Chapter 2

The dining room fell silent and Aria clenched her jaw tightly as she apologized with her eyes lowered to the table, "My apologies, grandmother."

Stella ignored her and glanced at the butler who was standing a few meters away from them.

Upon being glanced at, the butler strutted towards Aria and placed an enclosed piece of document in front of her.

“I came up with a plan to move our family forward and you will do it whether you like it or not.” Stella said without looking at Aria even though she was talking to her.

“Mother-in-law, Aria will be delighted to follow whatever plans you have made for her!” Emma Mitchell, Aria's mother, leaned towards the table and smiled forcefully as she tried to butter up to her mother-in-law.

However, Stella didn’t bother to glance at her direction and just kept her eyes straight.

Emma’s face and that of Dean twitched in embarrassment, while Ryan and Mia laughed secretly.

Stella cleared her throat noisily and continued sternly, “I paid heavily to get someone who’d put together names of wealthy bachelors in our city. You’ll start going on dates with the people on that list tomorrow until you capture the heart of any of them.”

Naturally, Aria felt uncomfortable by the plan and couldn’t help voicing it out with a polite smile on her face. “How will that be possible when I’m still married, grandmother?”

“You won’t divorce him and let him go out into the world because he has the IQ of a 5-year-old. Once one of the men on that list proposes to marry you, you’ll promptly divorce him and your family will adopt him.”

Hearing this, Mia Miller moved uncomfortably in her seat. The only reason she dared to be smug and talk however she liked to Aria was that she was married to an idiot.

But if Aria accepted what their grandmother was proposing, then there was no doubt she’d find a better man to marry.

If that happened and she ended up with a very capable man, Aria would not only be their grandmother’s favorite grandchild, but she might also be next in line to become her successor.

She couldn’t let that happen. She raised her eyes and leaned towards the table before smiling slightly.

“Grandmother, I could’ve easily put together a list for Aria, but then why even bother when she has never showed up for a date before?”

Dean angrily slammed his palm against the table and pointed a finger at her, fuming furiously.

“What do you mean by that? Aria is so busy taking care of the company’s affairs that she loses track of time and can’t make it to the dates! How dare you make it sound like she avoids not going on purpose!”

Mia huffed and nonchalantly leaned back on her seat.

“If I was lying, there would be no need for you to be so worked up. You’re only getting worked up over what I said because you know it’s the truth!”

“Shut up, both of you!” Stella gritted her teeth and glared at them coldly.

The two went silent and immediately lowered their eyes to the floor apologetically.

She ignored them and continued speaking to Aria, “Close an hour early every day and go to the dates I’ve prepared for you. If you refuse to, I’ll totally remove you and your brother as my possible successors!”

She stopped speaking and glanced at the butler again, who walked towards Mia and dropped an enclosed piece of paper in front of her.

“I also prepared a list for you, Mia. Whichever one of you is able to bring me a wealthy son-in-law will either be made my successor or your brother will be."

She paused and glanced at her sons in the room who hadn't said a word the whole time, "Make sure your daughters don't miss these dates."

"Of course, mother!" Ryan's father, Joshua Miller, immediately nodded.

While Anthony Miller, Aria's father, merely lowered his head to the table and said nothing.

Seeing this, Emma immediately responded in his place, "Yes, mother. We will do just that!"

The elderly woman seemed displeased that he didn't respond, but said nothing as she was led away by the housekeeper.

As soon as she was gone, Mia reached out and grabbed the paper, her eyes bulging out happily as she went through the names it.

The two families went back to their houses afterward.

“You heard your grandmother, make sure you’re in this house an hour before your date tomorrow,” Emma clarified to her daughter as they walked into their house.

“What’s the use? I can just work until it’s almost time, then head there in my work clothes,” Aria mumbled underneath her breath, but she was loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Dean immediately rushed in front of her and pointed a finger at her nose angrily. “Hey, Aria! Didn’t you hear what grandmother said earlier? I’m the male here and the rightful heir to run the family’s company.”

“So just go to this date and find the richest person there to propose to you. I don’t care if you don’t like him and if he has bad manners, all I care about is that he’s rich and can make me our family’s heir.”

“Listen closely, I’m telling you not to mess this up. The person standing in front of you isn’t just your younger brother, but the next heir of the Miller family.”

“So as the next heir of the Miller family, come back home an hour early every day and change into a dress that’d be appealing to the men you’d be meeting. Is that understood?”

“Don’t talk to Aria that way!” All of a sudden, the man whose presence wasn’t felt in the room earlier suddenly stepped in between them and scrunched up his nose in anger as he glared hard at Dean.

Dean flinched and instinctively retreated backward, but gritted his teeth in embarrassment when he realized it was his idiot of a brother-in-law.

He straightened up and grimaced, “You darn fool, how dare you startle me!”

“Dean, go take your milk from the kitchen and get ready to go to bed.” Emma came out of the kitchen and patted her son's head gently with a loving smile on her face.

She was about to walk to walk up the stairs when her eyes met that of Aria’s.

“And as for you, if you know what’s good for you, go to those dates and help your brother become heir. That way, your cousins won't look down on him and our family any longer.”

She went upstairs almost immediately while Dean scoffed at Aria loudly and slipped to the kitchen. Only then did Leon turn to Aria with a sheepish smile.

He didn't know what had just happened, but he was glad Aria's brother and mother, who usually bullied her, were no longer around.

“Get ready for bed, Aria. I’ll bring up your milk to the room.”

“I’d appreciate that, Leon. What a good boy you are.” Aria returned his smile and stretched her hand towards his head.

The man immediately lowered his head for her to ruffle like she always did whenever she praised him. She did.

He giggled and skipped happily to the kitchen while she climbed up to her room.

She changed into her sleeping clothes and was going through the company’s finances for the day when she suddenly heard something heavy falling down the stairs.

Downstairs, the 6’5 Leon Bartlett, who was suddenly hit on the head by someone then pushed when he got to the top of the stairs, tumbled down to the floor and hit his head hard on the tiled floor.

Instantly, the man’s childish, witty eyes changed into that of a grown man's as his memories came flooding back to him.