Ch. 121..130

pter 121

Kendall's face froze as she solemnly said, "Dad, I know."

It was the first time she had felt her father's reliance and trust in herself upon her rebirth. Initially, she believed that her father was solely concerned about the company's future and had little to no genuine affection for his own daughter.

At this rare moment, she could plainly sense her father's concern as she listened to his earnest words. In reality, he actually had immense love for her. If he had not, Kelly would not have killed her in her previous life. Kendall was embarrassed that she had misunderstood her father.

"Okay, let's stop talking about it. Come and have a look, darling. These are the clothes that Kendall bought us." Adam summoned his wife to look at the clothes.

"You bought clothes for me, Kendall!" Charlotte exclaimed cheerfully.

Subsequently, Kendall took the clothes and handed them to her parents. "Mom, try and see if they fit. I bought them in your size, but I'm not sure if you like this style or not. I saw that all of your clothing in your closet are similar to this."

"I like it. I like everything as long as it's from you." Charlotte held onto the clothes and looked at them repeatedly; her smile never left her face. "You're staying for dinner right, Kendall? I'm going to cook now."

"I'll help you, Mom." Kendall promised Dylan to have a meal together, but she could not resist her parents. As a result, she decided to eat at her parents' house before meeting Dylan.

Charlotte did not decline her offer. Then, they went into the kitchen together.

On the other hand, Adam could not be of help, so he sat in the living room and read newspapers. He felt a surge of happiness in his life when he heard his wife and daughter conversing while laughing in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, Kelly was not home.

…

Back at the Mendelson Family…

After returning from the Parkers, Frank went upstairs alone and entered his study room. He could not walk and needed a wheelchair when he was at Parkers' Villa.

However, he did have a talent for acting. It was true that his foot was swollen from being stomped by Kendall, but not to the point where he needed to commute in a wheelchair.

His study room was a forbidden area in his household. No one could enter without his permission and violators would bear the consequences.

Frank sat in front of his desk while leaning back in his chair and glancing up at the ceiling. After a long time, he turned around and took a couple of rolled portrait paintings from the bookshelf behind him.

Two portraits of infants were readily visible when the artwork was spread out on the table. One was a baby boy and the other was a baby girl. He drew these portraits of the children by using his

imagination. He had no idea if Kendall had given birth to a son or a daughter. As a result, he sketched two portraits instead.

The baby boy was drawn in a way that resembled himself, but the baby girl looked more like Kendall. She would be surprised if she saw the portrait Frank drew as it looked exactly like her baby from her previous life. The baby resembled Kendall and despite the fact that the baby did not look like Frank, she never doubted him as the father of her children. Well, children either look like one of their parents or, in some cases, both at the same time.

Frank, who was a strong opponent to Dylan, excelled in many aspects. Although Dylan was a superb painter, Frank also had a few talents of his own, including these two portraits that he had drawn.

After a lengthy period of staring at the paintings, his fingertips rested on the portrait of the baby girl. "Although I have yet to prove your existence, I have an intuition that you're a lovely girl." His slender fingers gently caressed the baby's brows and eyes as his steel heart melted because he desperately wanted to realize this adorable girl out of the painting, to hold her in his arms and care for her.

My beloved daughter. I never got to see you.

Kendall is a young lady who's never even had a man, let alone giving birth. So, where does this imaginary child come from?

"My baby, Daddy didn't mean to get close to your mommy. Daddy simply misses you so much that I want you to be real; I want to hold you in my arms and hear your soft little voice calling me 'Dad'..."

However, the grin on Frank's face suddenly turned into something more.

"Therefore, Daddy will get close to Mommy… One day, you'll be realized into this world." He picked up the painting and held it in his arms, as if he was cradling a baby.

…

It was noon and time for the Colemans to gather for lunch.

Kendall successfully returned just as Dylan was about to have lunch; he was already sitting at the gazebo. Although the sun was scorching, it was still windy today. Therefore, eating under the gazebo would not be too bad of an idea. He was indeed a man who knew how to enjoy himself; he had clearly examined the surroundings before deciding to build this gazebo.

"Dylan, I'm back." While carrying her bag in her arms, Kendall dashed into the gazebo and walked quickly toward the table to sit down.

"Ronnie," Dylan said in a low voice.

As soon as Ronnie picked up Dylan's command, Ronnie brought a basin of cold water for her to wash her hands. As soon as she did so, Dylan handed her a pack of tissues.

"Wipe the sweat off your forehead and face. I don't want them in my food or else, all the scrumptious dishes on the table will go to waste."

Kendall took the tissue pack and sniffed the dishes before replying with a smile, "It smells so good."

She then pulled out a piece of tissue and wiped her sweat with it. "I was running too fast."

Dylan remained silent. After seeing her wipe away her sweat, he questioned her coldly, "Have you signed up for the etiquette class?"

"Not yet."

"Allow me to sign you up."

A baffled Kendall glanced at him and asked, "Dylan, are you saying I'm too vulgar for you?"

"I'm just asking, in case you forgot. You won't be sitting here if I truly think so. You don't get to sit here just by being shameless, by the way." Dylan would not allow it; even if Kendall was to be completely shameless, she would not be able to sit next to him and have a meal.

"Thank you very much, Dylan. Please sign me up for the class. I work during the day, so I can only attend their night class."

Dylan responded with a simple hum and the couple then began to eat.

As she had previously dined with her parents earlier at the Parkers, Kendall did not eat much. She set down her chopsticks after trying a little bit of every dish and watched her partner eat.

His dining etiquette was incredibly elegant and courteou; she felt that even if she took the etiquette classes, she would never be on par with him. After all, he had been raised in a favorable environment since he was a toddler, unlike her.

"Do the dishes not suit your liking today? Or are you not feeling well?" Dylan inquired in a light tone.

"No, the meal is delectable. I was already almost full because I've eaten at my mother's house. I can't eat as much as I usually do."

"You're quite self-aware, then."

Dylan's comment rendered Kendall speechless.

"Would you like to go for a walk in the afternoon, Dylan? I'll go with you."

Though his look suggested more, his voice was still low and monotonous. "All I can do now is fishing. You are welcome to join me for fishing after lunch." Whenever he fished, he could do it all day long.

"Okay. If we catch any, let's grill them!"

"Is food all you ever think about? What a foodie!" Dylan exclaimed.

"Don’t you want to enjoy your catch? Do you want to keep it as a pet instead? I'm not very good at raising fish; I've had countless of them and they usually die on my hands; as tragic as that might sound, my cat would like to differ."

"What a party pooper," he grumbled quietly.

 

Chapter 122

"Dylan."

All of a sudden, Kendall called out Dylan's name with her most tender voice and stared at him with her provocative doe eyes, intending to melt his heart.

"What?"

"Is it alright if we have two cats and a dog?"

"We have a lot of dogs at home."

"I'm not talking about wolf dogs here. I'm talking about pets! The wolf dogs in our house are way too ferocious and not cute at all. Let's keep a cute puppy and two cats! Now that you have so much free time, picture yourself lounging under the sun while petting a couple of cute kittens and enjoying the beautiful garden. Isn't that wonderful?"

"I'll just keep you instead," Dylan mumbled.

Kendall was stunned when she heard his words.

Is he trying to be romantic? How cute!

However, she did still want to keep two pet cats.

"Don’t keep furry pets."

Kendall pouted before saying, "Alright, if you say so."

His house was immaculate, which could be contributed by his mysophobia nature. Previously, her request to keep some pets was also rejected by him.

Dylan later inquired whether she would want to keep hamsters instead. But she wants a cat, dude!

Seeing how she was unhappy with his insistence, he pursed his lips and compromised, "I will allow it if you can promise that they won't shed."

"How can they not shed, Dylan? You can't even promise that you won't shed a piece of your own hair." She continued to mutter, "I lose a few strands of hairs as well when I comb my hair every day."

"Well, forget I ever said that. When I get them, I'll keep them at my mother's house and I'll visit whenever I'm free." With that, Kendall stood up and walked away.

Dylan did not stop her as he simply watched her leave the gazebo.

As she was filled with rage, she walked out of the gazebo but the breeze cooled off her anger. She decided to just hang out around the neighborhood by herself. After wandering around, she came across the main house.

At this moment, she spotted her sister-in-law coming out of the main house. Alice was holding a ragdoll and behind her were two pet dogs following. Kendall thought they were cute regardless if they were cats or dogs.

After her plea of keeping pets was rejected, she became envious of Alice's pets.

"Kendall," Alice called out her name with a grin. "Aren't you supposed to be with Dylan for lunch?"

"He doesn’t need me there."

Kendall responded casually and then approached Alice. "Your cat is so adorable, Miss Alice," she commented as she looked at the cat Alice was holding.

"I've had it for a few years. I have a designated place for my pets where there are cats and dogs. Would you like to come with me for a look?" Alice was pleased to have someone to talk about pets with. She wanted to take Kendall to see her pets and her request sounded like she was offering gold.

"Sure." Kendall was on cloud nine.

"Let's go, Tiggy and Jiggy!" Alice summoned her two pet dogs. Although their fur was snowy white, one of the dogs was smaller. It was no surprise she gave them the names 'Tiggy' and 'Jiggy' to distinguish them.

Kendall thought that the place where Alice kept her pets was in the main house; however, she did not expect Alice to take her all the way to the west and they arrived in a yard after a long trek. The yard was no different from the Coleman Mansion—it had a home encircled by a low wall.

The yard also appeared serene due to the presence of flowers and plants.

She had been in the Coleman Mansion for so long and Amos had shown her around before, yet she did not expect that there was still so much more of the place! When she saw a small courtyard in the

west, she realized she had not been to many other locations.

The Coleman Family's mansion is massive!

As they arrived at the yard, it was easy to tell at first glance that this was a pet house, judging from the plate that read 'Pet Palace' hanging on the gate.

"Kendall, this is a place specially for my pets. Dylan hates hairy animals and our pets are all furry. Therefore, in order to prevent him from trampling them to death, I can only let my pets live far away and rely on someone else to take care of them. I come over whenever I get the chance."

The Pet Palace was a long distance away from Dylan's house, therefore, the pets could be frequently found roaming around the yard. Even if they left the Pet Palace, they would merely walk about the neighborhood instead of running to his place.

"Miss Alice, you are very blessed!" Kendall exhaled a sigh.

A place just for her pets.

The Colemans' financial abilities had opened Kendall's eyes of what true wealth really meant. In comparison to the Coleman Family, her family could only be described as a middle-class family, not rich.

"Kendall, just call me Alice. Since we get along great, from now on, we are friends." Alice smiled warmly as she spoke to Kendall while leading her into the Pet Palace.

Kendall adored her and could very well become her sister-in-law in the future, so she was delighted to

get close to Kendall.

"Miss, you're here." When the workers who took care of Alice's pets heard noises outside, they came right out of the house to greet her with a smile.

Alice told the worker, "This is Ms. Parker. She also likes pets, so I'll take her to see mine."

Kendall was greeted with a smile by the worker as well before leaving and allowing Alice to show her around the yard.

She discovered that Alice really adored cats and dogs. There were several pets of various breeds; other than cats and dogs, there were more than a dozen parrots and a row of bird cages hanging from a huge tree. When the parrots spotted Alice approaching, they became quite thrilled.

"You're here, Miss."

"I'm missing you, Miss."

"I love you like a love song, baby."

These parrots sound like they were theater-trained! Kendall chuckled as they spoke one after the other in a lively tone.

"Who taught them to speak, Alice? They can even recite pop lyrics!" She walked over and teased those parrots.

Alice smiled and explained, "Some are taught by me, but many are taught by the workers."

There was not only one worker but ten of them! She was concerned that the cats and dogs might fight. Furthermore, some pets liked to tear down their homes. Therefore, it was necessary for this many people to oversee the 'zoo'.

"The more I look at them, the more I want to have a pet."

A fluffy pet dog came running over as it was very friendly and not scared of humans. The pet dog rubbed its face against Kendall's leg, making her bend down to carry it.

"I suggest you give it up since Dylan hates these tiny pets. If you bring a dog back, he might crush it to death right in front of you almost instantly. I'm not brave enough to witness such a horrific scene. You probably don’t want to see it too, do you?"

"But, Kendall, if you're so fond of them, you can visit anytime to feed and talk to them. Once you've become acquainted with them, they will play with you."

Her eyes twinkled as she heard that. "Can I come over at any time?"

Alice smiled and answered, "Of course you can. I'll inform the workers later. You are welcome to visit anytime in the future."

"Then, I'll come over and feed them when I'm free." Kendall was ecstatic.

 

Chapter 123

Alice bent down and placed the ragdoll cat in her arms onto the ground. Meanwhile, Tiggy and Jiggy were already enjoying themselves while running around the courtyard.

They had been raised for several years now, so they were quite perceptive and well behaved. They rarely even roam around the main living area as they were afraid to cause a mess and be dealt with serious consequences.

The ladies stayed in Pet Palace for quite some time before leaving. Alice was worried that her brother would need Kendall's care after lunch, so she quickly dragged Kendall away before Kendall became even more reluctant to leave.

"Kendall, are you familiar with our house?"

In response, Kendall shook her head in honesty. "I only know the way to Dylan’s place; I can recognize some of the roads around there but only because I use them everyday."

It was quite fortunate that Dylan had not inquired about it recently. Otherwise, she would not be sure whether to tell the truth or come up with a lie.

"Your house is massive; the roads that lead to it run everywhere. I always find myself lost when I’m trying to get around, which makes it even harder to find my way back to where I started. I feel like I'm in a maze."

"It is like a maze indeed, but our safety is guaranteed too. Everyone in our extended family lives in this compound and every family has their own independent dwelling area, but it's still connected to the mansion. Once my brothers get married and have kids, then we would need to consider expanding it

again to avoid an overcrowding issue."

At that point, Kendall was stunned beyond words by the Coleman Family’s wealth.

The Coleman Mansion was already quite massive and one would have to take several hours to tour the entire place by foot. She was shocked to hear from Alice that an expansion was even necessary. After all, every family had their own house within their own compound, so she was surprised to hear that overcrowding could be an issue!

Kendall was at a loss for words once again. The support I’ve found for the rest of my life is indeed a very dependable one!

"Too bad my brothers don’t intend to get married so soon. Grandma’s been yearning to hold a great- grandson for a few years now but to no avail. Dylan’s the oldest and yet he's still single, so the other brothers have an excuse to not get married. Each time the elders pester them about getting married, they will definitely bring up Dylan’s single status as an excuse. Our household is too quiet and it would be merrier with children running around."

Alice was the youngest in her generation, yet she was twenty-three years old before twenty. It had been some time since the Coleman Family was inundated with the gleeful laughter of children.

Just then, Kendall thought of Dylan’s situation; Old Mrs. Coleman would have to depend on her other grandchildren if she wanted a great-grandson in her arms.

"I heard Dylan mentioning before that you'd be rewarded a trillion by giving birth to a son and fifty million for a daughter in your family. That's such a great reward! Aren't any of you guys tempted to get

married and have kids?"

Alice smiled and replied, "All of them have their own careers and none of them needs the reward. They would definitely choose freedom over the reward any day. However, there are many women out there who would do anything and resort to tactics to marry one of them, but they’ve never managed to succeed, though."

Even Yasmine, the beloved daughter of the Zorn Family, was keen to marry into the Coleman Family. However, Yasmine had very high standards since she had only been attracted to Dylan—the head of the family—and the rest of the Coleman males were not to her liking.

She had also professed that she would only marry the head of the family. After all, the position of the head in a prestigious family like the Colemans was definitely a well-revered one, so it was no wonder that she was keen to become Dylan Coleman's wife.

However, with Dylan crippled at this point, Yasmine would rather set her sights on Frank than lower her standards and choose any of the other males from the Coleman Family. Of course, the main reason for that would still have to be Frank's status as the head of the Mendelson Family.

Then, Alice tilted her head to look at Kendall with a meaningful look.

"Why are you looking at me this way?"

Alice smiled and complimented, "I just find you to be rather pretty. You’re special and one of a kind."

"I wouldn't have the cheek to claim to be pretty in front of you. Your family members are all exceptionally good-looking people. I’m not special at all. Everyone says that I grew up in the

countryside, so they think that I’m an unrefined and uncouth country bumpkin. I wouldn't turn into a cultured person even if I change the way I dress."

"Everyone has different opinions and the things that one admires would be different too. There would be people who admire your type. Well, I like you very much and the more we spend time with each other, the more I enjoy our interaction immensely."

"It’s my pleasure."

The two of them entered Dylan’s house while engrossed in conversation with each other. Dylan was no longer at the pavilion, so he had most likely returned to the house to take a rest.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they noticed that he was holding a pair of shears while busy trimming the branches of a pot of flowers. There were some strewn cut branches all over the ground. As for the pot of flowers, it was now looking quite bare.

Alice instantly stopped in her tracks and whispered to Kendall softly, "Kendall, it's time for my break. I'll be on my way. I'll ask you out the next time I’m free."

Subsequently, Alice turned around and swiftly strode off. Within a minute after she announced her departure, she was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Kendall was left quite perplexed. She looked on as Alice departed and turned to look at Dylan, who was moving about in his wheelchair, ready to attack the next pot.

The pot that he had targeted was one with fully bloomed roses. He was just about to snip the branches when Kendall hurriedly interjected, "Dylan, don’t trim it!"

The flowers were blooming quite well. If he trimmed them, then there would be nothing left. I better do something before these poor roses get executed!

As Kendall approached his way, Dylan set aside the shears in his hand and stopped his action of snipping the flowers.

"Dylan, it's quite sunny out here. Why don't you go inside and have a rest? Hand me the shears and I'll trim the flowers for you." As soon as Kendall finished her words, she instantly grabbed the pair of shears from his hand. It seemed that she wanted to prevent him from killing another pot of flowers.

The flowers and plants were well looked after and made the whole place look livelier than ever. As she left the house every morning, she loved leaning forward to sniff the flowers in full bloom. She also took several photos of the flowers and posted them on her social media where there would be different flowers in bloom each day, which made her photos popular among her bunch of ex-classmates.

As a response to Kendall's interjection, Dylan lifted his head to look at her coldly and stared at her for at least a minute before speaking up in a low voice, "Ronnie."

Ronnie, who attempted to make himself discrete at the corner, instantly appeared next to Dylan. After that, he came forward and assisted Dylan into the house.

As for Kendall, she was quite confused by Dylan's behavior. For a moment there, the look that he shot her seemed to give her the impression that she was the one who had triggered his anger, hence, all the random trimming and sniping. What did I do wrong?

Amos also popped out as soon as he realized that Dylan was not going to come out anymore. "Young

Mistress Kendall, Young Master Dylan’s upset."

Kendall was quite confused and she asked softly, "Why is he upset? Which person offended him?"

As if things were in stop-motion, she noticed that Amos kept his eyes on her.

She pointed at herself. "Mr. Miller, am I the one who offended him? How did I even do that? Is he upset because I finished my meal before him? Or is it because I requested to have a pet cat or dog? If he doesn't like pets, then I’m fine with not having one. In fact, I should be the one upset with him but the opposite has happened."

"Young Mistress Kendall, you were gone for too long." Amos continued, "When you went to Pet Palace with Miss Alice, you were there for quite a while. Young Master Dylan is upset because of that."

At this point, Kendall was significantly speechless. "He doesn't like pets. If he did, I would have brought him along by wheelchair too."

Amos heaved a sigh. "Indeed, Young Master Dylan doesn't like pets, but you do. However, he couldn't quite convince himself to grant you permission to have pets here, so he was upset about that. In the end, he vented his frustrations by sniping these flowers here because they were all specially planted for you."

She blinked her eyes in surprise. "Planted for me? I asked him about that before, but he denied it."

He could not help but chuckle. "Young Mistress Kendall, you've been interacting with Young Master Dylan for quite some time now. Haven't you realized that he is a prideful man? He doesn't always mean what he says."

 

Chapter 124

Kendall felt the same way too. "Yes. He can be like that sometimes."

"Young Master Dylan prefers simplicity and elegance. Before you moved in, there were no flowers and plants here as you know. Look at the area right now; it's way different from when you just moved in, right? You enjoy tending to flowers and plants, so he instructed me to buy all these flowers while he also moved some from the conservatory, all for the sake of making you happy."

"Well… Gosh! I've left something in the car! I forgot to take them with me." Kendall suddenly recalled the clothes and necktie that she had bought for Dylan.

Amos instantly helped her contact the driver and instructed him to bring the items she had left in the car for her. She took the bags from the driver and handed the pair of shears to Amos before saying, "Mr. Miller, I'll head inside and coax him now."

At that sight, Amos was full of smiles. "Alright then, Young Mistress Kendall. Go on, he should be in the study room right now." Whenever Dylan was upset, he usually stayed in his study room.

As for Kendall, she ran into the house and indeed, she could not find Dylan anywhere on the first floor or in her room. Subsequently, she headed to the second floor.

Other than her first day of moving into this house, she had barely set foot on the second floor. After moving in, she had mainly gone about her daily life on the first floor.

The study room was a restricted area and Kendall was well aware of that from the way Dylan had glued a note on the door with the words, 'Study room, entry upon authorization'.

She came to the entrance of the room and lifted her hand to knock on the door.

'Go away!" His cold voice rang out.

"Dylan, it's me."

Kendall called out again, "Dylan, can I come in?"

Meanwhile, he remained silent as he sat in front of his desk with a book in his hand, albeit not being able to concentrate on it.

"Dylan, I'll assume from your silence that you've agreed."

"I'm pushing the door open to come in now, Dylan."

Triggered by Kendall's choice of words, Dylan responded snappily, "How else are you going to come in if you don't push open the door? Can you walk through walls?"

Kendall didn't know what to say as she thought, What do I even say now? She decided to tolerate him seeing how he was still in his snappy mood.

Subsequently, she pushed open the door and entered the room.

Dylan instantly pretended to be engrossed in his book as soon as she stepped in. There was also an indifferent look on his handsome face as his thin lips were pursed tightly. He exuded a strong aura of rejection that clearly indicated that visitors were not welcome.

"Dylan," Kendall greeted him with a sweet smile on her face.

He looked at her and coldly responded, "What do you have to say? Just be quick about it. If you have nothing to say, then the door's that way." His words were considered 'kind' as he no longer told her to get lost.

"Dylan, I've bought you a new necktie. Do you wanna see it?"

Meanwhile, a cold Dylan replied while still pursing his lips, "I've got plenty of neckties."

"I'm aware of that and I know this would be just another necktie in your collection. But this is a gift from me—your wife. Aren't you happy that your wife gifted you a necktie?"

He scoffed coldly.

"I bought you some new clothes too."

"My clothes are all custom-made and I don't need you to buy them."

"I've bought them, though. So, does that mean you don't want them? 'Cause if you don't, then I'll have to give them to my brother; he's about the same build as you. Although he's not as handsome as you, with great attire, surely he would be completely transformed if he put this on. After all, one is usually judged by what they wear. I'm sure that he would be able to dazzle the ladies with this handsome fit and soon enough, I'll have a sister-in-law!"

At that point, Dylan was stunned by her words as he responded, "Kendall, you're not only shameless,

but also very talkative."

He slammed his book onto the desk; there was a loud bang as the sound caused Kendall to cower slightly.

With a tone as cold as winter, he reached out his hand and instructed, "Give it to me."

Kendall hurriedly handed over the newly bought clothes and necktie to him. She also moved closer and thoughtfully asked, "Dylan, should I help you with it? I would like to know whether it's a right fit for you."

However, he remained silent. Subsequently, she took the clothes from his hand and helped him put them on before assisting him up. She spoke up with a pleased look, "Dylan, the clothes fit very well. I've got great taste indeed." Then, she took out the necktie that she had just bought and helped him with it.

As for Dylan, he allowed her free reign despite the tense look on his face.

"My husband's so good-looking."

Right this moment, Kendall clearly showcased her shameless personality as she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his thin lips. After the kiss, she turned to target his face and left a trail of saliva all over his face before letting go of him with a satisfied look.

He touched his face and sneered in disgust. "You're just like a puppy; I have your saliva all over my face."

Without a beat, he pulled her back into his arms as he tightened his grip on her waist with one hand

while holding the back of her head firmly with the other hand. Then, his thin lips approached her sweet- smelling lips and he plundered dominantly as he gave her a passionate kiss.

After the exchange, Kendall complimented, "Not so bad, Dylan." She had assumed that a guy as stoic as him would not possess such romantic and tactical skills.

Dylan blushed slightly and pushed her aside. "You've groped me so many times, so I came up with this from those experiences."

Kendall thought, This man's too prideful.

"The weather is getting hotter." Dylan took a seat as he mentioned it calmly.

He lifted his hand and took off the clothes he was wearing as it was a suit that Kendall had bought. Although he usually wore a suit in his office, he usually was dressed casually at home.

She was quite perceptive as she promised. "I'll buy you some lighter clothes for summer next time."

"I've got plenty of clothes."

"Yes, I know that. You've got plenty of clothes, but none of them are from me. I love buying clothes for my man."

Finally, he could not come up with any more excuse to rebuke her words.

"Dylan." Kendall put aside the clothes and brazenly snuggled into his arms.

At first, he pushed her aside as he resisted her advances but shortly after that, he allowed her to snuggle in his arms as she took a seat with him on the chair.

This feels so comforting and secure, she thought as she stayed cozy in his tight chest. He held her with one hand and lightly played with her hair with the other.

"Dylan, I'm fine with not having pets if you don't like furry animals. You don't have to force yourself to accept it. I was too selfish before as I only cared about myself without considering your feelings. You did mention previously that you disliked furry animals."

Meanwhile, Dylan remained silent. It was true that he was not fond of pets but she liked them. He really wanted to satisfy her, but he found it quite hard to convince himself.

"I went to the Pet Palace with Alice earlier and she told me that I could pay a visit anytime I wanted. I'm allowed to feed the little animals and play with them, so that would satisfy my wish to have a pet. You don't have to give in to me."

Kendall lifted her head and looked at his chin as she lifted her hand to stroke it. "Hey, Dylan, you've got some stubble!"

In reaction to her words, Dylan scowled. "Why can't a man like me have his stubble?!"

He shaved frequently and that was how he maintained a clean-shaven face daily.

She cheekily stuck her tongue out. "That's not what I meant. I just thought that you look dashing everyday without any facial hair, so I thought you didn't grow any."

He pinched her lips and replied, "You're such a sweet-talker." Her words are indeed very sweet.

"I'm telling the truth. My husband's the most handsome man on earth. I love my husband the most and the love I harbor for my husband is—"

"That's enough." Suddenly, Dylan stopped her just as she was about to go on and on.

Meanwhile, Kendall smiled gleefully. Her laughter caused his eyes to darken significantly as he could not resist her anymore. He turned her over to face him as he leaned in and held her against his desk; he lowered his head once again to kiss her soft lips while remaining deep in embrace.

Just as she was about to lose her breath, he finally detached from her lips and released her. He gently stroked her face with his slender, long fingers. With a tender look in his eyes, Dylan realized that he had fallen head over heels for her.

 

Chapter 125

"Dylan," Kendall gently called out his name.

They had just enjoyed a spicy moment with each other, so she sounded quite breathless at this moment. Her soft and tender tone of voice was irresistible to Dylan as he lowered his head and kissed her on the side of her lips.

"Since you like having pets, I’ll get someone to buy a few cats and dogs for you. Would you like some rabbits too? You can have some of each, but they'll be at Pet Palace. You can head over everyday to visit them and there are also people there to care for these little animals."

This was the most that Dylan could concede for his darling wife. It was indeed a solution best of both worlds.

As the generous and kind words of her husband sunk in, Kendall's eyes brightened. "Is that true? Are you really going to get me some pets?"

It was a very rare thing for Dylan to smile at that point as he pulled her up from his desk and allowed her to continue snuggling in his arms. However, they were now facing each other unlike before.

"If you don't like the ones from me, you can get them yourself and I'll foot the bill."

"No, I would be happy with anything that you purchase."

Kendall quickly responded, "I've got two ragdoll cats at my mom's house. I'll bring them back with me the next time I visit. I'll keep them at Pet Palace with the other animals, so they can accompany each other." After all, it would be the more the merrier with the ragdoll cats.

"Did you buy those two cats yourself?"

"No. My mom bought it for me."

As soon as Dylan heard that it was a gift from his mother-in-law, he did not say anything further. Initially, he thought it was a gift from Jackson.

"They're your cats, so it's up to you." Although Dylan was usually quite domineering, he could still accept it if the animals were from his mother-in-law.

"Thanks, Dylan. You're so kind to me." Kendall expressed her gratitude sincerely.

He looked at her and replied, "You're the one who accosted me and bit me while yelling at me to take responsibility for you. If I don't treat you well, I'm afraid that you might take a couple more bites out of me."

She blushed instantly and buried her face into his arms as she wrapped both arms around his waist with a contented expression. She found that although he was unable to walk, the muscles around his waist remained firm; she also cheekily pinched him around the waist, to which he swiftly removed her hands from there.

He feels ticklish! Kendall seemed to have made a new discovery.

"Dylan, what was on your mind back then? Didn't you find it weird that I did such a drastic thing?"

Dylan's expression was quite thoughtful as he remained silent for quite some time before responding, "I figured that I would marry you and then torment you to death, so that you'd regret your actions for the rest of your life."

However, their relationship deepened from then on after they signed the marriage papers. Gradually, he changed his mind.

She lifted her head and beamed at him. "Thanks for not tormenting me, Dylan."

Dylan pinched her on the cheek. "You shouldn't thank me just yet. You have still yet to hand in the ten- thousand-words reflection letter that you owe me. When are you planning to do that?"

Meanwhile, Kendall replied, "Dylan, do you even know how to keep a conversation going? I've just initiated a topic and yet, you've instantly silenced me. How are we supposed to continue with our interaction then?"

The two of them seemed to be flirting with each other earlier as they behaved in a lovey-dovey manner. However, his sudden change in topic ruined the sweet atmosphere, which was hard to come by. At that moment, he was at a loss for words.

She was worried that he would continue to pursue the ten thousand-word reflection letter, so she swiftly clambered out of his arms and stood up. She yawned and turned to him as she spoke, "Dylan, I'll be off to take a nap. Let's go fishing after my nap. You'll be in charge of fishing and I'll grill the fish that you catch. I'm quite good at that."

Back when she was in her hometown, she would occasionally go for fishing with some of her buddies during her spare time. Evidently though, she was the one in charge of grilling the fish they caught

during each of their trips. She had never managed to catch anything because the fish seemed to disappear without a trace everytime she attempted to catch them.

"You're a glutton," Dylan scoffed.

"Well, we're all born with a mouth to enjoy food. Dylan, you should take your nap too. Go on." After she had said that, she instantly ran out of the room.

Meanwhile, Dylan kept his eyes on the door of the room that was halfway closed for quite some time before muttering under his breath, "She ran off faster than a rabbit."

After Kendall's effort at placating he, he was no longer upset and decided to head downstairs to be in the same room as his wife. He took a spot next to her while she was in a dazed, sleepy state and took a nap with her.

…

As for Kelly, she drove into the Zorn Mansion and parked her car at the porch. A servant came out of the house to welcome her and after she had gotten out of the car, the servant came over with an umbrella to shield her from the sun.

"Miss Kelly, Miss Yasmine is still taking her afternoon nap. Would you like to wait for her in the living room?" The servant shifted the umbrella in Kelly's direction to keep her shielded from the sun ray.

"Oh, is Yasmine still taking a nap?" Kelly lifted her right hand to take a look at her watch. It's past 3.00PM but Yasmine is still in her nap?!

"Yeah. Miss Yasmine took her nap slightly later today, so she's not up yet."

Kelly considered the situation for a moment before asking, "Is Brian home?"

The servant responded, "Master Brian's not home. Miss Yasmine said something to him before her nap and he left the house after that. He's not back yet."

A disappointed Kelly grunted lightly to indicate that she had heard the response. "Well, I'll wait for Yasmine in the living room then."

Subsequently, the servant held the umbrella over Kelly's head and led her toward the house.

"Miss Kelly, take a seat for a moment and I'll get you a glass of water."

"Alright, thanks." Kelly took a seat on the couch and waited.

Meanwhile, the servant took some fruits and snacks out to serve Kelly along with a glass of warm water. Subsequently, the servant kept Kelly company and waited by her side until Yasmine woke up from her nap.

Hoping time would run faster, Kelly kept glancing at her ladies' watch as she hoped for Yasmine to wake up as soon as possible. Fortunately, Kelly did not have to wait for too long as Yasmine came down the stairs ten minutes later.

"Miss Yasmine, Miss Kelly is here." The servant went forward to greet Yasmine first.

Yasmine affirmed and gestured for the servant to continue with her chores before she took a step

toward Kelly.

"Yasmine." Kelly stood up and smiled. "I hope I didn't disrupt your afternoon nap."

"I was already up anyway," Yasmine spoke as she headed to a one-seater couch and took a seat before asking, "It's such a hot day today. Did you come at this time because you had something urgent to tell me? We could have just spoken on the phone too."

"No, it's not anything urgent. It's the weekend and I don't have work, so I came over to keep you company. How are you feeling? Are you still upset?"

As soon as the questions were raised, Yasmine pursed her lips and responded, "I organized a birthday party that should have gone well, but it ended so terribly. Both the guests and the host were not happy when they left, so shouldn't I be angry? If it wasn't for Brian, who helped to clear Jackson's name by blaming it on being drugged, then I would definitely have had a go at him."

She looked at Kelly and accused immediately, "Kelly, I don't think that you're here to keep me company. You must be here to plead for forgiveness on Jackson's behalf. I know that you guys are good friends." While being confidently right, she curled her lips into a sneer after finishing her sentence.

"Jackson's offended me," she added. "By right, it should be your darling younger sister who feels anxious, but why are you the one being anxious and concerned instead? You're actually here on such a hot day to plead for him?"

When Kelly knew her true intentions were exposed, she no longer bothered to hide it. Instead, she spoke frankly, "Yasmine, it's true that I'm here to plead on behalf of the Whittle Family. You do realize that I have a good relationship with Jackson and we're best friends. Our families also have some

business collaborations and I'm the one in charge of our collaboration projects. Therefore, it does make sense for me to plead for forgiveness on his behalf. Furthermore, I'm here today because Mrs. Whittle has pleaded for me to help."

 

Chapter 126

"Speaking of my darling younger sister, ever since she moved into the Coleman Mansion, she has become quite haughty in her ways. So, she would no longer find Jackson worthy of her time. She has fallen out with him and plans to go after one of the Colemans. I guess any of them would be much more influential and have a higher status than Jackson."

At that point, Yasmine retorted angrily and with jealousy, "She's just a country bumpkin! She would only be able to stay on as Master Dylan's caregiver. She must be out of her mind to think that she could win over one of the Colemans."

Although Kendall was not involved in the incident last night, Yasmine was quite displeased with the fact that Kendall was able to remain by Dylan's side up to now.

"Did she have a fallout with Jackson?"

Kelly nodded. "She tried to kill herself by slitting her wrist, but Jackson was busy with work at that time so he didn't go to visit her. She was angry about that, so she kicked up a big fuss until now, and they haven't made up yet."

"Such an ugly girl, and yet she's a troublemaker." Yasmine continued, "She's the one who created trouble, and yet she wants to be coddled."

With a sigh, Kelly replied, "Yasmine, Jackson was sabotaged. Otherwise, he would never have dared to commit such a despicable offense at your birthday party. Could you please forgive him for that?"

She had intended to persuade Yasmine to coax her oldest brother to collaborate with Whittle Holdings to stabilize the morality of Whittle Holdings and prevent anyone else from targeting them maliciously.

As such, Whittle Holdings would be able to get through this current tough situation that was escalated due to all of the rumors safely.

It looked like this was not a possible way, so she could only plead with Yasmine to forgive Jackson.

Kelly was fully aware of Yasmine's position in the Zorn Family, and if she was upset, her brothers would stop at nothing to seek revenge for her. After the incident with the project that Whittle Holdings had nearly finalized and about to sign the contract with the other party but was personally hijacked by Dylan, there were rumors that Whittle Holdings had offended Coleman Empire Holdings. Subsequently, the other companies in the same industry had also started to target Whittle Holdings, one after the other.

Right now, Whittle Holdings was in dire straits, and if Zorn Holdings made a move to target them too, they would basically be at odds against the two largest corporations in Orapolis. They would have no chance of surviving at all.

When Kelly had been about to leave the hospital, Rosemi had pleaded with her repeatedly to help Whittle Holdings when she had walked out from the place with Kelly. As such, Kelly would definitely do her best.

"All of you have told me that Jackson was a target of sabotage. Kelly, tell me something, who would be capable enough and daring enough to do that to him at my birthday party? And why him?" Yasmine stared intently at Kelly. "What does he have that would make him a target for someone? He's not exactly the most handsome guy or the most capable one of the young ones. As for his family background, it's not exactly the best, so tell me, why would anyone bother to target him? Jackson should have regained consciousness by now, right? Have you asked him?"

She continued to interrogate Kelly non-stop to find out what Kelly had to say.

At that moment, Yasmine's expression turned as soon as she noticed the Cartier necklace that Kelly had worn. It was the one that she had taken a liking to, but Charlotte had paid for it before her.

Yasmine's expression changed, but soon enough, she was back to her normal self.

Kelly replied without any hesitation, "Other than Kendall, who else could it be?"

Meanwhile, Yasmine's expression was unreadable as she directed another question at Kelly, "Didn't you just mention that she had a fallout with Jackson and wanted to pursue one of the males from the Coleman Family? Why did she sabotage Jackson then?"

Kelly's reply came quite naturally, "She did fall out with Jackson, but the depth of her love for him was also why she hated him so much after that. In fact, she hasn't moved on from her relationship with Jackson. Before she actually wins the affection of one of the Colemans, there is no way she would actually give up on Jackson."

"Not long ago, Mrs. Whittle came over to my house to send the betrothal gifts, and she told my mom that she intended to seek my hand in marriage on Jackson's behalf. Of course, Mrs. Whittle did this on purpose to exact revenge on Kendall. My mom was angry beyond words, and she kicked Mrs. Whittle out of the house. Mrs. Whittle was in the wrong in this case. After Kendall got word of this, perhaps she was afraid that Jackson would actually break up with her, so she took the opportunity of your birthday party to sabotage Jackson. Once everything happened and the situation could no longer be reversed, Jackson would have no way of getting away from her clutches and would forever be her spare option."

Meanwhile, Yasmine chuckled, and after that, she replied, "But Kendall wasn't on the scene when the incident occurred. It was Krystal who was assaulted by Jackson.”

Kelly replied, "If it wasn’t for Master Dylan requesting Kendall's presence by his side, she would have gone out right away."

At that point, Yasmine stopped talking.

The video that Kendall showed her exemplified Kendall's intention of going out, but Dylan had stopped her.

Suddenly, Yasmine realized that something was amiss. At that point in the video, the incident of Jackson assaulting Krystal had already happened, which led to Yasmine staring at Kelly silently.

Yasmine was quite haughty and arrogant, so she did not have many friends among the upper echelons of Orapolis. Most people were just supposedly friends with her, but in fact, they were just supporting characters there by her side to fawn over her as she enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention.

She didn’t mind them claiming to be her friends in front of the others as long as they didn’t affect her reputation. However, she sincerely regarded Kelly as her friend and even harbored hopes that Kelly would end up marrying her brother.

At that moment, though, Yasmine suddenly realized that she didn’t quite know her best friend at all.

Ever since Kelly had known that she wasn’t the biological daughter of the Parker Family, she had

complained quite sadly in front of Yasmine more than once about how Kendall had purposely vied for their parents' affections and caused their parents to have a bad impression on Kelly.

Yasmine sympathized with her friend, so she had, in fact, kept a score on Kendall’s misdoings in her mind. She was just waiting for her birthday to arrive so she could teach Kendall a lesson during her party and embarrass Kendall in front of everyone.

In Yasmine's eyes, Kendall was an evil woman who portrayed an innocent look in front of the public.

"Kelly." Yasmine asked in a calm voice, "Earlier on, remember I asked you whether or not you had spoken to Jackson? Does he know who set him up?"

"He didn’t tell me anything, so I reckon he has no idea about that."

Jackson had finally regained consciousness at nearly noon, and he firmly refused to reveal the person who had set him up after regaining consciousness despite Rosemi and Kelly’s persistent questions.

His silence had caused Mrs. Whittle to strongly believe that Kendall was the perpetrator and that he was just protecting her.

Yasmine spoke up sneeringly, "He wouldn't dare to say a single word, of course! He wouldn’t have the decency to say anything because he deserved all that, and if he revealed it, everyone would agree with that. He has created trouble for himself."

As soon as Kelly heard that, she was secretly quite shocked, and she quickly asked, "Yasmine, do you know who set him up?"

"I went to see Kendall to settle the score with her before you came over here to see me."

Yasmine calmly mentioned, "Coincidentally, Ronnie, who works for Master Dylan, sent several video recordings to Kendall to prove her innocence. I’ve watched all three video clips. Although I don't trust Kendall’s personality, I definitely trust Master Dylan and Ronnie. Jackson was the one who drugged himself. Furthermore, it wasn't Kendall who intended to sabotage him. He was the one who tried to target Kendall. She was just lucky that she was attracted by the food, and she forgot which glass belonged to her after she got some food and came back. She took the wrong glass of wine, so that’s why she dodged it."

She even added, "As for why Jackson ended up consuming that glass of wine himself, perhaps that’s karma for him. His despicable deeds ended up giving him a taste of his own medicine. Kendall did not encounter Jackson at all from the moment she entered my house. She didn't even realize that he was present during my birthday party."

At that point, Kelly was significantly speechless.

 

Chapter 127

"Kelly."

Yasmine asked, "You've always claimed that Kendall is not as innocent as she appears to be and that she's quite cunning and calculative. She always sets you up, and your adoptive parents end up misinterpreting you. As such, they treated you worse than before. But then, somehow, I seem to find that your words aren’t exactly true."

She got up and walked to stand in front of Kelly before bending over as she reached out to lift the Cartier necklace that Kelly was wearing.

"Why would Mrs. Parker buy such a pretty necklace for you if she actually treated you badly? Your necklace is worth way more than the dress and jewelry that Kendall had on yesterday."

Meanwhile, Kelly responded, "Yasmine, are you doubting me? Do you no longer trust me?"

"I don’t wish to doubt you either and I would very much want to trust you, but this incident with Jackson has suddenly made me realize that I don't seem to know you at all."

Yasmine suddenly let go of the necklace and sat back down in her spot. She didn’t like to connive to get her way because there was no need for her to do so due to her status and background. She could easily get anything she wanted. Nonetheless, she wasn’t a clueless person either.

Kelly explained, "Jackson didn't tell me who set him up, so I jumped to my own conclusion. After all, Kendall was the one who yearned so badly to marry Jackson."

"Yasmine, don't you think that it's too much of a coincidence? Jackson tried to sabotage Kendall and

ended up having a taste of his own medicine. You went to settle the score with Kendall, and yet, coincidentally, Master Dylan asked his men to send the videos to Kendall so that she could prove her innocence. Master Dylan seems to be quite protective of her, huh?"

Master Dylan had an issue of performing sexually, but even then, if he showed preferential treatment for any other woman, Yasmine would still be offended and dislike that woman.

Yasmine continued, "Kendall is now working as Master Dylan’s caregiver for free. Obviously, the others' treatment of her is a reflection of their respect for Master Dylan, so naturally, he would be protective of his people unless Kendall was actually at fault here."

"Yasmine, do you actually believe that Master Dylan only thinks of her as a caregiver?"

Yasmine looked at Kelly and asked, "Otherwise, what else could it be? Master Dylan’s crippled and he needs help to get about in his daily life. Besides, he is unable to perform sexually, so even if he harbors any illicit thoughts against her, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it."

That’s true. Master Dylan can no longer perform sexually. Who else could he regard Kendall as, other than his caregiver?

Nonetheless, Kelly had a feeling that Master Dylan treated Kendall quite differently and their relationship was quite special to the point where it didn’t seem like merely an employer and an employee relationship.

"Kelly, be frank with me. Are you in love with Jackson?"

As Kelly’s best friend, Yasmine could sense that Kelly treated Jackson very well. However, each time Yasmine asked Kelly if she was in love with Jackson, she would always deny it vehemently.

"If you like him, just be frank with Brian and let him know that there is no chance of a relationship between the two of you. Don’t string him along and bench him as you try to make up your mind between him and Jackson."

"Yasmine, I'm not doing that. Brian treats me like a princess and I’m full of gratitude about that. The thing is, I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment. You do realize that I’m not biologically related to the Parker Family, right? My position in the company is kind of… Well, I have to work harder than ever to prevent Kendall from surpassing me or even replacing me."

Kelly denied everything quite vehemently.

Meanwhile, Yasmine looked at Kelly intently for quite a while before voicing out, "Kendall grew up in the countryside, so she would definitely not be able to surpass you in anything. The company means a lot to your father, and he’s not stupid either, so he wouldn't hand over the company to Kendall. Whatever happens, Brian will be there to support you as long as you agree to be with him."

"Actually, Kelly, right now, judging by your family background, you're no longer good enough for Brian, but we're best friends and Brian's sincerely in love with you, so I do hope that you guys will end up together."

Kelly was slightly shy as she responded, "Yasmine, I think it would be better for me to focus on my relationship status later on in my life. I do realize that Brian's a great guy."

She didn’t dislike him, but she had fallen for Jackson before him. Jackson was involved in all of the

despicable plots she had concocted, so they were basically on the same boat. Neither of them could abandon the other party. Unless Jackson dies…

At that moment, Kelly quickly dispelled that notion from her mind, and she was quite shocked by the notion that popped into her mind as well.

"Alright, since you're not going to consider entering into a relationship at the moment, Brian will just have to continue admiring you silently."

Yasmine smiled, "Kelly, come on. Let’s go swimming."

"Yasmine, what about that matter with Jackson?"

"You’re just here under the entrustment of Mrs. Whittle. Even if you fail in your quest, just let Mrs. Whittle know that you've tried your best. There is no need for you to take this so seriously. Jackson knew that it was my birthday yesterday and yet he chose to take action last night. He's clearly being disrespectful toward my family. Since that's the case, there is really nothing much to discuss, right?"

"Kelly, no matter what happens to Whittle Holdings, they deserve everything. They shouldn't have attempted this wicked deed if they didn't have the capability to make sure that it would go undetected."

After Yasmine said that, she stood up and asked, "Do you want to go swimming with me?"

"Alright, I’ll heed your advice. I won't bother about Jackson’s case anymore. You're quite right there. I have indeed tried my best, so I've fulfilled my duty to Mrs. Whittle."

Subsequently, the two of them walked out of the house.

On the surface, they seemed to be as close as before.

Kelly was quite aware that Yasmine was merely used to having Kelly by her side. However, Yasmine was no longer going to trust Kelly as much as before.

If it wasn't for Brian’s infatuation with Kelly, Yasmine would most likely have started to keep a distance from Kelly.

Meanwhile, Kendall had been quite lucky to have received help from someone. Not only did Kelly fail in setting her up, but Yasmine's good impression of Kelly was also affected, and furthermore, Rosemi was surely going to blame Kelly for not putting in the effort to resolve the matter. This time, Kelly had put herself in an awkward predicament.

At that moment, in the hospital, President Whittle walked through the doors, and he strode purposefully toward the bed. With a lift of his hand, he instantly slapped Jackson on the face.

Jackson was caught aback by the slap from his father.

"Tom! What are you doing?"

Rosemi shoved her husband aside and angrily yelled at him, “He was set up by someone else. You didn’t even come along to the hospital last night, and you were not here the entire morning. Now you've walked in and instantly delivered a slap to our son's face without saying a single word! You're such an irresponsible father!"

"Your great son here seems to be intent on making our company go bust!"

"First he offended Coleman Empire Holdings, and now he has made an enemy out of Zorn Holdings! These two companies aren’t companies that we can afford to make enemies out of!"

Rosemi replied, “Jackson was set up by someone else. Besides, it was all just rumors regarding us offending the Colemans, right? Jackson would never dare to offend Dylan, despite how disruptive he can get. You shouldn't vent your stress from work at Jackson and blame him for all these things. Perhaps it’s one of your nephews who did this behind your back."

The successor for Whittle Holdings had not been decided yet. As such, Jackson and his cousins had been fighting amongst themselves both in public and in private. None of them emerged as the obvious winner.

"Set up by someone? Hah! Ask him then, who was the one that set him up? Who would have the guts to set him up at the Zorn Mansion? They would be out of their mind! Your precious son here has made another enemy for our company before we even settled the current crisis. Jackson, what's wrong with you lately? Every single thing that you've done has been detrimental to the company."

Tom recalled the security camera footage that Mr. Zorn had shown him, and he was enraged beyond words.

"Jackson doesn't know who did that to him either. Kelly deduced the situation to me, and we suspect that it was that country bumpkin, Kendall. I reckon she has an obvious motive to do this."

At that point, Tom's expression was thunderous as he glared at Jackson and asked sternly, "Jackson, tell me! Who was the one that set you up?!"

 

 

Chapter 128

Meanwhile, Jackson clutched at his reddened cheek—from the slap—and stammered his words without actually saying anything conclusive.

"You did this on your own accord, right? The Zorns have security cameras all over the place, and the moment you spiked that drink, you must have thought that no one saw it, but you didn't manage to hide your actions from the Zorns' state-of-the-art security cameras that can catch footage from every angle. Your actions were captured on the footage. You wanted to drug Kendall, but she was lucky enough to dodge it. You ended up getting a taste of your own medicine."

"He has offended the Zorn family and, at the same time, offended the Caddel family as well. How are you going to deal with the situation with the Caddels? Miss Caddel was humiliated in public when you… After getting discharged from the hospital, you and Mom should get ready to go to the Caddels' house to apologize and ask for Miss Caddel's hand in marriage."

The Caddels and the Zorns were distantly related by marriage, so the only solution right now was to get Jackson to take responsibility for Krystal and marry her. Once their families formed a marriage alliance, perhaps the Zorns would stop targeting the Whittles by taking into account the Caddels and the Whittles' relationship.

"Tom, the Caddel Family isn't a good match for our family. I've told Kelly that the position of our daughter-in-law belongs to her solely."

Rosemi exclaimed displeasedly, "I can go and apologize, but I won't agree to ask for her hand in marriage."

"Shut your mouth!"

Tom growled, "You're not allowed to meddle in Jackson's marriage. If you hadn't screwed things up, Adam and his wife would not have grown distant from us. Even if you disliked Kendall, you shouldn't have done all that. After all, she is the biological daughter of the Parkers!"

At that moment, Tom was enraged with this wife of his. She's always causing trouble for me! She shouldn't attempt to set others up if she's not cunning enough to do that!

"Kelly's out of the question. If she really wanted to marry Jackson, why did the two of them keep their relationship out of the public eye? It's not as if they just knew each other! They've known each other for years! Brian Zorn has been deeply infatuated with her for ages. Do you think she would give up Brian Zorn for your son?"

Rosemi was speechless at that.

Meanwhile, Jackson spoke up, "Dad, I love Kelly but I want to marry Kendall."

"You're wishful! Right now, you no longer have the right to marry Kendall. After doing such a despicable thing, you have no other option but to marry Miss Caddel. Jackson, if you don't want our company to end up going bust, you must follow my instructions. Although the Caddels aren't comparable to our family, they are still the Zorns' relatives."

"Dad, Kelly said that she would help me plead for forgiveness from Miss Zorn. I trust that Kelly would definitely do as she said based on our relationship."

"It's pointless. The only way for you to get over this crisis safely is to marry Miss Caddel. Otherwise, the

entire Whittle Holdings will perish because of you."

President Whittle advised patiently, "Jackson, I know that Kelly's the woman you truly love, but that woman isn't someone you can handle. You should just give up. You wanted to marry Kendall to gain Parker Corporation, but do you think that Adam Parker is a dummy? Do you really think that by marrying his daughter, you would be able to gain control of Parker Corporation?"

"Miss Caddel's a nice girl. You've done such a despicable thing to her, so be a man and take responsibility for your actions. Once we overcome our crisis, we can slowly build up our influence and grow to be a worthy opponent of Coleman Empire Holdings. Subsequently, you'll become the successor to our company. By then, you would be able to easily gain any woman that you want. It's not the time for all this lovey-dovey stuff right now. Don't lose your main target for such a minor thing."

At that point, Jackson lowered his head and considered Tom's words. Subsequently, he made his choice after lifting his head.

"Dad, I'll do as you say."

Kelly refused to reveal their relationship in public, and in order to achieve her goal, he had to sacrifice himself and become entangled with Kendall. She even wanted to make him marry Kendall. She was indeed a schemeful woman. Besides, Kelly had a better option and Brian Zorn was definitely a better match than he was. As such, Jackson agreed to follow his father's arrangements. The Parker sisters….

At that moment, there was a flash of ruthlessness in Jackson's eyes. I'll target Kelly first and get her sorted. After all, she does have feelings for me. It would be quite easy for him to get his way with Kelly.

…

There was a creek near the Coleman Mansion, and the water was quite clear with plenty of fish there.

Dylan usually fished here.

Each time he caught a fish, Kendall would sort it out right away by killing and cleaning it. After that, she placed the fish on a plate by the side. Once she had accumulated a significant number of fish, she started to grill them.

The smell of grilled fish wafted quite far, and it triggered the appetites of plenty of people.

"Dylan, I heard that you guys were grilling fish here. I've brought some other ingredients to join you too." This was Alice's excuse, and she did bring along plenty of ingredients.

"Dylan, why didn't you ask me to join you guys? You shouldn't be so selfish." This was Yoseph's excuse. He hadn't brought any ingredients with him, but he had brought along a fishing rod to fish with Dylan.

"From the smell of the grilled fish, it's obvious that Miss Parker has great culinary skills. Am I right?" Yoseph was in charge of Dynasty Hotel, so he had extensive knowledge of food. From the smell of the fish, he clearly realized that Kendall must be a great cook.

Kendall placed a skewer of grilled fish on a little plate and handed it to Dylan. As soon as she heard Yoseph's words, she smiled and asked, "You've tried my cooking before, right? I made you something simple."

Meanwhile, Yoseph was at a loss for words.

"Dylan, you've worked hard. This is the first skewer that I've prepared, so it's for you. Try it and let me know how it tastes."

Kendall handed the little plate to Dylan.

As for Dylan, he glanced at the skewer in front of him. The fish in the creek were not exactly big-sized ones, so Kendall could only make them into skewers.

It looked like it was grilled to perfection, and it smelled very nice too. However, the taste of it was unknown.

Dylan reached out to take the skewer in his hand, and under Kendall's expectant look, he tried one. It tasted great, so he took another one.

"Dylan, how does it taste?"

"It's mediocre. It's just edible." Dylan calmly responded, "Since you're quite picky, you shouldn't have this. What would you like to eat? Ally has brought plenty of ingredients along, so you should grill them yourself."

Meanwhile, Yoseph replied, "Dylan, are you trying to tell us that you want all of the grilled fish for yourself? It smells so good, so how can it possibly be just edible? You're too mean. Miss Parker would be so sad to hear that."

At that moment, Kendall smiled, "Young Master Yoseph, I'll grill the fish that you've caught too."

Suddenly, Dylan paused in his action of eating, and he lifted his head to look at Kendall with his dark eyes. He spoke in a low voice, "He's a world-class chef, so you shouldn't flaunt your skills in front of him."

"Besides, do you think that the fish I caught are insufficient, so you don't have much to grill?"

Meanwhile, Kendall blinked her eyes as she pondered, Why does Dylan seem jealous? He doesn't want me to grill the fish that Yoseph caught, and Yoseph isn't allowed to taste the fish that I grilled either.

"Yes, he's right. I'll do it myself. Miss Parker, you should just focus on grilling the fish caught by Dylan."

Yoseph was quite perceptive, and he quickly expressed his opinion to save himself.

He was quite worried that if he took too long to voice out, Dylan would immediately stuff some freshly- caught fish into his mouth as punishment.

"Sure. Dylan, there's a fish on your line! Hurry!"

Suddenly, Kendall yelled in surprise.

In response, Dylan pushed the half-eaten skewer into her hand and yanked his fishing rod upward. Indeed, there was a fish on the line.

"This fish is much bigger than the others from earlier. Dylan, you've done such a good job!"

Kendall praised the prideful and selfish man as she nibbled on Dylan's half-eaten fish.

One minute later, Dylan recalled that he hadn't finished his skewer, so he turned to look at his wife, but he saw her smacking her lips and there was an unsatisfied expression on her face.

At that point, he pursed his lips and silently said to himself, She's such a glutton! I was halfway eating that and yet she finished it… He couldn't contain the smile on his face as he chuckled in a low voice.

 

Chapter 129

At that moment, Kendall felt quite perplexed to see her man smiling furtively.

After she had lowered her head to look at the bamboo skewer in her hand and realized that it was bare, she finally came to her senses. Her pretty face blushed bright red and she turned to Dylan sheepishly, "I thought that you didn't want it anymore and I reckon it would be a waste of food, so I finished it. After all, it's not good to be wasteful."

Dylan's balled his right hand into a fist and he brought it close to his cheek as he pressed on it to suppress his laughter. He replied indifferently, "It's alright since you've eaten it. I'll continue to fish for you, and you can grill it for yourself. I'll make sure that you'll be satiated."

"Okay." Kendall beamed widely.

It wasn't because she enjoyed the tasty grilled fish, but because Dylan cared enough to do all that for her, so she was quite pleased.

"Dylan, do you like grilled chicken wings? I'll prepare some for you."

Alice had brought along plenty of ingredients, so there was plenty of food. He could have anything he desired.

She didn't wait for him to reply before she turned around and walked off.

As soon as Alice saw Kendall walk toward her, she quickly handed over the platter of grilled lamb skewers to Kendall and said, "Kendall, try this. I prepared these lamb skewers."

Kendall took one and ate it. "Alice, you've got great cooking skills."

Meanwhile, Alice smiled and said, "During our spare time, we usually gather together and have a barbeque to enjoy ourselves."

"You guys are so grounded," Kendall praised Alice.

At that point, Alice couldn't contain her smile. "We're just normal human beings too. Do you think that we're saints? In fact, I'm the only one who has been brought up in a luxurious environment since I was young because Grandma said that I'm a girl, so I should be brought up in luxury. However, my brothers had to undergo various challenges as they grew up."

She leaned closer to Kendall and whispered, "Dylan's the best among them. He's talented in many ways, but he has hidden his talents. He's great at calligraphy, art, poetry, chess, cooking, equestrianism, ball games, and martial arts. He's also great at cooking. However, ever since he took charge of the family business, he no longer stepped foot into the kitchen."

It was because of his busy schedule. At that moment, Kendall couldn't seem to believe her ears.

"Dylan is that talented?" He seems to be good at everything!

"It's not that easy to be the successor of the Coleman Family. Not only does he have to be good at the business side of things, but he also has to learn a lot of skills. My grandpa mentioned before when he was alive that one had to have the skills to survive first and have an unwavering spirit so that one would be able to recover quickly despite the setbacks that one faced. That's why my brothers had to undergo all sorts of training since they were children. Grandpa said that he didn't expect them to

expand the Coleman family business dramatically, but they had to have the ability to maintain the business at its current state."

Right now, there were about ten males in their generation, and Dylan's impressive feats need not be mentioned as it was quite evident. The others were also outstanding young men who shone in the various fields they were involved in.

"Kendall, Dylan is just like a thick and interesting book to read, and if you take the time to slowly read through the book, it would be akin to a treasure hunt. There would be plenty of surprises waiting for you to discover them."

There was a hidden meaning behind Alice's words, and Kendall couldn't help blushing. Nonetheless, Kendall replied graciously, "I'll definitely stay by Dylan's side and flip to the last page of the book. I'll be sure not to miss out on anything."

"That's great! You've got a great future ahead of you! Keep it up and I'm sure that you'll be able to stay and get to the ending."

Kendall looked at Alice and met her eyes. Both could see the sincerity in each other's eyes. Kendall realized that Alice—quite intelligent—had perceptively caught on to things after seeing everything. Kendall smiled and reminded Alice, "The chicken leg is about to get burnt."

Just then, Alice hastily glanced at the grilled chicken leg she was preparing.

"Ring. Ring." Suddenly, Kendall's cell phone went off.

She took out her cell phone to check the caller ID before she answered the call.

"Hi, Amelia."

"Kendall, are you still staying at the Colemans?"

"Yup."

"Can I come over to the Coleman Mansion to meet you? Would that be convenient for you?"

Kendall smiled and replied, "Yes, it would be convenient for me. Do you have spare time to come and meet me? Isn't your mom setting you up on blind dates? Last night, there were plenty of handsome men in attendance, so did you gain any targets from there?"

Amelia sounded quite resigned on the phone. "My mom's the one who's quite excited about all that, but I don't want to get married just yet."

She paused and self-jested as she smiled, "Everyone in our social circles knows my hobby, so no one would be keen on marrying me. Anyway, I'm not ready for marriage, so there's my excuse to continue living in freedom."

She enjoyed collecting photos of handsome men as they were pleasing to the eyes.

In her eyes, those handsome men were similar to beautiful scenery, and she didn't actually harbor any indecent thoughts. However, in everyone's eyes, she was just a wanton girl.

"Otherwise, would you be free to come out? I'll wait for you at Urban Break."

Kendall glanced at the man who was busy fishing, and she replied to Amelia, "Hold on for a moment. I'll seek permission, and I'll call you back later."

Amelia realized at that point that her friend was currently serving as Dylan's caregiver for free. Amelia understood Kendall's predicament, so she mentioned quite considerately, with a note of sympathy, "If it's inconvenient for you, we can talk another day."

"It's alright. I'll just have to ask for permission quickly."

Kendall hung up the phone first and took a chair to sit next to Dylan.

"Was that Amelia on the line?"

Dylan was well-aware of his woman's friends.

"Dylan, you're so smart. How did you manage to get that right?!"

Meanwhile, Dylan turned his head and his eyes were quite dark as he spoke in a rude tone, "Stop fawning over me and just say whatever you have to say."

"Amelia asked me out. Should I go out to meet her or get her to come here?"

There were plenty of handsome men at the Coleman Mansion, so Amelia clearly wouldn’t be able to resist taking some snapshots of them as soon as she laid eyes on them. Kendall was worried that Amelia would offend the Coleman males with her actions.

Dylan stared at her intently for at least one minute before finally speaking up in a calm voice, "You said

that you would spend the afternoon with me."

At that point, Kendall mentioned, "How about I get Amelia to come over then?"

"Do you have to meet her today?"

Kendall stopped talking by then. After some consideration, she sent a text message to Amelia.

Amelia replied quite soon after receiving the text, and she did not actually have any major issues. She was just bored, so she thought of asking Kendall out to talk and go shopping.

As soon as Amelia realized that it was inconvenient for Kendall to go out, Amelia told Kendall to go about with her own things. It was not necessary for Kendall to entertain Amelia, as Amelia could easily entertain herself.

"Dylan, I’ve spoken to Amelia, and I won’t be going out. She didn't ask me out because she had something important to discuss. She merely wanted to go shopping."

Dylan remained silent as he turned his head and stared intently at the creek.

Meanwhile, Kendall didn't receive a response from him, so she assumed that he was not going to reply and got up to leave.

"I'm not trying to restrict your freedom, but I don't like it when others don’t keep their promises to me. If you can’t achieve it, don’t make promises easily."

She sat back next to him and reached out to hold his other hand. However, he shrugged her hand off.

She persisted and reached out to hold his hand once again.

After repeating the same process several times, he finally stopped shrugging her off.

"Dylan."

Kendall placed her head on Dylan’s lap and was quite apologetic, "It was my fault earlier. I shouldn't have tried to go out after promising you that I would spend the afternoon with you. From now on, I'll be sure to keep my promises to you and no matter who calls up to ask me out, I won’t change my mind either."

Dylan lowered his head and his eyes met her dazzling, large eyes. He noticed the apologetic look on her face, and he instantly relented. At that moment, he calmly mentioned, "It's too hot today. Stop clinging to me."

She chuckled gleefully and insisted on nuzzling against his thighs before sitting up with a smile. "Alright, I'll stop clinging to you. I'll continue to grill some food. I don't think we need dinner tonight."

Dylan seemed to be about to say something as he saw her walk off with a wide smile on her face. However, after pursing his lips, he ended up saying nothing.

 

 

Chapter 130

In the main house, Tilly had a significantly disappointed expression upon hearing Tia’s recount.

"Did Kendall actually put her head on Dylan’s lap?"

Tia replied, "Heather saw with her own eyes. She went over to deliver some ingredients to Miss Alice and saw that scene from afar."

Meanwhile, Tilly calmly responded, "Inform Vivian to wait for me at Dylan's house and tell her that I want to see Kendall."

"Okay," Tia heeded Tilly’s instructions respectfully.

As for Kendall, she was completely unaware that her inadvertent action had been escalated to Tilly after being seen by the other servants. She was busy stuffing her face but kept an eye on remembering to feed Dylan well too. As the sun started to set, the gang finally made their way back to the mansion.

From afar, Kendall saw Vivian standing in front of her room, and the former felt her right eyelid twitch. Kendall thought to herself, A twitch in the left eyelid means I’m in for a windfall, but the right side indicates disaster. Old Madam Coleman must be trying to find fault with me again.

Indeed, as soon as Kendall pushed Dylan nearer, Vivian stepped forward to greet Dylan respectfully before turning to speak to Kendall, "Miss Parker, Old Madam Coleman wants to see you. Could you come along with me if it's convenient for you?"

Vivian kept her eyes on Dylan’s face as she spoke, and she heaved a sigh upon noticing that there was an impassive look on his face.

"Sure."

Kendall released her grip on the wheelchair and turned to say to Dylan, "Dylan, Old Madam Coleman wants to see me, so I'll pop over and it won't take long. You should go in first."

He responded calmly, "Go ahead. Don't keep Grandma waiting."

At that moment, Vivian gestured for Kendall to move along.

Kendall trailed silently after Vivian, and neither of them said a word to each other along the way.

Vivian mentioned to Kendall as soon as they entered the main house, "Miss Parker, Old Madam Coleman’s inside. You can make your way inside yourself."

"Thanks, Vivian."

Vivian shot her a meaningful look before turning around to walk off.

After Vivian had left, Kendall made her way into the house by herself. Tilly was the only person found in the luxurious living room.

She remained seated on the couch and was flicking through a magazine.

Tilly heard Kendall's approaching footsteps, but she didn't even bother to lift her head.

Kendall walked toward Tilly and stopped in front of the latter before mentioning politely, "Old Madam Coleman, Vivian said that you wanted to see me."

Tilly didn't even bother to cast her eyes on Kendall as the former spoke up in a hostile voice, "You've moved in here for quite some time now. Haven't you been told that I dislike conversation when I'm reading?"

Kendall pursed her lips in response.

After Tilly said that, she continued to flick through the magazine in her hand and kept Kendall waiting there for half an hour.

Finally, Tilly shut the magazine in her hands and placed it on the coffee table. Subsequently, she lifted her hand and shifted her reading glasses as she directed a sharp look at Kendall. At that moment, Kendall clearly sensed the hostility from Tilly.

"Kendall, do you know your role after being brought back here by Dylan?"

Kendall met Tilly’s sharp look unwaveringly, and she spoke up frankly, "Yes, I know that."

She had mentioned that she would take full responsibility for Dylan, so he had brought her back home. Therefore, he was her responsibility.

“Since you're aware of that, make sure that you do not overstep your boundaries. It is quite true that we went to your family and sought your hand in marriage, but you rejected the proposal. Our family doesn't resort to tactics to get our way, so since you’ve refused to marry Dylan, we would not pursue you any further. Dylan and you should have supposedly gone separate ways from then on. Right now, your only

role is to take good care of Dylan and help him stand up by himself once again. Don't you dare harbor any other wishful thoughts. You had the chance but missed it, so once that's gone, you won't get another chance."

At that moment, Kendall was quite confused. "Old Madam Coleman, what did I do to overstep the boundaries? I don’t harbor any wishful thoughts at all."

Tilly responded coldly, "Why did you lean on Dylan’s nap and nuzzle him? Kendall, although you grew up in the countryside, I heard that your adoptive parents doted on you and gave you the best education they could afford. They spent a lot of time cultivating you. Haven’t you learned to keep a distance from the opposite gender? Do you think that by seducing Dylan, you would be able to get what you want? In this family, you wouldn't be able to get anything even if you schemed hard unless we gave it to you willingly. You frowned upon marrying my disabled grandson in the past and were mindful of his disability in the bedroom, so stop seducing him! You’re shameless!"

Kendall responded, "Old Madam Coleman, I didn't frown upon Dylan’s disability, and neither was I mindful that he would no longer be able to perform in bed. In my eyes, he's a great man. From now on, I vow to never look down on him. If there is anything that I’m mindful of, it would be his lack of sentiments. I've never thought of gaining anything from your family, so you can rest assured. I would never grab anything that doesn't belong to me. However, I'll definitely look for the things that are rightfully mine." For example, Parker Corporation belongs to the Parker Family so I will do everything I can to prevent Kelly from inheriting the company.

"You're lying! To think that you had the cheek to say that you didn't look down on Dylan! Who was it that slit her wrists to reject the marriage?"

"Old Madam Coleman, I do admit that it was a drastic measure that I took back then, but I've learned

my lesson. I'm now trying my best to correct my mistakes. As I told you earlier, from now on, I will not look down on Dylan, and I'm very sorry for the things that have happened in the past."

After being reborn, she had ended up in her body after the incident of her slitting her wrists, so there was no way she could have changed this mistake that had occurred.

"Old Madam Coleman, you're telling me all this just to warn me against harboring any thoughts for Dylan, but I reckon that my interaction with Dylan's quite normal." We're a couple, so what's the issue with me nuzzling against his thigh? He didn't object to it, so why is Old Madam Coleman so offended by it?

"Kendall Parker!"

At that moment, Tilly's expression darkened, and though she didn’t appear to be furious, there was a terrifying aura around her.

"Don't assume that Dylan wouldn't be able to be without you because I can easily kick you out of the place. I can also ensure you'll have a hard time surviving it in Orapolis. With just a single word, I could even make your father abandon you. Do you believe this?"

"Grandma!" Suddenly, there was a low, cold voice that rang out from the direction of the doorway.

Dylan wheeled himself into the room.

"Dylan."

Tilly instinctively stood up to wheel him over, but Kendall reacted much faster than her.

At that moment, Tilly's expression softened slightly upon noticing that Kendall was quite quick on her feet.

There were two certificates in Dylan’s hands, and Kendall clearly saw that it was their marriage certificates, which he held and had two copies of. My copy of the marriage certificate is with him! That annoying guy took my copy, and yet he blamed me for not storing it properly!

At that moment, she took the chance to pinch him on the shoulders as she wheeled him into the room.

Despite that, he managed to maintain his neutral expression.

"Dylan, I was just about to send Kendall back to take care of you."

Tilly smiled. "It looks like she has done a great job of caring for you. She has just left for a moment, and here you are rushing over to walk her home."

However, Dylan responded coldly, "I’m not here to walk her home."

He flung the two copies of marriage certificates onto the coffee table and spoke up coldly, "I’m here to bring you something for your perusal."

Tilly frowned as soon as she saw clearly that there were two copies of marriage certificates on the table, and she asked, "Dylan, whose marriage certificates are these? Why do you have them?"

She took one of the copies and looked at it as she spoke. Suddenly, her expression changed significantly. "Dylan!"

Tilly gripped the marriage certificate tightly in her hands and glared at her beloved eldest grandson as she rebuked sharply, "How dare you get married without telling me!"

In response, Dylan revealed a cold sneer, "I was just doing everything according to what you intended. In the past, you went to seek her hand in marriage from the Parkers without gaining my approval, didn't you?"