She walked up to Fabian and waved her small hand.
Fabian understood. He squatted in front of Lillia, smiling.
Lillian’s clear, large eyes gleamed radiantly as she reached out her fair little hands to hold Fabian’s palm. She then placed the candy which she had been keeping properly all this time into Fabian’s palm, gesturing to the man to hold it tightly.
Fabian’s eyes glinted, feeling touched in the softest spot in his heart.
The softness, however, quickly hardened for some reason.
“Long time no see, Lily. Let me take you out to play, okay?” Fabian coaxed.
Without any hesitation, Lillian nodded with fervor, her pure and adorable baby face beaming with joy.
Upon seeing Lillian and Fabian interacting with such familiarity and Lilian’s joyful smile, the class teacher was more at ease with leaving Lillian with Fabian, but she gave Niamh a call all the same.
Niamh and Kendrick, who were still waiting at the airport enquiring about Fabian’s current location, had not expected to receive this call.
“Did you say that a young man named Johnson picked up my daughter?”
“That’s right. Lillian seemed to know him very well,” the class teacher said as she took a photo and sent it to Niamh. “This is the man. Please confirm it for me, Mrs. Waldburg.”
When Niamh had received the photo and taken a look, she and Kendrick were both shocked.
They had not expected Fabian to have arrived earlier, let alone expected that the first thing he did after arriving at Glendale was to find their precious daughter!
“Mrs. Waldburg, do you know this man?”
“Yes, I know him. He’s a friend of mine,” said Niamh as she hastily ran to the parking lot with Kendrick, “Miss Ina, could I trouble you to put my friend on the phone? I’ve not been able to contact him.”
The class teacher was about to hand Fabian the phone upon hearing that, but when she lifted her gaze, she saw that Fabian, Lilian on his arm, was already walking across the zebra crossing.
“Mrs. Waldburg, your friend had already left with Lily.”
These words somehow made Niamh begin to feel apprehensive.
Kendrick, who was just beside her, could tell that Niamh was worried, so he immediately comforted her. “Nia, don’t worry. Fabian won’t hurt Lily.”
Even so, Niamh was still concerned.
“He’s still not picking up his phone.”
Niamh started to feel increasingly uneasy. Their numbers had been blocked, so she had deliberately changed to a new number, yet Fabian still did not pick up her calls.
She was having misgivings about this. ‘What on earth happened? Why was Fabian suddenly treating them like strangers?’
While Fabian could be considered a stranger, his behavior toward their little princess was out of the ordinary.
Otherwise, why would he find Lillian immediately getting off the plane?
An amusement park nearby.
Since it was winter and the working hours, there were not many people at the park.
Even though the sun shone brightly, it was not enough to warm the body in the chilling winter.
Fabian was standing by the railing, watching Lillian who sat happily on the carousel. His face and eyes no longer held the warmth from earlier.
He narrowed his eyes, staring at the candy on the palm of his hand.
The candy wrapper had already faded, and the candy inside too had expired. Just like some other things, they had deteriorated in these two years.
However, he very well understood that, despite the faded wrapper and expired candy, some ingredients, like some relationships, still held unique meaning.
While still deep in thought, his phone started vibrating again.
He knew that it had to be from Niamh and Kendrick.
Fabian ignored it. When the carousel was slowing down, he walked up and waited for Lillian.
When the carousel stopped, he reached out and gently pulled Lillian into his arms.
Touching that soft petite body somehow dispelled the anxiety in Fabian’s heart.
He again carried Lillian to another amusement facility to play. He watched her play, staying with her the entire time.
As they leisurely walked around, he bought Lily a balloon, a doll, and sweet cotton candy.
Although children were undoubtedly very annoying and clingy creatures, yet Fabian did not find Lillian to be annoying in the slightest.
The only thing he found unfortunate was Lilian’s inability to speak.
The person who was responsible for causing Lillian’s inability for normal speech was his sister Lana.
‘Heh, Lana.’
She was dead. They were all dead.
All his family members were dead.
Thump!
While Fabian was lost in thought, he heard a sudden noise.
He lifted his gaze and saw that Lillian had fallen. He blanched immediately as he strode over to her.
“Lily, where does it hurt? Tell me, quickly!” Fabian’s eyes were filled with worry and concern.
Lillian pointed at her right knee where her sock was ripped, faintly revealing a scratch wound.
This should be very painful for a five- or six-year-old little girl, yet Lilian’s clear, wide, round eyes shed not a single tear.
She neither cried nor made a fuss. Her calmness and stubbornness greatly resembled Niamh’s.
However, Fabian felt his heart aching.
He scooped up Lillian with an arm and headed toward the doctor’s office.
The doctor immediately cleaned Lillian’s wounds, but for some reason, the blood on her knee seemed to keep coming, oozing out without end.
The doctor had no choice but to simply wrap some bandages around Lillian’s wound.
Fabian found this odd. ‘How could a wound keep on bleeding and not stop?’
Without hesitation, he carried Lillian to the nearest hospital.
Niamh had not been able to contact Fabian the entire time. She also did not know where Fabian had taken Lillian. Despite her uneasiness throughout this ordeal, she still believed that Fabian would certainly not hurt Lillian.
“Nia, I know where Fabian had taken Lily.” Kendrick sent Lillian’s location to Niamh’s phone.
This surprised Niamh. “Did you put a GPS tracker on Lillian?”
“That’s the work of our precious son,” Kendrick looked proud as he said that. “Even though Jack is only, he could sometimes think more comprehensively than we could.”
Niamh strongly agreed with this fact.
There were several instances where Kendrick had managed to save Niamh from trouble in the nick of time thanks to her son.
However, upon seeing Lilian’s location, Niamh’s heart started racing again.
“Why’s Lily in the hospital? Why did Fabian take Lily to the hospital when she’s fine?”
“Nia, let’s not worry too much yet. We’re heading over now, and we’ll know what happened as soon as we get there,” Kendrick comforted Niamh with a soft voice.
Niamh, however, was still feeling anxious, and this feeling continued to eat at her on the way to the hospital.
When they arrived at the hospital, Niamh was the first to get out of the car and went into the hospital. She ran hurriedly toward the outpatient service following the location Kendrick had sent her.
In her hurry, Niamh ran into a man as they both rounded the same corner.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m in a hurry…”
While Niamh was apologizing, she lifted her gaze to see a familiar face.
Compared to how he had previously looked, the handsome face in front of her had more hints of maturity.
“Fabian, I guess this counts as bumping into you,” Niamh said knowingly. “Why did you cut off all contact with us? Additionally, why did you take Lily away after getting off the plane? Where’s Lily? Why did you bring her to the hospital?”
Fabian listened to all of Niamh’s questions with a calm expression. His face, which used to have a self-indulgent look to it, let out a small smile.
“That’s a lot of questions. Which one would you like me to answer first?” Fabian’s tone was completely different from that of the past. His friendly, carefree tone was now laced with detachment and coldness.
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.