Chapter 403



.

The reason Nora knew about the children’s birthday was that on that day, every year, Tanya was in a bad mood.

When she was abroad, no matter where Nora was, she was always by Tanya’s side on that day.

The two of them did nothing. Nora slept while Tanya was in the room, dancing with the birthday present she had bought some time ago.

Normally, when she woke up, Tanya was covered in sweat, but she didn’t feel tired. If she kept this up, she would eventually collapse.

Every year she fell seriously ill.

It was as if she wanted to use this method to vent her longing for her son for the next year.

Therefore, Nora remembered her son’s birthday very well.

She couldn’t help but doubt Mia’s identity.

Both Tanya’s son and Mia were Joel’s children. Besides, they were only five days apart….

She narrowed her eyes and began to think about the relationship between Mia and Tanya….

“Mom, may I?”

Pete’s words interrupted Nora’s thoughts.

She looked at him and nodded. “Okay, I’ll ask your uncle when he gets back.”

If she took Mia to play, she would definitely ask Joel.

With that, she yawned loudly and turned around to walk towards the bed. “It’s too late now, why isn’t he back yet? I’ll go to bed and wait for him.”

Pete: “…”

Sure enough, half an hour later, even breathing could be heard in the bed.

Pete sighed helplessly and put the pen down in his hand.

He walked over to the bed and gently covered Nora with the blanket. Then he went out and downstairs to sit on the living room couch.

When Joel returned home, this was the scene he saw.

Pete was clearly drowsy and anxious. His little head was nodding, but he had still forced himself not to sleep.

Joel looked at the time. It was already 11 o’clock at night. He reached over and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Pete suddenly woke up and said excitedly, “Dude, you’re finally back!”.

He jumped off the couch and looked at Joel. “Tomorrow, Dad and Mom are taking me and Cherry…. To the amusement park. I want to take Mia with me, okay?”

Joel looked at him and touched his head. After some thought, he said, “Okay.”

Pete let out a sigh of relief.

Joel reached down and picked him up before carrying him upstairs.

After carrying him to the bedroom, he asked, “Where’s your mother?”

Pete said helplessly, “Mom said she’d go to bed and wait for you to come back to ask. In the end, she fell asleep…”

Joel: “…”

Joel took Pete to his room, then waited for him to shower and change into his pajamas. Then, he sent Pete to Nora’s bedroom.

He watched as she tiptoed in and returned to the bedroom relieved.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but think that Nora was such a carefree mother. Whether it was with Cherry or Pete, they were both so level-headed and independent.

After returning to his room, he washed up and lay down on the bed. She pulled out her phone and opened Tanya’s Facebook.

Her profile picture was of a ripe grape.

Joel stared at his phone screen for a long time, not knowing what to send her. Just as he was stunned, he suddenly saw the words “Typing…” in the dialog box.

Joel instantly brightened up.

What was Tanya going to tell him?

However, after waiting more than ten minutes, she said nothing.

Joel couldn’t help but send a message: “?”

Tanya replied, “?”

Joel: “Where is the message?”

Tanya: “What message?”

Joel smiled and typed, “You’ve been typing for almost twenty minutes. You should have written an 800 word message by now? Where is it?”

Tanya: “!!!!”

Tanya: “I wasn’t texting you!”

Tanya: “You’re wrong!”

Tanya: “Oh, I was watching TV and accidentally opened your chat window.”

Seeing that she wasn’t being honest, Joel continued typing with a smile. “What are you watching?”

Tanya: “A show on F/X television.”

Joel: “Is it Friends? I haven’t watched it in a long time.”

Tanya: “Yeah.”

Joel laughed again, “But on FOX television they’re playing a melodramatic drama.”

Tanya: “…”

Tanya: “Can’t I watch a rerun?”

Joel: “Okay, you can watch whatever you want. Whatever you say is fine.”

After these words, the two paused for a moment.

Joel suddenly remembered when he and Tanya were still in college.

At that time, they had once had a disagreement over a small matter. As for the specific reason, he couldn’t remember it clearly. However, Tanya’s eyes were red-rimmed from crying and she shouted at him, “Do you even know how to be a boyfriend? Don’t you know that a girlfriend is always right no matter what she does? You are a very serious person. Apart from me, no one else will love you!”.

At the time, they were young and didn’t know how to love each other, let alone how to love each other. They had stumbled forward, confused.

However, he had moved on. Unlike now, when he was restrained and careful in everything he did.

A warm feeling suddenly flowed through Joel’s chest. He sent a message, “I missed you.”

Tanya did not respond for a long time.

Joel lowered his eyes and sent another message, “Nora is taking Cherry and Pete to play at the amusement park tomorrow. Mia wants to go too. Do you want to go?”.

This time, Tanya replied, “I’ll consider it.”

Joel laughed softly. “Yes. How long do you want to consider it?”

Tanya replied proudly, “Two minutes.”

Joel said warmly, “Okay.”

Two minutes later, Joel asked pointedly, “Go ahead.”

Tanya: “Since you’re begging, I’ll go.”

Joel laughed.

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

The next day when Nora woke up, the sun was high in the sky.

She grabbed her phone groggily and was about to look at the time when she opened her eyes and saw four heads staring at her from her bed.

Mia and Tanya were on the left, both holding their chins.

Cherry and Pete were speechless.

Nora was shocked. “What are they doing?”

Her voice was hoarse.

Tanya: “Waiting for you to wake up to go to the amusement park.”

Nora: “?”

Stunned, she looked at her phone and realized it was already 11 am.

Nora rubbed her head and sat up. “…Why didn’t they wake me up?”

Tanya looked at Cherry. “You need to ask your little darling about this.”

Cherry said, “Mommy, you can’t be disturbed when you’re sleeping!”.

Pete said, “Mommy, it’s okay. It’s okay if we play less, but you have to get enough sleep.”

Nora: “…”

She pulled up the blanket and went to the bathroom. As she washed her face, she looked at Tanya and Mia in the mirror…. She suddenly remembered her suspicions from the night before.

.

.

.