Chapter 112



As the car drove in the summer heat of July, the interior was filled with the cute and cuddly voice of who explained the situation for about ten minutes. “So here’s the situation and it’s a heart breaking matter for my mommy. So please don’t ask mommy about it.”

Benjamin leaned his arm on the door and pinched his chin as he pondered, “You said your brother got lost right after you were born and he got lost here. Didn’t you grow up overseas?”

“Yes.” Stella blinked as she spoke, “Couldn’t my brother get lost here, even though I grew up somewhere else?”

“Yes he could.” Benjamin smiled awkwardly and continued, “So, what about your father – didn’t he get someone to look for your brother?”

“I don’t know. I rarely see my father.” Stella shrugged and said innocently.

“Do you see little of your dad?”.

“Yes, Dad is very busy. I can count on the fingers of my hand how many times I’ve seen him. This year I haven’t seen him yet, I’ve almost forgotten what he looks like.”

“Why did your father divorce your mother, doesn’t he like you?”. Benjamin was curious and suddenly asked Stella.

“Who said my dad and mom are divorced?”. Stella got angry, folded her arms and said, “My dad loves me, he always brings me lots of things when he comes to see me. Most of the stuff I don’t like though, it was too expensive.”

“Isn’t your mom divorced!”. Benjamin commented as if he had heard some explosive news and looked at her wide-eyed, “Then why are you trying to get your mommy and Joseph together?”

“Because I like Mr. Beckham and I want him to become my daddy.” Stella told it like it is, “My mom only gets to see my daddy a few times a year and I notice my mommy has more chemistry with Mr. Beckham.”

Benjamin couldn’t help but be convinced by this reason.

On the other end, Joseph pushed open the door to Noah’s room and saw that he was in a daze as he hugged the snack bowl sitting on the bed. As soon as Noah saw Joseph, he intentionally showed that he was upset and did not welcome him.

Joseph noticed Noah’s cold attitude and could only sit next to Noah as he said, “Noah, she was able to win your heart with a snack container. Have you forgotten how many snacks I’ve bought you over the years? Aren’t you being unfair to your father?”

Noah pouted angrily and started writing on his board: “[The sandwiches she made are very nice and tasty, the ones you bought are no good. She is very good to me, but because of you, she doesn’t even come to see me anymore]”.

Joseph frowned as he saw what he had written.

“I didn’t allow her to come see you because she didn’t take good care of you and caused you to be hospitalized. So, Noah, she’s not fit to be your mom. If you want a mom, I can find you another one.”

Noah exploded as soon as he heard this and glared angrily at Joseph. His little face turned red with anger as he wrote another sentence, “[It’s not her fault. I was in the hospital not for food poisoning].”

Joseph understood that Noah was having a tantrum and said, “Okay, don’t make excuses for him. You can eat the snacks, but in the future I won’t let you go out with her alone.”

Noah was so angry that he gritted his teeth and grabbed Joseph’s hands and bit them.

Joseph grunted in pain, but didn’t dare let go for fear of hurting him. He said angrily, “Noah, what are you doing?”

Noah let go of the bite and angrily pointed to the sentence he had written on the board. Joseph didn’t think any more of it, but he thought Noah’s temper needed to be controlled.

“Tomorrow I’ll tell Mark to find some hobby classes. You can pick one to keep you busy so you won’t spend your free time thinking about useless things.”

Noah was so upset that his face turned red and then he threw a pillow at Joseph’s back and angrily remarked, “Hmph!”

Then he crawled under his blanket.

Stella stayed home to monitor Hayden’s moods over the weekend.

He would become alert as soon as the phone rang. But the weekend was almost over and none of the calls were from Joseph.

Finally, on Sunday night, Stella couldn’t take it anymore. She hid in the bedroom while she made a call and said in anguish, “Grandpa, the situation between my mother and Mr. Beckham has gotten really bad.”

“…”.

An old, firm voice rang over the phone, “Okay, leave this to me.”

The next morning, Hayden felt the atmosphere was strange when he arrived at the hotel.

“Good morning, Miss Downey.”

“Good morning.”

As she walked toward the office, she felt as if numerous eyes were watching her. She didn’t seem to get that much attention when she came to work every day. She wondered if she had the wrong shoes or if she had smudged her face.

“Miss Downey, you’re here.” Jeff said.

“Good morning.” Hayden frowned as he looked at him, “What’s with that face?”.

“I’m obviously happy for you!”. Jeff narrowed his eyes mischievously as he stood in the doorway of his office, “You don’t know it yet, come on, don’t be too surprised when you see this.”

Jeff said as he opened the door to Hayden’s office.

The entire office was filled with roses of all sorts of colors. The fragrance immediately overwhelmed his nose. There were roses everywhere as if his office was a flower shop.

Hayden asked with wide eyes, “What’s going on?”

“Didn’t you see?” Jeff asked, “It must be your husband’s surprise, it will be Valentine’s Day soon. The flowers are very timely.”

Hayden frowned and hesitated even more.

Everyone at the hotel knew she had a daughter, so naturally they would expect her to have a husband. To avoid misunderstandings, she had never tried to explain her situation. So when she received so many roses, everyone thought it was her husband who had given her the surprise.

But only she was clear that she did not have a husband. Even if she had one by name, she couldn’t have sent him so many flowers from so far away.

Jeff pointed to a card on the table that read, “[Miss Downey, with thanks].”

“Miss Downey, the way your husband addresses you is very formal-how is it that he still addresses you as ‘Miss’ after you’re both married?”

Seeing the mischief on Jeff’s face, she quickly hid the card and deplored, “Go do your job, it’s none of your business!”.

“Hmph, don’t think I want to be here.” Jeff let out a chuckle and left.

Only Hayden remained in the office. He slowly opened the card and there was a simple message written in cursive: “[I apologize for the days of silence].”

Hayden was stunned, as if something had suddenly occurred to her. The fog that had enveloped her for the past few days dissipated and she began to smile. Suddenly she felt warmth spread throughout her body.

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