Chapter 19: Chapter 19



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Pete blushed. “No, no, it’s okay, Mom.”

Nora laughed softly and said, “Cherry’s a big girl now.”

Pete ran off in a hurry after Nora let go of him.

He stood in front of the bedroom door and listened to the movements inside. The sound of running water, the sound of someone in the bathtub, and the sound of Mom walking around in slippers after she finished bathing.

After confirming that Mom was dressed, he opened the door and saw her lying on the bed. With her eyes closed, she said, “Mommy has a very important operation in two days, Cherry. I need a tremendous amount of sleep for the next few days, so I’ll go to bed first, OK?”

“… Okay, Mommy.”

Her sister had told her earlier that Mommy was in poor health and that her hobby was sleeping. She was usually asleep or engaged in troublesome matters in order to sleep.

Therefore, she was not to disturb Mommy.

Two minutes later, when he heard steady breathing coming from where the bed was, Pete tiptoed over to his mother. Her small form climbed onto the bed. Then, he found a spot in Nora’s arms and snuggled in there. Before he knew it, he had fallen sound asleep while listening to her heartbeat.

How wonderful.

Now he had a mother too.

That’s why he didn’t see Cherry’s SOS messages on the cell phone in his pocket:

“Help, Pete!”

“Let’s swap positions again, Pete!”

“Sob sob, I don’t want daddy anymore!”

Cherry took the opportunity while Justin was pouring himself a glass of water to send another text message to her brother on his cell phone. Seeing that he still didn’t respond, she could only give up and start tackling her homework.

She bit down on her pen and stared at her textbook, her expression furrowed as she frowned.

She, who had grown up abroad, was still in the literacy stage. She didn’t understand any of the questions on the papers.

Justin sat next to her when she returned.

It had been half a year since he had tutored his son. Therefore, he didn’t know what his current progress was. He pointed to the simplest question and asked, “Do you know how to solve this?”

Cherry’s big eyes were completely blank.

Justin was silent for a moment. Then he looked back at the syllabus from half a year ago. “And this?”

Cherry shook her head vigorously.

“…”

Justin stared at her. He wanted to ask Pete why he couldn’t solve the question now when he could have done it half a year ago. Besides, was he really shaking his head when he hadn’t even read the question?

Cherry wordlessly suggested, “Why don’t we learn about history, Dad? I’m really good at it.”

“… Okay.”

Justin opened the textbook. “Who is the first president of the United States?”.

Cherry’s eyes lit up. She raised her hand and said, “I know!”.

Justin breathed a sigh of relief. His son had fallen behind in math, but it would also help if he did well in history classes.

No sooner had the thought formed than he heard her yell, “Tom Cruise!”

“…It’s George Washington!”

Cherry blinked. “Oh, right, I must have misremembered. Next question, please, Dad.”

“Which American politician was assassinated in 1963?”

“Leonardo DiCaprio!” Cherry answered immediately.

“…”

Justin took a deep breath and told himself not to get angry. His son had just started talking some more. He shouldn’t lose his temper. He decided to try again. “Who invented the light bulb?”

Filled with confidence, Cherry replied, “Keanu Reeves!”.

As Justin looked at his son’s usually stern countenance, which seemed more alive and animated today, he couldn’t help but call out, “Peter Hunt!”

Cherry looked up, her expression seeming eagerly to seek praise. “Aren’t I great, Dad? There’s still so much more I know.”

Justin was perplexed.

But upon seeing the look on his son’s face, he immediately restrained his temper.

The tutors were the ones who had taught him all that, so what was he going to lose his temper with the boy for? He would simply ‘reward’ those two tutors even richly!

Justin said crestfallen, “Let’s continue tomorrow.”

“Okay, Dad!”

Cherry let out a huge sigh of relief. Seeing Lawrence peek his head into the room every now and then because he probably had something to talk to his father about, she carefully got down from the chair and said, “I’m going to go play now!”

“…”

Justin rubbed his temples as he watched her run out.

Lawrence entered the room. With a complicated look on his face, he said, “Pete seems to be doing worse than the tutor had told him. If this keeps up, he’ll probably fall to last place in the end-of-year evaluation, right? Do you want to quickly contact other tutors? There’s still time until the end of the year…”

The Hunts conducted evaluations for the children at the end of each year.

In the past, Pete always came first. That’s how he was known to outsiders for having a high IQ.

Yet his grades had gotten so much worse in just half a year.

No wonder it was said that although children had good memories, they were also prone to forgetting. As soon as they stopped learning, their grades immediately suffered.

In Justin’s eyes flared flames of fury. He closed his eyes and pondered for a long time before sighing and saying, “Forget it. Let’s not make him do it anymore.”

Precisely because she had placed too much importance on education in the past, she always quarreled with her son.

But when she saw how he smiled and how he cried, how he made a fuss, it was then that she realized that her son’s mental health was more important than anything else.

Even if her son really did forget everything he had learned and always came last in exams, he could just live day to day in the future. It would pave the way for his son’s future.

Justin, who had always been bold and decisive when confronted with the unscrupulous commercial world, hesitated for a moment. Then he asked, “Do you find Pete much different today?”

The abuse had been ongoing for a long time, but her son had never mentioned anything.

However, not only had he spoken up today, but his personality seemed to have become much more cheerful.

For some reason, Justin suddenly thought about what the woman had said downstairs? How did she know that tutors were troublemakers?

Had Pete been in contact with her all this time?

“Miss Smith might have counseled Pete,” said Lawrence, thoughtfully. “Speaking of which, she really isn’t a simple woman. After all, many women have tried to curry favor with Pete to get close to you, but all have been unsuccessful.”

Lawrence couldn’t even keep track of how many suitors Justin had had to handle in the past anymore.

He thought for a while and asked, “Do you want to consider giving Miss Smith a chance to approach you if she really has a positive influence on Pete?”

Justin hesitated for a while before asking, “What does she do now?”.

A hesitant look appeared again on Lawrence’s countenance. “When the cleaners went to clean the room just now, they found out from the nanny that she is asleep, and she has forbidden them to disturb her. Her aunt’s life is still in limbo, and yet she can still fall asleep?”

A person who could do that was too insensitive.

Justin’s expression darkened. “Don’t let her have contact with Pete that often again.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lawrence wanted to say more, but Justin suddenly realized that the little boy had fallen asleep on the couch.

He motioned for Lawrence to be quiet. Then he reached over and picked Cherry up, intending to carry her into the bedroom.

Suddenly, a dazed Cherry threw her arms around his neck and said, “Mama, I found my big brother. He looks just like me…”.

Justin paused and frowned.

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