“I don’t want it. Why don’t you take it?”
Kyle did not even bother to cast a glance at the card.
Hesitating, Juan wondered what to do. Technically, Kyle’s Grandma is my Grandma too. A grandmother giving money to her grandchildren is not anything new. Since he doesn’t want it, it would still be fine if I take it, right? Hehehe.
Pleased at his own reasoning, he tucked the card into a pocket for safekeeping.
“I’ll be leaving now!” he told his brother.
At Kyle’s nod, he headed into the kitchen to grab the bag with the take-out containers, lugging it out of there. Even though the bag was quite heavy as Juan was sagged with the weight, he was not deterred as he snuck out of Hillside Villa with some considerable effort.
When he finally returned to their house at Parkland Garden, he yelled out happily, “Come and have a feast!”
Maya, who was in the midst of drawing, tossed her color pencils aside and zoomed towards the living room.
“I knew that you would be the first one here, Maya,” he teased his sister.
Ignoring him, the little girl’s eyes were glued to the food on the table. “Juan, what is that?”
“Delicacies that you’ve never even seen before! Where is Mommy and Nina?”
“Mommy’s in her room. Nina isn’t eating!”
Right on cue, Nina entered the living room and glared at her sister. She soon demanded, “Who had said that I wasn’t eating?”
Maya tilted her head to look at her. “I thought you’d said that you’d wanted to be a fairy? Fairies only drink flower nectar!”
“Oh yeah? Well, you’re more than welcome to only drink flower nectar. In fact, you probably should!”
“I’m not the one who wants to be a fairy. What a greedy fairy! Shame on you!”
“Why you-! You’re a… a fat pig! Shame on you!”
Flushing red in anger, Nina could not believe her ears. She was usually the one who had the upper hands in these arguments. Yet, somehow, Maya was getting increasingly good at retorting these days. How annoying!
Juan was quick to step in before a physical fight broke out. “Alright, that’s enough. The both of you, stop arguing. There’s more than enough here for everyone! Go tell Mommy to come out and eat.” With that said, he turned to grab some plates from the kitchen.
“Juan, I’ll get the plates while you go and see Mommy. She’s hurt.”
Mommy’s hurt?
He twisted around to look at Nina. “What? How?”
Nina pointed at Nicole’s room, clearly indicating that she had wanted Juan to ask her himself. After that, she headed for the kitchen.
He went inside the room and hurried to his mother’s side. She was currently sitting up in bed, leaning back against some pillows. He fussed over her, the concern on his face obvious.
When he found out how she had gotten hurt, he sighed.
“I was gone for merely a day! Why can’t you take better care of yourself? Aren’t you supposed to be the adult here?”
“It was an emergency and the situation was dire…”
“And that’s why your only thought was to save Kyle at all cost,” he mumbled to himself while staring at her bandaged feet. “Are you still in pain?”
“Nope. I’m fine now!”
The bedroom door opened once more and Maya entered with a huge crab. “Mommy, this is for you!”
“Where did you get that!” Nicole exclaimed in surprise.
“Juan brought it back.”
That’s from Evan?
Still angered by the mere thought of the man, she replied almost instantly, saying that she was not hungry as she refused to eat it.
“Mommy, I thought you’d loved crabs?” Juan blinked his huge eyes at her innocently.
I do! But I’m not going to touch a crab that’s been through that jerk’s house!
“I don’t feel like eating crab today. You guys enjoy.”
Despite uttering such words, Nicole found that her grumbling stomach had soon woken her up in the middle of the night. Hence, she grudgingly dug out the leftover food to eat.
The next day.
Nicole got out of bed, only to realize that every step she took sent sharp spikes of agony coursing through her. This was rather strange, as her feet should have felt a lot better after a night of rest.
Nina made breakfast for all of them. After the meal, Juan suggested that he accompany Nicole to Hillside Villa.
“You can’t! What if Evan finds out…”
“Don’t worry, Mommy. I promise I’ll keep out of sight!”
“That’s still too dangerous.”
“It’ll be fine. I’ve completely familiarized myself with that villa by now, so I won’t be discovered. Trust in my intelligence and abilities, Mommy!” Juan replied confidently.
She stared at her son for a few short seconds before caving in. Reaching out to rub his head, she warned him, “Just remember to be careful!”
“Yeah!”
Gathering her equipment, the mother and son took a taxi to Hillside Villa.
To be on the safe side, Juan got out of the car a shorter distance away from the villa. Nicole only exited after the taxi stopped right in front of the building.
It took a lot of effort for her to even reach the living room. The pain coming from her feet was reaching the realm of excruciating and she felt like she was about to die from it. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead. She did not even have the energy to look at Evan as she collapsed on the couch.
Evan’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
She’s being extremely rude!
“Who said you could have a seat?”
The moment his cold voice rang out, rage boiled within Nicole. She was sorely tempted to curse the man six ways to Sunday.
However, she knew that she could not afford to have an unreserved argument with the man. No, she had to be smart about this!
Struggling hard to reign in her temper, she plastered a pitiful look on her face before she raised her head to meet his gaze. “Mr. Seet, I’ve injured my feet and they hurt terribly. I honestly couldn’t bear standing a moment longer!”
She slowly raised her legs to place her feet on the coffee table. “Look at how serious my injuries are!”
His dark eyes soon focused in on her feet. “How did you hurt them?”
She froze. There was no way that she could tell him the truth! Thinking quickly, she decided that a partial truth would be the best option here. “I had accidentally stepped on something that I shouldn’t have.”
“Which was?”
“Rocks!”
“You injured yourself this badly by stepping on rocks? What a weirdo!”
“Well, more like gravel. Why don’t you try running barefoot on those sharp, tiny rocks yourself!”
Furrowing his brows, Evan snorted and answered flippantly, “I’mnot crazy, unlike a certain someone. Or is there another reason for your masochistic actions?”
She blinked and spluttered in outrage, “Y-you! I’m not crazy! I didn’t have a choice on the matter!”
“Someone who’s done something bad will always find an excuse to justify their actions!” he declared in a tone that paved no room for argument.
Nicole could only fume in silence, unable to release her rage. How dare this b*****d slander me! I should smash that vase on his head until it breaks and then stab him with its broken pieces! I’ll gladly bathe in his blood!
“Nothing to say to that? Does that mean that you admit to it?”
The blasted man’s voice dragged her away from her violent thoughts and back to reality.
Mentally chanting at herself to calm down, she stared back at him and explained, “I didn’t do anything bad. I ran into some people who had tried to attack me and I’d dropped my shoes in my desperation to escape. That’s how I injured myself.”
“Someone tried to attack you?”He had an expression of disbelief on his face.
Sighing tiredly, she muttered, “Yes. I have no idea why though.”
Evan scoffed and snarked, “It’s probably because they were blind!”
She nearly choked on her saliva at his words.
Blind, my ass! I might not have money but I sure as hell have the looks! After all, weren’t you one of the many victims to my beauty? Why else would we have these four?
Such thoughts had her rolling her eyes at the man in contempt.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.