A Warm Marriage After Rebirth

"Save your breath. Leo and Quinn are just speaking the truth. If your family wasn’t trying to curry favor with me, hoping I’d help you out with something in the future, why would you always be flattering me? Your intentions are so obvious, do I even need to point them out? Leo and Quinn are my children. If your family wants to suck up to me, the first thing you need to do is learn to put up with my relatives!"

Elias Jennings became even more arrogant, radiating the distinct superiority of a successful man, especially in front of an old acquaintance. The thought that he was doing better, had achieved more, and was leading a more successful life—that lofty sense of superiority—filled him with immense satisfaction.

Zachary Jennings stared at his old friend in disbelief. ’I can’t believe he’s turned into this kind of person,’ he thought. ’There’s no trace of the man I used to know.’ A profound sadness washed over him at how much things had changed. Their former intimacy now felt like a distant memory, something from another lifetime.

Perhaps he was simply too disappointed. The reality unfolding before him was so far removed from his memories that he felt too drained to even offer an explanation.

Seraphina Sterling glanced at the utterly crestfallen Zachary Jennings. Her uncle wasn’t a man of many words, but his concern for her and her mother was genuine—completely unconditional and free of any ulterior motive.

"It seems you didn’t come to pay a New Year’s visit, Mr. Jennings. You came to flaunt your achievements. To flaunt your company, flaunt your son who got into Yale University, and flaunt your daughter who got into Aethelgard Film Academy. I wonder what blow your ego took out there that made you feel the need to come to a backwater place like ours just to feel important?"

Seraphina Sterling’s voice was soft, laced with faint amusement, yet her clear eyes held an unmistakable glint of mockery.

"You..." The smug look on Elias Jennings’s face vanished instantly. He couldn’t believe someone actually dared to speak to him with such a tone.

"So, I hit the nail on the head. You really did get your ego bruised out there, Mr. Jennings, so you came back to lord it over us small-town folk. Compared to my uncle, you’re the truly impressive one. Getting your feelings hurt out in the big world and then running home for comfort. What a manly thing to do. Not everyone is capable of that."

A faint smile played on Seraphina Sterling’s lips, and the corners of her eyes crinkled with a hint of ridicule. Though she was being sarcastic, it wasn’t off-putting; if anything, it only made her seem all the more endearing.

"Seraphina Sterling! What are you talking about? We’re from the big city! Veridia City, ever heard of it? It’s the most economically developed city in all of Apex! Our family owns a construction company, not some small-time contracting crew! We didn’t come back looking for comfort because we couldn’t cut it out there! We came back to help develop our hometown and give back to our community! So don’t you stand there spouting nonsense! Do you think everyone is like you people, wrapped up in your own little problems that you can’t even sort out?"

Quinn Jennings couldn’t take it anymore. She stormed right up to Seraphina Sterling, her pretty face twisted with anger, her usual serene demeanor completely gone.

"Give back to the community?" The smile on Seraphina Sterling’s lips grew even brighter. "I’m truly amazed by your confidence. You’d better focus on actually landing the contract first. The Grant Group’s project isn’t so easy to win, you know. You don’t want to end up with no contract, no connection to Paul Grant, having wasted all this time, and even having given up your opportunities back in Veridia."

The moment Seraphina Sterling finished speaking, the entire Jennings family was stunned. ’She knew the real reason they came back? How in the world did she know? It’s unbelievable!’