The Million-Dollar Heart

Chapter 16

Day two

Just past eight in the morning, Dorian and his family were having breakfast when his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed a number he didn’t recognize Lately, Dorian had been getting a lot of calls from unknown numbers, so he was used to it. Most of them were from companies responding to his job applications. Usually, it was something like, “Sorry, Mr. Hawthorn, you don’t meet our recruitment criteria.”

Dorian sighed and answered the call.

“Are you Thaddeus‘ father?” The person on the other end of the line asked, in a friendly tone.

1 am Who’s this?” Dorian responded, while passing Vivienne her breakfast.

Tm the assistant principal at Imperial Blossom Nursery. We’d like to invite Thaddeus to join our school. Is that OK with you?”

Dorian froze, fork in hand. After a pause, he asked, his voice shaky. “Who did you say you are?”

Tm the assistant principal at Imperial Blossom Nursery.” The voice on the other end was still friendly.

Dorian’s mouth dropped open, and he jumped up excitedly. “Imperial Blossom Nursery? You mean, you want my Thaddeus to join your school?” Cordelia also jumped up, equally excited.

Vivienne just looked up and continued to enjoy her fried egg. She turned to Thaddeus, who was looking at her, passed him a piece of toast, and moved the blueberry jam in front of him, whispering, “Eat up, you’re too skinny”

smiled at her and said

staring at him excitedly and switched

sounding a tad exasperated. Any other person, and she would not have repeated herself so many times. But this was Thaddeus! The higher–ups had personally ordered his admission. So, she had

Of course, agreed!” Dorian was so afraid that she would change her mind that he answered

someone to deliver the related documents to your

Cordelia excitedly grabbed Dorian’s arm. “Dorian, is it

Imperial Blossom Nursery! That was a school that money couldn’t buy! A school that even connections couldn’t

get Michael and Joseph’s son into that nursery school but failed despite pulling many strings. Rumor had it that Joseph’s son was preparing to take the entrance exam for Imperial Blossom Nursery again.

true!” Dorian felt like he was dreaming. He never thought that such unbelievable

lucky charm!” Cordelia was all smiles. “Ever since Vivienne came back, we’ve not only moved into Tranquil Estates, but Thaddeus also got into Imperial Blossom Nursery Vivienne is our family’s

was so excited that she almost ran over to hug and kiss Vivienne. Sensing her intentions, Vivienne thought to

In the afternoon.

the Hawthorn family’s

sat at the head of the table, with Joseph

Why haven’t we heard anything?” Michael asked, frowning.

been three days. We need to get Dorian to agree soon, or this marriage is off,” Joseph said, looking at

and the teacher had been fired. As the mastermind, she had to get those three out. Thankfully, not many people knew about the incident,

that Vivienne hadn’t left there for ten years and probably hadn’t been to

the Ellington family slip away like this,” Michael said anxiously. “Ever since Dorian refused to share the perfume formula, the company’s performance has plummeted. Now, only our old customers still use our perfume. If we don’t invest in researching a new formula soon, the company won’t survive.”

the rush? Haven’t I taught you anything? You have to

and turned to Joseph. “Joseph, your relationship with