“A bit of breakfast won’t hurt the bank. Liberty, I won’t overdo it.” Serenity had adequate income to help her sister, but she would not pour her entire paycheck into doing it as she had her mind set on becoming a homeowner. “Has Sonny eaten?” Serenity asked while feeling Sonny’s temperature. His body temperature was in the normal range. “He had milk. I have chicken soup simmering on the stove. I’ll feed him some later when it’s ready.” Liberty took excellent care of her son. “Zachary will be home in two days. His parents will be visiting this Saturday. Come to Brynfield with Hank on the same day for dinner with the family. Can you let him know about this?” Liberty asked happily, “Is your husband coming back from his business trip?” “He said he’ll be back Friday night.” “Alright. I’ll keep my husband in the loop.” Liberty had a clear idea of why her sister decided to get married. Although she went along with Serenity’s lie, Liberty had her concerns about Serenity’s
“I saw you made a transaction in a clothing store. Did you buy clothes? What did you get for it to amount to a thousand bucks? Can’t you cut down on your spending? Do you think I have it easy making money?“I have a house mortgage, car loan, and my parents’ living allowance to think about. Sonny needs milk powder and diapers too! It’s not like you’re contributing to the expenses. I’m on my own. Can’t you reduce the expenditure and be a little understanding of me?” Liberty stopped walking and waited until her husband was done playing the blame game before explaining to him, “Seren said her husband will be back on Friday. The families will meet and have dinner on Saturday. As Seren’s family, I hope the meeting will go well. The clothes I have don’t fit me anymore, so I bought two dresses.“I also bought you a new suit and tie. Hank, we’ll have to skip going to your mom’s this weekend.” Following her clarification, Hank murmured something under his breath. Unable to catch what he sa
Jessica took pleasure in her boss’s courtship and preferential treatment, accepting the flowers and gifts as they came. However, she refused to cross the line of making out with her boss. This was not a matter of protecting her chastity, but rather a means for Hank to yearn for something he so desired. Jessica’s eyes were not set on becoming a mistress, but rather the rightful woman next to Hank. Nevertheless, Hank had been in a relationship with his wife for many years since college. Liberty used to be the finance director of the company, but she quit her job to be a full-time housewife by the time Jessica joined the company. Jessica had never met Liberty, but through the mouths of old colleagues, she got to know that Liberty gave birth to a son a year into the marriage and became a stay-at-home mom since. It was said that Liberty became way out of shape after giving birth. Hank had whined about his obese wife more than once. Jessica thought to herself, ‘Liberty is such a
Meanwhile, a train of luxury sedans cruised along with one of them being a Rolls Royce. It was Zachary’s private ride. With the convoy stopping at the side of the road, Zachary rolled down his window and looked at the scar-faced man. He asked, “What are you doing here, Duncan?” “I went to get something, but I came back to a scratch on my car.” “Did you catch the perpetrator?” Out of impulse, Zachary asked, “Do you need my help to catch whoever vandalized your car?” “It’s fine. I got her number. I’ll claim the damages from her after I get my car fixed. Wiltspoon is my city. She can run but she can’t hide.” Returning to his car, Duncan Lewis started the engine and told Zachary, “I’m off.” Without another word, Zachary wound the windows back up. The Rolls Royce followed by its convoy quickly drove away.Time ticked away quickly. It was soon evening. Once the afterschool rush hour had calmed down, Serenity intended to make dinner for her and Jasmine in the kitchen when she
Zachary remained silent. The person who chipped the paint off Duncan’s car was his new sister-in-law. Zachary had not met his sister-in-law. “It’s late, Mr. York. I’m going to turn in for the night.” Despite having reassured her sister that everything would be fine, Serenity was feeling the blues as she did not know what to expect from the damages. She said goodnight to Zachary and went to her room. By the time Zachary opened his mouth to say something, Serenity had already disappeared into her room. The flowers on the balcony… Well, Serenity would sort out the floral arrangement when she saw them in the morning. However, Zachary was feeling weird about it. It was as though he was waiting to be praised after doing a good thing. “Mr. York.” With the door swung open, Serenity popped back out and asked, “I see you got the washing machines. How much were they?” “I spent seven thousand on two washing machines.” Serenity did a comparison to the washing machine at her si
“It’s only a minor issue, so I can’t be bothered to submit a claim. Why the sudden question, Zachary?” Zachary fell silent before uttering, “The woman who scratched your car this morning is the sister of my nana’s lifesaver. The sisters only have each other, and the woman is a housewife without an income. They’re worried they can’t pay for your car’s repairs.” Duncan replied, “… Talk about a coincidence. I can’t believe she was the sister of your grandma’s lifesaver. How did you find out?” Zachary lied. “My nana is fond of her lifesaver and often seeks companionship in her. Nana had to ask why she was looking blue today, so Hunt told her what happened.” “Hunt? Is that her last name? The woman who damaged my car is Liberty Hunt. What’s the name of your grandma’s lifesaver?” “Serenity Hunt.” “They must be sisters, judging by the name. I’ll drop the matter since she’s the sister of your grandma’s lifesaver. The money means nothing to me, but I’m the victim after all. I can’t b
Serenity tossed and turned all night as stressful dreams were triggered. The disturbed sleep drained her energy by the time she woke up the following morning. As usual, Serenity hung her laundry on the balcony after turning the washing machine on before bed. It was then she realized that stainless steel rods had been installed on the balcony. They were for her to air the laundry. There were also a variety of potted plants stacked on the huge balcony. Many of them had bloomed and budded. No matter the size, the petals were all the intricate kind. Serenity’s attention was immediately drawn to the flowers. She hung her clothes out and got straight to assembling the flower stands she bought yesterday morning. Serenity then displayed the potted plants on the stands. While busting her gut over the task, Serenity got a crawling sensation of a pair of prying eyes. She looked up and met Zachary’s unfazed gaze. His eyes were nothing short of piercing and emotionless. Serenity had lea
“What’s the matter, Mr. York?” Serenity’s voice was heard from the balcony. Chewing on the wrap, Zachary made his way to the balcony. “Your sister’s thing is nothing to worry about. The car in question happens to belong to one of our important clients. It dawned on me last night, so I gave Mr. Lewis a call. He said the repairs cost about ten thousand dollars.” Although she appeared rather lively dabbling the plants, Zachary could tell that she was not at her best, likely due to a lack of sleep last night. The matter with her sister was the cause of trouble in slumberland. Serenity lifted her chin and observed him munching on the wrap. While thinking to herself that Zachary was easy to appease in the food department, Serenity asked, “How can you be sure it’s the car of your company’s client?” Her sister was clueless about the car owner’s name. All she knew was that he was big, strong, and had an intimidating scar on his face. Sonny was scared stiff of the man. “I attended to
Liberty smiled. “Not yet. Maybe you can continue sleeping in the car until the sun rises.“We’re home. Let’s get out of the car. Even if you’re sleepy, you should still take a bath first. The year is ending in a few days. The weather isn’t that cold now. I checked the weather forecast. It says it’ll rain a little on New Year’s Day, so the temperature might drop slightly.”Duncan sat up and touched his forehead. Indeed, there was some sweat. “It really isn’t cold. I’m even sweating.”Liberty did not turn on the car’s air conditioning. In that weather, it would be cold if the air conditioning was turned on and hot if it was turned off. Thanks to the wind, it was still cooling when the car was moving. However, once the car stopped, it became stuffy inside. Liberty got out of the car and went to the passenger seat to help Duncan. Duncan declined her help and insisted on doing it himself. Then, he held her hand and walked into the house slowly. After heading upstairs, he belatedl
Liberty did have a fatty liver back then. However, that was resolved after she lost weight. Indeed, having an unhealthy weight could bring about health issues. Purchasing plus-sized clothes was also a problem. Once she started maintaining a healthy weight, she looked fantastic in whatever she wore and often received compliments for having a great figure when shopping for clothes. Most people marveled at her healthy and youthful complexion. She did not look like she was already in her thirties with a four-year-old son. “Do you want to take a nap? There’s heavy traffic ahead.”Liberty saw a stretch of road highlighted in red on the navigation app, signaling slow traffic. “Aren’t most people on holiday and traveling? Why is the traffic still congested?”Duncan muttered, “Maybe there was a car accident.“I don’t need a nap. I’m energetic now. I won’t be able to fall asleep.”He was extremely excited. “If you think I’m too talkative, you can play some music. We can liste
Since Audrey would take care of Sonny, Liberty and Duncan were in a good mood as they exited the Stones’ residence. Duncan’s bodyguards were to return home instead of following him around. He had Liberty anyway. Besides, it was his and Liberty’s wedding night. They even left Sonny with the Stones, so there was no way he would be letting his bodyguards follow him home. Liberty was the one who drove as Duncan’s legs were still recovering. She would glance at him from time to time. She said, “You’ve been staring at me the entire night. Haven’t you seen enough?“It’s not our first time meeting each other. What’s there to look at?”“You’re beautiful. You’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”Duncan was particularly generous with sweet words that night. To him, his wife was the most beautiful woman in the world. “I can’t get enough of watching you. I controlled myself in Aunt Audrey’s house because I didn’t want her to laugh at me. Now that there’s only the two of us,
Sonny asked Liberty, “Mom, is it okay? I want to stay at Grandaunt’s house for one night. Tomorrow, you can come pick me up and take me to Dad’s house.”After receiving a call from her former mother-in-law, Liberty had already asked Sonny after he woke up that morning if he wanted to stay with the Brown family for a couple of days, to spend time with his grandparents. Tomorrow, she would take him to the Browns.Liberty smiled, “You can stay the night if you want. Tomorrow, I’ll come pick you up and take you to your dad’s house for lunch.”She planned to call Hank soon and let him know that she was not taking Sonny there early in the morning, so the Browns would not have to get up early to wait.Sonny jumped up happily and said to Audrey, “Grandaunt Audrey, my mom agreed! I’m going to stay here tonight and play with Elias."With that, he rushed upstairs. Elias was getting cuter. When he talked to him, the baby would respond with cooing sounds, which was really fun.“Aunt Audrey, I
After a long while, Jessica finally asked, “You have swollen eyes because Liberty is getting remarried? You’ve lost your chance to remarry her.”“Jessica, I’ve never thought about remarrying Liberty. That’s impossible. I’ll wait for you to be released. No matter how many years it takes, I will wait for you,” Hank quickly explained. “It’s true that I’m upset that Liberty is remarried, but it’s mainly because of my son.“In the future, Sonny will call someone else ‘Dad’, and I’m not around him often. I’m afraid that one day, he’ll only end up closer to his other dad and not me, his biological father.”Jessica quietly looked at him for a moment before coldly replied, “If you have time, you should spend more time with Sonny. Even a biological father and son need to nurture their relationship.”“Who did Liberty marry?” Jessica asked. “Is it Duncan Lewis?”“Who else could it be? It’s Duncan. He kept Liberty close, never letting anyone else near her. Whenever any other man got close to L
Why was he crying? He knew the reason deep down but could not bring himself to say it out loud. Instead, he simply slumped over the steering wheel and cried his heart out. After he was done crying, he finally started the car and left the city hall, heading to the prison to visit Jessica.When Jessica saw him, she noticed his eyes were red and swollen. Thinking something bad had happened in his family, she immediately grabbed the phone and asked, “Hank, why are you crying? Your eyes are all swollen. Did something happen to your parents?”She still harbored hatred toward Olivia and Chelsea, hoping something would happen to that mother-daughter pair. Ideally, she wanted the old woman to face judgment in hell.Back when she stabbed Hank and Chelsea came to the rescue, Jessica felt she should have made sure to stab Chelsea to death. It was because of Chelsea’s incitement that she and Hank ended up like this. The two women had torn apart Hank and Liberty’s marriage, and now that Liberty’s
Liberty did not need them to push her husband. She continued to push Duncan toward the car, and only then did the bodyguards help him into the vehicle. Soon, the luxurious car carrying the family of three drove away from the city hall and merged into the street traffic, gradually disappearing into the distance.It was not until the car was out of sight that the car parked not far from the city hall slowly began to move.The driver was Hank.He would not stop Liberty and Duncan from registering their marriage and neither did he have the right nor the standing to do so. He had intended to take customers but had not received any orders, and without any particular destination in mind, he ended up at the city hall by chance, arriving before Liberty and Duncan.However, his car was parked farther away, and many other cars were occupying spaces near the city hall. After the divorce, Liberty no longer paid much attention to him and did not notice that Hank’s car was already there, waiting.
Liberty was his wife now.Sonny was completely confused. He had come here with his mother and Dunc. Everyone here was so friendly and smiled at them as they congratulated Liberty and Duncan. Why, though, did they not congratulate him?“Mom, Dunc is smiling so brightly. What’s so special about that paper? Mom, can I see it?” Sonny asked, looking up at Liberty, curious about what was so interesting about the marriage license that made Dunc smile so widely.Liberty glanced at Duncan and teased him, “Duncan, the corners of your mouth are almost reaching your ears.”“I’m happy. Very happy,” Duncan responded with an even brighter smile.The weather today was cloudy, though occasionally, the sun took a peek while sometimes it became overcast. Still, the power of the sun today certainly could not compare to the beam of Duncan’s smile.Liberty handed the marriage license to Sonny to view.Sonny eagerly took it and started reading it. Some of the words he recognized, but overall, he did n
“That brat is already at that age and still doesn’t think about settling down. Every time we pressure him, he hides away.” When Audrey talked about Anthony, who did not want to get married, she could not help but feel a headache coming. Out of her three children, the one who worried her the most was Anthony.Serenity walked over to Audrey and affectionately linked arms with her, smiling, “Aunt Audrey, you don’t need to worry. Anthony’s a good man. When the right person comes along, he’ll get married.”“Let’s hope so—he’s not young anymore. Children are always a worry, aren’t they? There’s always something to be concerned about. What about Sonny? Why didn’t he come along?” Audrey asked. “Didn’t you come from your sister’s place?” “Sonny went with my sister and Duncan to the city hall. They said they wanted to go as a family of three,” Serenity replied.Audrey laughed, “Duncan doesn’t mind bringing along a little third wheel, huh? Well, that’s fine. They’re going to be a family, aft