“I’ll answer it.” Sonny chose to answer his father's call in the end. Serenity handed him the phone, letting him take the call. If she could avoid talking to Hank, she would.“Dad,” Sonny greeted.Hank responded with a smile that could be heard through his voice, “Sonny, still awake?”“If I were asleep, I wouldn’t be able to answer Dad’s call. Dad, have you finished work? It still sounds quite noisy over there.”Hank replied, “I’m not done yet, but I could get off work if I want to. Is your Aunt Ser there?”“Yes. Are you looking for her?”“Sonny, do you want to come over and stay for a few days? You’re on winter break now, so why not stay over for a couple of days? Your grandparents miss you.”Hank made this call to discuss with Serenity the possibility of having Sonny stay with the Browns for a few days. It was now the winter holidays and his parents missed their grandson. Chelsea had sent Lucas over, but it was too boring for Lucas as he was alone, so his parents thought it would be
Hank only had one son—Sonny—and it would remain that way in this life. The fact that the child still acknowledged him as his father and though they were not very close, it was some form of comfort.After ending the call, Sonny handed the phone to Serenity and said, “Dad wanted to have me stay with him for a few days, but I refused. We’re going to play with Laurence tomorrow. I really don’t want to go back and play with Lucas. He always bullies me. But I’m not afraid of Lucas anymore because I’ve learned self-defense.”Even though he was not particularly talented at self-defense, with time and practice, he had become stronger. His coach said that if he persisted for several years or even a decade, he would have the ability to protect himself. Sonny was not ambitious; he just wanted to be as capable as his Aunt Ser.Serenity hummed in acknowledgment. “If you don’t want to go back, then don’t.” She patted Sonny’s head and said gently, “It’s late now. Go to sleep. We’re leaving early to
“We’re not biased toward Lucas. Sonny is our only grandson through you, and we love him too. In the past, we were the ones who raised Lucas, so naturally, we were closer to him and ended up favoring him. That won’t happen again,” Olivia quickly assured. She knew Hank harbored grievances against them. He resented them for always favoring Chelsea. One particular incident was when Chelsea tried to make Serenity pay for an expensive dinner for her family, but naturally failed, and she called Olivia and asked for money. Not realizing Chelsea was trying to take advantage of her, she sent the money. It was only later that Sonny revealed what had happened.When Hank found out, he was furious and told them that if they continued to favor Chelsea, they would have to move in with her, and he would stop giving them financial support. He was now making a modest income from driving. It was much less than his previously high salary, and they could no longer afford to keep sending Chelsea money.“
“I’ll be back for Christmas with Aunt Ser. Uncle Zak said he’ll pick us up when he gets back from his business trip,” Sonny said.Tania smiled and said, “So we won’t see each other for more than ten days.”She drew Sonny close again, hugged him, and then kissed him on the cheek. “Have fun and when you come back, tell Grandma all about the games you played with Laurence, where you went, and what delicious food you had. And bring some souvenirs back from Annenburg for us.”If not for her worry that Serenity might discover they were hiding the situation in Jensburg, Tania would be reluctant to let Sonny leave for FC Manor so soon. Usually, Sonny would only come over for a day or two on weekends, and weekdays, he had to attend preschool, so they missed him a lot. Now it was the winter holidays, but he wanted to see his friend instead.“Seren, since you’re going out to have fun, just enjoy yourself and don’t worry about us at home,” Tania advised her daughter-in-law.Grandma May agreed
After Serenity and Sonny left, Tania called Audrey, who quickly answered.“Has Seren left?” Audrey asked.“She just did. I watched her and Sonny board the private helicopter, and I saw the helicopter take off and fly away before I called you. She won’t be able to hear our conversation unless she has super-hearing,” Tania replied.“Alright, thank you for letting me know.”“No need to be so formal—we’re family now. We all have the same goal,” Tania said politely.Audrey laughed, “You’re very polite too. Once this matter is settled, let’s have a meal together. My treat.”Although both were among the most esteemed ladies in Wiltspoon, they had not shared a meal yet. Even after Serenity married into the York family and they became in-laws, the two leading ladies had never grabbed a meal together. They were not as close as Tania’s ties with Mrs. Bucham and Mrs. Lewis. However, the Buchams and the Lewises had always been friendly with the Yorks, so it was natural that Tania was close to
Grandma May was not offended by the complaints and said, “Travel is so convenient now with planes and high-speed trains everywhere. You could start the morning in Wiltspoon but be in another country by noon. Why worry about distance? As long as the person is good and suitable for them, that’s what matters.“You guys must be so gleeful, but still have the cheek to complain about how far away the partners I chose for them are. If you had to worry about their marriages, you’d have gray hair all over your head too. There’s no way you would still be as carefree and easygoing as you are now.”Grandma May touched her white hair and added, “It’s precisely because I worry about their marriages that I’ve gotten all this gray hair.”Tania looked at her mother-in-law’s white hair and teased, “Mom, you could totally dye it black. You take such good care of yourself, you look like someone just over sixty. If you dyed it black, you’d look even younger.”“I’m not going to dye it. I need to face re
Tania smiled, “Exactly, Mom, at your age, you shouldn’t be gallivanting everywhere. It makes the rest of us worry.”Grandma May pretended to glare at her daughter-in-law. “What are you butting in for? I’m not gallivanting. Aren’t I staying put at home right now? I didn’t even go with Seren to the Johnsons’ to see Clo-clo.”Tania mercilessly exposed her mother-in-law’s lie. “Isn’t that because every time you go over, you always get tempted to kidnap the kids, so the Johnsons’ have refused to let you visit them?”Grandma May’s face turned red with embarrassment. Camryn could not help but let out a tinkling laugh.“Camryn, come out for a walk with Nana so we can relax. Your Aunt Tania’s upset me. You didn’t give me a granddaughter yourself. How could you complain about me liking others’ granddaughters?”Tania covered her mouth and laughed, “Mom, you didn’t have a daughter yourself. How can you blame me? It’s not that we didn’t want to give you a granddaughter—it's York's luck that’s
It was just a topic to chat about with her granddaughter-in-law.“I think they’re the same person. They even hired a fake to pretend to be Carrie, and had Mrs. Longbottom appear before me right afterward to dispel my doubts. Their target seems to be Serenity, but since I know Carrie the best, they had no choice but to involve me.”Serenity would only dispel her skepticism if Camryn’s suspicions were dispelled seeing that they were biological sisters.“I just wanted to talk to Serenity and analyze things. It feels like they have a huge plot going on behind the scenes, but since they’re not in a hurry, we don’t need to rush either. So, I came over again this morning, but I didn’t expect Serenity had already left.” Camryn was envious. “I want to go on holiday with a kid too, but unfortunately, I don’t have a nephew.”She had a sister, but Carrie was unmarried and childless, so she did not have a nephew yet. However, even if Carrie married and had children in the future, she probably