“Essie, you see our mommy as your mommy, too, is that right?” Benny asked. Estella nodded in hesitance. She then carefully asked, “Archie, Benny, you won’t be mad, right?”
Both boys exchanged a bewildered look with each other. “Why would we be mad?”
“Because… I’ll be stealing your mommy from you,” Estella muttered, choking out the last few words as if she was about to burst into tears.
Archie and Benny were flabbergasted. They never knew that was what Estella thought.
Squeezing Estella’s hand, Archie said, “We’re not mad at all. If we do get mad, wouldn’t you be mad too for trying to steal your daddy from you?”
Estella pursed her lips and anxiously shook her head. She desperately wanted to become a family with Archie and Benny, so how could she be angry with them?
Archie then took a piece of tissue and wiped Estella’s tears away. “If you’re not mad, then we’re not mad too!”
Benny then said, “How about this? We’ll call them Daddy and Mommy when we’re alone. We won’t call them Mr. Farwell or Ms. Jarvis anymore. They’re our Daddy and Mommy.”
Archie and Estella immediately nodded in agreement to that. Even though there were still tears on her face, Estella had a wide smile. She looked funny, and the boys could not help but laugh heartily at her.
Lucian naturally had no idea what was happening in the ward next door, let alone about how the three children had sneakily promised to be a family. “Thirsty…”
Roxanne had been unconscious for a whole day. Even though she had been injected with sedatives, she could not sleep for long. Furthermore, the children had been talking earlier, so Roxanne slowly returned to the waking world.
Lucian had a tiring day, and he was about to nod off. But the second he heard her voice, he woke with a start and filled a glass of water for her.
Just as Roxanne was about to sit upright to get the glass, Lucian brought the glass to her lips and shifted her to be in his arms.
Roxanne was groggy from her sleep, and she instinctively felt safe in his arms. Hence, she drank the water with his help before reaching up to push the glass away.
Lucian placed the glass at the side before helping Roxanne lie down on the bed again. Shortly after, Roxanne was asleep again.
Fearing that she would wake once more, Lucian reached out to grab her exposed hand after a moment of hesitance before closing his eyes to nap.
The following morning, Roxanne had already. woken up by the time Lucian did. Her brows remained furrowed while she removed the needles for herself.
Lucian glanced at his empty palm, then shifted. his gaze to look at the woman before him. In a hoarse voice, he asked, “When did you wake up? Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Roxanne was too focused on the task and only realized the man was awake after hearing his voice. She hesitated for a moment, then. continued with what she had been doing.
“You look like you were sound asleep. Besides, I am feeling better now, so I didn’t wake you up.” She did not spare the man a glance as she spoke.
It was worth noting that Roxanne felt as if it was like a dream when she woke up to the sight of Lucian taking a short rest while holding. her hand tightly earlier.
But soon after, the memories of what happened last night while she was half-asleep came to her mind. She knew very well it was not a dream. Lucian had indeed taken care of her for the whole night.
For a bit, Roxanne had no idea how to describe, her feelings after coming to that realization.
Then again, at the sight of Lucian’s tightly furrowed eyebrows and the visible signs of exhaustion on his face, she could not bear to wake him up and thus carefully pulled her hand out without him knowing.
Evidently, the man was so tired that he was unaware of the slight movements and remained asleep.
Since he was still asleep, Roxanne decided to take the chance to examine her condition before performing a simple acupuncture on herself.
Little did she expect Lucian to wake up when she was at the last step of removing the needles. It was just that she became a little flustered after hearing the man’s voice. “What are you doing?”
Rubbing his temples, Lucian languidly straightened his body. A slight frown marred his countenance at the sight of her actions.
Roxanne put on a calm pretense as she stared at the silver needle on the acupuncture point and pulled it out. “I gave myself a body check and felt that acupuncture could help detoxify my system.”
Hearing that, Lucian looked at her with a solemn expression. “You’re doing it yourself?”
His tone was overflowing with concern, and that undoubtedly startled Roxanne slightly. Despite so, she still flashed him a smile as she turned around. “These acupuncture points aren’t too complex. I can do it myself. There’s no need to worry, Mr. Farwell.”
Her words caused Lucian’s already dark expression to turn even darker.
Mr. Farwell again? I took care of her the entire night. How can she still sound so distant? A wave of rage surged within him. However, at the thought of how Roxanne was still unwell, he had no choice but to suppress his anger and frustration.
In an instant, the whole ward plunged into a deathly silence.
Roxanne could sense Lucian’s sudden fluctuating mood. She was puzzled, yet for some reason, she dared not question him and only lowered her head to put away her silver needles.
It was only after some time that Lucian’s deep voice sounded again. “How do you feel now?”
He thought Roxanne had performed acupuncture on herself because she was not feeling well.
Not knowing what the man was thinking, she replied flatly, “I’m feeling much better. The poison should’ve been completely purged now.”
As soon as she finished her sentence, the look in her eyes, which she fixed on Lucian, abruptly wavered as though she thought of something.
Lucian knitted his brows as he noticed the change in her expression. “What’s wrong?”
Roxanne lowered her gaze guiltily but tried to sound calm with her words. “Nothing. I’m just a little worried about the kids. How are they doing?”
She remembered that Lucian had brought the three kids over the day before. Since the kids saw how sick I was, they must be terribly worried now.
Roxanne vaguely recalled that she seemed to have heard the kids’ voices before falling asleep last night. Not only that, she thought she heard a soft. voice that resembled that of her dead daughter.
In a deep voice, Lucian uttered, “They’re in the room next to this. Since you’ve woken up, I’ll let them have a look at you before asking Cayden to send them back.”
Roxanne agreed to it without hesitation since she did not want the kids to stay in the hospital for too long. However, Lucian made no moves even after a long while.
Roxanne felt her heart lurch as the scenes of how Lucian showered her with care and concern last night filled her mind.
She initially thought Lucian would head next door to bring the kids over, and she could use the time alone to cool herself down.
Seeing how he remained seated in the room, Roxanne had no idea how to respond. “Put the needles away,” Lucian said suddenly, with his eyes fixed on the silver needles on the side of her bed that she had yet kept.
Those words left Roxanne frozen in shock. Then, Lucian’s gaze landed on her face, and in an unhurried tone, he added, “Those needles will scare the kids.”
Roxanne immediately explained with her instincts, “They won’t. Archie and Benny are used to it.”
Sometimes, the two boys would even help with the disinfection and cleaning. To them, the needles used for acupuncture were actually no different from the forks used for dining.
Lucian’s gaze darkened. “But Essie will be scared. They already got freaked out by the way you looked yesterday.”
Roxanne was promptly taken aback. She almost forgot that Estella was around too. Noticing how Lucian’s face clouded over, Roxanne cast her eyes downward apologetically. “I’m sorry. I forgot about that.”
Lucian frowned. “I don’t mean it that way. You don’t have to apologize to me.”
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.