Layla handed Robert's phone back to him. "I believe that you were fooled into doing this. If you really want that kind of service, you wouldn't call her here to our house."Robert nodded.Layla sighed. "It's good that we have you in the mix, I guess. It would be boring if all four of us are smart.""I think that's an insult, right?""Yeah. Can you tell?" Layla bit into her vegetables. "You don't have to be so hung up on this, though."Robert beamed."Because I will remember this for you for the rest of our lives!" she added."I guess it's all worth the humiliation if you are that happy about it." Robert chuckled. "Have more meat.""I'm gaining weight, and you want me to have more meat.""You haven't gained any weight at all. The doctors said that having more meat is good for your body," Robert said, before changing the subject. "Should I refer to Eric as my brother-in-law from now on?""Eric hasn't agreed!" Ivy said.Robert was just as shocked as Ivy was."Robert, let's pay
"Oh, don't open them here." Feeling slightly shy about his gift, Robert said to Eric, "Open them inside your room."Eric instantly realized that they might not be ordinary gifts and took them to his room.Layla stared at Robert pointedly. "What did you get him? You never said anything about getting him gifts."Robert cleared his throat and said, "I bought him a DVD." Concerned that she might get the wrong idea, he immediately added, "Just a normal one. He needs to stay home and rest, right? I'm worried that he will get bored.""You are the one who's bored. You can watch basically everything on the internet now, so why would you buy him a DVD? You don't even know if he has a DVD player in his house." Layla kept getting the feeling that it was not an ordinary disc."Layla, I bought him a book about positive thinking," Ivy said.Layla trusted Ivy with all her heart and nodded. "That's great. He has been reading ever since his retirement, and he enjoys reading, so you pick the right
His parents had retired and were more than capable of taking care of him. If he insisted on moving out, it would only worry them."I am searching for a maid now, and once I find one, you will move in with me," Layla said. "I came here today to talk to your parents about it."Eric's expression darkened as Layla did not intend on discussing it with him.Layla said so because she knew that Eric would never agree to it and resorted to talking to his parents instead.Noticing that Eric was upset, Ivy immediately brought Mrs. Santos over. "Mrs. Santos, Layla wants to discuss living arrangements with you."Mrs. Santos nodded and sat down next to Layla. "Where will you take Eric?""I bought a place near my office some time ago. I will take a maid from my dad's house and hire another one to take care of Eric," Layla explained. "You and Mr. Santos are old now, and I don't want you to exhaust yourself. If you want to see Eric, you can always come and visit."Mrs. Santos hesitated.Layla h
Layla helped Eric to his room and closed the door.As soon as the door was closed, Robert and Ivy turned to look at the door."Robert, are they going to fight?" Ivy knew that Eric was not willing to move in with Layla.Eric did not reject the idea right away, but his reluctance could be seen in the look on his face.Robert shook his head without hesitation. "Even if they do fight, we won't hear it. Eric's parents are here and so are we, so they will hold back."I guess, but I think Eric doesn't want to move in with Layla. He looks..." Ivy allowed her words to trail off. Robert shrugged. "That's between the two of them. Even if we want to help, we can't resolve the core issue.""Yeah. Eric looked so cute when he was a child. He looked like a porcelain doll!" Ivy lowered her gaze to focus on the photo album."Indeed. There are a lot of people online that suspect him of undergoing plastic surgery, but if those people can see these photos, they will know that that's not true.""T
The winner will be decided by who caves in first. "Layla, you don't know my condition well enough." Eric could understand how she felt, but he could not allow her to waste her time on him. "I can die at any moment.""I'm not forcing you to marry me right now," she blurted out. "Rest for half a year, and if everything goes well, you will feel much better. If you are fine by then, I will get my parents to plan our wedding. I don't care when you die. So long as you are alive before the wedding, I am marrying you."He lowered his head and did not argue, because there was nothing he could do to change Layla's mind unless he dropped dead at this very moment."Are you really that appalled by the idea of marrying me?" She sat down by the bed and stared at him. "If you are dying, why won't you want to enjoy what time you have left? Why won't you want to make me happy? Do you want to see me upset?"He looked up in shock. Upsetting Layla had never been his intent. "If that's not the case,
"Layla, you are stressing me out, pushing me like this," he said. "I didn't save you simply because it was you. I would have done the same thing even if it was Ivy, Robert, or Hayden in that situation—""I know. You are going to say that you saved me to repay my mom," she interrupted him. "I don't want to marry you because you saved me. I have been wanting to marry you for a while now. Don't think that I'm doing this because I feel guilty. I'm not a fool. If I don't like you, you can save my life ten times more and I still wouldn't marry you."He spotted the determination in her eyes and lowered his head shamefully at her words."If you really think that you don't have much longer to live, spend that time with me!" Layla said. "Just think of it as your last chance to spoil me."In the living room, Ivy and Robert had gone through all the photos and handed the album back to Mr. Santos. "Do you want to see more? We have other albums of him as well," Mr. Santos offered enthusiastical
Robert and Ivy immediately shook their heads."I'm specifically talking about you, Robert. I opened your gift as soon as I went in. You are lucky that it's not anything inappropriate, or I would have had your head." Layla took a sip of water."Layla, don't you trust me at all? With the condition that Eric is in, why would I give him something inappropriate?" Robert argued. "How did the conversation go? Is he not willing to move into your place?""He didn't say yes, but neither did he say no," Layla said casually. "He wants me to give him more time to think.""You are great at this, Layla! If he says that he will consider it, it means he is wavering." Robert knew that his elder sister had the advantage."If I'm great at this whole thing, I would already be in a relationship with him." Layla used to be hot-headed, but Eric had made her a better person. "Thank you, both of you. I saw your gifts, and I know that you are trying to help me.""It's all Ivy's idea," Robert said. "She is
That afternoon, Elliot and Avery stopped by, having heard from Layla that she planned to move in with Eric. They realized that Eric had agreed to a relationship with Layla, and their new status warranted a discussion. Avery did not have much to say to Eric as he would be too busy recovering, and this meant that Layla would be dominating the relationship. Eric had always spoiled Layla and would give up on whatever he wanted in favor of whatever she wanted. Once the two arrived, Mrs. Santos hurried out to ask if they had eaten."We have, so don't worry about us. Sit down and take a break!" Avery pulled Mrs. Santos down to sit next to her. "Elliot and I came over because Layla said she is going to move in with Eric. It's good that they decided to be together. They know each other well, and because of that, we aren't worried about them getting into arguments in the future." Mrs. Santos smiled weakly. "Eric is lucky to be loved by Layla. She is such a brilliant and beautiful girl,