Chapter 141



“…”

Hillary looked incredulously at Mia.

She even suspected if she had misheard a moment ago. What was that heartless woman saying? Did she not feel the slightest reluctance to part with her?

She clenched her fists. “What did you say, Mia?”

Mia met his eyes and sheepishly repeated, “I’ll be a good girl, Mom. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“…”

Hillary felt a surge of frustration that she couldn’t shake off. The look in her eyes gradually became menacing. She wanted to lose her temper and make a scene, but when she saw the man sitting on the couch, she eventually suppressed the urge.

As expected, those not related by blood would never be faithful!

He had never dared to treat her badly in all these years; or at least, he hadn’t dared to mistreat her, lest Joel find out. All he had done was complain that Mia wasn’t a boy, and even then Joel had given him a warning.

Hillary wanted to say more, but Joel looked at her dispassionately and said, “Aren’t you in a hurry? You can leave after you say goodbye to Mia.”

“… Okay.”

Hillary didn’t dare say anything else. She nodded, took a deep breath and went upstairs. After doing some simple packing of her things, she came back downstairs and said, “I just grabbed some of the clothes I usually wear, Joel. I’m going home for a few days for now….. I’ll come back when you’re not so angry anymore, okay?”.

Joel neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely flashed her a small smile.

Hillary couldn’t help but get lost in his smile.

Who wouldn’t fall in love with such a handsome and kind man?

She left the house with her suitcase. As he left, Joel made his way toward Mia. He picked up his daughter and looked at her small oval face. Her big eyes were full of puzzlement.

Suddenly, he asked her, “Mia, let’s not let mommy come back anymore, okay?”

Mia was still young, so she didn’t understand any of this. Her eyes just blinked a little as she listened to what her father said.

To be honest, her mother treated her well.

Although she had a nanny who took care of her daily needs since she was a baby, her mother took her to the garden in the morning and picked her up at night every day. She even slept with her.

However, she had never told anyone that she was afraid of her mother.

There was no love in her mother’s eyes when she looked at her. The way she smiled when she looked at her was more like the way she smiled when she inspected the jewelry she had bought….

Her mother often told her to make her father happy. She wanted him to be obedient, forbade him to make noise and cause trouble for no reason. She forbade her to do this and that, making the shy girl even more timid than she was in the beginning….

Later, she even complained resentfully from time to time: “It’s all because you’re not a boy. That’s why your father doesn’t want to marry me….”

After hearing too much of that, she had become a bit fearful of her mother before she realized it.

When he said he was leaving, Mia had actually breathed a sigh of relief inside.

She stretched out her little arms and put them around Joel’s neck. She sounded as shy as ever as she said, “…. Okay.”

As soon as she said that, Joel called the butler.

The butler immediately approached respectfully and asked, “Do you need anything, sir?”.

Joel looked up to the second floor with upturned eyes and said, “Pick up the things from that woman’s room and send them to the Joneses. Don’t let her back in the house.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seeing the butler go upstairs and have people collect the things from the bedroom, Mia was inexplicably relieved.

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

At Club Prism.

Justin was ordering food in the private lounge.

As head of the Hunts, he actually had nutritionists specially tasked with managing his diet. Justin had always preferred bland tasting food and had no particular desire to eat well.

He was equally strict with Pete.

However, he looked at Cherry at that instant and said, “You can order anything you want.”

Cherry pointed to the ice cream and said, “Dad, this looks delicious, yes!”.

The atmosphere hadn’t quite warmed up yet. Having ice cream at this time of year easily sent one into a seizure, so Justin was quite hesitant. However, when he made eye contact with his daughter’s big, innocent eyes, he nodded and said, “… Okay, we’ll order it!”.

Cherry pointed to the fries. “Daddy, I want to eat these!”

Fried, greasy foods like potato chips were obviously unhealthy. Justin never ate those things, but he said, “Okay, we’ll order it!” nonetheless.

“Dad, I want this too!”

“Okay, we’ll order it!”

“Okay, we’ll order it!”

“Okay, we’ll order it!”

As a result, the table was full of haphazard, messy dishes before Nora arrived.

The table was full of food, but they both just looked at the food without touching it.

Cherry swallowed saliva. “Why isn’t Mommy here yet?”

Justin raised his eyebrows as well. He was about to answer when the sound of footsteps suddenly reached them from the doorway.

Justin couldn’t help but say, “Your mommy likes to be pretty late, huh.”

Cherry nodded. She already had the ice cream in her hand and was ready to eat it as soon as Mommy sat down.

Click, click, click, click, click.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Something suddenly occurred to Justin and he commented, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mom in heels.”

He couldn’t help but crack a smile the moment he said that.

The woman had always worn flat heels every time he’d seen her in the past, but she’d suddenly put on high heels for today’s date. Had she put on makeup and dressed up especially for it?

It seemed he wasn’t the only one looking forward to lunch after all.

Cherry blinked, however, and tilted her head to one side, hesitantly. She replied, “But Mom never buys high heels!”.

Didn’t she ever buy heels?

Just as Justin heard what she said, someone suddenly pushed the door open. Instantly, a tall, slender woman with long arms and legs appeared in the doorway. Before she entered, her strong voice had already reached them.

“Nora, how can you choose a nice place like this when you ask me to buy you dinner? I’m telling you in advance: you’ll also have to shell out some money if it’s too expensive? No, wait, what the hell?”

A surprised Tanya stared at the two people in the room and unconsciously said, “Did I get the wrong room?”

But that didn’t make sense! Cherry was in the room.

She swallowed hard, picked up her cell phone and called Nora.

“Where are you?”

Nora’s lazy voice rang on the phone.

“Mr. Hunt was the one who did you the favor. Why do I have to be present when you’re the one inviting him to dinner?”

Tanya, “?????”

Justin, “????”

Cherry was the only one who suddenly relaxed completely. She happily poked at her ice cream with a spoon.

“…”

The private room was suddenly plunged into an eerie silence. Finally, after Tanya hung up, she smiled awkwardly and said, “I’ll take care of the bill, Mr. Hunt. Please enjoy your meal with Cherry….. Pit.”

Tanya quickly slipped away.

With Nora absent and Justin indulging her, Cherry finally had her fill of food.

Only when her belly was round and bulging did she finally go home to her sullen-faced father.

Since the villa was undergoing renovations, the two stayed at the Hunt mansion that night. It was already late, so they didn’t see the other Hunts there.

Cherry dutifully went to bed after Justin sent her to her room.

At one o’clock in the morning.

For some reason, Justin woke up suddenly. He went to the next door with the intention of covering Cherry. As soon as he opened the door, however, he saw his daughter holding her belly with her hands, her forehead covered in sweat ….

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