“Don’t let the missus know about today.” Zachary told the people around him. The bodyguards heeded his instruction. Mr. Zachary was married. Yet, Ms. Stone openly professed her love to him. The missus should never find out about it. Elisa’s brazen stunt did not go unnoticed among those in York Corporation. The employees stole a few glances at their boss as Zachary walked into the building. Bearing a straight face with his lips pursed as always, Zachary took strides while being surrounded by his bodyguards. There was just a regal air about him. Such a man was a heartthrob to most young women. Many young female employees in the company would be swept off their feet after catching a glimpse of the young CEO. However, nobody had the guts to come clean about their feelings toward Zachary, let alone chase after him. The way ordinary people saw it was that the Yorks were far beyond reach. Even if the boys of the York family were known for their commitment to their partners, the
“Zachary isn’t someone she can handle. Try and get her to move on. You don’t see other young women hanging around Zachary other than his family. He’s a heartless man. Why can’t Elisa listen to reason?” Clive threw in the towel on his sister. “I’m too busy to deal with her now. Honey, I’ll leave Elisa in your hands.”“Carry on with your work. I’ll pick Elisa up now and take her to go shopping with Mom. Mom’s been feeling down lately.” Clive’s wife, Alice, had a great relationship with her mother-in-law. Seeing that her mother-in-law was feeling blue, Alice persuaded her to go out and get some sunshine. A bit of retail therapy might do her good. Clive fell silent. He knew the reason behind his mother’s melancholy. There had not been any news about his aunt. It was the one thing Mom could never stop talking about. Clive’s mother, Audrey, grew up in an orphanage. Her parents passed away when Audrey was young, survived by Audrey and her sister who was four years younger. The s
Elisa was picked up by her sister-in-law in the end while the smashed car was towed away. When Alice came by, Elisa even said, “Since Zachary wrecked my car, I have an excuse to cling to him. Alice, now that I made the first move, I need to keep going. I won’t forgive myself if I don’t put in the years to pursue Zachary.“Alice, you’re the best. Clive only listens to you. Please talk to him for me. I just need him off my back from my pursuit of happiness.” Elisa was envious of her brother and sister-in-law’s love story. Alice went after Clive, and it took a year before Alice won his heart. The roles were reversed after marriage as Clive spoiled Alice crazy. It was not the first time Alice mentioned that she would not have her happy ending if she did not bravely go after the love of her life. While driving, Alice uttered, “Elisa, I’m all for you pursuing your happiness, but it’s Zachary we’re talking about. Aren’t you aware of his reputation in Wiltspoon? He’s known for keeping
Shawn said with a smile, “I don’t know. I’ll get your bike fixed. I promise to return a fully functioning bike to you.” Since Shawn was Jasmine’s cousin and a friend for many years, Serenity knew she could trust him. “Thank you.” Happy to be of assistance to Serenity, Shawn dialed a number and made a call. Serenity heard him sharing their location. The only thing next was to wait for the tow truck. …“Sir.” The driver’s keen eyes picked up on the sight of a familiar woman opposite the traffic lights. It appeared to be the missus judging by the build. While waiting at the traffic lights, he turned around and said to Mr. Zachary who was resting his eyes. “Sir, the woman looks like the missus.” Zachary opened his eyes and turned toward the man and woman standing by the road. He could not recognize the man, probably due to the distance, but the woman did seem like his wife. After living under the same roof for a while, Zachary grew familiar with Serenity’s silhouette. “S
“Even if Mr. York's a normal man, he won’t engage with ordinary people like me.” Serenity might be nosy about the heir of the York family at the dinner party, but that was about it before she lost interest. As normal as Mr. York could be, he would not interact with regular people like her. Serenity was not the lowest class in society, nor was she that high up on the hierarchical pyramid. The richest people she knew were Jasmine and Shawn. Shawn qualified as an heir to a wealthy family. Since Serenity and the heir of the richest family did not belong in the same world, their paths would not cross. Shawn grinned without a word. Although he never looked down on Serenity, it did not mean other privileged men would not turn their noses up at her. Shawn knew wealth and social standing stood above the rest among the upper crust. Despite Shawn’s efforts to rub shoulders with the veterans in the business at the dinner party, he was met with lukewarm responses. “The truck’s he
Should Serenity call Zachary to wake him up? Nana mentioned that Zachary would be furious if anyone were to disrupt his sleep. Serenity looked at the time. It was past midnight. Zachary must still be awake since he usually came home around this time. Serenity took the plunge and called Zachary. Zachary was wide awake. In fact, he locked the door from the inside on purpose, albeit he had no idea of the reason behind his own actions. Anyway, it triggered Zachary to see Serenity and Shawn together, looking like a match made in heaven. The conniving woman was in a rush to look for her next sugar daddy since she could not get much out of him. She had Nana completely fooled. At the end of the day, Nana had only known Serenity for three months. How well could Nana know Serenity? Yet, Nana, driven by gratitude, put a lot of trust in Serenity and nagged Zachary to marry her… Zachary’s phone rang but he refused to pick up Serenity’s call. The ringing stopped after a while b
“Serenity, we have an agreement. We’ll divorce after six months, so can’t you wait until then before moving on to the next guy? I don’t know why you’re on the prowl when we’re still legally married. You’re basically cheating on me right now.“I might not have any feelings for you, nor will I ever, but no man will stand by being cheated on.” He was only acting weird because he was angry. Zachary was furious that Serenity was so quick to have an affair. Shawn had a crush on Serenity. He had his eye on Zachary’s woman. This had nothing to do with the matters of the heart, but everything to do with a man’s pride and dignity. Serenity looked around as if searching for something. Unable to find anything handy, she grabbed her purse, filled with her phone and keys, and hurled it at Zachary. Since Serenity had learned self-defense, she got a pretty aim. Caught off guard by the attack, Zachary was smacked right in the face. The keys and phone in her purse turned into weapons and
Zachary might pull a long face, but a rush of blood crept to his ears. He was blushing for getting the wrong idea about Serenity, not because he was shy. There was no way he could be shy! “It was the question of a man’s pride!” “Ha!” Serenity scoffed. Zachary’s handsome face went completely red. “I don’t like or love you, so why would I be jealous? I couldn’t care less who you’re with if it weren’t an affair.” “You don’t have to stress that you don’t like or love me multiple times as if I’m all over you. This is only a marriage of convenience. To be honest, I was in a hurry to move out because I didn’t want my sister and her husband to fight because of me. I agreed to your nana’s proposal to get a marriage license with you so I had a place to stay.“If you want to talk about an ulterior motive, then it would be your house. I get free accommodation and save on rent while still putting my sister at ease.” Zachary was lost for words. His house was more appealing to her than
Austin replied, “Both Mr. Louis and Mr. Phillip woke up very early, especially Mr. Phillip. He gets up earlier than Mr. Louis every morning. It’s really hard on him, getting up so early in such cold weather.”Sometimes, he himself felt like staying in bed a little longer, reluctant to leave the warm comfort of his blankets.Even after the New Year, Satbury remained quite cold. In contrast, over in Wiltspoon, the temperatures had begun to reach a high of over seventy degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime, with nighttime lows around fifty degrees.The two provinces and cities were simply incomparable. The temperatures in Wiltspoon were just so very comfortable for Satbury locals.Isabella smiled and said, “Phillip is just afraid he’ll get here too late and that you’ll assume he’s not coming over for breakfast, then not prepare any for him. He's such a little foodie.”The house was never short of snacks for the little ones. In fact, any goodies were always reserved for them first.Yet,
Even when she attended banquets, she would show up in formal clothing. Isabella did not remember the last time she wore a dress. Perhaps it was when she was in third grade. In fact, she liked wearing pretty princessy dresses when she was young. Her mother had told her that.As Isabella was the first child and extremely adorable, Delphine had dolled her up like a princess. Her pretty dresses filled the closet. Her parents, aunts, uncles, and relatives would always gift her many beautiful dresses. As she grew up, perhaps when she was in fourth grade, she stopped wearing dresses. Regardless of who gave her new pieces, she would refuse to wear them and give them to her cousins instead. After everyone realized she disliked dresses, they gradually stopped giving her them. Delphine had asked Isabella why she disliked wearing dresses. Isabella reasoned that she could not walk quickly enough while wearing one. She valued speed and efficiency. Delphine said she had alway
While the private chefs Ms. Isabella had hired in the past were respectful, they were leaning toward flattery instead of sincere dedication, like how Austin was toward Ms. Isabella.Dominic was experienced. He could sense that Ms. Isabella treated Austin differently. She was also a special existence to Austin. It was normal for young people to be attracted to each other. Initially, Dominic wanted to advise Austin not to even think about dating Ms. Isabella. However, upon discovering that Austin was a young master of a wealthy family, he decided not to interfere. Dominic was glad that he did nothing.Austin returned to the house. Instead of heading straight to the kitchen, he went upstairs. He stopped outside of Isabella’s room and knocked on the door lightly. No response came from within the room. Perhaps Austin was too soft when he knocked. He knocked on the door again with more force and asked, “Are you up yet, Ms. Isabella? It’s time to have breakfast.”Isabella w
Austin was extremely patient with the boys. Although they occasionally caused trouble, most of them were minor issues. They would never do something they were not allowed to do.After breakfast, Austin brought them their bags. With a boy in each hand, he left the house. It was to prevent the boys from saying he was playing favorites. Dominic was used to that scene. Initially, Austin was simply Ms. Isabella’s private chef. However, he gradually took on more responsibilities.He would take the two young masters to school. If he had time in the evening, he would also fetch them from school. Austin also made sure Louis and Phillip did their homework, supervised their hobby classes, and played with them. Sometimes, he would even teach them martial arts and train with them. Dominic felt Austin was an all-rounder. It seemed like there was nothing Austin could not do. No wonder Ms. Isabella thought highly of Austin. However, Austin was a young master of a wealthy family. He w
Louis and Phillip were downstairs having the breakfast Austin had prepared for them. The food was different every morning, and everything was delicious.Having gotten used to Austin’s cooking, Louis and Phillip could no longer stand the food provided in the school. They thought the food there was terrible. Louis was enrolled in an elementary school not far from home. As he was a first grader, he did not need to stay in the dormitories and could have his lunch and dinner at home. Phillip, who was a year younger than him, was still in preschool. He would have breakfast and dinner at home. Actually, the preschool did provide breakfast, but Phillip refused to eat in school and insisted on having breakfast at home. In order to eat the breakfast Austin made, he would get up early in the morning without the adults waking him. After putting on his clothes and washing up, he would head to Louis’s place with his bag. “Austin.”Louis suddenly asked, “Did my sister come back last n
Isabella had always thought Tati was teasing her. Therefore, she did not take her words seriously. She thought it was completely normal for Austin to treat her well as she was his boss. From Austin’s perspective, she was his source of income. Now that Isabella pondered about it deeper, she realized perhaps Austin did come to Satbury for her. It was not just to be her chef. He always said Grandma May only gave the York lads a year to pursue their fiancées. However, Austin had never left since he started working for Isabella. Even if he did, it was to accompany her on business trips. He was busy feeding and taking care of her every day and had never gone to pursue his so-called fiancée. He did not even try to gather information on her. Was he not anxious?A year would go by pretty quickly. Although it felt like it had not been long since Austin started working for Isabella, three months had passed. Time really flew. Three months had gone by in the blink of an eye. Neve
When Austin reached the door, he stopped and turned to say, “Ms. Isabella, I only care about my future wife. Other young women are simply strangers to me.“I’m polite to other women when I need to be. If they’re unimportant, I’ll ignore them. Even if that woman is my boss, I won’t cross any lines. If I do, there must be a reason behind it.“Get some rest, Ms. Isabella. You might have a headache when you wake up tomorrow. I’ll prepare a warm honey drink for you in the morning.”After speaking, Austin left. Isabella turned to look at where he last stood. What did his words mean?He said he only cared about his future wife.Aside from this lady, he would not step out of line with any other young woman, even if she were his boss. What did he mean by crossing lines?Was it showing concern? Did he mean that if his boss was a young woman but not his fiancée, he would simply do what was required of him without any personal feelings involved? Was that what he meant?If so, was
Isabella was cold sometimes, but that was not her true personality. She was a reasonable person. Austin was not worried that he would be mistreated as a live-in son-in-law. “Ms. Isabella.”Isabella looked toward him and waited for him to speak. He asked, “This may be abrupt, but may I ask what your ideal type is?”Isabella was stunned. Why did the question come to her? What was the type of man she liked?‘Someone like Austin,’ she thought. After a moment of silence, she said, “I like men who are capable, responsible, and have correct values. Even if his family isn’t as financially well-off as mine, I don’t mind so long as he’s honest, competent, and sincere about his feelings for me.“Of course, it’ll be great if we have the same social status. That way, we’ll have similar perspectives and more common topics. If we get married, we’ll be joining forces instead of it being a one-way financial aid.”“Although you can accept someone who isn’t from a similar family backgrou
After a moment of silence, Isabella said, “It’s okay. I know I was forcing it.”There was no point in asking Austin if he did not want to reveal anything. If he wanted to tell her, he would do so without her asking. However, her curiosity spiked with his silence. She was eager to know who his fiancée was. He was already so protective of his fiancée even though he had not met her before. It made Isabella jealous. It was her first time feeling that kind of emotion throughout her life. Although it was not a strong feeling, she still felt it. “You weren’t forcing me to tell you. You were simply curious. Most people have a curious side. It’s only natural for you to be inquisitive as well.”Austin said gently, “It’s not just you. Those who knew that my nana had chosen fiancées for my brothers and me were also curious about who the ladies were.“To be honest, we didn’t even know Nana had been choosing fiancées for us since a few years ago until she handed their pictures to us