"Hello, Ms. Miller. I'm Anson Long, Annie's older brother.""And I'm Alvin Long, Annie's younger brother." The brothers introduced themselves and sat down, treating themselves as if they were invited guests.Yvonne looked at Annie in confusion. She hadn't mentioned that there would be anyone else coming over the phone.Annie clenched the menu tightly. She looked at them sternly. "Why are you two here? Ms. Miller had specifically invited me to talk. You two—""Annie, it's not very nice of you to say that. We're family. We're doing this for Excel Pharma. If the boss of Hope wants to make a deal with Excel Pharma, we should be here too. We want to thank Ms. Miller as well," Anson interrupted Annie with a smile. He gave Yvonne a flirtatious look.Alvin immediately chimed in, "Yes, Annie. This is a great thing. You can't just take it all for yourself, right?""You …" Annie was furious. They might have put it nicely, but they were just afraid that they wouldn't be able to gain anythi
In the end, they still hadn't finalized the deal.When the Long brothers left resentfully, Yvonne said to Annie, "In the future, you'll have to deal with your brothers like you did today. If anything has to do with Excel Pharma, you should be the boss. You can't let them control you."Yvonne furrowed her brows. "They know that you care about them because they are family, which is why they keep making things difficult for you."Annie slowly came to her senses. "Ms. Miller, were you only pretending to say all those things just now? You're not really going to give up on collaboration?""I'm not foolish. I won't give up on such a good project because of those two." Yvonne smiled. "I just can't stand them making things difficult for you."Annie was grateful. She had never thought that an outsider would help her. She smiled. "Ms. Miller, don't worry. I will remember everything you told me tonight. Thank you."Yvonne smiled and replied, "Good. I'll send the proposal to you soon. Let m
"Mark has arranged for me to help Mr. Jensen out for the time being," Gwen explained.Yvonne sneered. "Mark again. He didn't cause me any trouble on the cruise. It turns out he had something else planned.""Ms. Miller, don't be mistaken. I was the one who asked Mark to arrange it for me," Chuck said. "I really want both of our companies to work together. I got him to get me someone who is familiar with you, so I could get closer to you."Yvonne looked at Chuck. "Mr. Jensen, I had already told you clearly. The things that you want involve too many aspects. I have to have a meeting internally to decide."She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you in such a rush?"Chuck could see that Gwen's appearance had irritated Yvonne. But now he also knew how much Gwen meant to her. That was a good thing."I'm not here today because I want to force you to make a decision. I had just arrived in Northerna City, and I'm not familiar with the place. The only friend I could think of was you, Ms. Miller.
"No," Yvonne answered before Gwen could respond. "I'm just a little tired today. I don't have the energy to host Gwen, so I just let her be."Her tone was filled with resentment.Curtis wanted to ask more questions, but Yvonne headed upstairs without looking back. Helpless, he looked at Gwen. "Gwen, don't think of Yvonne as a Principal. Sometimes, she's just like a young woman. She's not that old after all. If she's done anything wrong, don't take it to heart."Gwen looked upstairs dejectedly. She murmured, "I was the one who disappointed her this time."Curtis didn't hear her clearly. "What did you say?"Gwen shook her head. "Nothing." She looked at Curtis and smiled. "Yvonne is lucky to have you by her side, caring for her.""I'm just a disabled person. How can I care for her? She's the one looking out for me. A few days ago, she even fell asleep on the couch with a book in her hand. The book was on treating my legs."Curtis smiled. "I'm one who's lucky to have her."Se
Yvonne's head hurt thinking about it. "I don't know either."She rubbed her temples. "Chuck Jensen is so eager to work with Hope. I think he has other intentions."Yvonne completely disliked Chuck for what he did."But Gwen is with Chuck. If this collaboration doesn't work, Mark might punish Gwen."Yvonne was torn. She looked at Stephen dejectedly. "What should I do?""Will you listen to me?" Stephen asked in retort.Yvonne immediately thought of what he was going to say. She rolled her eyes. "You heartless capitalist."Stephen chuckled in amusement. "You have your answer, right? Why do you insist on making me the bad person?"Yvonne would never be able to leave Gwen alone. That meant that regardless of Chuck's intentions, she would still try to make things work. She would have to be careful not to let Hope suffer any losses in the collaboration. She would rather put all the risk on herself than let Gwen be in danger.Stephen had already known Yvonne would choose this. He ha
Yvonne's guard immediately went up. "Grandpa, I was just trying to ask your opinion. After all, Well Spring is such a huge business. It's a rare opportunity for Hope.""I don't agree with it." Jim refused firmly. "Hope is going to expand its drug manufacturing, and you want to work with Well Spring too? You're putting too much work on me in such a short time! If you want me to work to my death, just tell me!"Yvonne immediately said, "Of course not. How would I dare to tire you out?""Exactly! Let me tell you, I'm old, and I won't work for long. If you really want to work with Well Springs, wait until I'm dead!" Jim hung up.Yvonne was in a daze. She didn't know why she had been reprimanded. Why was Jim so angry?…After that call, Jim seemed to have forgotten about the entire thing. Every time he contacted her, it was about the collaboration with Excel PharmaYvonne had tried to bring it up a few times, but she swallowed her words back down every time. She planned to unders
Outside the kindergarten gates, Stephen watched Elvin and Britney enter the building before he took his phone out and sent a message to Yvonne. "They have reached safely."It was a simple sentence without anything else.When Yvonne received the message, she replied, "Okay." The two said nothing else. However, Yvonne continued to clutch her phone in her hand in a daze. Her current situation did indeed feel like a normal life.All these years, she had been busy with her career. She rarely had time to think about her life. At that moment, when she thought back about it, every facet of her life had something to do with Stephen.She smiled helplessly, just thinking about it. When had Stephen silently invaded every corner of her life?Yvonne stopped herself from dreaming. She sent a message to Annie, asking her to meet at Galarinx Restaurant that night.…That night, Annie arrived at Galarinx Restaurant on time. She kept looking back from time to time to see if anyone was following
"The first day you asked to meet me, people from the Anderson Group came to talk to me about an investment. They said that they liked Excel Pharma's solid foundation and how we have the potential to develop further. They intend to invest money to help us expand."Annie looked at Yvonne. She found it strange. "I thought that you had privately discussed it with Mr. Anderson …"Judging by Yvonne's reaction, Stephen must have gone behind her back."Ms. Miller, I know I shouldn't ask about your private life, but …" Annie asked tentatively, "Now that you two are my collaborators, should I know what …"Sort of relationship they were in.Annie didn't finish her sentence. She carefully observed Yvonne's expression."It's fine. It's good that Anderson Group is investing in Excel Pharma. You don't have to worry about my relationship with Stephen."Although Yvonne sounded calm, she was a little pissed. How dare Stephen steal business intel from her?As soon as he had found out that she w