Elisa lifted her luggage and descended the final few steps of the stairs. Mrs. Stone took a few steps forward, wanting to help her bring it down, but Elisa would not let her.
“Mom, what did you ask the butler to do just now?”
“I prepared some gifts for Liberty and her sister and wanted him to help send them over.”
Elisa hummed in acknowledgment, then said, “Liberty didn’t want to come with us, or else we could have brought her and Sonny with us. Sigh… I’ll have to go a long while without seeing Sonny again. Once we get back, Sonny will already be three years old.”
“In a few more days, you’ll be twenty–seven years old.”
Mrs. Stone reminded her daughter.
Once the new year arrived, everyone’s age would increase by one. The young would have grown up, while the old would have aged another year.
“Twenty–seven years old is still very young, Mom. Don’t nag me to get married. I haven’t found a suitable man for myself. There’s no rush–I’ll marry when I’m thirty. If a suitable person doesn’t appear before then, then I just won’t get married. I’ll accompany you and Dad for the rest of my life.”
Elisa Stone had very high standards. An ordinarily talented and handsome man was not enough for her.
Mrs. Stone said, “Oh, you. Don’t be so picky. As long as he’s gentle and can tolerate everything about you, it’s fine if his family status isn’t quite as high as ours.”
“That won’t do. If we’re not of equal status and my in–laws try to leech off me and treat me like an ATM, what should I do then? Men with that sort of background are terrifying.”
Mrs. Stone could not find the words to say in response.
In Wiltspoon, there were quite a few families of equal status to the Stones, but those families did not have sons of marriageable age. Most of them had already married or had a large age gap between them and Elisa.
Elisa was not interested in younger men.
Of course, the Yorks who were not in conflict with the Stones had a few suitable sons, but Elisa Stone had once been madly in love with Zack and had even publicly confessed to and pursued him before. The sons of the York family deeply respected their eldest brother and cousin, so they definitely would not choose Elisa.
There was no other suitable option in Wiltspoon. If they turned their sights elsewhere, it would be too far. Elisa was Mrs. Stone’s only daughter and could not bear for her daughter to marry far away from home.
“Mom, with our whole family traveling for the holidays, doesn’t that mean we won’t be able to meet Seren’s husband? I really want to meet him though.”
Mrs. Stone smiled and said, “We’re all relatives now. Isn’t it going to turn out the same whenever we meet him? If you want to meet him that badly, why don’t you stay home for the holidays while we go traveling? When the time comes, you can ask Seren to bring her husband to meet you. What do you think?”
Elisa immediately shook her head. “Forget it. There’s no rush anyway. I need the break.”
Traveling and seeing new sights to cheer herself up would make it easy to forget Zack.
Now, when she thought about Zack, she was not as frenzied as she was before.
Meanwhile, Serena texted Zack the moment she drove into her neighborhood.
When she stopped in front of the building she lived in, Zack was already waiting downstairs.
Together with Jim.
“Seren.”
Zack stepped forward and after Serena’s car came to a complete stop, he chivalrously opened Serena’s car door for her. He was about to help her out when Serena slapped his hand away.
“I’m not disabled nor am I old. I don’t need your help to get out of the car.”
Zack said to her, “You’re unhappy when your husband is trying to be thoughtful?”
Putting his arms around her and instead of just helping her out, he carried her from the car.
Serena blushed.
Her sister was right there, and so was Jim.
His romantic gesture made her a little… embarrassed.
The moment he carried her, Serena got a whiff of that familiar scent on his body and could not resist touching his face.
Yeah, that still felt really good.
Zack was speechless.
She said she did not want his thoughtfulness, but when he hugged her, she took the opportunity to take advantage of him.
Wait till night fell and she-
Zack hurriedly stopped himself and halted that train of thought, lest he could not help himself.
After placing Serena on the ground, Zack went to carry Sonny from the car.
“Uncle Zak,” said Sonny in his childish voice. As Zack reached out to hug the little guy, he jumped straight toward Zack. Zack reacted quickly and caught him easily before raising him high into the air.
Sonny burst into laughter.
After teasing Sonny a little more, Zack put Sonny down and stopped playing with him. He asked, “Sonny, did you miss Uncle Zak?”
Sonny nodded. “Yeah.”
Zack had a gentle expression on his face as he bent down to kiss Sonny on both his cheeks. “Uncle Zak missed Sonny a lot too.”
Once Liberty got out of the car, he greeted her as well.
Liberty responded with a smile.
“Ms. Hunt.”
Jim walked over and greeted Serena.
She smiled and asked, “Are you guys not going home for the holidays?”
Most of the people in the neighborhood had returned to their parents‘ homes for
New Year. Only a minority had stayed in Wiltspoon.
Jim grinned sheepishly as he replied, “It’s expensive to go back. I can’t save up much in a year and once it’s New Year, I have to spend it all anyway. Every year, I’m left with pretty much nothing. So this year, I don’t plan to go back and spend it with my parents. I’m just going to transfer some money to them. That way, I’ll still have a little left.”
Still smiling, Serena said, “That’s fair. Or you could also bring your parents over.”
A regular person would only be able to save a few thousand bucks at the end of the year. With all the expenses for the festive season, money would be spent in a flash. Celebrating Christmas and New Year was not cheap indeed.
After buying gifts for one’s relatives, elders, and children, one also had to account for gatherings with friends and old classmates. Just like that, a person’s money would soundlessly evaporate.
Some who had children who were still studying and had tuition fees that needed to be paid had to be extra cautious about their expenditures.
“They don’t like it here. They said they’re not familiar with the people nor the environment here with no one to talk to, so it’s much more comfortable to stay where they are.”
Serena expressed her understanding.
“Ms. Hunt, Mr. York has asked me to help move the things from your car to his car. He said the two of you will be returning to the old residence for New Year.”
Serena looked toward Zack. She did not have any particular disagreement with his arrangements.
Thus, Jim removed everything from Serena’s car and then moved them to Zack’s national MPV,
Some of the items were Liberty and Sonny’s, so they remained in Serena’s car.
Jim was done with the moving in just a few minutes.
Once he was done, Zack dug out his wallet from his pocket and opened it in front of Serena. He took out a hundred bucks and handed it to Jim, saying, “Jim, this is the moving fee.”
Jim accepted the hundred–dollar bill and smiled as he thanked Zack. He then took out his own wallet and shoved the hundred dollars into it. He then said to Zack and Serena, “Mr. York, Ms. Hunt, if there’s anything you need in the future, just give me a call. I can do anything as long as I’m paid for it.”
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.