Deborah had been explaining to James what was being shown on those large screens that were displaying numbers and images of companies. It was a special moment for her, as it reminded her of how her grandfather had explained the workings of the stock market to her. Everything was fine until a voice pulled her out of that happy moment. She looked to her right and saw a red-haired woman walking toward them. For some reason, the woman’s walk and the way she swayed, combined with her clothes and appearance, made Deborah frown as it reminded her of something unpleasant. To Deborah, everything seemed to happen in slow motion as she watched this woman approach her Jayden, revealing her bust through the deep neckline of her dress, and then link her arm with his, pressing her body against his. This made Deborah frown even more because, in that moment, she no longer saw just any woman; she saw Sophia. The way this woman approached Jayden was eerily similar to how Sophia used to cling to R
Marie stormed out of the venue, fuming as she headed straight to the parking lot where a black SUV was waiting for her.“Miss, how—” began an older man as he opened the car door for her.“Shut up and drive!” she screamed at her chauffeur, shoving him aside before getting into the vehicle.The chauffeur merely grimaced and complied, knowing that meant things had gone badly.Marie pulled out her phone from her bag and began typing a message.“Stupid… how dare she steal my man? The Cooper fortune is mine… I was Jayden’s girlfriend first,” she seethed as she tapped angrily on her phone screen. “Tch… damn it, why did my mother have to get all high and mighty and divorce Dad over that little slip with the secretary...” she muttered to herself, frustrated. All her plans had fallen apart because she lost contact with Jayden and he seemed to have forgotten her completely—something she was not about to accept easily.Then she saw that her message had been replied to, making her smile as sh
Fortunately—or rather, unfortunately—the so-called scandal on the day of the stock exchange’s reopening went unnoticed, which infuriated Marie. It seemed her most expensive heels had been ruined for nothing… Now all she had left was to see if those two poor souls could help her solve her problem, as they had claimed they could ruin this happy marriage.Though she wouldn’t put all her trust in them, she looked for a new opportunity to get closer to Jayden and noticed an invitation on her father’s desk that might help with that new opportunity.The next day, Deborah was scanning newspapers and magazines for public opinions.“Everything is going well, and today we have more work than ever,” Nicholas said, on a video call with her at that moment.“I see that, and I’ll see if I can come by tomorrow to help out.”“Don’t worry, your old man still has plenty of energy to hold the fort,” the older man said with a wink. “Besides, you have something more important to attend to today.”“Than
After that, the couple went into the baby’s room to change his clothes and prepare the diaper bag.Once they were ready, they got into the car and headed to the doctor’s office.Upon arrival, the doctor was already waiting for them.“Hello again, James,” the doctor greeted as the family walked in.“Ah…”“Hello, doctor,” Deborah greeted.“I see we’ve had quite a growth spurt,” the doctor commented as he looked at the baby.“Indeed, it’s not just my imagination,” Jayden said as they took a seat.“That’s good; it means he’s growing well,” the doctor said, picking him up. “Let’s measure you, champ,” he said, carrying the baby to the scale and measuring tape. “Wow… 62 cm. Hehe, you’ve really grown, last month you were 57,” he said, looking at the baby’s chart. “And let’s see… oh, you’ve gained weight too. Last month you were 4.3 kg, and now you’re 5 kg.”“Phew… I knew he was heavier,” Jayden joked, making faces to make James laugh.“This little guy is growing up,” Deborah said, co
Eric and Samantha were growing increasingly concerned. Ever since Jayden and Deborah returned from lunch with George and his son, they had been acting strangely.Samantha approached her son to find out what had happened and was met with a shocking revelation: Roger was now intent on being part of James’s life. The worst part was that he had convinced Deborah to let him get close to the baby.Naturally, this upset Jayden and caused tension between them.Jayden’s parents were also a bit upset with Deborah, unable to understand why she had agreed to this when Roger had never shown any interest in James before.As a result, the atmosphere at home grew a bit uncomfortable.The weekend arrived, bringing with it the grand opening of the hotel.When the Cooper family arrived at the event, many noticed that the young couple didn’t seem as cheerful and harmonious as usual, drawing the curiosity of those eager to find out what had happened.The hotel itself was quite impressive. From its f
Samantha and Eric watched as Marie was interviewed and began to put on dramatics with the press, portraying herself as the victim of that horrible woman next to Jayden.They were obviously upset and decided to apologize to their friends before leaving. They wanted to talk to their children and find out what had really happened.Meanwhile, Deborah and Jayden were on their way home in the car.“Ouch…” Jayden winced after receiving a hit on his arm, rubbing it.“You called me stupid,” Deborah said, tears in her eyes.“Um… sorry, love, I…”“That was offensive, and it hurt,” she said, pouting.“I’m sorry…”“Sorry, darling… sniff… your daddy is being bad, sweetheart,” she said, hugging James.“Ah…” The little one touched his mommy’s face, noticing the tears in her eyes but smiling.“Sorry, my love, I got carried away,” Jayden said, hugging her and trying to rock her while giving kisses to her cheek.James touched his daddy’s face, laughing as he received kisses.“You see, even Ja
As they sat down at the table, Samantha and Eric noticed that Jayden and Deborah were acting as if nothing had happened earlier. They were chatting and eating as if the earlier argument was just a bad dream.“Enough with this charade,” Eric said firmly.“Is something wrong?” Nicholas asked, looking confused.“You see, earlier…” Samantha began to explain.“What happened earlier was just an act,” Deborah cut in.“What?” the blond couple exclaimed in unison.“What are you talking about? What did I miss?” Nicholas looked around, bewildered.“Earlier, we were acting and arguing in public,” Jayden explained.“Huh?”“Acting? But…"“Let us explain everything,” Deborah said, taking Jayden’s hand. “You see, everything we told you earlier and what happened today was a lie. We found out something concerning during lunch with Mr. George…”-Flashback-Jayden and Deborah had taken a seat at the table, deliberately positioning themselves far from Roger.James was playing with his hands, o
Marie was overjoyed when watching her interview on television. She couldn’t get enough of seeing the footage of the supposed happy couple arguing."It looks like their happiness wasn’t as genuine or everlasting as they claimed," she commented while sipping on a glass of champagne."I told you their happiness was fleeting," Sophia said."And luckily, my son is doing his part," Isabelle declared. "I’m glad to see he used his head and managed to fool that idiot by telling her he still wants her and all that romantic nonsense that impresses women like her.""By the way, has he planned what he’s going to do about the child?" Sophia asked. "I mean, Roger made it clear he doesn’t want him.""No idea. Maybe he’ll just throw him away because he doesn’t resemble my son, so I refuse to acknowledge him.""Well, looking at the baby’s photos, he does resemble her," Sophia said, noting that despite her dislike for the former mute woman, James was a very cute baby."I don’t care. Boys are suppo
Extra 40: A Happy and Perfect Life Part 2That promise came to an end for one of them three years later, as Nicholas was the first to go due to his heart, which began to fail until it simply stopped beating one cold December morning.Despite the immense pain she felt, Deborah fulfilled her father’s last wish… so they buried him with the diamond pendant that had belonged to her mother and grandfather.It was a very sad time, and everyone came together to keep Deborah from falling apart, as she now felt alone, as though she had lost her family again.But her children reminded her that she wasn’t alone, and because of this, they tried to distract her by having her organize the Christmas party.The days continued to pass, and just when they were preparing for James’ wedding, Eric and Samantha Cooper passed away due to old age.That was news that covered all the media outlets, with the headline telling a beautiful love story, as they had gone to sleep together and passed away to the n
Extra 40: A Happy and Perfect Life Part 1Time began to pass quickly, bringing good, bad, and sad moments that gradually changed the family.One good thing that happened was that after much reflection, Roger managed to make peace with his father, asking for forgiveness for all the stupid things he had done when he was younger. He also apologized to his little brother for being such a jerk.Even though he didn’t want to, Elliot reluctantly accepted the apologies because his wife convinced him that holding onto grudges wasn’t healthy.Unfortunately, the Peterson family only got to celebrate being united for a short period of time because two weeks after that reconciliation… George passed away of natural causes.That was a tragic moment for everyone, one that shook his friends, reminding them of how precious and short life is. Those who suffered the most from the loss of their Grandpa George were Howard and Fiona. But their parents, uncles, and maternal grandparents showered them wit
Extra 39: Deborah and JamesAfter lunch, and taking advantage of when his father taking his little siblings to their extracurricular activities, James sought out his mom to talk with her.“Mom,” he called out when he saw her in her study, reading some papers.“Hey, come in,” she said, looking up and setting aside the documents for a moment.“More work?”“Not exactly. These are the reports of the current buildings for sale in the city.”“Huh… are you already looking into that?”“Well, son, your sister graduates next year, and a year is not a lot of time to start a company from scratch.”“Will it already be furnished for her?” he asked, taking the documents to read them.“Yes, that’s why I want to buy a warehouse to remodel or a vacant lot so you and your dad can work your magic to build it and make it just like Elizabeth wants.”“It’s a project I can’t wait to start,” James said excitedly.“Your little siblings are also helping me, looking into sewing stores to buy industrial
Extra 38: A Father’s FearsHonestly, it was a strange conversation for James, one he never thought he’d have… in fact, not even in his wildest dreams did he imagine having this kind of interaction with the man who was supposedly his biological father.After telling him a bit about his school life, James paid the bill and said goodbye to Roger, as he had to get back to the office; he didn’t want to be away from work for too long.When he entered the conference room, he saw his father talking to some other architects.“Great, we’re all set then,” Jayden said, dismissing them. “Son, how did it go?” he asked as James approached him.“Fine, but it was weird.”“So... has he started to feel his age?”“I think so,” James replied, making a face.“And what did he want?”“Well, he just started talking to me, apologizing for being absent, and now he wants us to meet up to talk because he wants to get to know me,” James said, scratching his head. “I don’t know… it seemed odd that he wants
Extra 37: A Late Talk Part 2“Wow, sorry for the confusion.”“Don’t worry about it. My family supported me, and thanks to learning the truth, I understood why we had three grandfathers.”“I imagine you became an architect because of Jayden.”“That’s right. My motivation was seeing how his drawings came to life… it excited me to the point where I wanted to do the same, and as the days went by, that desire grew stronger, so I decided to make it a reality,” he said, his excitement evident in his words. “Though I also saw that Uncle did something similar by turning his sketches into beautiful jewelry, but that didn’t impress me as much.”“I see, but didn’t my dad teach you the basics of the company?”“Yes, Grandpa showed me the trade,” James said with a smile. “In fact, I’m a good appraiser, and I know how to make jewelry because Uncle also taught me the basics of jewelry design and creation. But I see that as a hobby because the only jewelry I’ve made has been for my mom, my sisters
Extra 37: A Late Talk Part 1“I’ll ask you again. What are you doing here?” James questioned, frowning slightly.“James… I…” Roger stammered nervously, his words catching in his throat and refusing to come out.“Are you here to apologize on behalf of your daughter?”“Something like that,” he said, finally managing to speak, though he made a face. “Would you let me talk to you?”“To me?” James asked, confused, pointing to himself. “About what?”“Can I invite you for a drink so we can talk?”“What do you want with my son?” At that moment, Roger saw his longtime rival approaching and standing next to the young man.“Jayden, please let me talk to James,” Roger pleaded.The now platinum-blonde looked confused at his rival. It was the first time Roger had called him by his name, and he could see that Roger seemed genuinely sorry and defeated. Jayden let out a sigh. “James, go with him.”“What?” James looked at him, surprised and confused.“Are you serious?” Roger said, a note of h
Extra 36: Late Regrets Part 2The next morning, during breakfast, Roger was focused on his phone, determined to reach out to James and be the one to make the first contact.“Hey, Dad,” Cassandra called out, trying to get his attention, noticing he was more focused on his phone than his breakfast.“What is it?” Roger asked, looking up.“Well... hey, what are we going to do about last night?”“What?” he said with a frown.“Come on, Dad, aren’t you going to do something about Grandpa and—”“Casandra, enough... I think whatever happened last night should have made the situation clear.”“But…”“They no longer see me as family, and they never recognized you as such, so just forget about it because it’s only the three of us, no one else.”“No…”“Cassandra, enough,” her mother scolded. “I told you yesterday not to go, and all you did was humiliate yourselves in public,” she said, looking her daughter in the eyes. “Grow up already. You lost that boy because you chased something that
Extra 36: Late Regrets Part 1Roger didn’t return home for the rest of the night. He ignored the cries of his ‘daughter’ as he headed to the nearest bar to have a drink and try to clear his mind.Seeing his father defeated and exhausted had made him stop and think.While sipping his third beer, he raised his gaze and saw his reflection in the mirror behind the bar, realizing that an old man was staring back at him... which scared him. He now looked at his hands, which had more wrinkles than he remembered. When had he changed so much?His once beautiful hair was now streaked with gray, his face showed his age, and he had dark circles under his dull eyes.When had he gotten so old?And why did he look like this?He was supposed to age gracefully, but that wasn’t the case... because what he saw in that mirror was a shell of the successful man he once was.He thought back to James. That boy had surpassed him in height; he was the version of himself Roger had always wanted to be: ta
Extra 35: Total BreakElliot was furious to see Roger and his daughter at the party.“Why did you hurt my daughter?” Roger hadn’t recognized James and just wanted to help his princess. “Who do you think you are…?” Then he saw James and, how could he not recognize him? He was Roger’s spitting image, giving the latter the same hateful look Roger himself wore.“I should ask you the same thing, sir. Who do you think you are, crashing a private event?” James asked.Roger was about to respond, but…“What’s the meaning of this?” George asked, approaching them.“Grandpa, they attacked me, and…” Cassandra started to say.“Miss, don’t call my grandpa ‘Grandpa,’” declared Howard.“Tom, call security,” Eric ordered. “Get these two out of the party.”Among the guests, a blond young man recognized Cassandra but didn’t go to help her because his parents didn’t allow it. They didn’t want to end up caught in the middle of the problem and become collateral damage, nor did they want to fall out