“Really? Go ahead then, what’s your excuse?” I said as I folded my arms over my chest. I was interested to see what arguments he had cooked up this time.
He had his own ups and downs when it came to business, but when faced with his wife’s temper, he knew exactly what to say and do to get me to forgive him.
“Haven’t you realized Audrey’s feelings?” Anthony asked me with a hint of a smile hovering on his lips.
“Feelings?” I asked, surprised.
Right as the word left my mouth, I discovered what Anthony was talking about.
Audrey clearly had some different feelings toward Shaun.
I had always been purposely avoiding the topic. For starters, I was under the impression that even though she had been influenced by media from other countries, that didn’t mean that she would mature so quickly. Secondly, since we were talking about Shaun right now, there were so many uncertainties that I had to take into account. If I didn’t think about it, it wouldn’t happen… or so I thought.
To me, a child’s idea of love was fickle and unstable. I knew she would eventually change her subject after her feelings reached their peak.
Obviously, the only exception was a kid’s love for their parents.
Anthony looked away without answering me. He shifted into a more comfortable position and said casually, “Being a father has taught me a lot of things, and I’ve been thinking about a lot more things as well. Audrey’s only six, but I’ve already thought about her marrying out of the family, of how she might meet a*sholes in the future. I haven’t been able to relax since thinking about the things she could go through. That’s why, when Shaun started becoming the target of her affection, I wasn’t willing to give him a chance even though he saved her. Even if I became the bad guy, I didn’t want to let anyone hurt my daughter.”
I felt like laughing as I wondered when Anthony had suddenly become such a sentimental person.
Still, I did relate with him when it came to worrying about Audrey.
“Then why did you change your mind, Mr. Featherstone?” I asked jokingly.
Anthony looked at me and took a deep breath, displeasure evident on his face. “Haven’t we settled everything by now? You’ve been calling me ‘Mr. Featherstone’ for a few days now. Is it really appropriate?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I shrugged with an innocent look on my face.
It had always been rather fun to mock Anthony a little from time to time. Appropriate or not, I felt like I should have been allowed to have some fun once in a while.
“So you’re saying I can stop calling you ‘honey’ and start calling you ‘Ms. Stanhope’ then?” Anthony shot back huffily.
“Hmm…” I hummed, genuinely thinking about it. It sounded rather interesting, so I nodded. “Sure!”
Anthony fell back into his seat as he pinched his brow and unbuttoned the first button on his shirt. He then began taking big breaths as he pretended to feel faint.
I couldn’t believe how much of a jokester Anthony was becoming, what with the whole childish act even at his age. I burst out laughing and said, “What? Are you feeling sick?”
Anthony shook his head around, looking a bit helpless. “Oh, definitely. I think it’s pretty bad, too.”
For some reason, his simple joke scared me badly. My smile immediately froze on my face.
The car fell into an awkward silence and Anthony realized soon enough. He opened his eyes and turned toward me. At the sight of my pale face, he placed a hand over mine and said seriously, “I’m just kidding. Don’t take that seriously. I’m as fit as a fiddle. I haven’t paid you back for all I’ve done, remember? I’ll be fine.”
The minute Anthony became more serious, his tone changed and became much calmer. He looked down in sorrow. “I’m just fighting a battle with myself, aren’t I?”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I still found his sudden sorrow interesting and looked up subconsciously.
After successfully diverting my attention, he smiled and said self-deprecatingly, “Do you want to know about the ridiculous ideas I’ve been having recently? I started thinking about going back to the past and making different choices. Funny, isn’t it?”
I smiled and didn’t reply.
Sometimes, being imaginative was a good thing. At the very least, it meant that Anthony was beginning to let go of his dark past. Whether it was realistic or not was another story, because all I could ever really sense were whatever perverted thoughts he was having in his head every night.
“You should get a new hobby,” I said absentmindedly. He clearly had way too much free time on his hands.
Everyone was the same. The moment someone became too free, they would begin to overthink. The more one overthought, the more one would lose control of their emotions, and that was dangerous.
His smile became even brighter. “I’m happy with the life I’m leading right now. Having a wife and kids is my favorite hobby.”
His words were so pure it was almost as if I could see the altar and the priest asking us to exchange our vows.
I started to suspect if he had gone anywhere recently, like a sweet-talking 101 class, perhaps. He had recently become much too smooth with his words.
I was certainly touched, but based on what I knew about him, there was an underlying innuendo directed at me. The moment I agreed, I would have to pay the price.
I decided not to do that.
Instead, I pulled my hand out of his grip again and became serious. “Let’s talk about the actual issue right now. It’ll be hard to do it at home.”
I silently gave myself a pat on the back for getting rid of the lovey-dovey atmosphere that was beginning to develop.
Anthony sat up straight, slightly disappointed at his failed plan. “It’s not like we can stop Audrey from ever falling in love and getting married, right? Since we’ll have to go through this sooner or later, then we might as well keep an eye on him since young. We’ll be able to get a proper look at him and lower any risks. It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Something sounded a little bit off with what he was implying.
Wanting to raise the boy who was going to marry our daughter in the future sounded pretty strange to me.
“Are you kidding me?” I said in surprise. “Kids are fickle creatures. Audrey’s only six! Are you going to adopt every boy she gets interested in?”
“Well, I must say I haven’t thought about that,” Anthony said seriously. He actually started thinking about it out loud with a frown on his face. “I guess it’s not a problem to have ten, or maybe twenty. Ah, but if Audrey gets John’s bad habit of falling in love with everyone he meets, then I’d need to recalculate where my money is going.”
“Hold on now!” I stopped him hurriedly. “Are you thinking of raising a harem or something? Ten or twenty? What I meant was that you’re wrong for thinking that you can reduce the risks of her getting hurt by doing this. Kids grow up and they change throughout their whole lives. How could we force her to marry someone simply because it’s the safest option?”
Anthony looked at me before nodding seriously. “You’re right. We’ll have to keep it a secret from her, then.”
My mouth fell open.
That was definitely not what I meant!
Anthony suddenly started to look more and more like a dragon, and Audrey had become the treasure trove he was protecting from pirates and princes alike.
Danger had helped the human race evolve, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Anthony.
Everyone was their own individual. Even if we gave them clothes, food, and a roof over their heads, that still didn’t give us the right to decide their whole lives for them. It seemed more ridiculous the more I thought about it.
I really hope he was just joking out of concern for Audrey.
“These are all secondary,” Anthony said again. He had gotten rid of his previous attitude and sat with his fingers intertwined on top of his lap. His stare pierced through the gap between the door and the driver’s seat as he glared at the car in front of us, which Shaun happened to be inside of. “That kid is determined. He’s not going to take the easy way out, but he’s also extremely versatile. What happened today might leave a mark on him. Both you and I know that the seed of hate flourishing in him is only a matter of time. There are two ways to settle this: first, we could make him disappear forever.”
At this, Anthony paused. When he turned back to look at me, the piercing gaze had already mellowed out into a gentle smile. “But I know you wouldn’t want that, which is why I decided to bring him home. It’s less of a problem whether they actually fall in love or not. Rather, it would give us the opportunity to see whether he would grow up to become a threat to us, no?”
The need to have a perfect plan for everything had already been carved into Anthony’s bones, but I had to say, he successfully convinced me.
One could never predict how sly and cunning the enemy could be. The only way to win in a battle of wits was to be more cunning than everyone else.
There was no such thing as a completely unselfish hero. Everyone, regardless of who they were, always subconsciously looked out for themselves. It was simply human instinct to think about the ways something could benefit or harm you.
At least, from today onward, Shaun now had a home as well as proper protection. Under the Featherstone family, no one would ever treat him differently from our kids again. Both Anthony and I would make sure of that.
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.
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