Chapter 12: Chapter 12

“Oh, are you an angel? You’re so cute that I want to steal you.”

Lori laughed in amusement with her melodious voice as Harmonie kissed Lori’s face passionately.

“I hope my niece is as adorable as Loreinne. Don’t you agree with me, Meli?

“Hmm. I totally agree.” Melodie answered while playing with Lori’s barbie-doll-like thick hair.

As Kendrich expected, Lori wouldn’t feel bored or hungry with their two youngest siblings. Two unmarried adult men suddenly having to take care of a toddler would cause chaos within this villa.

Or so was he thought, remembering Chleo’s son often threw toys in all directions when he was cranky. Therefore, Kendrich assumed all babies were equally troublesome and annoying. That’s why he asked for help by sending his two younger siblings to Germany.

But who would have thought? It turns out that Lori didn’t cry at all and was exceptionally lovable and sweet. This child never complained or whined.

.....

It made Kendrich inquisitive about the girl’s parents. He hoped Richard could find the parents soon even though it would be hard to be apart.

Although this child was lovely, they had to return her to her parents. Living with a biological family was much better than being with a stranger.

Kendrich approached his cousin, who was still busy dealing with his laptop, to find out the mother’s identity of the cute child.

“Did you find her mother?”

“No. There are so many women named Qiao Anxia. I can’t find the right one.”

“Qiao Anxia? Why does the child have an Asian mother? That kid doesn’t have the traits of an Asian, let alone from China.”

Richard did not respond and just looked straight at Lori, who was now playing with his sisters.

“What should we do, then?”

“I have another way. I told Doctor Chard to come here.”

“What for?”

Before Richard could answer, a butler approached them to announce the arrival of the doctor Richard had meant.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After telling the butler to let Doctor Chard come in, Richard got up and walked over to Lori.

“Hey, baby girl. Want to come with daddy for a bit?”

“Yes!” cried Lori with great enthusiasm and spread her arms as if she was sure Richard would carry her.

Richard laughed, seeing the enthusiasm and endless joy of the girl. Truly, this girl was full of enthusiasm and energy. Richard carried Lori easily, then tossed her up to fall right back into his arms, making Lori scream and laugh out loud.

“Again, again!”

“Again?” Richard repeated what he did to get that hearty bell-like laugh from the girl.

“Wow, I would have thought you were Raymond. Why do I feel that Richard is also ready to have children? Am I the only one who thinks like that?” Harmonie asked Melodie in a teasing tone.

“I also think the same. But, don’t you think you could see the resemblance after seeing them together?”

Kendrich and his two sisters looked at Richard and Lori with probing eyes. They noticed Lori’s nose and eyes were similar to Richard’s.

“Well, that’s true. They do have the resemblance.”

Kendrich planned to tease his cousin without knowing that Richard’s heart was beating fast, knowing Lori had a facial resemblance to him.

Richard decided to ignore their teasing and cleared his throat a few times.

“I will check her health on Doctor Chard. We will be back.”

“Why did you call the doctor so late at night? Lori looks healthy,” said Moni curiously.

“We can check her health tomorrow morning at the hospital,” added Kendrich, but his words turned on deaf ear as Richard had left and disappeared into his study room.

By the time he arrived at the room, Richard immediately explained his purpose of calling the doctor without further ado.

“Please test this child’s DNA with this blood.”

Richard wasn’t stupid to have his family’s doctor draw his own blood. He didn’t want his father to know the DNA test results because he knew that once his doctor found out that Lori was his daughter, this middle-aged man would definitely report it to his father.

Because of that, Richard had previously drawn his blood and put it in a small bottle. That way, Doctor Chard would not be suspicious of the owner of this blood and would not have to report the results of this test to his father.

“Hello little princess, how are you today?” the doctor started making small talk with Lori while he took the blood lancet from his kit.

“I’m excited!”

“Oh, yeah? What made you so happy today?”

Lori talked about anything while playing with her mother in the garden behind their house. Then they went to the airport together while having fun. What excited her the most was meeting Richard and playing with two of the nicest girls she had ever met.

No matter how enthusiastically Lori thought of Richard as her father, Lori didn’t mention or call Richard her daddy. Richard had promised he would reward her if she did not call him ‘daddy’ in front of this doctor.

“It’s a wonderful activity.” Doctor Chard silently thrust the blood lancet into Lori’s index finger without the girl noticing.

Lori was still chattering happily and completely unaware of the stinging feeling in her finger. Suddenly she raised her hand and hissed before Chard’s doctor even had time to wipe the blood off his finger.

“Shh. Wait a moment. Let the doctor wipe your blood first.”

Doctor Chard widened his eyes in shock to hear Richard openly telling the little girl that her finger was bleeding. The doctor was even more dumbfounded when he saw the baby girl put her index finger in her mouth instead.

There was no expression of horror or pain at the sight of her bloody finger-what a brave kid.