Chapter 306 – Her Sudden Departure: A Tale of Love and Redemption (Lucian & Roxanne)

I know it was real. I saw the glass of water and hangover pills on the table this morning. I can’t believe I ended up telling him how I felt six years ago.

Ever since Roxanne woke up that morning, her mind had been a mess as she tried to guess how Lucian felt about what had gone down the night before, yet the man’s indifference was upsetting.

It seemed to show Roxanne that her worry was redundant and that she had been overthinking.

His unconcern made Roxanne feel pathetic, so she withdrew her gaze from him and continued walking down the staircase with the children.

“Daddy!” Estella exclaimed the moment she saw Lucian.

The man quickly shifted his gaze toward Estella and nodded lightly, putting away his phone and standing up. “Good morning, Mr. Farwell,” Benny greeted.

Both Roxanne and Lucian were stunned when they heard the boy. Lucian was expecting Roxanne and the two boys to ignore him completely because the children had always disliked him. So when Benny greeted him without Roxanne telling him to do so, Lucian was completely caught off guard.

Likewise, Roxanne was also astonished by Benny’s abrupt act of affection. Yet on second thought, the adults knew why there was a change in his attitude.

The boy must have come to like Lucian after the man found him. It was just that they were not expecting such a radical change overnight.

After seconds of silence, Lucian smiled back at the boy, nodding. “Good morning, everyone. Let’s have breakfast. The food has been there for a while.”

The children nodded and hurried toward the dining room. Behind them, Roxanne still felt heavy hearted, and she walked in slowly. Her anxious gaze wandered aimlessly as she tried her best not to make any eye contact with Lucian.

When she went past the bar counter, she could not help but sneak a quick glance at the bottle of wine, trying to see how much alcohol she had taken that made her so drunk.

There’s less than a third left. Wait…. Roxanne furrowed her brows. I may be tipsy yesterday, but I can vaguely remember drinking only half of the bottle of wine.

“Daddy, you don’t look so good too,” Estella remarked, sitting down beside Lucian. A glance was enough for her to spot the abnormality.

Instinctively, Roxanne turned and looked at Lucian, but the man turned away so she could only see his side profile. “I had a late night yesterday. I had a lot of work to finish,” he replied casually.

The girl frowned and took a deep breath before rubbing her nose. “I smell alcohol too.” Lucian was quiet. He put some food on Estella’s plate and had no intention of answering her. Luckily, the girl was distracted by the food. She dropped the matter altogether.

On the contrary, Roxanne kept chewing on Estella’s words.

I only had half of the wine, but there’s only that much left in the bottle today. He must’ve come back down to drink last night.

Here, she took a good look at Lucian. He really doesn’t look well. What was he thinking when he slept?

“Mommy!” Archie’s and Benny’s voices stunned the pensive woman. “Sit down.”

they continued. Roxanne quickly recollected her thoughts and went over to sit down beside them with an apologetic smile.

“How are you feeling, Ms. Jarvis?” Lucian asked abruptly. Roxanne froze momentarily and glanced up at him.

The children stared at the two as well. They had no idea where Lucian’s question came from, but they were left hanging because the man did not continue talking.

Lucian fixed his eyes on Roxanne as he waited for an answer.

The woman came back to her senses and flashed a confident smile. “I had a bit of wine and slept well after that. I woke up with a slight headache, but it’s all good now. Thanks for asking, Mr. Farwell.”

The conversation ended with a nod from the man. Meanwhile, the children were still perplexed.

What did they just say? So he knew she was drinking yesterday, and they both look like they didn’t sleep well. Something must’ve happened without us knowing….

The kids could not help but feel suspicious about what had happened the night before, but they could not get any more information out of their interaction because the two adults were being secretive. The children pouted in disgruntlement and dug in.

That morning, everyone was distracted during the meal.

After breakfast, none of the children dared to suggest that they take a trip because they knew the adults did not have a good rest.

Roxanne was so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not realize what the children were thinking.

As for Lucian, he was used to following Roxanne’s plan when it came to the children.

After all, he knew that the children liked her better. Since he had work to do, he sat back on the couch after breakfast and buried himself in work. After breakfast, they all sat in the hotel room, each engaged in their own thoughts.

Seeing that there was nothing they could do, the children started playing hide and seek.

Estella joined in as well. Tu hier it did not matter where they were. She was fine with anything as long as she was with Archie and Bennie

Besides, Lucian and Roxanne were around as well. That was enough for her.

The children’s boisterous laughter rang out in the room when Archie and Benny caught Estella despite her trying her best to hide.

“Ms. Jarvis!” the girl cried out, tugging Roxanne’s shirt.

“Yes? What’s the matter, Essie?” Roxanne asked absent-mindedly. “Play with us!” The girl looked at her in anticipation.

When Roxanne saw how persistent the girl was, she agreed to a game with the children. “I’m done!” Estella announced when she had found a hiding spot.

Even after rounds of the same game with Archie and Benny, the girl still shouted out loud whenever she was done hiding. Roxanne could not help laughing at that.

Right after Estella shouted, Roxanne heard Archie’s and Benny’s soft giggles from another corner.

“I’m coming!” Roxanne exclaimed, shaking her head. Then she walked toward where Archie and Benny were.

The boys were still feeling proud of themselves because they thought they had found a seemingly strategic place where no one could find them, but they were proven wrong.

They even planned on changing their hiding place to make it more difficult for Roxanne to find them. But just as they were crawling out from where they were, they bumped into the woman.

They looked up, only to see her smug smile. “Mommy, please give us another chance…” they mumbled, standing up in front of her.

Roxanne quirked her brows and turned them down blatantly. “No. You guys have to find Estella with me.”

When they knew they had no other option, the boys did as they were told and tried to recall the direction of where Estella’s voice came from earlier.

The girl had learned a few tricks from the previous rounds of the game. She would stick her head out occasionally to check the situation outside.

When she saw Roxanne and the boys coming over, she wanted to sneak away and go to another place, but it was too late.

Archie and Benny had already seen her the moment she got out.

“Mommy, we found her!” the boys screamed in excitement as they ran after Estella, who was trying to flee.

When Roxanne saw them running, she hurried up to Estella, worried that the girl would fall.

Seeing that she was about to get caught, Estella sprinted toward the couch while Archie and Benny pursued her.

“Slow down!” Roxanne shouted. Archie and Benny decelerated at their mother’s warning, but Estella did not.

She continued running toward the couch as if she did not hear Roxanne at all.

Because Estella could not stop in time, she tripped over the couch leg and fell forward onto the coffee table.

“Essie, watch out!” Roxanne’s heart clenched when she saw that.

She dashed over, hoping to cushion the impact for the girl.

Estella was horrified when she realized she could not stop herself from falling.

Suddenly, a strong arm appeared and blocked the sharp edge of the coffee table just as Roxanne managed to catch Estella on the forehead. However, because of the strong momentum, Estella still bumped right into the table.

Although Lucian and Roxanne managed to prevent the worst from happening, the knock was still painful for Estella.

She was stupefied for a few seconds until she finally looked up again.

Lucian’s palm was covering the edge of the table while Roxanne’s hand landed on his hand, bolstering the girl’s forehead. A frown slowly crept across Lucian’s face.

“Are you all right?” he asked anxiously. Just a few seconds ago, he was finishing up his work when he heard Roxanne screaming in fright. When he looked up.

Estella was already falling in his direction, so he swiftly extended his hand to help.

It took Estella a few seconds to get herself together. “I’m fine,” she replied softly.

Lucian sighed in relief. “Good. Get up, then.” When Archie and Benny heard that, they hurried over to help Estella up to relieve the weight on Lucian’s and Roxanne’s hands.

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