Sasha: Are you starting to remember things, Darling?
Darling: Such as?
Sasha: That is… You mentioned our marriage. Have you recalled how we ended up being together?
Sasha clasped onto her phone with bated breath and was so nervous that her palms got clammy.
For whatever reason, he suddenly ceased correspondence after she sent this out. Meanwhile, there she was, all jittery as she waited in her room.
Still, the phone stayed silent.
Damn this man…
She considered making a voice call but that was when she heard footsteps approaching from outside.
“Are you up there, Sasha?”
“Who is it?”
Sasha could only put down her phone and come out.
“Aunt Janice? What brought you here today?” She was quite surprised to see the middle-aged woman who had shown up out of the blue.
This woman was Janice Durant, who had not made an appearance since the day of the feast.
Perhaps it was owing to what happened at that event that Janice now appeared particularly self-conscious before Sasha.
“Yeah. Your grandfather wanted me to share with you how to manage a household. Have you done this before, Sasha?” Janice gently explained.
Sasha was dumbfounded.
Manage a household?
What does that mean? Why’s that old man doing this all of a sudden?
Amidst her trepidation, Sasha asked, “What does he mean? Does he intend to… have me manage Oceanic Estate?”
“Yes. Haven’t you noticed that there hasn’t been a female figurehead at Oceanic Estate for quite a while now? Since he did not take another wife after so many years and Stephen and the others moved out after they got married, everything had been left to Tony all this time. Now that you’re here, shouldn’t it be time for you to take charge of these matters?”
Janice smiled and nodded as though it was only the natural course of things. Sasha, however, was completely flabbergasted.
She had never thought about running things here because this was the one-and-only Oceanic Estate, the confluence point of the members of this most powerful family. What claim did she have as a granddaughter-in-law to start calling the shots around here?
Besides, she had not even managed anything at the Hayeses. How was she able to run this place?
Sasha tried to turn it down. “You’re teasing me, Aunt Janice. How would I know how to do this?”
That made Janice quite anxious. “I’m being serious here, really. Your grandfather’s waiting downstairs right now, so you can go verify this with him for yourself.”
Following that, she straight up half-dragged the speechless and stupefied Sasha out of the room.
Why would he want me to take charge of things when the Jadesons are not shorn of talented people? Discounting those who are too far away, would it not make sense to have his own eldest daughter-in-law, Jasmine, helm Oceanic Estate?
After all, both Stephen and Jasmine had always been managing the family business. And with Jasmine herself often professing her desire to run things at home time and again, it was just incomprehensible why the old man would not just go to her.
In a mixture of confoundment and sheer disbelief, Sasha was brought downstairs where she quickly spotted the old man seated in the hall. Apart from him, she saw that Devin’s father, Stephen, was present as well.
“Dad, do you mean to tell me… that you also intend to let Sebastian manage the tempered glass factory?”
“Is there a problem?”
Jonathan glared at his own son with eyes widened and shot him down with a stern look of disapproval the moment he sensed the latter’s unwillingness to comply.
That caused Stephen to shrink and immediately change his own tone. “No… It isn’t like that. I just wanted to ask which portion it is specifically that you wanted me to hand over.”
“I was obviously referring to the glassworks and the smelting plant, as well the stocks held in several major state-owned enterprises.” Once again, Jonathan reiterated his point impatiently.
After Jonathan’s voice trailed off, Stephen looked even more perturbed as he stood rooted to the spot.
What Jonathan mentioned, in actuality, formed the most significant portion of the assets held by the Jadesons. The tempered glass and smelting plant factories were direct suppliers of the military, thanks to the relationship the family had established with the military.
Needless to say, the same was true of the stocks Jonathan mentioned. The businesses and the shareholding together had been the primary source of income for the family over many years.
What would be left for me if such an important portfolio is to be surrendered to Sebastian now? Those few restaurants and that handful of supermarkets? What’s the use of these? I’m practically being reduced to a mere figurehead!
Stephen had never felt this disheartened before.
Sasha arrived downstairs. “You asked for me, Grandpa?”
Jonathan nodded and gestured toward the chair in front of him for Sasha to settle herself into. “Ah, yes. Have Janice and Tony accompany you to The Ataraxy tomorrow and introduce yourself to the people there. Also, make a trip down to Gossamer Creek and let Janice be your guide.”
Sasha was stunned.
The Ataraxy? Gossamer Creek? Where are these places?
Sasha did not understand the position she was put in, but the shift in the expressions of Stephen and Janice upon hearing the mention of those two locales was unmistakable.
The Ataraxy was where Jared Jadeson resided.
