Zachary forced a laugh and said, “Is my wife taking control of me now? I don’t have an appetite and don’t want to eat. I’m working so hard now because I want to finish work early and go back to you.”“Even if you want to come back soon, you have to take care of your health. Are you staying at a hotel now? If you don’t have an appetite, then just eat something light.“Pick up your phone, Zachary. I want to see you.”Zachary did not move.Serenity got angry. “Zachary York, I’ll give you till the count of three. If you don’t let me see you, I won’t talk to you for the rest of the year. I won’t answer your calls or reply to your texts either. One...”As soon as she started counting, Zachary’s face appeared on the screen.He looked miserable. His usually cold and indifferent face was flushed an abnormal red. Serenity was startled and asked, “Didn’t you go see a doctor? You must be running a high fever now. Are you trying to worry me to death?!”Zachary propped his head up with his ha
Josh looked solemn. “Zachary has always been as fit as a fiddle though. I don’t think he has the flu and fever. Take it easy. I’ll contact someone to drive him to the hospital and make travel arrangements for you to get there. Pack up. You can leave in half an hour.” Now that Zachary was ill and Serenity was worried sick, it was the perfect chance for the couple to bond. While feeling concerned about Zachary’s well-being, Josh secretly moaned about Zachary’s timing to be sick. “Thank you, Mr. Bucham.” Serenity was grateful for Josh’s help to get her to Zachary. Josh uttered in a gentle voice, “Zachary is my colleague. I’m worried that he’s sick, and he can be stubborn. He won’t say a word when he’s sick. The bosses and I will feel better if you head there and take care of him.“You might want to get ready now. I’ll give the colleagues there a call to send Zachary to the hospital.” “Sure.” After the phone call, Serenity got up and picked up the bag with two sets of fresh
Alice’s uncle was a doctor who specialized in alternative medicine. Whenever a family member was not feeling well, Alice would go to her uncle and ask for a remedy. Clive really could not stand the awful taste of alternative medicine. Hence, he looked after himself and tried not to get sick. He would hide from his wife if he had the occasional sniffles. Serenity’s worry for Zachary was like Alice’s worry for him. Clive soothed Serenity, “Don’t let your nerves get the best of you. You want to get to the Buchams’ residence? I’ll drive you there.” “Thank you, Clive.” Tilting his head, Clive told his wife, “Wait for me at home, Alice. I’ll drive Serenity to the Buchams’. I don’t feel good getting someone else to drive her.” Alice replied, “Sure. Go ahead.” “Clive, Alice, the chauffeur can drive me if you have something to do.” “What’s the matter?” Liberty had just gotten her son out of the shower when she heard her sister talking in the hallway. With Sonny in her arms,
“His boss made arrangements for me to get there. I need to rush there now,” Serenity replied. “You should hurry there then. His boss will probably have a private plane ready for you if he approves the arrangement. You’ll get there quicker. Clive, you should take Seren there.”Mrs. Stone thought the boss Serenity mentioned was Zachary. Knowing that the Yorks had a private jet, she felt assured enough to let Serenity go. Several minutes later, Clive drove Serenity out of the Stones’ residence. While on the way, Clive said to Serenity, “I have a somewhat unreasonable request to ask of you, Serenity.” “Do say, Clive.” While behind the wheel, Clive said, “You must know that Elisa was in love with Mr. York. Although she said she would let go of her feelings for him, you can’t stop loving someone after going at it for years. It would take some time before she could embrace reality wholeheartedly.” Serenity’s mind harked back to Shawn. This was the case with Shawn toward her as
The only person that Serenity was wrong about was Zachary. Then again, Serenity was fooled by Zachary’s whole family. The cousins shared a pleasant conversation along the way that the journey felt short to Serenity. Soon, they arrived at the Buchams’ residence. Josh was not back. He was still having dinner with Jasmine and her brother. Jasmine was concerned about her best friend, but her mind was at ease since Josh had everything sorted out. Serenity had just arrived at the Buchams’ residence when Jasmine gave her a call. Jasmine felt better after confirming Serenity was at the residence. “Thank goodness Mr. Bucham stepped in to help tonight, Jasmine. Please thank him for me. I’ll personally express my gratitude to him when I return.” Sure, Josh was Zachary’s colleague. He could simply do his due and inform a colleague there to send Zachary to the hospital. However, Josh went above and beyond at sorting everything out when Serenity said she wanted to be there. Josh even
The manager would be to blame if anything were to happen to Mr. York.The headquarters had full confidence in him and entrusted him with a managerial role at the subsidiary company. Yet, the subsidiary company went south fast to the point the CEO had to be here to deal with it. The CEO caught a bad cold and fever from tiring himself out. Thankfully, it was detected early. Otherwise, the CEO’s life would be at risk if the illness dragged on. The manager had lingering fears at the mere thought of it. “Where am I?” Zachary tried to sit up. “Don’t get up, Mr. York. Lie down, lie down. You still have a fever. You’re on IV drips.” Furrowing his brows, Zachary’s memory came back to him. He took a cold medicine from the pharmacy, but it did not work. His temperature kept rising until he passed out in the end. Zachary was on a video call with Serenity before he blacked out. He ended the call before Serenity could catch him passing out on her. Zachary wondered if Serenity was wo
“Mr. York, don’t try to adjust the drip. The nurse mentioned that you can’t rush the IV drip.” The manager stopped Zachary from adjusting the speed of the IV drips. Zachary helplessly gave up. “We’ll wait until your wife is here before heading home, Mr. York.” Zachary abruptly lifted his head and stared at the two men. “Is Seren coming over?” The two men nodded in unison. “Mr. Bucham said that your wife is worried about you and insisted on coming here to take care of you. Mr. Bucham arranged for a private plane to fly her here. She should be arriving any minute now.” Zachary tried to get out of bed. “The missus will give me a call when she gets off the plane, Mr. York. Mr. Bucham has given her my phone number. Don’t worry, Mr. York. I’ll get the missus here safe and sound.” Zachary sat back down and gave Serenity a call. He intended to wait until dawn before contacting her. It never occurred to him that Serenity would rush here. It gave Zachary a feeling that
Serenity said, “Okay. We’ll do as the doctor said. We’ll keep him in the hospital for a few days until he’s well enough to be discharged. His work… His salary…” With Zachary in the hospital, Serenity was hoping to get him to rest for a few days. His boss owned the company. The company was not Zachary’s, so why must he devote his everything when he was sick? The manager jumped in. “Don’t worry, Ms. Hunt. We’ll take over Mr. York’s work. We promise that we won’t bother him about work while he’s in the hospital. Mr. York is on a business trip, so his salary is not affected.” York Corporation belonged to Mr. York. Yet, the CEO’s wife was asking about Mr. York’s salary. She was worried whether his salary would be cut since he had to remain in the hospital.“Thank you.” Serenity expressed her gratitude, under the impression that she got her man a few days of paid leave. “Ms. Hunt, do you need us here to look after Mr. York?” Serenity asked, “How many bags of IV fluid does he n
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