Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

”Yeah, that’s right, Mom. Your daughter is single again.”

Mrs. Ellsworth was dumbfounded. She stared at Zoe, then suddenly smacked her on the head. ”What do you mean you’re single again? You brat, you’d better explain yourself clearly!”

Zoe Ellsworth’s face crumpled. ”Ouch, Mom! Am I even your biological daughter? Couldn’t you have gone a little easier on me?!”

”I’m asking you a question. Hurry up and talk.”

”I just got back from the Civil Affairs Bureau,” she said, telling the truth. ”I divorced Herman.”

Mrs. Ellsworth suddenly felt dizzy. ”What did you say?! Are you trying to kill me with anger?!”

Zoe Ellsworth picked up an apple from the table, took a bite, and said, ”Mom, there’s no need to get angry enough to die over this.”

Mrs. Ellsworth snatched the apple back from her. ”How can you still be eating at a time like this?! Come on, you’re coming with me to see Herman!”

Zoe Ellsworth shook off her hand. ”I’m not going.”

”Then tell me, why did you two get a divorce!”

”We just couldn’t go on anymore.” Her casual tone made Mrs. Ellsworth even angrier.

”Zoe, is this your attitude toward marriage? Marriage isn’t about acting on a whim. The worst thing you can do is treat it like a joke.”

Zoe Ellsworth suddenly fell silent.

”Do you have any idea how many women want to marry Herman? And you just threw him away! Your brother is having a hard enough time trying to marry your sister-in-law. Can’t you be a little more serious?”

Zoe Ellsworth sat there, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears. ”Mom, how can you say I’m not serious? I was more serious than anyone. If I weren’t serious, would I have married him? I know marriage isn’t a game, and I’ve been trying so hard. But, Mom, I don’t want a life where we just treat each other with polite respect every day. He doesn’t love me at all. What can I do?”

Mrs. Ellsworth was taken aback. Then she said, ”Back in my day with your father, that’s how it was. We met on a blind date and started a family. There wasn’t any of this ’love’ and ’passion’ business.”

”But, Mom, I want love. I thought that over time, he would come to love me, and then everything would be perfect. But, Mom, I was too naive. No matter how much time passes, someone who loves you will always love you, and someone who doesn’t, never will.”

Seeing how upset she was, Mrs. Ellsworth asked again, ”Have you told your mother-in-law?”

”No.”

Mrs. Ellsworth sighed, got up, and sat down by the phone. ”I’ll ask her to come over. We have to tell her.”

Just as she was about to dial, Mrs. Hawthorne appeared at the living room entrance. Mrs. Ellsworth put down the phone and stood up. ”I was just about to call you.”

Mrs. Hawthorne looked at Zoe Ellsworth, her expression turning sour. ”I already know. Zoe, how could you get a divorce so rashly without telling me?”

Zoe Ellsworth didn’t know how to explain, so she just said, ”It’s already done. I don’t want to say anything more about it. I’m sure there will be all sorts of speculation online. I’m going to do an interview with reporters tomorrow. The people involved need to clarify this.”

”You know, you could just ignore it,” Mrs. Ellsworth said.

Mrs. Hawthorne sighed sorrowfully. ”We old folks can only respect your choice, as long as you’re both happy. It’s just... Zoe, I still hope that when you see me in the future, you’ll act just like you always have. In my heart, you’ll always be my daughter-in-law.”

Zoe Ellsworth hugged her. ”Yes, and you’ll always be my mom, too.”

”Mom, Zoe Ellsworth and Herman got divorced,” Jean Grant said to Mrs. Grant as soon as she walked in the door.

Mrs. Grant was rather calm. ”What’s the big deal? You’ve been divorced once yourself.”

Jean Grant sat down. ”I really don’t know what Zoe was thinking. Everything was fine, why get a divorce? She’s just so young.”

”Weren’t you saying that Nicholas’s family would be coming to discuss the wedding arrangements?”

Jean Grant nodded. ”They’re coming later. They already called.”

Talking about this, Mrs. Grant still looked a little worried. ”Are you really sure about marrying him?”

”Don’t worry, Mom. He’s much more reliable than Marlon Marshall. I’m confident about this.”

Mrs. Grant laid out her thoughts. ”Since this is your choice, I won’t say much more. I just hope you’ll be happy. Give him a healthy child, have a family... how wonderful would that be?”

Jean Grant nodded seriously.

She had made a firm decision.

Around eleven o’clock, the Ainsworth Family arrived, bringing many gifts.

Mrs. Grant greeted them with a smile and exchanged opinions on the marriage with Mr. Ainsworth.

The conversation was going quite well, but then Sharon Ainsworth decided to voice her own opinion.

”This is my brother’s first marriage. I hope my future sister-in-law won’t be too overbearing when she marries him. I don’t have any other demands, just one thing: any children she has must have a DNA test.”

The direct implication of these words was that even if Jean Grant got pregnant and had a child, they would have to confirm it was Nicholas Ainsworth’s. It was a clear accusation that Jean’s private life was promiscuous.

Mrs. Grant’s expression changed instantly. ”It doesn’t matter if it’s a first or second marriage for either person. When two people get married, it’s with the goal of building a good life together. After marriage, you must be faithful to each other. That’s the bare minimum. Our Jean has enough self-respect not to be like that. But if you want a test, then fine, we’ll do the test. It’s no big deal.”

Mr. Ainsworth gave an embarrassed laugh and scolded Sharon Ainsworth. ”Your brother’s affairs are not for you to worry about! What nonsense are you spouting?!”

Sharon Ainsworth lowered her head and said no more.

But unbeknownst to them, those words had tied a knot in Jean Grant’s heart that would not go away for a long, long time.

Next, they chose an auspicious date and set the wedding for mid-February.

That left them nearly a month to prepare.

With that settled, the two families had lunch together.

After the meal, Jean Grant took Nicholas Ainsworth for a walk in her family’s courtyard. The two of them walked to the edge of a small lake and couldn’t help but share an intimate embrace. Hope for the future once again filled Jean Grant’s heart.

This was what Nicholas Ainsworth had given her.

’I will cherish this,’ she thought.

Dorothy Bancroft had started preschool. Lillian Bancroft had originally wanted to announce it to the entire country, but Chloe Marshall stopped her.

She was even enrolled in a rather low-profile preschool because Chloe wanted her daughter to be able to live a more unrestrained and free life.

She even had Lillian Bancroft make arrangements to prevent the media from filming or tracking them.

Although she couldn’t personally pick up and drop off her child at school, she deeply hoped that the freedom she herself lacked could be realized through her child.

But perhaps it was too much of a coincidence. Fate always has a way of playing tricks on people.

The preschool Dorothy Bancroft attended just so happened to be the same one the two brothers from the Grant Family went to.

It was a small school, with just over thirty children.

Dorothy Bancroft was dressed in ordinary clothes, with her hair in two pigtails that were neither too long nor too short, making her look incredibly cute.

Most importantly, the child had probably inherited her biological father’s gift of gab and his astonishing memory. She could usually recite poems perfectly after hearing them just twice, and her social skills were also incredibly sharp.

The teachers had already been notified in secret. Although they were shocked and couldn’t understand why the Supreme Leader’s daughter would be placed here, the teachers and the principal repeatedly promised to ensure the child could attend school without any worries.