“Summer, remember to drink your water.”
“Yes, Mommy!” she replied, her gaze still on her book.
She was really concentrated on her reading.
I went back to Anthony and saw that he was still hard at work at his desk.
Picking up the book I was reading, I walked toward his desk with a serious expression. Then I sat down beside him and continued with it.
His voice was gentle as he asked, “Are you hungry?”
I shook my head, resting it against his shoulder, and continued to read.
“What would you like to eat?” He stopped what he was doing and put his arm behind me. I could lean into him even more now.
I thought about it very seriously, only to realize there wasn’t anything I wanted to eat in particular. “I don’t think there’s anything specific I want.”
“Then shall we cook at home?”
With a big smile on my face, I nodded and answered, “But you have to do the cooking.”
I said that only because I knew he was so much better than I was when it came to cooking.
“Sure!”
I then turned my attention back to the book as he took a look at what I was reading. “When did you buy this? ‘The Bossy President’?”
Following that, I closed the book to present the full title, “The Bossy President Falls For Me.” I couldn’t help but look at him with a smirk. “Macy bought this and kept it at Glenwood Apartments. It looked like a fun read, so I took it.”
“So? Is it good?”
I gave it some thought before nodding. “It’s okay.” After a pause, I added, “It just makes me wonder why this president has so much time to travel around the world with the female lead.”
In all the years I had known Anthony, he was busy almost all the time. He had endless meetings, a mountain of contracts, and various places to be.
He picked up on the slight annoyance in my words and chuckled. “How about I start traveling the world with the two of you?”
“No way. If you don’t work, we won’t have a breadwinner. Then I’d have to start working.”
I had my savings to fall back on during my four years in R Province, but there’d always come a day when we might deplete all the money. It wouldn’t be as easy to support an entire family if we were to work a nine-to-five job.
“The savings from Featherstone Corporation will be enough to feed you for a lifetime. Why don’t you worry about how to spend all this money instead?” he teased.
Wow! Such arrogance.
After that, we spent the day in peace and comfort. I was starting to enjoy more of these simple, quiet afternoons with my family.
The time we had over the weekend seemed to pass more quickly when we found it enjoyable.
Anthony couldn’t afford to get too many rest days either. Even taking one day off work was a luxury for him.
With Summer attending her various classes, I was the only one left at home.
Just then, Emery called, asking me to go shopping with her. Late fall in K City was considerably colder, so I didn’t feel like going out.
However, being home alone stirred up feelings of loneliness and depression, so I gave in and decided to meet Emery at the mall.
I didn’t drive but took a cab to the mall instead. By the time I got there, Emery had already arrived. She had two bags of pastries in her hand, which I guessed she had only just purchased.
When she saw me, Emery chuckled and gave me one of the bags of pastries. “You’re always dressed so frumpily. We’re out to shop and have fun, all the more we should dress up and look pretty. With your looks, everyone’s jaws would drop when they see you.”
I smiled faintly. “I don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.” It was true. Nancy had gotten unwanted attention a few times because of that. I would definitely stand out more if I cleaned myself up, but that was the last thing I needed.
Emery nodded in agreement and didn’t probe further.
The mall was bustling with activity. However, I had gotten used to being alone, that the crowd and noise stressed me out, so I didn’t like it at all.
Emery, on the other hand, was an extrovert. She made sure to browse each jewelry store we came to. Whenever she bought something she liked, she’d be like a kid in a candy store.
Like Macy, she’d get so incredibly excited whenever she got to eat delicious foods or buy her favorite things.
People said that only those with similar personalities could become friends. But Macy and I had known each other since childhood, so we still bonded despite our different personalities.
What I did find weird, though, was how Emery and I became friends.
When she saw that I was in a daze, Emery elbowed me and asked, “Is it so hard for you to pick a necklace? What are you thinking about?”
I looked at the two necklaces in her hand and remarked, “Both of them look good. Just get both.”
“Damn, Sienna. This is the first time you’re behaving like a rich woman. I’ve always thought you were so timid and precious. Anthony got you the clothes and accessories you have on you now, didn’t he?”
I nodded. “Anthony gets Joseph to buy me new clothes every season. I rarely shop, and I don’t understand much about fashion. So, I wear whatever I have at home.”
Hearing that, she gave me a thumbs-up as she curled her lips. “Spoken like a rich woman. Anthony has really spoiled you. But as a woman who doesn’t like shopping or eating, what do you do in your free time?”
“I read at home!’ I exclaimed. And that was the truth. When I stayed with Macy, I spent weekends going out to eat with her. This all changed when she left because I had no other friends to hang out with during the weekends.
She slapped her forehead and sighed. “I knew it. The only reason someone like Anthony fell for you was because of your looks.”
Then she returned to look at the necklaces in her hand, seemingly deep in thought. “Oh, forget it. I’ll get both. They add up to forty thousand but so be it. I’m the one wearing them anyway.”
Hearing the price of the necklaces threw me off. Once I returned to my senses, I asked, “Wait… How much are these?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Forty thousand.”
“Even if they’re made of gold, do they have to be that expensive?” I was dumbfounded. Even if the property prices in K City ballooned to ten thousand per square foot, that still wouldn’t have seemed as expensive. But a mere necklace for forty thousand? That was outrageous.
Emery hesitated as she glanced at the bracelet on my wrist. “You were the one who suggested buying both necklaces, but now you think they’re too expensive? This necklace was handcrafted by a famous designer in Ustrana and even has a diamond in the pendant. So it’s definitely worth the price!”
Regardless of the design and the material used, a necklace with a price tag in the tens of thousands still seemed too much of an extravagance.
I couldn’t help but sigh. “For the same price, you could get a two-bedroom in the smaller cities. How extravagant.”
Ignoring me, Emery paid for her necklaces and looked at me with annoyance. “What’s wrong with you, Sienna? The bracelet you’re wearing is worth a few hundred million. So, why don’t you say that for the same price, you could get a villa in K City?”
I was taken aback by that and slowly shifted my gaze to my bracelet. This bracelet was given to me by Louis four years ago when he added me to the Stanhope family register. I hardly wear it and had almost forgotten about it until I saw it a few days ago. To be honest, I wore it only because it looked pretty.
After all, I knew nothing about jewelry. I could only determine if I liked something or not based on how pretty it looked. Hence, I definitely wouldn’t be able to tell the good from the bad.
Now that Emery had told me about the bracelet, I felt even more pressure. “A bracelet worth a few hundred million? That can’t be possible!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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