Charmine quickly looked away as she said to Chris, “Daddy will put you to sleep while Mommy will go wash up, okay?” “Okay!” replied Chris obediently. Charmine quickly let go of Chris, walked past Anthony, and rushed into the washroom. Anthony saw how she avoided him, and his lips curled up unknowingly. Chris and Anthony were left in the room. Chris suddenly reached out his hand and beckoned toward him. “Come closer, Daddy, I want to tell you something.” Anthony frowned. This little cheeky just recovered—what ideas did he have? He sat down by the side while drying his hair with the towel. Chris went beside him and, in a hushed voice, spoke, “Daddy, I know about you making another baby with Auntie Annabel. I know everything.” Anthony’s expression changed. He knew? “I was still conscious though I fainted. I don’t mind it if you and Auntie Annabel make another baby, considering that I want to live past eight to grow old with Mommy. I want to be with Mommy forever,” exp
She thoughtfully massaged Anthony by his thigh and asked, “Where exactly does it hurt? Up here, or do I go down?” “Up,” replied Anthony with a straight face. Charmine’s hand went up a bit, but she did not notice how intimate they were at that moment. Chris, who was by the side, used his phone and took some photos. Clack! Clack! Clack! “I’m just recording how loving we are as a family of three!” said Chris as he took their photos. Inwardly, however, he impishly grinned from ear to ear. ‘Hehe! With such an intimate photo of Daddy and Mommy, nobody would want Mommy anymore! While this is technically wrong to do, I want Daddy and Mommy to be together forever!’ Charmine saw how joyful he was with that grin of his as he took photos, thus she merely let him be. The three of them were so loving. However, tomorrow morning, Anthony and Annabel would make a test tube baby… Another woman was about to bear Anthony’s child… McKenzie seethed at the thought that night. Inside t
McAmor saw the vengeful expression McKenzie had and felt fear prickling at her. “Sister, you’ve seemed to have changed recently. Get some rest, and calm down.” With that, McAmor left hurriedly. Startled with McAmor’s words, McKenzie looked in the mirror and was met with a bitter, envious, and furious version of herself. Her negative emotions overwhelmed her and stripped her of her elegance and grace. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Since when had she turned into such an unfamiliar person? Was she not highly celebrated? Was she not elegant like the swan soaring through the clouds, like the white snow on a tall mountain? Since when had she turned into this? It was all Charmine...! Charmine ruined her plans! She would have gotten engaged with Anthony, yet Charmine forced her to turn into this! McKenzie had reached her limit. She would not allow their plan to succeed!... The night sky darkened, engulfing the entire world in its darkness. There was a ward painted in p
Though the soothing music continued in the background, Annabel felt as if she was engulfed by the boundless night sky until dawn, when the morning sun finally reappeared and lightened the sky. At Royal Hospital... Early in the morning, Chris was brought away by the doctor for a checkup. “Momo’s checkup will take an hour,” said Nial. “The operation had to take place within this hour, so we’ll try our best to keep Chris from knowing. Bro, Charmine, are you ready for this? Are you sure you want to let Annabel bear the child? Are you mentally prepared?” Anthony and Charmine looked at one another at the same time. They did not want to have anything to do with Annabel: Anthony did not want to have another baby with Annabel, and Charmine did not want her man to have a baby with another woman. However, they had no choice. For Chris’ sake and the cord blood they could have, they had to compromise. It was nothing in comparison to Chris’ life. Charmine convinced herself with this.
Was that not Chris? Nial rushed out quickly but saw no one. The top floor lab was empty without a sound, so quiet that even a pin dropping could be heard. Nial frowned suspiciously. Not a single person was in sight? Was he hallucinating? Was he overwhelmed with work that he started to hallucinate? Nial walked back into the lab. What he did not notice was that the moment he left, a black shadow flickered into the lab, silently and unknowingly, and changed the reagent on the table…... Inside the other operating room, Annabel had disinfected her entire body and laid on the operation bed quietly. She was covered in a white blanket, pure and sacred like an untainted white lotus. Doctors paced around as they prepared themselves as Charmine walked in and signaled to all of the doctors. The doctors left gradually. Upon the sight of Charmine, Annabel wanted to get up hastily but realized that she was wearing nothing, thus she only looked up at her. “M...Ms. Jordan, i
Charmine was initially apprehensive and worried that Annabel would regret her choice, so she came to confirm with her. She did not expect Annabel to give such a reassuring answer. Charmine found it hard to believe. “Annabel, are you sure about this? This is your only chance to be with Anthony officially, and as I said, I’ll help you.” “No, I really don’t want to. I only want to leave Burlington with my parents, to a place where nobody knew us, to live a simple life. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the baby. I’ll take good care of the child and birth him safely so we’ll have his cord blood to cure Momo,” Annabel answered with determination. Charmine studied Annabel’s genuine and pure face and stopped questioning her. “Alright, I’ll believe what you said. Just focus on taking care of yourself in the following days to maintain a positive state. Leave the rest to Anthony and I.” “Thank you, Mr. Bailey, and thank you, Ms. Jordan.” Annabel lowered her head humbly. Worried that
With such thoughts in mind, Charmine regained her strength and felt that there was nothing to feel ashamed of. She turned to them and said, “I’m fine. You should go and take care of Robert. I’ll go check out Momo’s body analysis result.” “Okay.” They always went to the hospital daily to take care of Robert, and they would only return when Charmine was about to come back from work. They did this all so that Charmine felt the warmth of coming home after work. Senior Jordan walked two steps when a thought occurred to him. “Oh, right…” began Senior Jordan. “Tiffany isn’t found yet, so perhaps…” Charmine frowned. They had not found her? She had to find her, dead or alive. How could they not have found her? Nonetheless, the sea was vast and deep, and she most likely did not make it… Joey comforted, “Don’t worry—we’re over it. We only want to tell you that you’ll be our only daughter from now on, and our whole family will support you. No matter what happens to Tiffany, she cho
The four Uncles somehow had fallen into her trap as they fell into her line of thoughts. Conceiving a baby would take ten months, a month of postpartum care, then another month for the body to recover. That would take one whole year! Charmine’s red lips shifted into a small smile as she added, “That’d take a year, which also means I won’t be able to take care of the Jordan Group. I won’t be able to help the company get back on its feet, I won’t be able to look into checkers, scientific researches, nor architecture books. Within a year, our opponents would get so much ahead of us! How many people are going to laugh at us? “Now that I don’t have to conceive a baby and get two children, isn’t this the best gift from God? Who in the world could get two free babies without enduring the pain of pregnancy?” “No…nobody?” hesitated Uncle Zul. Charmine nodded. “Exactly! This is the greatest gift from above. Perhaps God didn’t want me to go through the pain, that he doesn’t want me to r
There was an unnoticeable glint in Sonia's eyes. She nestled herself further into Harry's arms as she added, "Let’s go to Pares. We'll come back after I give birth to the baby.""Alright."Harry stayed by Sonia's side as he watched over her, cared for her, and talked to her until she finally slept in his care.He stood up tiredly and walked out of the room to sit in the living room.Thuck!Something fell out of his pocket.He narrowed his eyes to the source of sound and spotted a USB.Since when did he have a USB in his pocket?With a small frown on his face, Harry curiously picked it up and noticed the front side of the USB glowing. Something was carved onto its surface, too.[Granger].Was it Dior’s USB? Why was her USB inside his pocket?Harry’s clear fingers held on the USB tightly. He thought for a moment before he took out a laptop, turned it on, and plugged in the USB.A moment later, the screen showed what seemed to be peculiar surveillance footage with a descriptio
Dior was still lost in her storm of thoughts when a shadowy figure zipped past her and ran toward Harry.When she spotted this familiar figure, she reacted quickly and held onto him."Let go of me!" growled Guy. "How dare he slap you and misunderstood you? I have to beat some sense into him!"Harry broke free and chased after Harry.Dior, despite having lost all hope and life in her, mustered the last strand of her will to chase after Guy and reeled him back. "Brother, don't," she muttered, "spare your energy…" Her sorrow clouded her eyes as she mumbled, "He’s the man I love. Even though he hates me, I won’t allow you to hurt him. As for the explanation…"Dior smiled ironically. "Whatever. That slap decimated every beautiful daydream I have about him, anyway."She no longer expected anything from him.He had no trust in her, so what would it matter if she finally got him? He did not even love her, and he did not trust her either.Dior smiled elegantly, but her eyes were fille
Dior looked forward to that new shift.She watched as Harry made his way into the restaurant silently, unable to deter her mind from the daydreams she had of him, of the new chapter of their story they would have.He would apologize to her, trying to redeem himself, and kiss her dearly as he embraced her. Later down the line, they would have a child of their own, too.Harry's long legs walked in strides, his dark gaze trained on Dior.The bright light shone on Dior’s delicately stunning face, and she also wore a red dress.He remembered her wearing this back in Mount Village.He could remember how alluring she looked back then, how they stayed in the same room, how she put down her ego to treat him with so much gentleness.Harry’s cold face mellowed down, but recalling a certain memory, the vague wistfulness in him vanished and he sat in front of her.Dior looked at him fondly, like she always would. "Long time no see."Her eyes burned brightly as if she wanted to drink in his
Dior examined the footage the moment she received it.True enough, it showed Sonia and George talking about their little deal. It also showed how Dior was telling the truth while they both ganged up on her.Dior’s frail heart felt as though it was rejuvenated once more, feeling as though blood was once more pumped into her heart. Her dull eyes devoid of hope regained their lost luster once more.Not thinking twice, she dialed Harry's number with this evidence, though he had to be busy, seeing as he did not pick up even after the phone rang for a long while.Just as she was about to hang up, Harry picked up the phone."What do you want?"On the other end of the call was the voice that she had missed for so long. His low, hoarse voice sounded so cold and emotionless.Hearing his voice brought Dior back to the image of his handsome face, and her heart skipped a beat.She tried her best to restrain her fluttering emotions as she tried to speak calmly, "Do you have time? I’d like to
At Mount Village…Inside the elegant bamboo house was Dior, dressed in a beige dress. She sat in the front yard as she took sips of her wine.The sunlight shone past the leaves and illuminated her, yet she exuded an air of loneliness.She swirled the glass and could not help recalling the moments she spent with Harry.In the beginning, she was attracted by his looks; he looked so gentle and elegant.She gave him money, kept him company, and continuously showed up around him in hopes of conquering him.Alas, she ended up in this state.The time she spent with him in Mount Village was the happiest time she had ever had. They had lived inside the bamboo house together, where he took care of her and claimed her to be his woman.They even laid inside the same room.Everything was so beautiful.Cursed was her luck, however, that it was just an illusion. He had been using her from the start, while he chose to stay with the woman who lied to him and even hurt him!No matter how mu
"Although Susan was unhappy, she should've voiced out her displeasure instead of bottling things. Cheating is wrong, regardless. Furthermore, if she wanted a career, she didn't have to stay home and depend on her husband."Grandma Bailey halted.Was that what Charmine truly thought of?Grandma Bailey thought Charmine would find Susan too aggressive unto herself.Charmine glanced at Susan again and apathetically commented, "She doesn't want to make money on her own, but she wants to be rich while complaining about her man not making time for her and taking care of her? If a woman has no ability of her own and also blames others for her miseries, all she's worth is to sit quietly at home and wait for her husband to come home. She also has no right to cheat! This is how the world works."Charmine patted Grandma Bailey’s shoulder and held Anthony’s hand, her words met with everyone's evidently surprised gazes and their silence.Grandma Bailey was shocked. Sure, Charmine sounded rathe
The colossal cruise started to drift away from the pier.Eric stood on the cruise and let the wind blow at him, loneliness and hatred still oozing from his being.He stared at the blue ocean ahead of him as Charmine's words rang in his mind unceasingly.'Will you really feel good after you've killed them?''You saw Susan suffering from a serious wound; would you still kill the one sibling you have left in the world?'"Forgive them and yourself.'Deliberating everything carefully, his lips curled into a bitter smile.It was true, after all, that Charmine understood him the most.Eric poured himself another drink and downed it with loneliness as he allowed the cruise to bring him wherever it would take him.…Susan was still inside the operating room when Charmine and the rest of the Baileys rushed into the hospital.Darryl stood before the room, his expression blank, his figure lonely and helpless.So many things had happened in half a day.He found out about his wife's inf
"No one's stopping you now. Eat!"Anthony clenched his hands tightly and took another glance at Charmine. He was more determined than before, and he was close to eating the pills in the bottle.Charmine, who was held hostage, gradually opened her eyes at that moment. Her gaze drifted toward Eric before she asked, her tone challenging, "Will you really feel good after you've killed them? You saw Susan suffering from a serious wound; would you still kill the one sibling you have left in the world?"Eric halted, and his eyes darkened.Charmine had just woken up, yet what she said…He cast a cold glance at Charmine. "It's my business, and it has nothing to do with you!"They were his family, and he did not want a family like this!Charmine looked squarely at him. "Eric, I don’t care if you used me or plotted against me all these years; I've treated you like a true friend, nothing more nor less. You were the only person who stayed by my side in the past five years, so I hope that you
Anthony's breath hitched when he saw Charmine.He clenched his fists and, without doubting himself, relented "I can agree to your terms, so let her go right away. This has nothing to do with her; you only hate me after all. As long as you let her go, I'll take the pill. Everything will end right away."Susan shook her head. "We'll die after eating the pill. I’m not taking that!"She had just reunited with Eric, and she did not want to die yet. She looked at Eric and begged, "Please let Anthony be, why don't you? He’s your brother, after all, and he doesn’t even know about your existence. If you’re really angry, just kill Charmine, and I'll make it up to you—"Anthony's expression contorted in sheer fury upon hearing Susan's plea, and he glared at her with murderous intent."This was all your fault, so what right do you have to make Charmine take your blame?!""What on earth are you going on about?" snapped Grandma Bailey. "Charmine has been kidnapped because of you, yet you want