There was an instant silence at the dining table.
Everyone did not expect Samuel to come up with such a sentence suddenly.
Loredana stroked his son’s head, “You can’t interpret it that way and you can’t say like that, it’s disrespectful.”
“It’s alright, children’s words are not disrespectful.” Cormac waved his big hand, “Let’s eat.”
Because of Boyce’s presence, Cormac drank two glasses of wine with him. That was not much. If they did not drink on this occasion, it was not satisfactory.
The drivers were there, so even if they were unconscious, they could send them back.
There were fireworks outside. Bang! Bang! Bang!
The little girl sped up her meal. When Loredana fed her soup, the little girl was also holding the bowl. She ‘poured’ the soup inside her mouth. Loredana frowned, “You better slow down a bit, why do you eat in a hurry?”
“I want to play fireworks.” The little girl wanted to eat quickly and did not even raise her head to answer her.
Loredana stroked her hair, “There’s no need to be in such a hurry. There are so many of us. If you have finished eating earlier, you can’t go off alone too, right?”
The little girl thought about it and it seemed true. It was not fun for her to play alone. It was fun to play with everyone.
She slid down from her chair and hurried from one to another, “Eat quickly, eat quickly, I want to play fireworks. You all eat quickly, don’t make me wait for too long.”
Boyce was amused, “There are so many dishes. If I take one bite for one dish, I have to take twenty minutes to finish eating all of them.”
The little girl blinked, “Then you just eat the plate of fish in front of you.”
Boyce was speechless.
“No way.” He took a crab bun, “I want to be full, and I don’t like fish.”
The little girl blinked, “If you eat too much, you’ll get fat. A fat guy can’t find a girlfriend. You look at Mr. Bernie. He has married Ms. Gordon. What about you? Who will marry such a fat guy like you?” At once, there was a silence at the dining table. Then, there was laughter.
Boyce found it hard to swallow the crab bun inside his mouth, how come it had no taste?
He put down his chopsticks, “I don’t want to eat anymore.”
He did not even have a girlfriend. If he ate any more, he would become fat and he would not be able to find a girlfriend.
Samuel brought Boyce some food, “Mr. Shawn, I think it’s better for you to eat.”
Boyce stroked Samuel’s head, “Samuel is very thoughtful as you bring me food.”
Samuel took a piece of roast pork and stuffed it into his mouth, whimpering, “Even if you’re not fat, you’re not able to find a girlfriend, so you might as well eat.” Boyce was speechless.
Haha —
The New Year’s Eve dinner ended in delightful laughter. They left the restaurant and the car drove to a vast area because Simona wanted to play fireworks.
In the boot, there were a lot of fireworks, big and small, various kinds of them.
The little girl was so happy.
Boyce lit two ‘Little Stars’ for her first. It was named so because it looked like stars when it exploded.
She took one to Loredana, “Mummy, Mummy this is for you.”
The fireworks lit up the little girl’s face. Sometimes it was bright, sometimes it was dark.
Loredana bent down to take it. Then, the little girl ran away. She wore snow boots and they were covered in snow.
Cormac and Loredana stood side by side. Boyce led them to set up the big fireworks far away.
“This is, for the first time, they celebrated New Year at home. There are no fireworks abroad.” Looking at the children’s happiness, Loredana smiled lightly.
Cormac hugged her by the shoulders and asked, “Are you happy?”
“Happy, but not perfect.” It was because Maxina was not there. This was the first time she was not by her side during New Year.
She had slight discomfort.
And a little regret.
It was because she had found her two children a father this year, but she did not spend this reunion year with them. Because of her absence, this reunion seemed less perfect.
Cormac could sense her depression clearly. He deliberately buried his head in her coat, “When did you fall down, how come I don’t know? Let me see if the fall is serious.” As he spoke, his hand reached inside her coat to lift her jumper.
Loredana was startled and pushed him away, not knowing if it was because her force was too strong, or if Cormac did it on purpose, or because his foot slipped, the moment Loredana pushed him, his body leaned back and he fell down. He grabbed Loredana’ hand and pulled her down together.
“Ah…”
Loredana instinctively shrieked. Afraid of alerting Boyce and the children, she immediately shut her mouth.
Cormac’s back landed first. In the process of falling downwards, his coat opened up and Loredana fell on his chest.
Loredana tried to stand up but he pulled hard so Loredana fell down again. He held her head and tilted his head slightly to kiss her on the lips.
Her long hair slid down and covered their faces. His kiss was deep and his body was hot although it was snowing.
His other hand fondled the back of her waist with her jumper on.
Loredana struggled.
“Don’t move.” He loosened his grip and said gently, “I’ll be more gentle next time.”
At that moment, there was a ping! A fireball shot up into the sky and exploded with a deafening bang. It was like a huge, gorgeous umbrella, enveloping the sky in glorious, beautiful light. Loredana pretended not to hear it and took advantage of the moment when he was watching the fireworks to get up and run away.
Loredana ran in the ‘roaming sky of stars and fire’. It was an extraordinary year. Many things had happened. Each and every one of them was out of her expectation. This year might be lucky, might be bad, migh be full of surprises, full of — surprises!
Holding her two children’s hands, she stood amidst the white, looking up at the splendour blooming in the sky.
Cormac’s coat was covered with snow as he stood there. He looked at the three backs, one large and two small, which were not far away.
This year, was it unexpected for him?
How could it not be — a surprise?!
They had to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. They played outside for a long time before going back. Pushing open the door of their room, they were greeted with warmth. Jayden and Victoria were sitting on the sofa, watching TV. The Chinese New Year Gala was playing on the TV. Coral and another maid had prepared a lot of fruits and dried fruits on the table.
It was not known that whether it was because they had too much fun, the food they ate during dinner was all digested. When the two children went inside the house, they ate again while watching TV.
New Book: Beginning with a Daring Encounter
Celsie was tired of being labeled as an introvert, workaholic, and dull virgin by her friends. Determined to prove them wrong, she made a bet that she would do something daring on her 25th birthday. Now that the day had arrived, it was time to fulfill her promise. On her daring to-do list, there was one task: a one-night stand with someone.