With Shawn gone, Jasmine expressed her concern. “Seren, did your sister have another argument with your brother-in-law?” While caressing her nephew’s head, Serenity replied, “Hank is still at his parents’ home. He told my sister to return his portion of the living expenses because he wasn’t eating at home. He wants his cut back.” Jasmine responded after a brief pause, “He’s not much of a keeper, isn’t he?” Serenity fell silent for a moment before answering, “My sister needs to find stability before she can think about the future.” Jasmine was without a word. “How was Mrs. Dawson’s party? Did you have chemistry with her son?” “My head is still aching.” Serenity blinked her eyes and burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you faked being drunk at the party?” It was all about poise and grace within the higher society. Jasmine could forget marrying up if she threw a drunken fit at Mrs. Dawson’s birthday party.“Well, I didn’t get drunk or go crazy, but I pretended to be intox

Sonny snacked on the pastry and played in the shop. His favorite toy was in the diaper bag. He could sit there all day and just play with the toy. Jasmine told her best friend, “Sonny has a good focus. Just look at him playing with the toy.” “That’s just because he’s in a new environment. He’ll tear the roof of the shop down when he’s familiar with the place. Serenity often looked after Sonny for Liberty, so she had firsthand experience of Sonny’s mischievousness. Taking out her tools, Serenity began a rush job crafting and said, “I gave the maneki-neko to Ms. Stone since she likes my knick-knacks. So, I was thinking of making another one for Zachary because we’re husband and wife, and we live together. He could’ve waited. “Instead, he got angry at me when he found out. I apologized and admitted my mistake. I even soothed him and offered to make him an extra craft before he was able to let the whole thing go. I’m going to try to get his presents ready today. I don’t want to

Serenity said, “Not at all, Nana. I’ll let him know tonight. Are you getting Callum to drive you over tomorrow, or should we pick you up?” “I’ll get Callum to drop me off, probably in the afternoon. Callum sleeps until noon during the weekends.” Her grandsons would have their much-needed break on the weekends. Not wanting to disrupt their rest early in the morning, Grandma May often let them sleep in. She planned to get to Serenity’s place in the afternoon. “Alright then. What do you fancy eating? I’ll cook dinner.” Since Grandma May was coming in the afternoon, her lunch with Shawn could go on as planned. Still, Serenity would bring Grandma May along to the luncheon if the latter came in the morning. It did not matter as Serenity was buying lunch anyway. “I enjoy your cooking. Your food is the best.” Having tasted Serenity’s cooking, Grandma May mentioned in private that her eldest grandson was lucky to have a terrific cook in the house. The whole family thought Sereni

The hospital bills were covered by Old Mr. and Mrs. Hunt’s savings for now. Old Mr. Hunt said that his children and grandchildren should chip in to pay the bills once Old Mrs. Hunt could be discharged from the hospital. As for the cost that Old Mr. and Mrs. Hunt had borne, the children and grandchildren were to return the money to them. It did not feel right for old folks like them to carry on living without any money at hand. The old folks might be money-hungry, but they knew their children and grandchildren would not be so nice if they had nothing left to their name. It was better to count on a wad of cash than their birth children. Since the old couple had savings of several hundred thousand dollars, the children would only receive about a hundred thousand bucks per family if split evenly. Still, nobody was going to say no to free cash. With the nurse coming in with yesterday’s charges, Old Mr. Hunt picked it up for a look. Scowling, he said, “It hasn’t been a few days, bu

The only adverse effect Old Mr. Hunt noticed was inflicted upon his most valued and successful grandson, John. Due to the Twitter issue, John was suspended by his company. It never occurred to him that Serenity’s retaliation would bring about John’s suspension. John was a senior executive in the company, only second to the managing director and deputy managing director. Following a call from the headquarters, John was placed on an administrative leave. John’s annual salary was over a million bucks. “Not yet. John treated his boss to a meal and found out that the sister of Stone Group’s CEO demanded that John be put on leave without pay and kicked out of the company. It was a good thing John that is good at what he does and only got a suspension. The company didn’t fire him, so things could change for the better.” Old Mr. Hunt asked out of concern, “Why is the CEO’s sister out to get John? Don’t tell me the brat found herself an ally?” “Nah. Ms. Stone is an heiress of the seco

It was said that Ms. Stone was all over Mr. York. She was livid that the Hunts stole her thunder when she finally had her name next to Mr. York’s on the trending news. Ms. Stone did not seem like an heiress as she acted like she had never met a man in her life! It was revolting that Ms. Stone quashed the Hunts time and again just to woo a man. Despite the Hunts’ efforts to stick and work together, there was nothing they could do about Ms. Stone. After coming to the city and going through all those unpleasant experiences, Old Mr. Hunt realized that the world was bigger than he knew. He thought his grandson was impressive and amazing, but there were people out there who were ten times better than his grandson, if not more. “How did that happen? Wasn’t everything agreed upon and underway? Your uncle and I got the script ready to put on a show during the mediation so the public would know we see the error of our ways, whereas Serenity would be seen as someone holding a grudge for

“Mr. York, I’m outside your office. Are you on your lunch break yet? I’m here to take you to my shop for lunch. Surprise!” Zachary was lost for words. Sure, it was a surprise, but not the good kind. Thank goodness he was good at staying composed because that was quite a scare. “Mr. York?” Serenity said as she did not get a response from the man. Tugging on his tie, Zachary replied in a husky voice, “I’m on my break but the client hasn’t left. We’re still ironing out the business details with the client, so it’ll probably take a while. Why don’t you go ahead, and I’ll meet you at your shop for lunch?” “How long more do you need? I didn’t drive. I took a cab. It’s okay. I’ll wait for you outside your office building. We can go back together when you’re finished with your work.” Zachary lifted his arm to look at his watch before responding, “There’s a dessert shop right across the office. Wait for me there. I’ll see you in a bit.” Serenity turned her head and saw the desse

While waiting for Zachary at the dessert shop, Serenity did not want to sit in the establishment without getting anything, so she ordered two milkshakes to go. Since she was sitting near the entrance, Serenity was able to spot Zachary when he drove out of the office building. Carrying her milkshakes, she walked out of the shop.With a smile across her beautiful face, Serenity waved at Zachary. Zachary drove over and pulled up in front of her. Serenity took a few steps forward and opened the door to the passenger seat. She got into the car and put on her seatbelt before Zachary restarted the engine. “Why are you wearing a black mask?” Serenity asked in passing. Without a word, Zachary removed the mask. He did not want anyone to recognize him as he drove out of his office building. Even though not many had seen him in person before, it was best Zachary practiced caution. Instead of dwelling on Zachary’s refusal to answer, Serenity asked, “Do you want a milkshake? I bought yo

“That reminds me. I need to talk to you about something.” Serenity changed the subject at hand. By the sound of her cheerful tone, Zachary could tell his silence did not drive her mad. For some reason, it did not sit well with Zachary that she was not angry. “What is it?” “Nana wants to stay at our place on the weekend. She told me to discuss it with you in case you’d say no. You’re her grandson, so of course, you’re going to be okay with it.” Grandma May simply did not want to intrude on the couple’s alone time. Well, it was all in Grandma May’s head. There was no alone time between her and Zachary as they were only a married couple by law. They were busy doing their own thing during the day. While at night, they slept on their own beds. They would only engage with each other when there was a reason to. Other times, they would not have the chance or time to chat. Serenity believed it would be a marriage of convenience, and now, it was exactly as she imagined.

Well, that killed the conversation. Without another word, Serenity quietly sat there and looked at the streetscape outside the window. Liberty had just arrived when Serenity and Zachary reached the shop. “Liberty,” Serenity said as she got out of the car. Liberty turned around and noticed that it was her sister and Zachary. With her plump face beaming, she asked, “Where were you and Zachary coming back from?” “I went to his workplace to call him over for lunch. How was it, Liberty? Did you find a job?” Zachary came down from his car and greeted Liberty, to which the latter responded with a smile. However, Liberty appeared beaten when her sister mentioned work. Shaking her head, she replied, “Not yet. I submitted a bunch of resumes, but I either hadn’t heard back or got a flat-out refusal.” After a pause, Liberty added, “When they heard I have a two-year-old at home, they said I’d be preoccupied and distracted since my kid is young. It got me so riled up. Who said a mot