“Little fox, I did take your stuff, but it was retaliation. Think about why I took your stuff. I wouldn’t have done it if you hadn’t made the first move. Don’t think you can deny everything you’ve done just because I took back what you took from me.”Dylan defended himself innocently. “Honestly, I thought of returning it to you, but you’re so elusive. You’re like a ghost sometimes. Even if I wanted to return it, I wouldn’t know where to find you. If you’d just told me your name, where you live, or given me a way to contact you, I would’ve returned it long ago.”Fox laughed coldly. “Is it my fault now? How many times have we met after you took back your stuff? You had plenty of chances to return it to me. I even went to your house to ask for it, but did you give it to me?“Dylan York, your shamelessness has reached a new level in the short time we haven’t met. Does your grandmother know how brazen you are? Does your mother know?”Dylan chuckled. “Whether my mom knows doesn’t matter.
“Yes, it’s her.”“What’s wrong with her? Why don’t you pursue her? I remember you did for a while.”Dylan looked at her and said, “Ms. Doyle is great. I deliberately approached her and pursued her at first because of Nana’s arrangement, but later, I realized I kept thinking about you. I never felt any true affection for Ms. Doyle before. Even though she’s wonderful, and I trust my nana’s judgment, I can’t force myself.“Marriage is a lifelong commitment, and the men of the York family never divorce. I don’t want to marry someone I don’t truly love and end up being the first York man to divorce. Nana would break my legs for bringing shame to the family.”Grandma May allowed them to choose freely before they were married.However, once married, they had to fulfill their responsibilities as husbands and adhere to the York family’s unwritten rules—to remain loyal to their families and marriages, loving only their wives for life.If any dared to have an affair, they would be expelled
“Dylan York, are you trying to pursue Ms. Doyle again?” Fox asked.Dylan denied it. “No. I made it clear to Ms. Doyle before. It’s my fault for not being able to love her. That was months ago, so she should’ve moved on from me. I won’t go looking for her again just to stir things up. Little fox, the person I like is you. You’re the only one I’ll marry in my lifetime.”Dylan declared that he would not marry anyone other than Fox.He had only set his eyes on Imogen because he suspected that she and Fox were the same person.Imogen never noticed, but Fox did.She was sharp as ever.Dylan did not mind that his future wife was better than him. He was confident in himself as a man. Besides, there was nothing embarrassing about being defeated by his wife.For example, Hayden was more capable than Kevin, but was Kevin embarrassed about it?Not at all. Kevin doted on his wife like she was the center of his world.Hayden was an amazing woman who lived more than two decades as a man, but
“Sugar is a young and beautiful woman like you. She’s also skilled in self-defense.”Dylan walked toward her.“Little fox, are you Sugar? Silver once had ‘Fox’ as his nickname too. You’re one of Silver’s disciples, right?”Dylan did not know if Imogen was Fox, but he had long suspected Sugar was.That was because Sugar had small details that mirrored Fox’s.He was not able to confirm it because Sugar noticed that he suspected her and no longer gave him the chance to test her.That only made him more certain that Sugar was Fox.“Does he have to be my master just because his nickname used to be ‘Fox’? There are plenty of people with nicknames like that.“I’m not Sugar, so stop guessing. However, I’ve heard of Silver before. The York family is quite impressive to know of him even though he’s been in seclusion for decades. That means your family is quite close to him.”Dylan stared at her intently.Her expression was calm without a trace of guilt.The more she acted like that, t
It was already two in the morning by the time she returned to the Doyle residence.Fox changed her clothes in the car, the one she frequently used that always carried several outfits, multiple hyper-realistic masks, and various makeup supplies.Sometimes, she would simply wear a mask and transform herself into someone else.Other times, she would change her outfit and use her exceptional makeup skills to alter her appearance.However, makeup would sometimes reveal small flaws, so wearing a mask was much safer.Imogen moved as quietly as possible when she went upstairs, not wanting to wake her family.Although it was the holidays, her mother was still exhausted from all the preparations.Imogen no longer felt the same anticipation for the holidays as she did in childhood.When she was little, she always looked forward to the holidays when she could take a break from homework. Receiving gifts was secondary.Children of the Doyle family, whether boy or girl, faced extreme pressur
Wiltspoon’s hot weather in October was a killer. Still, the mornings and evenings were eased by the late autumn breeze. Serenity Hunt got up first thing in the morning to make breakfast for her sister’s family of three. She then grabbed her birth certificate and slipped away in the silence. “We’re going Dutch from now on, and I’m talking about everything—the living expenses, the mortgage, and auto loans! Your sister should be splitting the cost since she’s staying at our place. Sure, she pays two thousand bucks a month, but it doesn’t stretch very far. She’s basically mooching off us.” Serenity overheard her brother-in-law’s comment during the couple’s argument last night. She had to move out of her sister’s place. However, there was only one way to put her sister’s mind to rest, and that was to get married. Since Serenity wanted to tie the knot on short notice without ever having had a boyfriend, she decided to take up on Grandma May’s offer. Serenity had saved the old lad
“I won’t back out on a promise.” It took Serenity a few days to consider before reaching a decision. Now that she had made up her mind, she was not going to go back on her word. There was nothing more Zachary could say at that point. He took out his document and placed it in front of the officer. Serenity did the same. The pair swiftly went through the formalities in less than ten minutes. Once the officer issued the marriage license, Zachary fished out a bunch of keys from his pocket and gave them to Serenity. He said, “The house I bought is in Brynfield. Nana told me that you own a bookshop near Wiltspoon School. My place isn’t too far from your workplace. It’ll take around ten minutes by bus.“Do you have a driver’s license? If you do, you can get a car. I can help with the down payment while you will be responsible for the monthly payment. It’ll be easier for you to commute to work.“I can get very busy at work, so you won’t see me much. There will be business trips too
“I will, Nana,” Serenity casually responded. Although Grandma May was nice to her, Zachary was her blood relative while Serenity was only related to the family by marriage. Serenity found it hard to believe that the Yorks would stand by Serenity during a conflict between her and Zachary.Such was the case with her sister’s parents-in-law. Before marriage, the in-laws were nothing but good to Liberty to the point their birth daughter was jealous. It was a different story after the wedding. Every time Liberty got into a disagreement with her husband, Hank, her mother-in-law would get on Liberty’s case about being a bad wife. In short, the son was always family while the daughter-in-law remained as an outsider. “You must be heading to work, so I should get out of your hair. I’ll get Zack to get you home for dinner tonight.” “Nana, I’m closing the shop pretty late at night. I probably won’t be able to make it. Can we reschedule for the weekend?” The school was off on weekend