My Dreamy Old Husband

The receptionist at the front desk of the office building was taken aback when she saw the arrival of the entourage before her, but she maintained a perfunctory smile as she greeted them, “Hi, how may I help you today?”

“I'm here to see Fass,” Tiffany replied in her thick Bayside accent.

“Do you have an appointment?” the receptionist asked.

Tiffany scoffed, then said primly, “An appointment? I'm Fass’ wife, and I'm here with my son to see my husband. Why would I need to make an appointment?”

Those in the lobby who were within earshot now turned to look at Tiffany curiously, and their gazes fell upon the child, as well as the nanny who was carrying him.

Fass’ son... Since when did he have another son?

It seemed as if the rumors that had been going around the company were true—Fass must be getting married soon with Tiffany, director of the Adams Group, since they already have a child together!

This meant that the woman standing at the front desk right now was the soon-to-be Mrs. Michel! Upon making the connection, the receptionist's expression shifted, and—not wanting to offend the woman—she immediately allowed Tiffany to pass through, then said, “Mr. Fass isn't in right now—" “I know.” Tiffany cut her off as she strode into the lobby. She took the elevator, which was meant for executives, and began to make her rounds in the company. Those who saw her whispered to each other excitedly as she passed by.

It had been a while since the rumor of Fass’ engagement to Tiffany had first started, but seeing Tiffany here in the company today was a different kind of validation altogether.

Furthermore, Cooper was a renowned figure all over Cethos upon having skyrocketed to fame after appearing on “My Grandpa in Shining Armor’.

He was well-versed in firearms, and he had single-handedly built an armament empire.

He displayed a prowess for computers, and half of the world's supply for computer parts was manufactured by the subsidiaries under his company.

He was also the first person who had come up with the programming algorithm for video games, and it was in his name that all esports players gathered in collective prayer before the start of each gaming competition.

With his dashing looks and ageless mixed-race features, coupled with the gentleness that lay beneath his cold facade, Cooper had successfully won over the hearts of viewers as “The Nation's Grandpa’. The ratings for “My Grandpa in Shining Armor’ had gone through the roof, surpassing the records of similar shows that had been filmed in the past. In fact, in terms of reality shows, the popularity of Cooper was only second to that of Taylor Murray carrying a piglet.

Many had grown curious as to the marital and family life of Cooper, a grandpa whose armor shone brighter than others. From the looks of it now, he was likely engaged to Tiffany. One could only imagine the heartbreak that would seize the nation’s many hopeful damsels who were pining over Cooper.

When Linus found out that Tiffany was here in the company, he was frustrated, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Cooper was still being evasive with his so-called “strategic retreat’, thus leaving Linus and Sophia to clear up the mess he'd left behind, which was the size of Bayside City.

“Let her be,” was all Linus could say, resigned.

As such, Tiffany spent the better half of the day surveying each and every part of Michel Group, making her presence known to everyone in the building. She wanted them to know that she was Mrs. Michel—stepmother to Sophia, mother-in-law to Taylor, and grandmother to Carmen.

Once she was done making waves in Michel Group, she headed over to Dragon Technology Corporation, which was another one of Cooper's old nests. Cooper had plans to consolidate Mitchell Energy and Technology with Dragon Technology this year, which meant the business development would surely progress on a much larger scale.

Tiffany saw her child as ammunition; in order for her to wield authority, she needed to declare to the world that she and Cooper were soon to be married, and that they had a son together.

Other than that, she'd also set up her own Twitter account, on which featured the many details of her life in Sophia's home. She'd even tweeted about the strawberries that Carmen had given her for New Year's, eager to show off in cyberspace that she'd been well-integrated into the Mitchell family. Linus might be tolerant enough to turn a blind eye on all of Tiffany's antics, but Sophia was not—to say she was furious at Tiffany would be an understatement.

That piece of trash! Sophia cursed inwardly. Tiffany, that sly, old b*tch!

“Hey, Sophia, what's going on between your dad and Tiffany? The head of our department had me rush over to Dragon Technology for the scoop!” Maddie exclaimed over the phone presently.

That was when Sophia found out that Tiffany had tipped off the journalists and reporters in advance.

When Tiffany was done making her rounds in Dragon Technology and was heading out of the building with her child on her hip, it came as no surprise that she was surrounded by a horde of reporters, who had been waiting for her outside.

The moment the reporters caught sight of her, they swarmed forward and began drowning her in a flurry of questions.

“Miss Tiffany, is it true that Cooper Mitchell is the father of your child?”

Tiffany gloated, “Yes. This is our child, Asher Mitchell, named after the blessing that he’s been since he came into our lives.”

Meanwhile, Sophia was typing away furiously on her keyboard as she penned a rather scandalous article on Tiffany.

Tiffany was intent on dropping by JNS Group, but Sophia had given prior notice to the security team to keep the doors closed to anyone who was affiliated with the Adams.

There was no way Sophia was going to allow that old b*tch to take advantage of her the way she had with Cooper.

Over the next few days, Tiffany was oddly high-profile as she brought her child around the city and gave interviews to reporters who asked for them. Sophia, on the other hand, was busy working on the article that would expose Tiffany for the wretched woman that she truly was.

Upon completing the article, Sophia handed it to Maddie for proofreading, and when that was done, she put it up on the internet under an anonymous handle, thereafter calling up a marketing agency to publicize the piece.

After all, Sophia was a top student in Bayside University who had had books published under her name, in addition to her years of experience as a groupie. There had been a time when she was in charge of publishing articles for the Taylor Murray fanclub, and she'd spent years warring with Taylor's anti-fans in cyberspace. Indeed, with Sophia's skills in writing exposés as well as apology statements, coming up with a piece on Tiffany was something she could do in her sleep.

In order for Sophia's article to achieve a high click-through rate, she'd turned the article over to Maddie—who had majored in journalism—for it to be touched up before it was published.

It had only taken a couple of days after Tiffany made rounds in the Mitchell's companies when the exposé started circulating around the internet.

Michael was at home, watching Sophia type away on her computer, when he noticed the article that was trending on his social media, which was titled: "How These Celebrity Women Bagged Their Men’.

He clicked into the article, which started off with brief introductions on the man-catching tactics which had been employed by socialites and celebrity women, but the biggest scandal to have been revealed by this piece was none other than Tiffany's. The readers were left shocked by the level of manipulation that had led to her engagement to Cooper.

After all, it wasn't ordinarily expected for a woman to steal a man’s genetic sample from the cryobank to conceive his child, albeit through surrogacy, in order to force her way into a marriage with him

It turned out that one really could buy their way into marriage as long as one had money.

A sci-fi trope like this could only be pulled off by Tiffany, the director of Adams Group—a company that was otherwise known as the King of Insurance in the industry.

The sperm might have been stolen, and the child might have been conceived via surrogacy, but Tiffany had managed to reap the full benefit of her ploy anyway.

The element of scandal that had been injected into this exposé was twofold: one, it concerned two well-known figures, namely Cooper and Tiffany; two, it raised the controversial question as to whether men whose sperm had been stolen would need to assume responsibility if a child was conceived through the insemination of said stolen sperm.

By extension, would that child therefore be entitled to the estate of his or her biological father?

As humanist arguments clashed against the effects of technological advancement, the controversy which resulted therein had spread like wildfire as everyone grew eager to put forth their thoughts on the matter.

This was also likely the reason why Cethos had yet to legalize surrogacy—situations like these were bound to arise once the floodgates were opened.

Sophia continued to compose more articles pertaining to the matter that was Tiffany's scandalous engagement to Cooper; she was giving an insider scoop on the sequence of events that had culminated in this moment, including the fact that Cooper's genetic sample had been swiped from the cryobank a decade ago and had been illegally sold off as someone else's.

This had all been done in order to take advantage of Sophia and her family.

She knew that Cooper had hidden away with bigger plans in mind; she needed to create a diversion while he executed the plans, and what better way to do that than to create controversy?

While others might have chosen to keep quiet about things as scandalous as these, Sophia couldn“t do the same—not while things were already going out of hand.

It wasn't even a scandal to begin with; it was a deliberate scheme to ruin the Mitchells!

As such, she'd make sure that Tiffany's sperm-stealing ruse was broadcasted all over Bayside City. That said, Sophia did not intend to spare Marks Real Estate from her wrath.

She would not sit by and do nothing while her family was being ripped off!