“I feel like I have no secrets to speak of before you. I hope you can stop using your family’s influence and power again to watch me and that you can interact with me like a normal person. Let me have some freedom and some secrets of my own. And when you’re with me, you can just be Josh, and not Josh Bucham of the Bucham family. Can you do that?”
Josh was just the nephew of the head of the Bucham family and was already this formidable.
Would the heir of the Buchams not be even more terrifying?
Jasmine felt that whoever the heir fell for was extremely unfortunate.
No one wanted themselves to be completely exposed by someone else while they knew nothing about the other person.
Josh was silent..
He had only wanted to know more about her.
That was the only reason he used his family network to find out everything he could about her family.
This was the first time he had wanted to get close to a girl, after all. He had been more meticulous than when he helped Zack look into something. He knew everything about Jasmine and her family, no matter big or small.
Normally, he would continue to pretend in front of Jasmine.
Unfortunately, he had loose lips and was a blabbermouth. Sometimes, he would only realize he had said something he should not have after saying it.
Maybe that was how he managed to make the sensitive Jasmine feel repulsed by him.
He knew it–Jasmine clearly did feel something for him too, so why was she unwilling to be his girlfriend? The reason turned out to be that he knew too much.
While Josh’s proposal had failed, elsewhere, Zack and his wife were happily enjoying their honeymoon phase.
After dinner, Serena sat on the sofa watching television as Zack washed the dishes in the kitchen.
A life like this made Serena feel very fulfilled and also blissful.
After sitting for a moment, she got up and walked to the kitchen. Leaning on the doorway, she watched Zack wash the dishes.
“Don’t you want to watch TV anymore?”
Her stare was quickly noticed by Zack. He turned his head to glance at her before he resumed washing the dishes.
“I don’t follow any dramas, and I don’t know which ones are good. I didn’t find any that I wanted to watch after flipping through the channels either. I feel like TV dramas aren’t as good as they used to be. The special effects are over the top. Maybe I’m just old, but anyway, I can’t bring myself to watch anything.”
Zack laughed and said, “You’re so young, but you’re calling yourself old already. You normally come back late at night too, so where would you have found the time to follow any dramas?”
After a pause, he continued, “I don’t have time to watch TV and I don’t follow dramas either, but I trust your evaluation.”
“We have a film and television company under our group too. I wonder if you’d enjoy watching dramas from productions.”
“Forget it. I’m not interested. What if I get addicted to it and just start binging on dramas all day, every day, and give up on doing anything? I still have a lot of stock I haven’t used. I’m better off utilizing my time to make handicrafts and earn money than to watch dramas.”
Speaking of work, Serena suddenly asked Zack, “Zack, your mother recommended that I take some etiquette classes before this. Should I? Does your mom think my conduct and manners aren’t good enough so that’s why she suggested that I learn some etiquette?”
Zack arranged the washed dishes neatly and replied, “There’s no such thing. My mother is very satisfied with you. That day, she even wanted me to help out in the kitchen. She’s biased toward you. If she didn’t like you, she wouldn’t help you out like that.”
Even if his mother had a bit of dislike for Serena, it would not affect him whatsoever.
He was not a mommy’s boy.
“My mother felt that you had a pretty good disposition. If you took some etiquette lessons, it would only improve. There’s no other meaning to it. Of course, you should go only if you want to. Otherwise, no one would force you to. I think you’re pretty good as you are right now. I like you just the way you are.”
He had tried to change her, but that ended in a cold war between husband and wife.
Mrs. Lane had advised him not to try and change Serena.
The reason being, the Serena he liked was exactly the way she was right now. If he really managed to change Serena into someone who only revolved around him, put him on a pedestal, and no longer had any opinions of her own, he would not like Serena anymore.
Therefore, he gave up on trying to change her and wanted to keep her as she was.
Instead, in order to live a normal life as husband and wife with her, he kept doing things he had never done before and continuously grew out of his shortcomings.
“I don’t mind taking some lessons, but it’s very hard for me to find the time to do it.”
After having been dragged to upper–class gatherings by Jasmine previously, Serena knew that her conduct and manners could not even be compared to those rich young ladies.
In the past, she had not cared, since she would never be part of the upper class in this lifetime. What was the point in mimicking the behaviors of those rich young ladies then?
After hearing her mother–in–law’s suggestion and seeing that her in–laws were all incredibly well–mannered, Serena began to view the issue of etiquette seriously.
“You could take fewer online orders. You’d be able to make the time for etiquette lessons then.”
“So you do want me to take those classes, don’t you?”
Zack finished wiping down the stove, washed the rag, and proceeded to wash his hands again. Then he turned to walk toward Serena and stopped before her. His large hands cradled her face and pinched it lightly a few times before he said, smiling, “I told you, you should go only if you want to go. If you don’t, then you don’t. I don’t mind either way.”
Serena grabbed his hand, walked to the balcony with him, and sat down on the swing.
She leaned against his shoulder and together, they looked out at the city lights.
“When all the houses below are all lit up, the huge building opposite us goes all dark. They’ve all gone home for New Year’s.”
“Tomorrow morning, we’re going back to the old residence. I’ve already informed Nana and there’s already a room arranged for us to stay in.”
Zack had his arm around her shoulders as their heads leaned against each other.
That moment was full of warmth and sweetness.
“Seren, our old York family residence is really old. I hope you won’t mind it when you’re there.”
“How old is it? Is it a clay tile house? Or is it a thatched cottage?”
Zack laughed, “It’s not that bad. It’s just the old residence left behind by the York ancestors. Although it’s maintained yearly, we can’t deny it’s obviously an old place. And all of us live together there–I think I’ve mentioned it to you before.”
“How big is the old family residence?”
“Our ancestors started doing business in the 1900s and made a small fortune then, so the old residence spreads across quite a wide area. Back then, it was considered a luxurious place. Every family unit has its own wing, although it’s all connected. We go in and out through the main entrance.”
“Is it like a mansion?”
“Yeah.”
“Your old family residence was built in the 1900s and it’s still livable? It’s pretty well maintained then.”
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.