlie asked in return. "You're planning to skip it, aren't you? T
Then, Matilda suggested, "How about this—I'll ask him before deciding." "I'll pass on inviting the rest of my former classmates too. They're too vain and love comparing, so I'd rather not have anything to do with that. Also, there are our Korean friends who have it together, and they were telling us to invite them if we were going to get married. We have to keep our promise, right?""Yeah—then, it's basically decided. Aside from Charlie, we shall invite our colleagues and Korean friends while we wait for an answer from Jacob."Yolden nodded and said, "Now, I'll talk about the honeymoon—cut me short if you have a different opinion."Matilda nodded, resting her chin on her hands and smiling. "Shoot. I'm all ears."Feeling a little embarrassed by Matilda's glowing stare, Yolden took a sip of his ice water before continuing, "My idea is to head to the States for our honeymoon after the wedding…"He trailed off, staring at Matilda and waiting for a response.However, she was merely
"Oh, Jacob…?"Matilda chuckled awkwardly. "Just today, he offered to buy me dinner, but I said I didn't have the time, and I also told him about our wedding… So, we should invite him since he's aware of it.""Jacob offered to buy you dinner?" Yolden exclaimed in surprise. "Did he say why?""Nope," Matilda shrugged, smiling. "Probably just dinner between old classmates."However, she was actually smart enough to guess Jacob's intention even though Jacob was inviting her somewhere near campus. That was why she had also mentioned she was marrying Yolden while turning down Jacob, all so that he would give up on her.After she had managed to get over their past fling completely, she didn't want to give Jacob false hopes before she walked down the aisle.In the same regard, she didn't want to worry Yolden, and therefore, had deliberately discouraged Jacob.Be that as it may, Yolden was smart too.He knew about Matilda and Jacob's past and that her son, Paul's full name was Paul Jam
Before Charlie had arrived, Jacob was still furious that Matilda would soon marry Yolden.After Charlie came, however, he was instead worried that Matilda would send him a wedding invitation.Meanwhile, Matilda and Yolden were discussing their list of guests.They had different social circles, but most of their friends were Stateside, and they only had some distant relatives in this country.Still, they had colleagues in Aurous Hill. Matilda had classmates too, but she was out of touch with them aside from Jacob, whom she often met.Still, as they discussed who should be invited, Matilda first suggested, "Let's go through everyone. First, our Stateside friends… I don't think we should tell them at all since it's a long journey, and inviting them would seem tactless. What do you think?"Yolden nodded, smiling, "I was just thinking the same thing. We're close with our Stateside friends and always keep in touch, but inviting them to our wedding might be a stretch. We'd just hit a wa
With that being said, once Matilda was thrown in the mix, Elaine would suddenly become an African honey badger, with every bit of black air force energy that was implied.As such, if Jacob had managed to be brave and take that one step back then, Charlie would have tried to help, stopping Elaine from harassing Jacob or Matilda.However, the reality was that Jacob had to bungle the chance when Matilda offered it to him.That was why the best option was for Jacob to understand that he couldn't get together with Matilda now so that he would feel much better.And since he had always been a coward, Charlie's slight intimidation cleared his head considerably.He then sighed, "Well, that's just life—you don't always get what you want, and you should never try to claim what you couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to choose Matilda over thirty years ago, so not being together now only makes sense.""Now, I can only pray that Elaine never finds out… or at least that things don't get out of h