Having also just seen that photograph, Roxanne felt emotional. Estella leaned closer curiously to Benny and gazed at the photograph. A moment later, she arrived at a verdict. “Mommy is pretty!”
Benny’s cheeks puffed with pride. “Of course. Mr. Farwell took it! He has never taken a bad picture of Mommy!” He then turned around and pretended to comfort his sister. “You are still young. When you grow up, you will be as pretty as Mommy!”
Estella turned to Roxanne beside her at those words. At the thought of how beautiful she would be in a few years, she smiled so broadly. that her eyes turned to slits.
Roxanne caressed the children’s heads as she said to Lucian, “The children must be hungry. Let’s call it a day and find someplace to eat.” Then, she turned and sought the children’s opinion.
Starving, the children nodded eagerly at the question. Lucian announced promptly, “I’ve booked a restaurant. Let’s go.” The family got into the car. The three children squeezed behind while Roxanne sat in the passenger seat. “What is this?”
The children noticed the box which contained the undergarments and gazed curiously at the adults. With a jolt, Roxanne remembered that she had forgotten to put the box back after changing her underwear.
Confronted by the children’s questions, she was at a nervous loss for words. “It’s a box for clothes. Toss it into the trunk for me, will you?” Lucian’s nonchalant voice sounded beside her..
The children obliged and tossed the box to the trunk. Roxanne heaved a massive sigh of relief. She gazed up at the man beside her with the intention of thanking him.
Instead, she met his mischievous gaze. Roxanne froze when their eyes met and flushed crimson. “Thank you,” she mumbled her gratitude and turned away, trying hard to calm her pounding heart.
As the restaurant in which Lucian had made reservations was not far from the beach, it took less than twenty minutes for the family to arrive.
Roxanne helped the children out of the car, and. Lucian went off in search of a parking spot. “Is that Roxanne? I can’t believe she dares to show herself.”
An unfamiliar voice rang out. Roxanne turned in the direction of the remark in confusion. Two figures who had emerged from the restaurant were openly pointing and casting strange looks at the three children beside her.
“Those two are her kids, aren’t they? And the little girl beside them is the heiress of the Farwell family?” The pair gossiped as they walked, pretending she did not exist. “How trusting of Mr. Farwell to leave his kid in her care.”
Roxanne heard their words clearly, and a strange sense of unease surfaced within her. For some reason, she noticed how everybody they passed by was giving them the same strange look.
Hearing those words as well, Archie and Benny noticed the manner in which the strangers looked at them. Turning to his brother in a panic, Benny feared. that the rumor mill on the internet was causing them trouble again..
Otherwise, why would these people look at us like that? Archie’s expression grew taut, like a wary little fox. With several noiseless steps forward, he stood before Roxanne.
Upon his arrival, Lucian noticed the hostile and wary looks on the four of them. “What’s going on?” he asked with a frown. Roxanne became inexplicably calm at his arrival and shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s head inside.”
I am likely overthinking. After all, these people don’t know me. There’s no reason for them to hate me. The pair led the children into the restaurant.
Perhaps because of Lucian’s presence, the ones who had given them strange looks earlier. averted their gazes. Roxanne heaved a secret sigh of relief.
To divert his attention, she brought up the problem with Estella’s accommodations. “Can Essie stay with me for another two days?” Estella turned her large, unblinking eyes to her father. “I would like to stay with Mommy, Daddy!”
Lucian caressed the child’s head. “Sure, but you must listen to Mommy and not give her any trouble.” Estella nodded obediently in response, beaming.
Roxanne put on a disapproving face. “It’s not the same as it used to be. Essie is my daughter. She can never trouble me.” Besides, I have never seen the child as being troublesome. Aware of the error in his words, he gave an apologetic smile. “My mistake.”
Initially only intending to make one grumbling remark, Roxanne became surprised at the speed with which he admitted his mistake and instinctively laughed alongside him. His eyes, however, darkened.
From the moment they sat down, Lucian had sensed the other patrons occasionally looking at them with what seemed to him to be disgust in their eyes.
Whipping around suddenly, he caught the neighboring patrons before they could retract. their gazes. The other customer shuddered when their eyes met, but it was too late to look away.
“What are you looking at?” Scowling, Lucian rose to stand before the man at the neighboring table, who waved his hand guiltily. “Nothing! I wasn’t looking at anything. I know nothing!”
Lucian narrowed his eyes dangerously as he scanned the inside of the restaurant. When the others saw Lucian had gone looking for the man to settle the scores, they retracted their gazes guiltily.
Meanwhile, the man was so scared he did not dare breathe loudly in front of Lucian. Truth was, the man had no ill intentions. He had only read the discussion on the internet and gotten curious about their relationship.
In fact, when the man saw Roxanne bringing along two sons of unknown origins, he figured Lucian would have some grudge against her. To the man’s astonishment, Lucian seemed to be truly in love with Roxanne. Moreover, Roxanne did not look like a crafty person as described in the rumors.
Lucian suddenly thought of something and warned the man, “I don’t care what you think, but you’d better keep your eyes to yourself and not interrupt our meal.” After that, he instructed the waiter to move them to a different private room. “What happened?”
Uneasiness swirled within Roxanne’s heart. Flashing an assuring smile, Lucian said, “Nothing. Carry on with your meal. I need to make a call.” With that, he exited the private room and called Cayden.
The call was connected instantly. “Mr. Farwell.” Lucian’s expression was stern, and he exuded a gloomy aura. “How’s the public opinion on the internet now?”
Cayden sounded rather guilty. “The public opinion is one-sided, and they’re not in Mrs. Farwell’s favor. I’ve already assigned someone to handle it and trace the source.”
The situation had stabilized earlier, but for some unknown reason, negative comments began to appear. Cayden had dealt with it in a panic. He did not dare to call Lucian, for he knew the latter was with Roxanne.
However, he never expected Lucian to make the call instead. Lucian’s expression grew darker. “How long has it been? Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?”
Cayden lowered his head, not daring to answer. In the meantime, Roxanne, too, received a call from Linda in the private room.
Linda had originally been abroad, but ever since something happened to Colby, Roxanne had told her to return because she feared she could not handle all the work on her own.
They had been keeping in touch recently because of the research institute. Seeing Linda calling her out of the blue, Roxanne naturally thought it was related to the research institute, so she answered it without hesitation. “Dr. Jarvis, have you offended anyone?”
Linda’s words puzzled Roxanne. “Did something happen?” Linda briefly recounted the discussion on the internet and summarized by saying, “I think they’re targeting you on purpose. Someone’s slandering you behind your back.”
Roxanne’s eyes dimmed when she learned about what the internet was saying about her. She could roughly guess who the person behind all of it was. Apart from Aubree, no one would call Roxanne a homewrecker.
Linda continued, “At first, I thought I shouldn’t get involved since this is your private matter, but this is affecting the research institute’s reputation. We know it’s someone slandering you, but the others don’t. Many collaborators have requested to cancel the contract because of this. They’re afraid your reputation might collapse and affect them.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.