Mark suddenly cleared his throat and walked up to them, causing the startled Xavia to quickly wriggle free. Contrary to her reaction, Zivon calmly said, “Done with your parents’ affairs? Or are you here to talk about Mr. Talton?” After running around between Darlsbury and S City in the past few days, Mark sighed before replying, “I’m just here to tell you not to visit Stefan if possible… He really doesn’t want to meet Xavia right now, and I’m sure he’ll appreciate it if you follow his wishes…” Stefan had always been a kind and gentle man, and Xavia knew very well that he simply didn’t want to continue troubling her after all that she had done for him. Understanding that her presence would only stress that man out even more, Xavia nodded before saying, “…Very well. Please take good care of him while Von and I continue working out a way to cure him.” Nodding as well, Mark then headed back to Stefan’s ward… and once the door was closed behind him, he closed his eyes before saying,
To their shock, however, they soon saw a crying Lily gagged and tied up on a bed! “How dare you…?!” roared Stefan, prompting both Lily and Gavin, who was the clear culprit of Lily’s situation, to look at him in surprise. Though Lily looked like she had just seen her savior, Gavin himself simply sneered before scoffing, “What do you two want? Go focus on resolving your family issues instead of bothering me and my new-bought wife.” Completely ignoring the insufferable man, Stefan simply lifted Lily up before retorting, “I’ll just have to pay back every cent, then! Also, if you dare act this disrespectfully to her again, then you’ll only have yourself to blame for what comes next!” “H-hey! Hold it! I hope you remember that your family is no longer the powerhouse it used to be-” “So what if that’s the case?! At the end of the day, the Taltons still have a heritage compared to your commoner family! Again, if you dare lay your fingers on her again, then you better watch your neck!”
Lily was serious about doing her best to win his heart again, but little did she know that Stefan had already taken a fancy to her. She was the one who had taken good care of him for so long, and he wasn’t about to pretend that none of that had happened… Moving back to Stella, she headed off to the military base later that same day… and there, she remained for the entirety of the next three years. Naturally, she made a multitude of achievements there, and though everyone saw her as a hero, all that attention also garnered curiosity regarding her love life… One after another, her colleagues and superiors attempted to introduce her to fine men, but each time, she’d simply decline. This continued on and off until she ended up becoming a rich single lady, much to the dismay of her grandmother. In the end, the old woman couldn’t help but head over to her base and say, “You can’t seriously be expecting to remain single your entire life, right?” “I see no issue with that,” replied the
Either way, it was Maison and Yulia’s birthday a few days later so naturally, Mark attended. However, the last thing he expected was to see Stella together with another man there! Her partner appeared to be a businessman, and from the looks of it, she appeared quite happy… Well, good for her. Watching as he gave her a nod before walking off, Stella couldn’t help but smile before lowering her gaze. And here she had thought that she’d be able to get over him after being forced into this position… It seemed that no matter how many achievements she had, she’d still be bugged by this for the rest of her life, huh? Her train of thought was cut short when her ‘partner’ suddenly said, “What, can’t move on from your ex? Doesn’t matter, just be sure to maintain your distance to save us the humiliation.” Sneering in response, Stella grumbled, “…If you care so much about your dignity, then why did you get engaged with me in the first place?” She, for one, had always been a straightforward
“Good word! Is she seriously tying his shoelaces in public…?!” “I mean, big deal. I heard she’s infertile and even divorced, so this much is to be expected…” “Wait, she’s what? To think such a fine woman would end up becoming infertile… Tragic.” Upon hearing that, the anxious Mark quickly grabbed one of the gossipers by the shoulder before asking, “Where did you get this information…?! And how long has she been infertile?!” Since his voice had been rather loud and the person seemed terrified, Xavia quickly ran over to them and pulled Mark to a quiet corner before explaining, “…Sorry, but I helped her hide it from you…” Before Mark could ask why, Xavia added, “So… I learned about this quite a while ago, and though I wanted to tell you about this, she didn’t want you to feel guilty after everything that you had done for her… She even forged fake documents just to put you at ease, and once the illusion was up, she finally had the guts to leave for the army again…” “I still wan
Naturally, her question caught him off guard. To think that she would demand such a thing in front of so many people… Since Mark was taking a while to reply, Stella, who registered his silence as hesitation, was quick to reply, “Stop making things difficult for him, Grandma. I’ll decide my own marriage-” “He’s your ex-husband, so I believe that that was only an appropriate question. I hope you remember that I’m your elder, and that I have a right to have a say in this! Now let him give his own answer!” Upon hearing that, Mark couldn’t help but clench his fists. He knew very well that the old lady was trying to make him take responsibility, but honestly? That was what he wanted as well! With that in mind, he firmly replied, “…I’ll do it!” When she heard that, Stella’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Did he even realize what he was saying?! Alas, before she could retort, she heard him add, “Don’t worry, Stella. I’ll host a grand wedding for you and make sure that nobody ev
Fast forward to a week later, Mark couldn’t help but smile as he handed her a medical document as well as a list of orphanages during their grand wedding. It was his way of saying that he was completely fine with her having a test-tube child with him, and he didn’t mind an adoption either. That, however, wasn’t the only thing that he had planned for her. Upon arriving home, he immediately proposed ninety-nine things that they could do to deepen their affection for each other… From cooking together, shopping together, and even camping together, it was clear that he had given this a lot of thought. He genuinely seemed to want this to work, and it didn’t take long for Stella to completely lower her guard. So, this was what it felt like to be loved… How nice… Moving back to Stefan, he eventually recovered, and after bringing the Talton Group back on track, he met up with Xavia to thank her and also ask for her forgiveness. Naturally, Xavia told him that he didn’t have to, and the two
Meanwhile, Tiffany suddenly began vomiting, much to Ian’s shock. After calming her down, he was prompted to ask, “Feeling better? Also… Could it be that you’re pregnant…?” Though the thought of that was baffling, Tiffany recalled that she had been feeling rather unwell recently… What’s more, she hadn’t menstruated recently either. Unsure of what to think, she ran off to the nearest store to get a pregnancy test strip… and after a bit of checking, her eyes widened. After all, Ian was right! Overjoyed, she quickly sent him a text stating, ‘I really am pregnant! You’re going to be a father…!’ Alas, due to her excitement, she failed to notice that she had accidentally sent that message to her work’s group chat instead! By the time she realized, she was already getting bombarded with messages such as, ‘Tiffany, wrong chat…’ ‘That aside, congratulations!’ ‘Right? Go delete the message already before Sir Ian sees it!’ Now as red as a tomato, she quickly deleted her message from th