During the journey home, Deborah ordered food for everyone. Their arrival at her place coincided with the delivery driver. [Perfect timing.] Deborah chuckled as she opened the door and paid for the food. Caroline told her friend to take a shower as they entered the house. “I will serve the food.” [Yes, Mom.] Deborah replied playfully. "Hey Deborah, can I have your wifi password?" Christian asked. [I have it written down on the little pink note on my laptop.] She signed before heading to her room to shower. "Oh, thanks," Christian replied, settling into the living room to check a few things on his computer. "Oh, honey, leave work and come help me," Caroline complained upon seeing her husband engrossed in work again. "I'm coming, sweetheart. I just want to check the stock market a bit." "Are you still playing with stocks?" "Yep, since someone told me they want a little house in this area.” He gave his partner a flirtatious glance. "Christian, you—" "I'm a man of m
It was a beautiful night for a grand celebration that brought together many important and powerful figures of society to commemorate the founding of the city. Anyone who was anyone or had a generous amount of money was invited.But more than the commemoration, all eyes and ears were on the rumors circulating about the Peterson family. Several had heard the trial’s conclusion led to George and Isabelle announcing their divorce—many were there to verify if it was true or just gossip.For the same reason, Roger received a separate invitation with an extra pass to bring a guest if he wished. Because of that, Sophia was excitedly doing her makeup for the grand event."You know, Roger, this party will feel different because I don't have new jewels to wear," Sophia pouted because Roger had always gifted her a new set of jewelry for every event they attended together."Stop complaining," Isabelle spoke, already fed up with Sophia, thinking it would be better if the girl were mute so that s
Deborah’s eyebrows furrowed as she noticed Isabelle and Sophia smiling at her mockingly. "What do you mean?" Samantha asked, looking at her friend in confusion. "Well—" Isabelle began. "Mom," Jayden interrupted, sensing the obvious distasteful intentions of Isabelle and Sophia. "Ms. Isabelle was trying to say that, unfortunately, Deborah is a divorced woman. The animal she was married to abandoned her over the vague excuse that her ability to speak made her useless. Instead of valuing the beautiful personality she possesses, he left her."Roger glared at Jayden for the way the latter had addressed him. But when Roger noticed the look of warning from his father, he quickly controlled himself. "What an idiot your ex is," Eric said with furrowed eyebrows. "To judge a beautiful lady in such a way only shows the poor upbringing he received." "I agree," Jayden smiled, noticing his father’s comment further annoyed Roger and Isabelle. "Well, but surely you agree that having mute g
The Coopers were taken aback by the revelation especially since they usually saw the blonde with Roger at every party they had attended."Well, we've certainly missed out on a lot, haven't we?" Eric sighed heavily."Quite a bit, especially since everything happened so quickly. Now, my second son will inherit the company while I'm currently going through a divorce with Isabelle," George lamented."I’m sorry to hear that," Samantha commented sympathetically."But I think these are things that should have happened a long time ago... I should have been tougher the moment I noticed Isabelle favoring one of our sons over the other," George admitted sadly as he glanced over at Elliot teasing Jayden away while embracing Deborah. "I guess I was naive to think she'd change.""Cheer up, my friend. You have your other son, so there's no need to be sad," Eric reassured George."And my future grandson," George added with a smile."Indeed," said Eric."Hey, how is Roger going to handle that?"
After the dance ended, Deborah, Jayden, and Elliot took their seats to enjoy dinner. While eating, Jayden and Elliot realized that they were fellow online gamers. They agreed to meet at Deborah's place the next day for a gaming session. Soon, the evening ended peacefully and without any issues. The real scandal erupted the following day when the media began circulating what had happened at the party, highlighting the confirmation of the long-standing rumor about the Petersons. The icing on the cake was Roger's ex-wife being seen with the heir of the Cooper family. In gossip and entertainment shows, everyone praised how beautiful Deborah looked and how blind Roger must have been to trade her for the woman he was now with. "Imbeciles," Sophia muttered furiously, biting into her toast. "But they're right. The mute totally eclipsed you with her jewelry and outfit," Isabelle mockingly said while sipping her coffee. "And did I ask for your opinion?" Sophia snapped at Isabelle. "Bes
Jayden was the first to arrive at Deborah's house. Just as he rang the doorbell, he saw Elliot arriving too."Good evening, beautiful," he said as Deborah opened the door."Hey, Debbie!" Elliot chimed in, rushing to hug her.[Good evening. You arrived at the same time.] Deborah greeted them with a smile before ushering them inside."So it seems," Jayden said, leaving his console in the living room. "Sweetheart, I'm taking over your TV."[Go ahead.]"Mr. Elliot," said a person standing at the door with paper bags. Jayden and Deborah noticed that Elliot had arrived with someone else."Oh, yeah, sorry. Gabriel, could you please put those on the table?" Elliot said. "Debbie, I brought some snacks for tonight.""Excuse me," Gabriel said, entering the house to leave the purchases before turning to Elliot. "What time should I pick you up?""Hmm... well, if Debbie doesn't mind, maybe I'll stay the night here.""What?!" Jayden exclaimed with a frown.[If your dad doesn't mind, you ca
The kiss was simply a gentle touch between their lips, but it was enough for both of them because it marked the beginning of everything. In their eyes, the love they felt was unmistakable. "Deborah..." [Would you like to be my boyfriend?] Deborah suggested. "Of course. Can I call you ‘my love’?" [You already express it in so many ways.] “But calling you 'my love' makes it more official, don't you think?" [I suppose.] Deborah blushed and glanced away shyly "What's wrong? You don't seem very happy." [I'm happy about what's starting between us, but... I'm afraid of…] "Things will be very different, and nothing bad will repeat, I promise." [Well, now we just have to see if your parents... well, accept us.] "What are you saying? They'll be thrilled with the news." Deborah smiled upon hearing his confident words which quickly dispelling her fears. They talked for a couple of hours under the night sky until the cold air prompted them to return home. "Hey, my love, wo
"Damn old man, you ruin my plans even from beyond the grave," Sophia muttered furiously, clenching her fists. "Is everyone conspiring against me?" She glared hatefully at the television screen tuned to a tabloid channel. She couldn't understand... how was it that a boring mute woman without grace or elegance managed to snag the richest men? What did Deborah have that Sophia didn't? Sophia looked at herself in the mirror and remembered the words of her so-called friends: "You may be pretty, but you're still the daughter of a maid. Your last name isn't worth a cent." "No! I am worth a lot," she said, staring at her reflection. "I can manipulate any man to worship me." She was absolutely furious, especially now that she had another problem on her hands. Sophia was supposed to have a baby boy. But the problem wasn't the gender at all. It was the fact that there was no baby in her belly. Her pregnancy was a lie she told to expedite the divorce. But now that things turned out this wa
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