Carol was extremely disappointed. Still, she didn't want to make Kate think badly of her, so she smiled and said, "No, I shouldn't have come unannounced. I am sorry for bothering you. I will leave."

"Goodbye then," Kate replied evenly, making no effort to ask Carol to stay.

And with that, Kate stood up and walked gracefully back into the villa, leaving a frustrated Carol with the maid to escort her out.

Once Carol was safely gone, Kate looked accusingly at her maid. "Mrs. Logan, I have told you before that I won't meet with strangers."

Mrs. Logan was stunned, "But… that was Mr. William's fiancée."

"Brian's girlfriends are always chosen by that man. They are all ladies born into rich families. Brian's father only said yes to their marriage because of the business interests behind it. None of them truly love Brian."

Mrs. Logan didn't dare to reply.

Kate wore a weary expression and added, "Don't open the gifts she brought. Send them back later at an appropriate time. And I don't want to see ladies like her again."

Kate really did have a meeting that afternoon, so she dismissed Mrs. Logan and retired to her room. She thought for a while about her meeting with Carol, then called Brian.

Brian was busy thinking about his plan to capture Diana's heart but seeing the call from his mother, he put his plans on hold. After all, she didn't call him too frequently.

Brian answered elatedly, "Mother, how are you? Why do you call me today?"

Hearing Brian's voice, Kate couldn't help smiling. But she steadied herself and asked in a serious tone, "Is Carol Jefferson your fiancée? When did Simon find you this woman?"

Brian was stunned. He frowned and asked, "Mother, how do you know that?"

Judging from Brian's tone, Kate knew her son was not fond of Miss Jefferson. So, she told him straightly, "I think she is very eager to be 'Mrs. William.' You haven't married her yet, and she came to visit me with gifts. It was quite clear what her intentions were."

Brian could feel Carol had irritated Kate. "Mother, you can say if you don't like her, I don't like her either. But she isn't a bad girl; you don't have to embarrass her."

"So, you are teaching me lessons now? Well, look at you all grown up," Kate snapped.

Feeling his mother was on the verge of anger, Brian said immediately, "No, that's not it at all! I wouldn't dare to disrespect you like that. I just want us to be honest with each other."

****

Kate burst out laughing, "You can talk your way out of anything, can't you? Well, since you don't like Miss Jefferson, is there a girl that you do like?"

Brian hesitated, "Why do you ask Mum?"

"Hey, I'm your mother. Am I not allowed to ask you that?"

A shy smile spread across Brian's face. "I will introduce her to you someday, Mum, but leave it for now, ok?"

It wasn't even easy to get a kiss from Diana, let alone make her his girlfriend. Brian didn't want to tell his mum too early.

"OK, darling, I'll drop it. Now listen, I have to attend a function early this afternoon. A friend of mine is opening a fashion company, there will be a lot of young, beautiful stylists there… do you want to go with me?"

"Mum…" Brian's voice trailed off, "You are doing the same thing that father did. Yet, you just blamed him for his interference in my engagement."

Brian's answer was enough to let Kate know she should change the topic. "Brian, could we have dinner together after the current rush is over?"

"You bet," Brian agreed happily.

"What do you want to eat?"

"I would love some of your home-made Spaghetti Bolognese."

"Your favorite, no problem…"

For Brian, it was a pleasant talk with his mother, and he wanted to continue as long as possible.

He didn't notice that Diana was looking at him curiously during their talk.

She had never heard that kind of gentle tone from Brian, she couldn't help feeling inquisitive. What kind of woman must his mother be that she could tame Brian? How did she do it?

She must be lovely, Diana thought. After all, she had never seen Brian laugh like that.

All of a sudden, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Brian said teasingly.

Diana was panicking but pretended to be confident, "What? Eavesdropping? Why would I do that?"

Brian laughed at Diana's reply whilst slowly stepping towards her, then pushed her lightly up against the wall.

"Take your hands off me!" Diana protested loudly.

"What did you hear?" Brian asked, staring at Diana.

After understanding what Brian was worried about, Diana was no longer worried and chuckled to herself.

"What?" Brian frowned.

"Are you afraid I will tell Miss Jefferson what you said?"

"I'm definitely not worried about that…" Brian replied.

Brian's indifference towards Carol confused Diana. Although Carol could be quite stuck up, she was very pretty and came from an eminent family, she was surely good enough to be Brian's wife.

"So, she doesn't matter to you?" she asked in a disbelieving tone.

Brian was both intrigued and annoyed by Diana's questioning.

"I didn't expect you would care so much about Carol…"

Diana huffed, "Miss Jefferson is your fiancée, and you said something bad about her behind her back. Aren't you afraid she will hate you one day?"

There was an amused look on Brian's face. "I couldn't care less if she hates me."

Diana was shocked that Brian could be so cold about his fiancée and turned to leave.

"Stop!"

At that moment, Brian suddenly recalled a matter of great importance.

"I have something important to do tonight. Come with me."

"Sorry, I am not available tonight," Diana replied.

There was a dangerous look coming over Brian like he was about to do something bad.

"If you don't go with me, I will let Daniel Anderson come back to cure me. What if my condition worsened just because you didn't agree with me on something so trivial?"

Brian was totally illogical, which made Diana wild with anger.

"You are so unreasonable!" Diana stomped her feet in frustration.