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Meanwhile...

Conrad puffed the smoke slowly ascending to pollute the air, only to disperse into thin air several seconds later. The strong scent lingered, but the two men didn't mind the pungent scent of tobacco. If anything, they sort of enjoyed the calm it brought.

"You... are breaking those boys," Conrad broke the silence, staring at the small pond several meters from his vantage point. Standing beside him was Maynard, who was enjoying a stick. That was akin to his timer before he starts off pissing Conrad again.

Maynard smiled slightly as he huffed the smoke. He glanced at Conrad and arched a brow knowingly, shaking his head, before setting his eyes back to the pond of koi fish.

"I'm not," he denied confidently. "Those boys are too stubborn and prideful to break so easily."

Conrad glanced at Maynard. "You're always strange."

"Haha! I can say the same to you." Maynard's lips stretched from ear to ear. "How can this overprotective guy allow a young man to live in the same house where he shelters his daughter?"

"Maxen is a good child." Conrad shrugged.

"You can't say all that with certainty. People change, Conrad. Everyone is so fickle — well, maybe  — except you."

Conrad remained silent after Maynard's remarks and kept his eyes on the still waters in the pond. How Maynard knew about Maxen wasn't important to him. Maynard was an annoying, nosy man. Although this man was currently the head of the Quinn family business, he was just like how he was when they first met.

"I can say the same to you," he muttered calmly. "People are fickle except you."

"Hehe. Come on... I might fall in love with you now."

"And I still wish you dead."

"..."

"A miserable death."

Maynard's frown deepened as he scrunched his nose up, looking at Conrad's unchanging countenance in dismay. Surely, Conrad never changed. This man in the Blac family could utter such scary words with a straight face.

"I'm not arranging Cozie to any arranged marriage," Conrad changed the subject after a minute, casting Maynard a sidelong glance. "She's a smart young lady and even if I want to protect her, I can only do so much as to know the people approaching her. Stop spewing nonsense and giving your son a ridiculous idea."

He peeled his eyes away from Maynard and back to the pond. "Although I don't worry about your eldest, pushing his little brother to my daughter will raise questions. After all, the young master Quinn is a proud and capable young man. His ego for seeing his father pushing his immature little brother into an exceptional young lady will raise questions — questions not to you, but to himself and his capabilities."

"You're saying this not because you care about my sons, but you simply want to brag about your daughter, isn't it?" Maynard scrunched his nose up, seeing that Conrad didn't react in the slightest. Even so, he had known Conrad for decades and he already knew the answer.

"Tsk." He shook his head and clicked his tongue, shrugging. "It's not like I can argue that the young miss of the Blac Family is exceptional. She is almost like Asher, with a bit of Luke's personality."

A sigh slipped past Maynard's lips. "Why wasn't I blessed with a daughter? Just what sort of position did you --" Maynard bit his tongue when Conrad's piercing gaze landed on him.

"Fine." He raised his hands in surrender, rolling his eyes. Maynard idled for a moment, staring in the same direction Conrad was staring at.

"I'm not trying to break my sons, nor I am testing the waters," he spoke after another moment of silence. The side of his lips curled up and as his smile reached his eyes, a glint flickered across them.

"I'm teaching them a lesson that will make them men."

This time, Conrad could not help but cast Maynard a look. His brows rose, seeing the cunningness from wanting to discipline his boys with a tinge of softness in Maynard's eyes.

"It may not be the softest method and it might somehow break their hearts, but I believe in them." Maynard rocked his head. "And I believe when they realized that not everything they want can be theirs... they will learn why you and I reached this far despite the vile world we moved in... in the past and in the present."

For a moment, the two of them stared at each other in silence. Maynard sported this proud smile, as he knew his intentions might be called tough love, but his faith in his sons was solid to shape those two to become good people. However, Conrad kept his stoic face, making one wonder what was going on in his head.

"You are..." Conrad trailed off, noticing Maynard's anticipation of his praise. "... using my daughter as a lesson material?"

Uh oh.

Maynard took a cautious step back, sensing Conrad focused on that fact instead of Maynard's parenting methods. Before Conrad could do anything, Maynard immediately fled to save his own skin from whatever this crazy overprotective father could do to him.

Seeing this, Conrad stayed in the same spot but kept his eyes where Maynard fled like a flash. A shallow breath slipped past his lips, shaking his head mildly.

"No matter how hard he believed in his sons... that is still plain cruel," he muttered, but he knew he wasn't in the position to lecture Maynard on how to become a father. After all, as a parent himself, he wouldn't want Maynard prying on how he parent Cosette.

Both men had their own methods of managing their businesses, and it was the same as raising their children. They could only point at things, and that was all they could do.

"But well... it might not be that bad, I hope." He peeled his eyes away from where Maynard left to the pond. "After all, he had to learn his lesson the hard way. It's better if he teaches his boys now since life isn't an easy teacher to deal with."

*********

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Cosette rubbed her weary eyes and frowned, seeing that Asher was still sitting on the same spot across from her. He was cupping his cheek, eyes on her.

Just now, Asher woke her up after a forty-minute nap and their fathers still hadn't returned. So she was still a bit sleepy.

"You have a drool," he remarked, chuckling when she hurriedly wiped the corner of her lips in panic. "I'm kidding."

Cosette glared at him. "Is making fun of me that fun?!" she complained.

"It is fun."

Her expression turned more sour, but instead of arguing with him, Cosette chose to ignore him. She fixed her hair, combing it with her fingers while he watched her. As she put on some clip to the side of her hair near her ear, she paused when Asher raised a question.

"Do you like Luke?" he asked, waiting for her to look back at him. "You know he's very fond of you and had switched schools just to follow you."

"We're friends," was the only answer she got as she continued to fix her hair. "I like him because he's a dear friend to me."

"So you don't like him in that way?"

"What way?"

"The romantic way." He shrugged when she shot him a frown. "I don't think you are that naive enough not to understand that with our status, arranged marriages aren't new. Our Quinn Family strictly follows tradition because of the elders, and if they will arrange our marriage — Luke or me — you will surely become a top candidate."

"My dad will not allow it." Her expression died, although she didn't feel angry about the topic since Asher, although a jerk, was sensible. "I don't need a man's help to lead our company someday. So even if the Quinns are perfect and wise decision to have a familial relationship with, I will not marry Luke just because of mutual benefits."

"You are saying you will not marry my brother unless you will fall in love with him?" he asked, and she nodded immediately since that was the simplest explanation to that. Asher stared at her for a long time until she finished putting the third clip to the side of her hair near her ear.

"But why..." her brow arched when he trailed off. "... do you only mention Luke as if he is the only candidate you can fall in love with?"

"Huh?" she tilted her head to the side.

"Luke is not the only Quinn who can marry you." Asher didn't beat around the bush. "Why am I not a candidate?"

Cosette blinked twice, processing his words and auto-translating their meaning in her head. For a moment, Cosette could only stare at Asher until her mouth fell ajar.

"What?" she asked, despite knowing how stupid it was since Asher already made it clear.

"I'm not saying I like you, but being neglected and not considered doesn't sit well with me," he explained in the same languid tone, keeping his pair of unreadable eyes on her. "I strongly oppose arrange marriage, since it makes me think my capabilities alone aren't enough and I need a third party to secure the family business. Even so, it is annoying when everyone thinks Luke is the only person who can match you when I personally know I can handle someone like you."

Cosette frowned, watching him lean his arms against the tiny table separating the two of them. Asher bent over, eyes glinting sharply, making her gulp.

"Let's date, Cosette Blac."