Elaine appeared taken aback, and she promptly demanded, "You've met Matilda too?!"It was only then that Claire realized she had let the cat out of the bag, and she suddenly didn't know what to say. "Oh… Uh… Mom… I, uh… didn't?"Nonetheless, Elaine was suddenly pressing her menacingly, "If you've never met her, how would you know she's a serious person?!"As Claire stayed silent, Elaine broke down in tears. "No… You're lying to me too! Aren't you?!"While Claire was left at a loss of how she should salvage this mess, Charlie suddenly entered and said, "Claire didn't—but I did.""What?!" Elaine was left staring at Charlie, stunned.Still, she soon demanded, "Y-You've met Matilda?! Did Jacob take you with him to see her?""Yes," Charlie admitted, nodding.Elaine snapped right then, and she bellowed, "Then why didn't you tell me?! To think that I've always done right by you, treating you like my own son, but you wouldn't tell me that Jacob is cheating on me! Y-You disappoint me!"
"Her real lover?!" Elaine exclaimed in shock. "What are you talking about?"Charlie put on a serious face as she said, "Matilda came back to Oskia for her one true love, who is now her fiance. His name is Yolden Hart, a top economist who's now a lecturer at Aurous Hill University, who was invited all the way from the States. He's a professional manager and used to work in Wall Street, so he'd be qualified to be a CEO in any Fortune 500 company…""Professional manager?" Elaine pouted. "That still means he's a wage slave!"Charlie laughed. "Don't underestimate professional managers now. Just look at Apple Inc.'s CEO—the man earns around a hundred million USD per year, and that's over seven hundred million in Oskian dollars!"Elaine was left gaping, unable to imagine how a wage slave could earn so much.At the same time, Charlie continued, "To be fair, Professor Hart wouldn't earn that much, but 50 million per year is still no sweat for him. Do you get the amount of money we're talki
"Exactly!"Charlie agreed, striking the metal while it was hot. "To be honest, the years Matilda spent in the States would be wasted if she was actually still interested!" "She's a Wall Street veteran who'd definitely have met so many successful men! Why would she be interested in a loser like Jacbo Wilson? It's not like she returned from the States after thirty years to help the poor, don't you agree?"Charlie then finished with a sigh. "The way I see it? You're the only one who'd be interested in him."Jacob heard that from behind the wall and was left absolutely fuming and humiliated.He was the only one who knew that Matilda had come back for him—even if she was worth millions now.However, he just didn't have the spine to divorce Elaine and get together with Matilda.He presumed that it was no rush and that he could just give Elaine the silent treatment—who knew, she might just give in and ask for a divorce herself, and then, he would have no issues getting together with M
Bitterness swelled in Elaine's heart as she really didn't think that Matilda was doing so well for herself.The fact that Matilda was worth millions alone made her far superior.At the same time, she was also rejoicing that she had never actually met Matilda. If Matilda asked how she was doing directly, how would she respond?In the end, Matilda was no Hannah Queen.Elaine would actually feel accomplished if she compared herself to Hannah.On the other hand, Matilda eclipsed Elaine in every way—she was more beautiful, kind, smart, and knowledgeable. Even her figure left Elaine dead in the water!It was as pointless as comparing a hen to a peacock!Whenever she thought of her, she could comfort herself that she had stolen her man even if she couldn't measure up in any way.But now, Jacob was completely insignificant to Matilda while Elaine still treated Jacob like a trophy.Even as a sense of inferiority seized her, Charlie sighed. "Come on, you should understand where Jacob is
Before Elaine knew it, she was reading the website she had just read again, and she did indeed find Yolden's name on it.With that, everything Charlie had said snapped together into a perfect chain of logic.Seeing the troubled look on her face, Charlie quickly added, "I'm not going to lie—Dad told me right away when he was told Matilda was getting married. We even discussed if we should tell you, and now you know why." "Matilda is doing so well for herself and got such an amazing husband, and they've picked Shangri-La's Sky Garden—something an average Joe could never hope to reach. And since she invited our whole family and not just us, Dad had to really think about it.""Eventually, he told me to hide it from you or it'd leave you devastated, so none of us said anything. We just didn't think you'd find that invitation and then end up having a big fight about it."Sighing, Charlie then continued, "But if you really want to go, we can go together for their wedding to put your min
Though Jacob had nothing going for him, he had always had a huge ego, and he had never once admitted that he would lose to anyone in the presence of his wife and daughter.That was why both Elaine and Claire were shocked when he suddenly openly admitted that he was a piece of shit in front of them. They had never heard such a thing from him in the decades they had lived with him!In fact, Jacob himself was reluctant to insult himself like that.However, Charlie told him repeatedly that he absolutely must say it before he came here—because Charlie was dead sure that this line was the key to getting over this impasse, and it truly did put this crisis to rest.Even as Jacob finished, his heart was bleeding as he felt like he had just put his pride on the floor and trampled all over it until it was crushed to oblivion. Even though it was to clear any suspicion Elaine held toward him, to call himself a piece of shit—to say it himself that his beloved woman would think him beneath her,
Elaine nodded, emotional as well. "Well, Claire's finally home after being in the States for so long. Let's stop being clowns already—let's go home!"Jacob nodded, utterly relieved and teary-eyed. "Yes! Let's go home!"Meanwhile, Claire was left dumbfounded even as she watched while Charlie was left wiping the sweat off his brow—they had really just snatched victory from the jaws of defeat there!And it looked like they had truly succeeded in clearing any suspicion Elaine had of Matilda, and she most likely would do her best to avoid running into Matilda as well.That way, all the nonsense he had said wouldn't be exposed.Still, as Claire came to her senses, she told Charlie, "Darling, that was amazing! You somehow managed to talk your way out of that!"Charlie chuckled in embarrassment. "I had no choice but to sacrifice my pride for the peace in the family."Claire hugged his arm and giggled happily, "There's no victory without sacrifice. You're the best, dear!"-Meanwhile,
Charlie actually had to change his opinion of Elaine after seeing her ready to kill Jacob earlier but getting all clingy now.Despite her many flaws, Elaine was the one half of their marriage who was earnestly in love.As for Jacob, he didn't seem to have any genuine feelings for Elaine at all.The mere mention of his past with Elaine always left him grumbling and complaining, but now, it was clear that Elaine was his best choice. With his attitude and the way he did things, he and Matilda would have split up by now even if they had gone to the States together.In the end, Jacob simply had too many of the flaws common amongst men his age, but while others would have no more than five out of twenty of those flaws, he had eighteen.As such, from another perspective entirely, the only woman who could tolerate Jacob now was Elaine and only Elaine. Coincidentally, her straightforward personality and tendency to get violent was the perfect counter against all of Jacob's flaws, reducing
Charlie chuckled. "Don't sell yourself short, Mr. Hart. There are plenty of business folk who got so used to their comfort zone that they became caught in the illusion that they can be successful in anything they do. It's a mindset that leads to them blindly developing new projects and new competition, and then they end up losing big."If memory serves, there have been real estate businesses that started mineral water brands, search engines that tried the car industry, e-commerce sites attempting social media, and vice-versa. All of them are multi-billion-dollar companies venturing into new frontiers, but all to unimpressive outcomes."Pausing, Charlie then continued, "You've mentioned rising above the competition amidst the development of the new energy industry. That would get anyone's attention, and it is why I believe that you definitely will make a strong impression with your strategizing and knowledge of the basic principles."Yolden found it hard to refuse, seeing that Charli
Having lost it all, Jacob really looked like he wouldn't be getting back up.But fortunately, he had a pillar in the form of Elaine.In fact, Elaine would serve to be a container, whipping Jacob into shape if he got too full of himself.But on the other hand, now that Jacob was utterly despondent, she would be forcing him to smile and function in general.Elaine's attitude to the entire issue was clear as well. Even though Jacob had just lost his job, she would make him go shopping with her in Dubai even if he fell into a coma. Even if he was dead, she'd just cremate him and bring his ashes along.Hence, with Elaine's firm grip around Jacob's leash, he went on strolls, going shopping and taking selfies with Elaine everyday, eventually easing the toll on his mood and spirit.-Back at Aurous Hill, Charlie was preparing for Yolden Hart and Matilda Hall's wedding as it approached.Yolden was a schoolmate of his mother, Ashley Layna Acker, as well as Charlie's elder.And while Cha
"See you." As soon as Charlie hung up on Matilda, Don Albert's call came right after.He sounded nervous as Charlie answered the phone, saying, "Master Wade, I think I might have gone too far…""Wait, what's this about?" Charlie asked."Your father-in-law, of course…" Don Albert sighed. "You asked me to leave him hanging for a while, so I did. I even refused when he asked to book a room in Heaven Springs.""Well, that's not a problem, is it?" Charlie shrugged. "He and Zachary ganged up for some real mischief. As you are Zachary's boss, it's right that you refused him because you didn't appreciate what he did.""That's just it. I thought that approach was just right as well," Don Albert quickly said. "I wasn't playing nice when Mr. Bay of the Calligraphy and Painting Association called me either. That's when he said he'd try to save Jacob's position as vice-president, but I told him it's none of my business."I then hung up on him without much thought, only for Zachary to tell m
Meanwhile, Charlie was downstairs in Claire's office, waiting to pick her up and head home.That was when Matilda called him, asking as soon as he answered, "Charlie, do you know how Jacob is doing? He never answered any of my texts—is he going to be alright?""I wouldn't know," Charlie replied. "Both he and Elaine are in Dubai on a trip… What's wrong?""He resigned," Matilda sighed. "I only saw the public statement that the Calligraphy and Painting Association posted this afternoon. It says that he tendered the resignation himself, but it doesn't really feel that way. I wonder if he's at odds with other members of the association…"Charlie was actually surprised to hear that Jacob had resigned.He had told Zachary to expose the truth of the bronze sculpture fraud case to teach Jacob a lesson so that Jacob would understand the meaning of true pain.However, he anticipated that Mr. Bay would at least keep Jacob around with an unimportant job even if Jacob did lose some money and e
Falling apart in both mind and spirit, Jacob was crying as he disembarked and took a cab to the hotel.Elaine, who had been lying around for 24 hours, was stunned speechless as she watched him enter, crying like a child.In contrast, Elaine looked like a mother to Jacob just then as he threw himself into her arms and bawled, "Darling… That prick Mr. Bay screwed me over… I have nothing left now…"Taken aback for a moment that Jacob would bawl in her arms like that, Elaine soon came to her senses and patted his back as she comforted him, "Oh, stop crying already. Who cares about some Calligraphy and Painting groupies? We certainly don't! Just hear me out and don't ever go there again!"Jacob kept sobbing, "But I care… I want to go…"Annoyed, Elaine's hand that had been patting Jacob a moment ago slid down to his hip and pinched him viciously before he noticed."Ow!" Jacob yelped in pain, and he demanded indignantly, "What was that for?!""Shut up!" Elaine snapped, glowering. "I wa
Jacob couldn't even be bothered by the looks others were giving him, and he called Mr. Bay immediately.Mr. Bay had already gone home and was seated on the couch with his wife, watching his phone and waiting for Jacob to call and demand an explanation.Mr. Bay knew that he had to answer for this and that if he avoided Jacob, it may well be a confession that he had screwed Jacob over.So, to avoid unnecessary trouble, he decided to come clean with Jacob.Naturally, by coming clean, he meant passing the buck as his wife had suggested.Hence, as he answered Jacob's call, he immediately sighed in embarrassment, "Hey, Jacob. I'm so sorry about that…"However, Jacob was so furious he immediately started bellowing, "Mr. Bay! Are you fucking with me here?! You said that the resignation letter was more of a formality, but you just made it public instead! So, all those things you said about helping me were just a trap, was it?! You're despicable! And to think I've been so good to you, even
The repeated flights had left Jacob tormented.Even before he actually had the time to enjoy Dubai, he had already gotten sick of the place and didn't want to ever return.And on the flight, he couldn't stop his thoughts from going astray.Now that he was not getting back the money he had lost, his only hope was Mr. Bay.Fortunately, Mr. Bay was serious about his promise that he would at least save him a job as department head. That was why, despite his thoughts running astray, he never considered the thought that he would be kicked out of the Calligraphy and Painting Association.As soon as his flight landed, he didn't wait to turn off his phone's flight mode, waiting for the internet connection to return so that he could ask Mr. Bay about the meeting.Once he did, he received a ton of messages from public accounts to acquaintances—many had already found out that he had resigned from the post of administrative vice-president and wanted to ask how he was doing.And Matilda was
The Calligraphy and Painting Association was certainly efficient—soon after the meeting was dismissed, the news that the administrative vice-president had resigned was posted on their official page and social media.The notice was simple and never mentioned what Jacob had done, only that the administrative vice-president had asked to resign for personal reasons. The request had since been voted upon, and all members had agreed to it.And that was how a simple and short message kicked Jacob out of the Calligraphy and Painting Association entirely.In the city, other associations closely connected with the Calligraphy and Painting Association were the various cultural societies and circles of antique enthusiasts and the Senior University. In fact, most fans of the public page of the Calligraphy and Painting Association were from the Senior City, and every lecturer, student, and even guest lecturer were subscribed.As a matter of fact, that was entirely Jacob's doing. After his lect
There weren't that many members in the Calligraphy and Painting Association—just a handful over twenty.Hence, at Mr. Bay's request, everyone showed up at the conference at 1 pm.He chose the afternoon as there were a handful who were away on outreach, including Walker, who was subbing for Jacob's lectures.Once the entire Calligraphy and Painting Association save for Jacob was informed of the mandatory meeting, every member was there on the hour, seated primly and in attention in the huge conference room.Mr. Bay didn't waste his breath on the preamble either—as soon as he saw that everyone had arrived, he announced, "Everyone, I've gathered you here today because our administrative vice-president, Jacob Wilson, has been alleged to be involved in a certain malicious scheme."Last night, Mr. Wilson submitted his resignation to me, and after a discussion with my vice-presidents, we've all decided to hold a vote. It will be open to every member in the association as we will be decid