Before Ariel could regain her composure, Benjamin had already come and seen her."Ariel!" He yelled and moved toward her, but he instantly behaved when he saw the glare Elizabeth shot at him."Watch your tone! Greet her politely!" Elizabeth warned. Among her grandchildren, she couldn't stand Benjamin the most, as he was often rude and lazy, and he liked to flaunt the family's wealth. Given her bad mood, she found Benjamin even more annoying. She struck him on the leg with her walking cane."You didn’t come back for Thanksgiving. Why have you returned now?""If I'd known that Ariel was here, I would have come back long ago." Benjamin looked at Ariel with puppy-dog eyes, but Ariel looked away, avoiding his gaze.Ariel said softly to Elizabeth, "Grandma, I'm not feeling too well. I'll go get some rest.""Alright, go ahead.""Ariel …" Benjamin wanted to follow her, but Elizabeth stopped him with her walking cane."I'm warning you—don't you dare have any inappropriate thoughts for A

Unbeknownst to Ariel, Benjamin had been called away by Noah.After entering his study, Noah turned to look at Benjamin and sternly questioned, "You harass Ms. Clarke the moment you return. Are you already tired of living?""Noah, Ariel and Stephen split up. If you hadn't stopped me all these years, I would've gone abroad to—""Wake up!" Noah yelled. They were brothers and shared the same blood; why did Benjamin seem like he lacked a brain?"What would it look like if you got involved with someone who'd almost become your cousin's wife? You'll make our family the butt of everyone's jokes!" Noah grabbed Benjamin by the collar. "You best not go anywhere near Ms. Clarke. If not, if anything goes wrong, even God won't be able to save you!"Then Noah pushed his brother away. Benjamin lost his footing, and his back knocked against the corner of the desk. He groaned in pain.Noah glared at him coldly. "It's just a coincidence that we have a business project that requires work outside the

"You'll get to meet her during the new fragrance launch," Peter calmly replied before asking Katie to leave.Katie left his office. It didn't make sense to her, no matter how much she thought about it. She'd never even met the perfumer; there was no reason for them to hold a grudge against her. Peter, on the other hand, seemed to harbor some resentment toward her since she'd returned to the country. Before, he'd deliberately gone around her to meet Stephen. And now he'd announced a new fragrance without even consulting her. Wasn't he intentionally undermining her?Katie glanced back at his office, thinking hard. Was it possible that Peter didn't want to retire?…Due to the success of Orchid Night, the up-and-coming fragrance Muguet was about to release received a lot of attention too.According to their official source, the new fragrance was going to be a limited edition. It was already a sensation online before sales even began. They predicted that the price of this perfume woul

The news of Ariel Clarke becoming Robinson Jewels' brand ambassador broke before Muguet's announcement of their new fragrance launch.That night, Yvonne was on the couch binge-watching a TV series when the news was sent to her phone. Stephen was on the other end of the couch, his attention focused on the documents in his hands. He didn't notice when she paused the series and looked at her phone.When she opened the notification, the news about Ariel was on the front page. The headline read, "I'm Back."Ariel's collaboration with a high-end jewelry brand for her comeback in the entertainment industry naturally caused a sensation. The news instantly went viral. It was the best proof of Ariel's influence.Yvonne continued scrolling down to the comments. They were all from Ariel's excited fans."This must have caused an uproar! Our precious Ariel Clarke has returned!""Who else could have bagged a luxury brand endorsement for their comeback? Who else!"Scrolling until the bottom, Yv

As expected, the moment Simone heard that it was an endorsement for Miller Jewels, she rejected Julian without any hesitation."I've been in the industry for so long. I don't need to do favors for anyone anymore. If Stephen wants to please his wife, he'll have to come up with another way." Then Simone threw her phone to her manager."You don't have to ask me about these low-level endorsements in the future; just reject them.""But …" Her manager said hesitatingly, "You've been so busy on set for the past two days that I couldn't find a chance to tell you that Ariel has become the brand ambassador for Robinson Jewels, announcing her comeback. I'm guessing that Mr. Anderson looked for you because he wants you to help compete with Ariel. I didn't dare to make any decision on your behalf."Ever since she'd started out in the industry all those years ago, Simone had only ever considered Ariel as her competition. Now that Ariel had made a comeback in such a high-profile manner, it wasn't

"Katie." Ariel approached Katie, interrupting her thoughts.Katie turned to look at her. The resentment in her eyes completely vanished, replaced by a wide smile."Why are you here so early?""I thought of coming early to see you. Once the launch starts, you'll get busy, and you won't have time for me anymore," Ariel said with a smile.Katie chuckled, not bothering to explain that the launch that day had nothing to do with her. She changed the topic instead. "I forgot to congratulate you. Your collaboration with Robinson Jewels is such a success.""Hmm, it's not too bad."After the announcement that night, Robinson Jewels' fame had soared too. The next day, Xavier had been so happy that he'd even popped a bottle of champagne in the middle of a meeting to celebrate.Ariel felt indifferent to it, maybe even a little disappointed. She'd thought that Stephen would at least congratulate her, given their past. However, she hadn't heard a word from him yet. Were they not even considere

"Hello, everyone." Yvonne accepted the microphone and greeted everyone in a friendly manner.Everyone finally snapped out of their shocked daze and began to whisper among themselves."Isn't Yvonne Miller in jewelry? How does she even know how to make perfumes?""Muguet made this launch such a big thing today. Is this all a joke?""And I figured that someone who could come up with such a sexy perfume must be a beautiful woman …"They were all surprised, but many of them were also disappointed. Yvonne had anticipated this reaction. She smiled, signaled the staff to pass down the perfume samples, and began to explain the entire process of creating the perfume.Any professional would be able to discern that her speech wasn't one that had been memorized. On top of that, the smell had indeed won them over.Slowly, the sounds of doubt died down. Under the spotlight, Yvonne smiled confidently. She didn't need to be overly stunning to win over the hearts of the people.In comparison, Ka

"I didn't involve you in it for your own sake." Yvonne smiled and met Katie's gaze. "It's just as you said: we're sisters. If I'd worked with you for this collaboration, how would Muguet's staff look at you? What if they assumed that I could only make perfume due to family connections or that you used your younger sister to climb up?"Katie was instantly stunned.Based on Yvonne's words, she might even have to compliment her on clearly separating her personal and professional lives.Peter suppressed his urge to laugh. Then he immediately cleared his throat and said bossily, "Yvonne's right. Muguet doesn't allow family connections. She's thought this through and protected your reputation. Shouldn't you thank her?"Katie had no choice anymore. She muttered through gritted teeth, "Thank you.""There's no need to thank me." Yvonne smiled, feeling great about how it had worked out. Katie downed her champagne in anger and left.Yvonne and Peter looked at each other and smiled. The perf

"Ariel's return was trending for the past few days, right? And now, Yvonne has such huge news too …"James scratched his chin and thought out loud in a serious manner, "Which woman would be able to stand their man's ex-girlfriend making a comeback in such a high-profile manner? I've seen a lot of women. I understand them better than all of you. Women are such jealous creatures! But this is the first time I've seen two women fighting to outshine each other in such a grand manner!"James looked at Stephen with admiration in his eyes. "Only Stephen would deserve women fighting over him on such a grand scale! If I were a woman, I might even outdo them!"Stephen furrowed his brows a little, not responding. Although James often exaggerated his words, this time he made sense. At that moment, Stephen remembered how Yvonne had looked disappointed when she'd been on her phone the other night. She'd said that she was chatting with Rachel about the news. He guessed it must have been about Ariel

"You don't have to go through so much trouble. Ariel and I ended things long ago; you don't have to compete with her." Stephen lowered his head, his gaze becoming softer by the second. "You don't have to prove that you're better than anybody either."Upon hearing this, Yvonne suddenly came to her senses and said without thinking, "Don't tell me you think that I did the launch because I want to compete with Ariel? Stephen, you're overthinking this. I'm doing this to get back at Katie. She'd previously framed me …"Halfway through, Yvonne realized that Stephen's expression had darkened. The temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees too, as the atmosphere changed immediately.She stopped herself from talking and bit her tongue. Why did she talk without thinking? She timidly added, "Of course, it was also partially because of Ariel. She's Robinson Jewels' brand ambassador, and if we only let her have all the attention, then … ""Enough." In a short time, Stephen's ego was brui