Chapter 18

Jayden and Amelia are hilarious. Both reflect on the previous night, which got quite steamy. Jayden was going to be the gentleman and just drop Amelia off, but she asked him to stay. Now, in the morning, jayden insists on ��taking responsibility�� for her, while she insists that he doesn��t need to do anything. She decides to ask him out to breakfast.
The rest of the night market crew show up Evely's apartment, where Jackson basically holds a cooking class for them as he explains and demonstrates how to make coronation chicken. It��s mostly a lot of Jackson and Evely acting cute with each other while Noah sighs and watches them from behind.
Evely and Noah come up with the idea of putting the chicken into a sandwich. Jackson and Evely start fake-fighting over royalties for the idea, since the chicken is his recipe. She finally shuts him up by putting some chicken in his mouth, and everyone else freaks out over how cute they��re being. In the process, logan pushes Noah out of the way in his excitement. Noah watches them all with a fake smile then leaves.
Logan(Jackson's friend) notices and follows him out. Noah admits that he should probably let go of Evely now. He realizes that he had always been very one-sided in his feelings for Evely. She doesn��t even know who he really is, and he had always been thinking of what he could do for her. Somewhere along the way, he lost her because of that.
Amelia and jayden leave her bedroom to find her father waiting for her in her living room. Jayden leaves to let them talk. When Chairman Meng wyatt hears that jayden's engagement has ended, the wheels start turning in his head. Amelia and jayden's marriage would be excellent for his business prospects, especially because bright company stock prices are low right now. But Amelia doesn��t want to be her father��s pawn anymore and tells him as much. Can��t she have the freedom to choose her own future? Mr wyatt responds that she cannot. He��s decided, and his word is law. Amelia tells him he��s being unreasonable and leaves angrily.
Noah finds his father waiting outside his apartment building for him. They go for a walk and his father says that it��s time for him to come home. it��s been two years already. Noah says he��s not ready yet. Mr wyatt guesses that it��s because of Evely watson, and tells him that the best way he can protect his woman is with his status. But Noah says there are plenty of people who can��t rely on social status, yet they��re still able to lead good lives. That��s what he��s learned the past two years working at the night market, and is something he��d never have learned if he stayed at home with his family. He heads back up to Evely's place right before Uncle Charles comes up to report that Lily is missing. Logan thinks that she��s probably run off with the money from the night market crew��s pooled funds, but the rest of the night market crew know she��s not that kind of person. Evely immediately takes charge and divides them into three groups to investigate her whereabouts.
She��s about to head out when Jackson stops her, saying that logan might be right. Perhaps Lily isn��t scamming them, but she hasn��t been fully honest. She��s just a coworker why do they trust her so much? But both Uncle Charles and Evely are quick to respond that Jackson's assessment of their relationship is wrong. Lily is family.
Evely is just heading out when she gets a call. Jackson wants to help, but she says it��s somewhere he won��t want to go. the call is from her brother and he��s at bright company. But Jackson follows her anyway, logan in tow.
Noah, and pinky and sebastian all wait outside the apartment, hoping Lily will come back. Pinky uses this opportunity to confess to Noah that she likes him. But he responds saying she must know he already like someone else. A sad pinky goes to sit with sebastian who sneakily tries to put his arm around her, but they��re interrupted when Noah spots Lily.
Evely barges into jayden's office, demanding he explain why her brother is not getting paid for his internship, nor is he getting college credit. Jayden is surprised to see Jackson and even calls him ��brother�� before catching himself and putting on a stony face. They find out that mrs Elsa was the one who decided to cut intern salaries as a cost-cutting measure. Jackson starts warning jayden that this will affect the company��s reputation and asks if he��ll let his mother make a decision like this. Jayden takes it for a moment, then angrily exclaims, ��Enough!�� He tells Jackson that he has no right to lecture him, then demands they all leave.
Jackson reminds jayden of his promise to him when they were younger. Jackson promised he would never take anything that belonged to jayden, while jayden had responded that everything that was his was also his brother��s.
Evely stares down jayden while telling her brother that he doesn��t need to work at a rotten company like bright, then turns and leaves. Once they��re all gone, jayden lets out a heavy sigh and tells the intern manager to pay David watson the salary he��s owed and give him the college credits. He tells himself that he��s capable of everything Jackson is capable of.
Outside the bright company office, Evely promises her brother that she��ll take care of his college credits so that he can graduate. But David says it doesn��t matter he plans on dropping out anyway. They go back to the same old argument of david not wanting to be forced to do things because it��s what his mother and sister want. He stalks off. Evely tries to follow, but Jackson holds her back, reminding her about his own experience with (Ellie) his deceased sister. But they��ll just have to continue the conversation later because they got a text that Lily has been found.
Lily explains that she wasn��t purposely hiding from her friends, but that her (mother-in-law), who has dementia, had lost their money. For the past few days, she��s been hoping to recover the money and too ashamed to tell them she lost it. Jackson comes up with the idea of using food to jog her mother inlaws muscle memory. Perhaps her hiding things after eating is a reflex or habit, and they can try to trigger it on purpose. He tells Evely that her arguments with her brother are similarly a habit. David's defensiveness is most likely reflexive, based on years of similar past arguments.
Jackson rallies the night market crew and whips up some fried rice. The smell of the food triggers madam ivy(Lily's mother inlaw) into standing up from her wheelchair, grabbing a spoon, and running off. The night market crew end up following her to her old home, now abandoned, where she has stockpiled miscellaneous belongings in a chest in the fireplace. She mistakes Jackson for Lily's late husband and hugs him, apologizing for not having given him a good life because of her impoverished history. Jackson plays along and calls her ��mom,�� but is reminded of growing up poor and soon gets lost in his own memories, speaking to her like she��s his own mother and apologizing for being immature when he was younger. He starts crying and there��s not a dry eye in the room. He thinks to himself that it��s possible to be family without being blood-related. Noah watches and silently promises his father that he will return home one day.
Amelia gets a massage and smiles to herself as she remembers an interaction with jayden earlier that day. He realized that he hadn��t put on a condom during their one-night stand and is convinced she��s pregnant, while she knows that she can��t be. She finds it cute, if naive, but gets annoyed when he finds her at the spa and insists she has to take it easy because she��s pregnant.
Inspired by his interaction with Lily's mother inlaw. Jackson meets with his mother and thanks and apologizes to her for all her effort the past few decades. She asks him if he really plans on leaving the joh family for good, then tells him the truth about why jayden kicked him out. Jayden found out his mother was embezzling and wanted to protect Jackson. Jackson is stunned by this revelation.
Noah goes to find his father, who hands him a check so that he can help his night market family and Evely open a restaurant. But Noah rejects it, saying he doesn��t need money. He tells his father that he loves him and cares about him, and that he doesn��t care about his family��s status or financial ability. He says he��ll go home once his father understands how to love. Wyatt takes offense at that, saying that all the things he��s done for his kids, though heavy-handed, are his way of demonstrating his love. He feels that love is backed by financial stability, and that one day Noah will realize this. He angrily goes back into his house.
Evely starts working on design plans for her new restaurant. When Jackson comes over, she tells him her plans to open a cozy curry diner, then switches gears and tells him she apologized to Her brother. She admits that he was right. He says that he should get a little something in return, and pouts his lips for a kiss. She��s shy, but gives him a quick smooch. He says that he couldn��t feel it and asks for a bit more. On the third try, he pulls her in for a deeper kiss. Noah walks up outside and sees them, but they didn't notice him.
Poor boy, he always has the worst luck when it comes to Evely!
Jackson pulls away and asks her a serious question. he��s penniless now; will she turn her back on him? ��Of course not,�� she responds, ��How could I ever turn my back on you?�� Then, he says, when are you going to marry me?
She pulls away, surprised, and says that he hasn��t given her flowers, chocolates, or any gifts. How can he expect her to marry him? He jokes that he always thought she wasn��t like other women and didn��t care about those things. But if tomorrow morning he brings her flowers, chocolates, and a gift, will she marry him then? She asks why he��s in such a hurry, and he says that of course he��s in a hurry because someone else might swoop in and steal her away. She smiles and says that they can talk about it tomorrow.
He adds that there��s one more thing. now that he��s no longer a chef, she can��t call him ��Chef�� anymore. He wants her to come up with a nickname for him. She suggests Little jack jack, but he doesn��t like it. (She had previously made fun of him when he admitted his mom used to call him that, because it sounds like the sound one would make when constipated.)
He tells her to think about it and starts to head toward the bathroom, but leans in close and asks if she wants to spend the night with him. Her mother and brother are fast asleep. Evely doesn��t want to do anything with her family in the house, but once he turns away she smiles and hides her face in her hands. seeing Jackson and Evely interact, Their banter feels so natural and so cute!
Noah chooses to make his entrance when Jackson is gone. Evely can tell something is off. His smile seems painful and his eyes are sad. ��I like you,�� he finally says, just as Jackson walks up behind Evely. Eeee!
Before, Noah seemed almost self-centered or entitled in the way he would treat Evely. He had good intentions, but he always acted like she couldn��t handle herself and he needed to be there to help her make the right decisions or protect her. But she doesn��t need protection. Now that he��s realized that, he's much more bearable. his last-ditch attempt to get the girl. One of those moments where the he realizes that if she goes off with this Jackson they��ll live happily ever after, and he needs to say his true feelings or else he��ll regret it forever.
In the beginning of this ###Chapter I wasn��t quite sure of the chemistry between Jackson and Evely. Perhaps it was because of the nature of their relationship. while I appreciated that she challenged him, there was still an imbalance of power where he was clearly in command and in a mentor position that sometimes felt weird, because he was so demanding. But their interactions is good. They��re on more equal ground now, and they��re just so dang cute and natural together.
His Family situation is complicated. Family is not how they're related, but how they treat one another. There were a lot of nice messages about family and forgiveness, though this shines more in its light moments than it does when it��s trying to be serious.