Chapter 983: Chapter 986

Chapter 986 A Good Option Upon hearing that, Natalie was stunned for a moment. However, she wasn’t surprised.

If it weren’t for the dim lighting in the escape room earlier, Jerome would have likely noticed the condition of her lips ages ago.

Despite her having braced herself for questions, her heart still lurched at the man’s intense stare and query.

“Natalie, how exactly... did you get the bruise on your lips?”

“After parting ways with you, I tripped and stumbled because it was too dark in the escape room. My teeth hit my lips, causing some bleeding, so it’s now slightly swollen,” Natalie explained in feigned nonchalance.

Nodding, Jerome grumbled, “Escape room wasn’t as fun as I imagined. We can’t really see in there. I’ll bring you someplace else to have fun in the future.”

“Sure, sure!”

After Natalie and Jerome had successfully cleared the level, they didn’t pose in their costumes like the other players.

Instead, they went to the changing room to change.

Jerome went into the men’s changing room.

Natalie, on the other hand, went to the information counter before entering the women’s changing room. “I lost my purse. Can you please show me your establishment’s surveillance footage?” she asked.

Recalling the man’s warning, the employee chuckled sheepishly. “I’m sorry, but it so happens that the surveillance cameras in our establishment malfunctioned today. As such, I can’t show you the surveillance footage. How about we help you find your purse in a while? Or how much money did you have in it? If all else fails, we can negotiate and compensate you.”

Before coming over to make inquiries, Natalie had reckoned that such would be the answer.

Smiling, she shook her head. “Forget it. There’s no need to go to such trouble. I didn’t have much money in my purse.”

“All right, then.”

Seeing that Natalie had gone into the women’s changing room, the employee heaved an obvious sigh of relief.

After Natalie and Jerome changed out of the costumes and back into their casual attires, they went to the board game room to pick up the five children.

The five children sat there and played by themselves while the other players and employees sat a table away from them.

“What’s happening here?” Pointing at the five children and adults at the other table, Natalie couldn’t help asking, “Didn’t I tell you to play with others? Why are you all playing alone without inviting them to join you?”

Franklin arched a brow and declared domineeringly, “Mommy, it wasn’t that we didn’t want to play with them. Instead, it was the other way round.”

“Really?”

“They said it was too embarrassing to play with us because they kept losing. They weren’t our match in games involving intelligence, but even after switching over to games that required luck later, they still lost miserably.” Pouting, Xavian added, “We... already restrained ourselves surreptitiously, but it didn’t seem to work that great.”

At that, Natalie was rendered speechless.

Never mind that all five of them have exceptional looks, but they even took after me and Samuel in terms of IQ.

She knew that they could definitely defeat any average adult in board games, but never had she expected the other players to be traumatized even after they had restrained themselves.

For a moment, she didn’t know whether she should say that the employees were too lame or her children were too intelligent.

Natalie and Jerome then left the escape room establishment with the five children. They went to a restaurant to eat.

In the meantime, Samuel sat in the security room, watching as Natalie gradually went out of range of the surveillance cameras.

Jesper stood beside the man. As he watched his employer staring intently at the screen, on which Natalie was long since gone, he inwardly lamented Samuel’s loyalty in love despite being a big shot with much prominence and authority.

Gosh, he stooped so low just to indulge her!

He was well aware that some things weren’t appropriate to be said by someone of his identity, but he couldn’t hold himself back.

“Why must you put yourself through this, Mr. Bowers?”

A bitter smile showed on Samuel’s face. “If there’s a choice, I hope her life is sweet while mine is bitter. Perhaps Jerome is a good option for her after I leave this world.”