Kade did not know if what he felt for Maria was love or friendship. There were two reasons behind his return to Huntington—his career and the time for himself to analyze his feelings. He had been friends with Maria for over two decades. They had a close relationship. In the past, when their families had similar social status, they wished Kade and Maria could get married. However, Kade and Maria seemed to be just friends and had no romantic feelings for each other. He had never even confessed to Maria. As Maria’s family business declined and they went bankrupt, the Butcher family’s attitude changed. They no longer allowed Kade and Maria to hang out because they were worried about Maria’s family dragging them down. Kade had helped the Sprearings a lot in private. Despite having a successful career, Kade was poor. Maria’s father had borrowed all of Kade’s money to salvage his company. If the company made a profit on the borrowed money, Kade could get his money back. The
“It’s lunchtime, Kade. Let’s find a restaurant and have some food.“It’ll take an hour or two to return to the city center, and there’s also the weekend traffic. If we head back without eating, you might get very hungry.”Imogen was already hungry. Kade smiled. “Okay. Let’s go with that.”Imogen led the way. Kade pushed his luggage to Dylan and said, “Please help me with my luggage, Dylan.”Without giving Dylan a chance to refuse, Kade quickly went after Imogen with a small bag, probably a laptop bag.Dylan had the urge to kick the luggage away. However, he held it in to maintain a good image before Imogen.Imogen’s attitude toward Kade was likened to that between siblings and friends. There were no romantic feelings involved as her gaze was too calm. It made Dylan feel reassured. Although Kade and Imogen looked intimate, Dylan could sense their intimacy was due to them reuniting after a long time. After Kade caught up to Imogen, she turned back and saw Dylan pulling
She loved Dylan, not Kade. “You, Maria, and I are best friends. In my heart, you two will always be my older brother and sister.”Imogen emphasized the words “older brother and sister.”She truly viewed them as siblings. She had never had a crush on Kade, nor would she have feelings for him in the future. Their families were only thinking about their own benefits. However, her parents knew the man she truly loved was Dylan. The York family was better than the Butchers and more suited for her.To be honest, if Imogen and Kade were to be together, she would be used by the Butchers. The Doyles would also have to aid the Butchers financially. If she were with Dylan, she would not have to worry about being used or giving away money. York Corporation was slightly superior to Davidson Group. Even Leticia wanted Dylan as her son-in-law. Kade understood Imogen’s words. She did not want to follow her family’s arrangements. She liked another man, and that man was more capable
Kade patted Imogen’s head again. “Thanks, Jen, but no one can help with relationship problems.”He had patted her twice. Whenever Dylan saw that intimate action, he desperately wanted to chop Kade’s hand off and feed it to the dogs.Dylan had not even touched Imogen’s head before. He had only held her hand. They had held hands many times and were near each other when she was Chameleon Fox, but they never did anything beyond that. Although Dylan was jealous, he did not rush forward to push Kade away. Kade’s and Imogen’s mothers were best friends who had known each other for a long time. Dylan was at a disadvantage, so he would not do anything rashly. Not only did he not push Kade away, he simply walked behind them quietly with Kade’s luggage in tow. He did not butt in their conversation either. Imogen brought the men to a restaurant. They sat down. Dylan placed Kade’s luggage beside him. He wanted Kade to look after his own luggage. The three of them ordered a se
Seeing that Imogen was protective of Dylan, Kade did not say anything else. The three of them chatted while eating, but it was mainly Kade and Imogen talking. Dylan rarely spoke. Only Imogen would talk to him from time to time. At that moment, Imogen’s phone rang.Looking at the caller ID, she told Kade, “It’s Maria. She must be calling to ask if you’ve arrived.”Kade’s smile faded. “I already posted on my Story once I landed. She must’ve known I’ve already arrived safely.”Imogen glared at him. She decided not to scold him and answered the call first.“I just picked Kade up, Maria. He arrived safely.”Imogen immediately told Maria not to worry as she had picked Kade up.“Oh. I wasn’t going to ask about him though. I just thought of talking to you since you’re free this weekend.”Maria denied that she was concerned about Kade. She had seen Kade’s Story on Instagram. She did not comment or like the post, but simply swiped upon seeing that he had arrived safely. Howev
Once Maria hung up, Imogen glared at Kade.With an innocent look, Kade asked her obliviously, “Why are you glaring at me like that, Jen? Did I do something wrong?”“You didn’t do anything wrong. I just know now why Maria’s lost hope and said stuff like she’s entrusting you to me. You couldn’t even call or text her? You seriously only posted on your Story? If she had muted your Story, she wouldn’t have seen anything.”Kade replied without thinking, “She probably wouldn’t have muted my Story, would she? If she did…”He was suddenly at a loss for words.Listening to their conversation, Dylan was sure that Kade was an indecisive man when it came to his feelings. A man like that was probably not a very big threat to him.Still, he did not dare be careless and would continue viewing Kade as his rival in love, staying on guard against him.Imogen took up the thread of conversation and replied to Kade, “If Maria had muted your Story, that would mean she’s on the verge of blocking you an
Kade had already done everything he could to help Maria’s family. It was his parents who were worried that Maria’s family business being in trouble would drag him down, so they no longer supported him being with Maria.His mother nagged him about it every day, and after hearing it so often, he became frustrated and did not know what to do. On top of that, he did not fully understand his own feelings. He was not sure whether what he felt for Maria was friendship or love.While he was struggling with this, his company arranged for him to return to Huntington to take over all their domestic business. He took this opportunity to give himself some time to think—was he truly in love with Maria, or was it just friendship?When he heard Imogen say she wanted to match Maria with her cousin, Kade felt a pang of panic and fear of losing her. This gave him a moment of clarity and he realized that he did have romantic feelings for Maria. He was in love with her. Dylan chimed in, “Mr. But
Imogen sighed softly and said in a low voice, “If that's the reason, I actually hope they cut ties completely, because the Butchers already look down on Maria. Even if Kade persists, once Maria marries into the Butcher family, she’ll be treated poorly by her in-laws.“A woman who isn’t liked by her in-laws will have a hard time, unless she doesn’t live with them and her husband supports her unconditionally no matter what happens.“Otherwise, it’s easy for conflicts to arise. If they argue every few days, even the strongest feelings will fade over time.”Dylan asked in confusion, “If you think that way, why are you still encouraging them to be together? Are you worried that your families will try to matchmake you two?”Imogen laughed at him, “You wish, don’t you? Stop flattering yourself. I used to love you, but you made it clear that I’m not the one you love, so we’re completely over.“Now, at most, we’re just friends. And the only reason I’m nice to you is out of respect for your