The next morning brought with itself, a cheerful atmosphere in the two villas located in the middle of the woods.

Shikera sat up on her bed, staring into the distance like a computer which was still booting. After staying in that same position for about ten minutes, she suddenly jumped out of bed and walked to her study table.

She picked up a notepad lying on the desk and opened it, flipping it up to the middle page before stopping.

"The first airing was a success, and I believe the rest will be the same. The only thing left for me to do now is to sign over the stocks and get pregnant. But in the meantime, how about I cause some trouble for that man?" she smiled to herself.

Returning the notepad back to its former position, she ran out of her room with a spring in her footsteps, to stop at Ethan’s door.

"Ethan, are you in?"

"I am not," came the reply from inside the room. But Shikera didn’t bother with the content and just pushed the door open to enter.

She met him sitting in his usual position on the couch, with his laptop and phone on a stool placed beside the chair. It looked like he was working.

Her eyes moved around the room in search of a particular object and when she spotted it on the couch beside Ethan, her eyes brightened up.

"Can I come closer?" she asked, causing Ethan to raise his brows inquisitively. Why was she suddenly asking him if she could come close to him or not?

Shikera seemed to understand the question in his eyes and she explained, "You might be doing something you want to keep hidden from the press but if I see it, I can’t guarantee it won’t get leaked out. I am a reporter after all."

"It’s alright," Ethan replied simply.

Having gotten approval, Shikera didn’t hesitate in closing the distance between them. She climbed over him daringly and pressed her lips down on his to give him a quick kiss.

"I uhm...want to ask for your permission on something," she started. As she talked, she kept her eyes on Ethan’s face while her hand reached down to wander beside him on the couch.

"What is that?"

Shikera kissed him again before replying,"I want to take Esther out with me. Ruth can come with us, Cyprian will also join too. I want to celebrate yesterday’s success with them."

"Where—" Ethan was about to ask where they were going and why she could not celebrate at home with him, when Shikera suddenly kissed him again. This time a french kiss in which she parted his lips and slipped her tongue into his mouth, engaging him in a wet passionate kiss. Before he could realize himself, his hands had wrapped themselves around her waist as tightly as they could.

While Ethan’s body was already on fire for Shikera’s, the latter was struggling to open his wallet without his knowledge.

She fished out a card with a familiar texture against her hand and closed the wallet, before suddenly breaking the kiss.

"Thanks for your permission! We will make sure to get home early," she exclaimed, rushing out of the room.

"Where did she learn all that?" Ethan muttered beneath his breath, looking at the closed door.

★★★

"I’m going to move back here and show Shikera that I haven’t yet buried the hatchet with her! How can she do that to me?!" Enoch exclaimed, his question directed at no one in particular. Not like the two men in the living room with him were listening anyway.

"Shit! She is supposed to be my sister-in-law who will back me up but the only thing she has ever done for me is to go against me!" He yelled again.

Though Ethan continued to ignore Enoch, Raymond could not bear it anymore.

"What exactly did Miss Anderson—" he began, when Ethan suddenly interrupted him.

"Mrs DeLoach."

After a brief silence, Raymond repeated, "How exactly did Mrs DeLoach offend you, Enoch?"

"Are you seriously asking me how? Didn’t she offend you too? When she came to call Ruthlyn this morning, I clearly told her that Ruth would not be chanced as we were going on a date together but she refused to listen to me and went ahead to ask Ruth, knowing she would agree! Didn’t she do the same with Miss Leigh?"

Raymond sighed, shaking his head at Enoch’s childish attitude.

"You are angry about that? Your fiancee went on a shopping spree but refused to take the card you offered and that doesn’t bother you one bit. If you must know, that annoys me more than the fact that she is not here with me!"

"Ethan, how about you? Did Shikera accept your card? If she did, then I will believe that Ruth not accepting my card should make me unhappy but if she did not, then it’s settled. If a perfect man like you can’t get Shikera to take your card, then who am I?!"

From Enoch’s words, everyone in the room could tell her was throwing jibes at Ethan, and the latter didn’t hesitate in throwing a pen at him.

"Are you trying to mock me?" he asked in annoyance.

Ping!

Ping!

Ping!

His phone suddenly started pinging with notifications, reminding him of the previous night when Shikera phone did the same.

He took it out and read the messages, which were actually payment bills from his black card.

"Did I lost my card?" he looked up to ask Raymond and Enoch.

"Your card?! Where did you put it?" Enoch asked in a frenzy. Because the card didn’t just identity them as the core member of a Mega family but also had several reasons why it could not be handled by just anyone, they could not bear for it to lost.

"In my wallet, on the couch upstairs in my room..." Ethan trailed off, halting his description of where he put his wallet. Slowly, a genuine smile spread on his lips and his eyes went back to the screen to check the bill notifications again.

He looked up, his eyes alternating from Enoch to Raymond.

"If you need your girlfriends, they are currently at FB Fashion Boutique," he informed proudly.