Chapter 1

Early summer in Glendale City was always sweltering. It was only past 8:00 am, but the sun was already scorching. Lorraine Somner got off the bus when it stopped at a station near Glendale Grand Hotel. Then, she pulled out her phone and called her mother. "I'm near Glendale Grand Hotel, Mom. I'll head over there right away. Tell me again what my blind date looks like," she said. On the other end of the line, Irene Hall asked, "Don't you have his photo?" "I forgot to take it with me." "Oh, you're always forgetting this or that. You might not be able to visualize his face even if I were to describe him to you. Just head to the café on the hotel's first floor and look for him. "He works at the nearby construction site, so if you see anyone dressed like a construction worker and wearing a hard hat, that's probably him." Lorraine pushed her glasses higher up her nose and made a sound of acknowledgment. Irene continued, "Listen up, Lorraine. You can't afford to be picky anymore—you're already 27! If you still don't marry, you'll become a spinster. Stop hiding away in your orchard and being such a hermit." "Alright, alright. I—whoa!" Before Lorraine could get any further, someone rammed into her. Her conversation with Irene was interrupted. "Are you okay, miss? I'm so sorry. I was in such a rush that I didn't see you!" A woman in her 60s had accidentally run into Lorraine. She apologized profusely. Lorraine was fine. The only issue was that her glasses had fallen to the ground from the impact, and the lenses had shattered. She was severely short-sighted and blind as a bat without her glasses. She wouldn't be able to recognize Irene if she were to walk past her right then and there. "I'm fine, ma'am." Lorraine didn't want to waste too much time on the woman, so she assured her that she was fine. The woman kept asking, and Lorraine kept reassuring her. Eventually, the woman left. Lorraine bent down to pick up her shattered glasses. There was no hope of salvaging them, so she just folded them and tucked them into her pocket. Realizing that she was still on the phone with Irene, she gave her a quick rundown before hanging up. Then, she hurried into Glendale Grand Hotel. Without her glasses, her vision was blurry. She had to lean close and squint to even find the café. It was quite busy inside. She walked in and gazed around, finally finding a man sitting in a corner. His clothes were similar to those of construction workers, and he wore a hard hat. When Lorraine saw him, he was just taking the hard hat off. She knew he had to be her blind date, so she approached him. Logan Moore noticed her but knew they'd never met before. She politely asked him, "Excuse me, are you Logan Moore?" Who was she? Logan pondered this but still grunted in agreement. Since he had responded, Lorraine sat across from him and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Lorraine Somner. I'm your blind date." She could barely see. She couldn't make out Logan's features despite being just across from him. All she knew was that he wasn't missing an eye or an ear. Logan raised an eyebrow, his gaze becoming deep and icy. He stared sharply at Lorraine but tamped down the iciness and sharpness when he saw her clear gaze and natural actions. She wasn't the same as those women who deliberately tried to get close to him. "I don't know whether you've heard about me from the matchmaker, Mr. Moore. I'm 27 this year, and I've only been in a relationship once. It ended with a breakup, and I've been single for the past seven or eight years. "I have a career—I own a few orchards. I grow cherries, plums, mangoes, apples, grapes, persimmons, and watermelons. I'm generally quite busy, so I don't have time to date." She paused, then continued, "I figured I could just get marriage settled by going on blind dates and marrying the first guy I'm okay with. It'll keep my parents from urging me. They're on my back so much that it's giving me a headache. "Oh, I'm also the second of three children. I have an older sister and a younger brother, both of whom are already married." She was the only single child, which was why her parents kept urging her to marry. Lorraine didn't want to waste too much time on the blind date. She still needed to buy fertilizer before heading home. As soon as she sat down, she told Logan everything she wanted to say, ensuring he knew everything he needed to know about her. Logan watched her with interest. She wasn't as elegant and classy as the daughters of affluent families he'd met in the past, but she was the type that grew prettier the longer one looked at her. Her direct approach and lack of secrecy left him with a good first impression. Since she had introduced herself, he did the same. "I have a much bigger family than yours, Ms. Somner, and I'm the oldest in my generation. I'm 31 this year and unmarried, but I'm raising two children. "Their father is a friend who has passed away. When his wife went missing, the kids were left orphaned. I adopted them and think of them as my own." "How old are they now?" Lorraine found that Logan's self-introduction was different from what the matchmaker had said. He was older than she remembered and even had two kids. They weren't his, but she would become a stepmother once she married him. She knew matchmakers couldn't be trusted. They could twist anything to make it sound good. "They're four. They'll be moving to the senior class in kindergarten in September, and they're twins—a boy and a girl." Lorraine was relieved to hear that. If the kids were old enough to be in kindergarten, life would be much easier as a parent. "Do you have photos of them? I'd like to see them." She felt that he had to be an upstanding, kind man if he could adopt his friend's children without worrying about them affecting his future marriage. The fact that he could raise two children despite being unmarried indicated he had a good temper and was accommodating. He was just the type she wanted. Since she had already decided, she wanted to see what the children were like. Logan pulled out his phone and scrolled through his photo album for a photo of the children. He showed it to Lorraine. They looked adorable—almost like two cherubs. She couldn't see properly, but all she had to do was lean close to the phone to see the photo clearly. She fell in love with the kids as soon as she saw them. After that, she returned the phone to Logan. She said bluntly, "I have a good impression of you, Mr. Moore. Would you dare marry me now if you feel the same about me? If you do, we can go get our marriage registered now." It was just marriage. She would marry herself off to keep her parents off her back. Flash marriages required guts, which was something she had plenty of. Lorraine had the guts to take out a million-dollar loan and borrow money from all her friends and relatives to own a few orchards and do what she loved. Most men couldn't compare to her in this aspect. Compared to that, what was there to fear about a flash marriage? She would do anything to keep her parents from nagging her and urging her to marry. That way, she could focus on her career. All she wanted in a husband was for him to be honest and level-headed. Logan worked at a construction site, and the matchmaker had told her he was honest. More importantly, he wouldn't be home often because of his work, so she wouldn't have to be at his beck and call. It was perfect!