“Mrs. Lewis.”Upon seeing Mrs. Lewis entering, Liberty quickly stood up to greet her even though she had just sat down. Mrs. Lewis gave a lukewarm reply. When she saw no customers in the diner, she said gently, “Liberty, can I treat you to coffee at a nearby cafe?”Liberty smiled. “Okay.”She removed her apron. After storing it properly, she told her two employees, “You two can pack up first. I’m stepping out for a while. Please help me look after Sonny when Jim sends him back later.”Liberty was not planning to keep the diner open for the whole day. She wanted to take a look at a restaurant on Westring Avenue 2. The business was not great and it had been suffering losses every month. The boss was planning to sell the restaurant. The location of the restaurant was not bad with quite a number of people dining there. Was the business not doing well because of the boss’s incompetency in management or the chef’s substandard cooking skills?Liberty wanted to know more about the s
Mrs. Lewis continued, “Liberty, don’t take Duncan’s words to heart. He’s… Like a porcupine now, covered with sharp quills. He wouldn’t meet anyone who went to visit him. He said everyone came out of pity.”“Mrs. Lewis, I won’t blame Mr. Duncan.”Liberty withdrew her hand softly. She was not used to Mrs. Lewis holding her hand in such an intimate manner. “Liberty, I came to see you because I need your help.”Mrs. Lewis raised the subject. She watched Liberty with pleading eyes and said, “Liberty, we’re all sad because of Duncan’s state, but we’re unable to persuade him.“He loves you a lot. He doesn’t want to meet you lately because he feels inferior. He thinks he’s disabled and doesn’t wish to be a burden to you. That’s why he refuses to see you.”Liberty listened to Mrs. Lewis speak without saying a word. After a moment of silence, Mrs. Lewis said, “Liberty, I would like you to take care of Duncan and help him to regain his confidence so he can persist in physiotherapy even
“Liberty, you shouldn’t think ten thousand dollars daily is too much. Duncan has a terrible temper now. He’ll throw tantrums frequently and toss things around. We can tolerate him because we’re his parents, and I was the one who caused him to be involved in the accident.“If it were other people, who would be willing to be on the receiving end of Duncan’s anger? Even if we offer a sky-high salary to hire a caregiver for him, no one’s willing to earn that money. He’s really difficult to take care of now.”Mrs. Lewis thought spending over three hundred thousand dollars a month to hire Liberty to care for Duncan was not expensive at all. She was willing to spend any amount of money as long as her son could get better. Three hundred thousand dollars was the price of one bag of hers. Some of her handbags were even worth more than that. Mrs. Lewis thought paying ten thousand dollars per day was not a lot, but Liberty thought it was too much. Her business was booming, but even the max
Going to Liberty was useless. The source of the problem was her son. Mrs. Lewis also did a series of extreme actions against her son. After that…What was left was only regret. Liberty said magnanimously, “I don’t remember the words you’ve said to me before, Mrs. Lewis. I understand you.“It’s better to have a marriage between people of equal social standing. I’m also a mother. If my son were to like a girl whose standards differ from his too much, I might find it hard to accept too.”She would consider herself an open-minded mother before it happened. However, if it were to happen, not many people could truly be open-minded in allowing their children to get married to whomever they wanted.The parents in the York family stood out because only a handful of people could do that. Liberty often told Serenity to cherish everything both of them had. Putting Zachary’s attitude aside, how many people could be as open-minded as the York family’s parents?Therefore, she was not a
Liberty passed the phone to her son. She looked at her store. The employees were done packing, so she told them to leave first. Afterward, she thanked Jim. “Jim, thank you for picking Sonny up again.”“Stop saying thank you, Liberty. This is the task assigned to me by Mr. and Mrs. York. It’s my responsibility.”Jim chuckled warmly. “I’m happy to be of help to you. Sonny is so cute too. I’ll start missing him if I don’t see him for a day.”Upon hearing Jim’s words, Sonny raised his chin and said confidently, “Jim, am I the most lovable and adorable child ever?”Jim smiled and said, “You’re right. You’re lovable, adorable, and the cutest child I’ve ever seen.”Liberty walked out with Sonny’s hand in hers. She laughed and said, “Stop praising him, Jim. His imaginary tail will point upward to the sky if you keep doing that.”“I’m telling the truth. Sonny is the cutest child I’ve ever seen.”Jim insisted he was speaking the truth. Of course, after many years, he would say the sam
Serenity asked concernedly, “Liberty, what is it?”“It’s nothing serious. I just found a highly-paid job.”After rinsing the quinoa, Liberty added water and turned on the right heat setting before turning to face her sister. “Liberty, your diner is doing great. Why do you still have to look for a job? Are you stressed because Sonny is going to a learning center? It’s okay. I can help to pay for his school fees. I can’t even finish spending the allowance Zachary gives me every month. Everyone in his family receives an allowance each month too. The last thing I’m lacking is money.”Serenity thought her sister had looked for a job because she was too stressed.“No. Sonny’s school fees aren’t a problem. The money Hank gave me back then is enough for Sonny’s education. I have an income every day as well. It’s not because I lack money.”Liberty looked outside and saw Jasmine playing with Sonny. She said, “Mrs. Lewis came to look for me just now.”Upon hearing that, Serenity frowned.
“I’ll make stew. I can bring Mr. Lewis some when I head to the hospital in a bit.” Liberty turned around and got the ingredients out of the bags for prepping to make the stew. “I should respond to Mrs. Lewis.” Having recalled that she would give Mrs. Lewis a reply, Liberty paused in motion and whipped out her phone to call Mrs. Lewis. She let Mrs. Lewis know of her decision. Mrs. Lewis was grateful and insisted on giving Liberty some sort of payment. It was not like Mrs. Lewis could do anything if Liberty refused to take payment. With that in mind, Liberty went on to make lunch. The food was ready when it was close to lunch break. “Seren, I’m delivering some stew to Mr. Lewis. Sonny will stay here with you.” Liberty carried a food container out of the kitchen. “Lunch is ready and in the pot. Help yourselves when you and Jasmine are done with work.” “Have you eaten, Liberty?” Serenity asked with concern. It had not been busy at the bookshop lately. However, with th
“Don’t yell at Duncan, Charmaine. He doesn’t mean it.” Mrs. Lewis pulled Charmine outside the room. “Don’t criticize him. Duncan has it hard enough.” Charmaine answered, “I know Duncan is in low spirits, but so are we. We are concerned about him and his health. He gave up on himself before the doctor did.“You can’t continue to enable him, Corey. We must get him back on his feet.” Corey had been beating herself up and stayed by Duncan’s side to nurse him since his accident. Charmaine could understand where Corey was coming from. All they could do was visit and deliver food to the hospital every day. Sometimes, Duncan would refuse to see them when they came around. Since Charmaine’s husband assumed the leadership role of the Lewises family business, he was swamped with work every day while fretting over Duncan’s injury. However, Duncan was too caught up in his sorrow to care about his family’s feelings. Mrs. Lewis’s eyes welled up. She choked with sobs. “I want him to