His Secret

Stevens understood and pressed a hand to his chest. "My heart hurts," he said. "My whole body hurts."

Henry glanced at him. "Then I will call a private doctor for you."

"There's no point," Old Master Stevens said. "I have heart disease from worry because you are not married and have not given me a great-grandson."

Henry paused.

"Out of sight, out of mind," he said. "I will arrange a flight for you. You and my mother will go back to the UK immediately, so your heart won't hurt anymore."

"No!" Old Master Stevens said firmly. "If I get on the plane, I will die of pain during the flight. Unless I see you start a family, I will never leave!"

Henry did not reply.

He knew that Old Master Stevens was unreasonably making trouble and using his old age to play the pity card, but he couldn't do anything about it.

If someone else acted like this, he would ask his bodyguard to carry him away and throw him out.

But this was his grandpa.

Henry could only stand there, speechless, and endure his headache.

...

At the Johnson family's house, Yolanda arrived home very late.

She had no idea what had happened tonight.

Even when she noticed that Charlotte hadn't come back, Yolanda didn't think too much about it. She put the eight children to bed and went to chat with the neighbors next door.

As for what the eight children did after she left, she didn't know at all.

She and her neighbor chatted about Lily for several hours.

The neighbor was older and knew Lily's situation very well.

The neighbor said that Lily lived in a personal villa her boyfriend had bought for her in the Imperial City and had dozens of servants.

Yolanda felt sad when she thought about how she, her daughter, and the eight children still had to squeeze into a house of less than 100 square meters.

When she returned home, she heard a burst of laughter.

Charlotte sat on the ground with her eight children around her. They were eating snacks together.

Yolanda looked at them.

She didn't understand.

Why was her daughter always so optimistic?

If another woman gave birth to eight children with no money or man and saw that her former best friend was living the high life, how could she not feel uncomfortable?

But Charlotte didn't have such feelings at all.

Not only was she not sad, but she was also very happy every day.

Yolanda sighed.

Well, her daughter had been a carefree person since she was a child.

What a fool.

Yolanda couldn't help but say, "All you know how to do is eat. You're really just number one at having babies and eating!"

Charlotte did not respond.

She didn't swallow the potato chips in her mouth.

Octavia immediately stood up. "Grandma, don't scold Mom," she said. "You'll make Mom sad."

Primo disagreed with Octavia.

"Grandma didn't scold Mom," he said. "Grandma's words are true. Mom is number one at having babies. Mom is the best at having babies."

Charlotte gaped at him.

Later, after putting the eight children to sleep, Charlotte came into the kitchen for a drink of water and saw her mother sitting on the sofa looking sad.

Charlotte approached her. "Mom, what's the matter with you?"

Yolanda clutched her chest. "I feel uncomfortable thinking of Lily's boyfriend."

Charlotte was suddenly shocked.

"Have you ever been with her boyfriend?" she asked. "Did she snatch your boyfriend from you?"

Yolanda was silent at first.

She glared at Charlotte. "What nonsense are you spouting?" she asked. "Your father and I had a deep relationship."

Charlotte smiled. "Then what are you sad about?"

"Lily has such a good life," Yolanda lamented, "but my daughter has such a miserable life."

...

"What's wrong with me?" Charlotte asked. "With my eight darlings, my life is very good."

Even the police had praised her.

Not everyone could ask for such smart, lovely children.

"Mom," Charlotte said seriously, "don't keep talking about Lily. People should live their own lives well and let that be enough. Don't always compare yourself to others.

Not everything is comparable."

Yolanda sighed again.

Charlotte was right, but she just felt sad when she thought about it.

"But Lily's boyfriend is so handsome," Yolanda said. "Your mother has been alive for so many years, but she has never seen a man that handsome."

Seeing that Charlotte was still acting like she couldn't care less, Yolanda deliberately raised her voice. "Lily's boyfriend is the most handsome man you will ever see in your life!"

"Not necessarily," Charlotte muttered.

She had never seen Lily's boyfriend, but no matter how handsome he was, could he possibly be more handsome than Henry?

She didn't believe it.

Henry was at the pinnacle of handsomeness. No one could rival his good looks.

"Not necessarily?" Yolanda rolled her eyes. "You could never compare to Lily."

"Why must you compare us?" Charlotte said. "I am me, a different kind of firework."

Yolanda did not reply at first.

Ah!

How could she have given birth to such a carefree daughter?

"You're a different kind of firework?" Yolanda said sourly. "That's unfortunate for your mother! When Fiona celebrated her birthday, Lily bought her a piece of gold jewelry. I will celebrate my birthday soon, too, but you probably can't even afford silver, let alone gold!"

Charlotte said nothing.

...

Behind the bedroom door, Quinto and Sixto listened to the conversation outside.

"Sixto, did you hear that?" Quinto said. "Grandma wants gold for her birthday."

"I heard it too," Sixto said, distressed, "but what should we do? Mom has no money."

"Let's find a way!" Quinto looked confident. "We should help Mom buy gold for Grandma so that Grandma will be happy and not always scold Mom."

Sixto was surprised and widened his round eyes. "We will think of a way?" he asked.

"How can we think of a way? We are still children, so we can't make money."

Quinto had thought about this on the way to Yolanda's hometown when he heard Yolanda's muttering.

He pointed to Sixto's throat. "So it's up to you."

Sixto was baffled.

Quinto said a few words in Sixto's ear.

Sixto widened his eyes slightly.

He couldn't believe it. "Quinto, is this really okay?"

Quinto nodded. "Of course."

...

The next day...

Charlotte went to work.

As soon as she arrived at the office, she saw Merry.

Merry looked listless like she was on the brink of death.

Charlotte suddenly thought about how she had overheard the conversation between Merry and Robert in the break room that day.

She wondered if the two of them had gone to the hotel, tossing and turning many times before Merry became like this.

After all, on that night four years ago, Henry had had s*x with her again and again, leaving Charlotte also listless.

She suddenly blushed.

Charlotte was bewildered.

What was she thinking?

Just as Charlotte was about to leave, she suddenly heard a voice ask, "Merry, why do you look so tired?"

The voice belonged to one of Merry's colleagues at the Stevens Corporation.

Because Charlotte was standing in the corner, neither of them saw her.

Merry said, "Ah..."

The colleague laughed mysteriously. "Didn't you succeed in reserving a hotel room with Mr. Stewart last night?" she asked. "You should feel very invigorated now. After all, didn't you say that you have two male idols? One is the President, and the other is Mr. Stewart. You finally got one."

Charlotte was at a loss for words.

It had turned out that Henry was Merry's male idol.

...

No wonder Merry always seemed to be targeting Charlotte.

This must have been the reason.

"There was an appointment, but he didn't come at all," Merry said sadly. "He was just joking with me. Once things got serious, he refused to come."

Merry's colleague patted her on the shoulder. "Don't be sad," she said. "He's a top male idol, so it's reasonable that he wouldn't be able to make an appointment."

"Are you saying I'm not sexy enough?" Merry asked.

"That's not it," her colleague said. "Merry, I will tell you a secret-a secret about Mr.

Stewart."

Merry immediately became intrigued and urged her, "Say it, say it."

Her colleague glanced around.

However, her eyesight must have been awful, because she didn't even see Charlotte, who was still standing in the corner.

When she thought that the coast was clear, she said, "I heard that Mr. Stewart only looks like a playboy. Every time he comes to our office, he makes appointments with this woman and that woman, but he only talks about it. He has never laid his hands on anyone.

"Mr. Stewart looks like a womanizer, but he is actually very devoted."

Merry couldn't believe it. "I really couldn't tell!"

"It's true," her colleague said. "Think about it. You are such a sexy, alluring beauty who reserved a room with Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Stewart didn't go. Doesn't that prove it?"

Upon hearing that, Merry stood up straight and looked down at her figure. "It's true. I am so sexy," she said, "but Mr. Stewart was still unmoved. It's not that I'm not attractive enough. Mr. Stewart has a problem."

Nearby, Charlotte listened, unamused.

She was speechless and turned to leave, but she heard Merry changing the subject.

"It's not only Mr. Stewart who has problems. The President does as well!" she heard Merry say angrily. "He has a big problem! He doesn't even look at his beautiful secretary. He is interested in that country bumpkin Charlotte!"

"Who is Charlotte?" her colleague asked. "Why haven't I heard of her?"

"Of course you haven't heard of her!" At the mention of Charlotte, Merry's eyes turned a little red. "She is just an entry-level employee at this company, so how could you have heard of her?"

"Entry-level employee?" Merry's colleague asked. "Then the President couldn't even know her. Why would he be interested in her?"

"Who knows?" Merry's voice was full of resentment. "She is also ugly and has no fashion sense! She is simply the ugliest and most unfashionable woman at the company!"

Charlotte was fuming.

She couldn't stand it anymore.

How could Merry say that about her?

If she endured it any longer, she wouldn't be a woman!

Charlotte came out of the corner. "Didn't I tell you last time?" she said. "The President looks at me and not you, so it proves that you are the ugliest and most unfashionable woman at the company!

"And you are not only the ugliest and most unfashionable woman, but you are also very narcissistic. You know that you are the ugliest, yet you keep thinking that you're beautiful. Even now, your two male idols won't even look at you. You're such a failure.

"If I were you, I wouldn't dare say these shameless things.

"But no, you have such thick skin, so you probably won't feel ashamed. I guess you have to experience more embarrassment to feel ashamed."

Merry was livid and was about to scold Charlotte when suddenly, she saw Henry.

Goodness!

The President was standing not far away.

She immediately wiped the angry expression off her face and replaced it with an aggrieved look. "Charlotte, you-how could you say that to me?" she asked. "I know I am not good enough, but you can't ridicule me like that. I will be too humiliated to live."

After she spoke, Merry covered her face with her hands and started crying.

Charlotte stared at her.

This woman was amazing. How could she act so meek and pitiful in an instant?

As Charlotte was feeling baffled, she suddenly heard a gloomy voice. "Charlotte."