âIâ¦â
Her heart was conflicted, she had to admit. It wasnât that she didnât have feelings for Matthew, it was just that she couldnât bring herself to admit it.
She didnât want to think about it.
What seemed close wasnât close, what seemed far wasnât far. She didnât want to open up those vague emotions and go to the bottom of whether it was love or not.
It hurt him to think so much.
When Jessica asked him, he didnât know how to answer. His heart seemed to be filled with all kinds of mixed emotions.
âWhy arenât you saying anything?â Jessicaâs eyes were red, âMaybe, now that heâs treating you well, have you thought about the future? Can Samuel and Simona accept it? Wonât they ever think about it?â
âMom, I donât want to think about it now. By the way, we may have to live here for a while. Iâm afraid our residence is not safe.â Dolores deliberately changed the subject.
Jessica was not willing to let this topic go, âWas it because of him that you wanted to come back from abroad?â
If she hadnât come back, maybe these things wouldnât have happened.
Dolores bowed her head and said nothing, clearly agreeing silently with Jessica.
Jessica had wanted to say a few words to her, she couldnât let herself be blinded by the good thing in front of her.
Instead of speaking her mind, Jessica suddenly changed direction and said, âThe matters of your life are for you to decide.â
Step into new worlds at g Ɐ lnÏ Î½ð® âsâ¤conn She was an adult now and had her own mind and ideas.
Too much interference could push her around.
Jessica sighed, âIf itâs for the safety of your children, we should live here.â Thinking about what Sampson had done, she still had fears left.
Dolores knew what worried her and said, âDonât worry, Iâll protect myself.â
Inside the villaâ¦
Matthew left Samuel asleep in the downstairs bedroom.
Coral stood in the doorway, watching him.
Since Matthew had entered, she followed him closely, as if she had a lot to say.
âDo you know yet?â asked Coral from the doorway.
Matthew lifted Samuelâs bedspread, stood up and looked at her, âKnow what?â
Coral was anxious, âThat theyâre your kids!â.
Matthewâs eyes turned somber as Coral seemed to have stepped on a heartstrings with this topic.
It was something he had deliberately ignored, suddenly she asked about it and he was forced to confront the issue directly and he was not amused.
Coral frowned. Matthewâs attitude was very strange to her â was she wrong? She thought.
Why was he looking at her like that?
Coral sighed, ran to get the picture, walked over to the bed and compared it to Samuelâs face, âLookâ¦â
Samuel was hurt and his face was swollen, completely different from when she had last seen him.
She stared at him.
âWhy is he hurt?â Coral felt really distressed. He was so cute and smart when she had seen him before.
Matthew didnât want to discuss this matter with the others, âDonât mention his identity in the future.â
âMaybeâ¦â
Without giving up, Coral tried to continue.
âI was pregnant before we were married. The children are not mine.â Matthew quickly interrupted her.
He had never touched her, wouldnât he know?
The thought of her with someone else in bed depressed him and made it hard to breathe.
For that reason, she didnât want anyone to mention the identity of those children to her.
He didnât want anyone to talk to him about his past.
He didnât want to know anything about it.
âYou⦠What are you talking about?â Coral was shocked. Her hands were shaking and she could only speak after a long moment.
Matthew married someone who had already been pregnant?
How was that possible?
âI didnât think of her as that kind of indecent girl with no self-esteem, how was that possible?â Coral couldnât believe that Dolores was pregnant before she married Matthew.
âI know the truth and I donât want to listen to other peopleâs speculation about it.â After saying this, Matthew left the room.
It was about Coral, he wouldnât have said as much if it was anyone else.
Coralâs mind was a mess. She looked at the pictures in her hands and at Samuel who was lying on the bed. Although his face was swollen, she still remembered what he looked like when he was uninjured.
How could Dolores have conceived him before marriage?
How?
It was clear that he looked like Matthew when he was a boy.
Coral still couldnât get out of the shock of this incident.
She didnât know how to get back to the room, she felt like she was floating in space.
Dolores and Jessica entered the villa.
Jessica went to the guest bedroom to see if Simona was awake. Dolores went to the kitchen to get some ice cubes from the freezer. She wrapped them in a towel and applied it to Samuelâs face.
The sky gradually darkened and turned red as the sun sank.
Coral had cleared her emotions and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Simona woke up, finding herself in unfamiliar surroundings she clung to Jessica and stayed in her arms.
Jessica was also unfamiliar with the place so she held Simona in the room and did not come out.
In the study room, Matthew hung up the phone and looked at the time. It was five oâclock. He got up and walked out of the study room. The room was silent.
Occasionally, the sound of Coral preparing dinner came from the kitchen.
Matthew opened the bedroom door and saw Dolores sitting in the chair next to the bed with a towel on the table.
Samuel was still sleeping.
It looked like Dolores was taking care of him.
She walked in and looked at the boy lying on the bed, eyelashes unfurled on his cheeks. He reached out, held Doloresâ head and squeezed it in his embrace comforting her, âDonât worry too much.â He hummed.
Matthew was standing and Dolores was sitting. He held her head so that her face was resting on his abdomen. She could feel his abs through the shirt, warm and hard.
âThank you.â Dolores said sincerely as he reached out and wrapped his hand around her waist.
This time the incident had happened so suddenly, that, if it hadnât been for Matthewâs help, she didnât know what would have happened.
Fortunately, both children were fine now.
Matthewâs body froze, his thoughts confused for a moment.
Dolores rarely took the initiative to have physical contact with him. Did this mean she was slowly opening up to him?
She grabbed his head gently, rubbing his ears and the skin behind them, occasionally kneading his earlobes.
It seemed that her earlobes were a little more sensitive, she shivered slightly.
Sensing her reaction, Matthew leaned over and kissed her hair, her forehead, the corner of her eyes, her cheeksâ¦.
âHmmâ¦â
A soft moan was heard, followed by Samuelâs slightly husky voice, âMom.â
Dolores quickly pulled back, pushing Matthew away and quickly looked around to see Samuel, âAre you awake?â
Matthew didnât know what to say.
âYes.â Samuel looked at Matthew, reached under the comforter and held the sheet tightly. Actually, he had woken up when Matthew had come in.
He had purposely kept quiet to see how he and Dolores were getting along.
He wasnât ready to see it. They were divorced, but he still wanted to kiss his mother.
He really hated it!
He looked up at Matthew and smiled, hissing painfully as the corners of his lips stretched, âThank you, really!â
Matthew frowned. Seeing her smile, he could smell the conspiracy.
âDonât talk! You have a wound in your mouth.â Dolores felt sorry for her son as she saw the corner of his lips hurt when he spoke.
âMom, donât you know?â Samuel pretended to be surprised.
âKnow what?â Dolores looked at her son blankly.
Matthew looked at him warningly.
Samuel pretended not to see him and said to Dolores, âMommy, I was kidnapped, but it was intentional.â
âWhat?â Dolores couldnât contain herself.
Was his brain affected? Why was he saying he had been intentionally kidnapped?
Samuel continued to play innocent, âYes, it was his idea for Sampson to kidnap me.â
He pointed to Matthew.
.
.
.