“I can walk by myself. Please let me go, Mr. Farwell,” Roxanne said as calmly as she could as she scanned the surrounding.
As soon as she finished, she could feel Lucian glancing at her. In the next second, his deep voice rang out next to her ear. “Do you want other people to see how stupid you are, Ms. Jarvis? Even children wouldn’t get drenched in water. You were drenched but you didn’t know how to step away.”
Roxanne’s ears turned red. She wanted to explain that she had a brain freeze and couldn’t react in time. However, thinking that the explanation would probably make her look even more stupid, she allowed Lucian to take her out of the crowd.
“Thank you.” Finally, Lucian stopped and removed his hands from her shoulders. She promptly left his embrace and stood at the side while hugging her arms.
Lucian’s eyes darkened when he saw that she was so eager to leave his side. Suddenly, the atmosphere between them became somewhat awkward.
Roxanne didn’t expect to spend time alone with Lucian, so she couldn’t help but panic a little. The only thing she could do was stare at the children in the distance to distract herself.
“Did you feel like you were forced to attend the concert today?” Lucian’s voice abruptly rang out in the air. Roxanne was stunned for a moment. She turned to look at him and saw the unfathomable look in his eyes.
He was frowning, and his expression seemed a little awkward. It was as if he had deliberated over his words for a long time before saying them.
Seeing that, Roxanne found herself feeling somewhat apologetic. Do I look like it?
Roxanne thought about how they had been interacting with each other throughout the day and had to admit that she had been overly wary of him. Her expression softened, and with a smile, she said, “No. Seeing the children happy also makes me happy.”
Lucian pursed his lips, his eyes dark. “There’s no need to force yourself, Ms. Jarvis. You can tell me if you’re tired. I’ve promised you I won’t force you.”
Roxanne’s heart clenched. I can’t believe we still ended up talking about that even after I tried not to for the whole day. Indeed, he promised he wouldn’t force me to do anything that night. He also said he hoped I wouldn’t keep avoiding him and instead see him as a normal friend. Clearly, I failed at doing that today. In fact, I became even warier of him today. It’s all because I haven’t made up my mind yet…
A troubled look slowly replaced the smile on her face.
Lucian looked away and uttered in a deep voice, “Since I made a promise to you, I will keep my word and give you time to think about it.”
Then he stopped speaking entirely.
Roxanne furrowed her eyebrows as Madilyn’s words from yesterday echoed in her mind.
Madilyn said the person who wanted to chase after her love was Lucian—Archie and Benny’s biological father and the person she liked very much six years ago.
It wasn’t because she hated him that she kept avoiding him. It was because she was worried about her children.
Roxanne still had no idea how she felt about Lucian.
If he can explain Aubree’s matter to me, then perhaps…
Noticing that her train of thought was going off the rails, Roxanne pinched her palm and forced herself to snap back to reality. I shouldn’t think about nonsense like that.
After a long silence and seeing that Roxanne did not have anything to say to him, Lucian pursed his lips self-deprecatingly.
“It’s getting late. The children needs to go to school tomorrow. Let’s head back early.”
Hearing his voice made Roxanne tense up again, but she let out a sigh of relief when she heard what he said and nodded noncommittally.
Both of them approached the fountain, one after another.
“Be careful.”
Roxanne’s mind was still a mess, and she had walked toward a water pump absentmindedly again.
Suddenly, a big hand stretched out from her side and grabbed her arm firmly before pulling her away from the water pump.
Upon returning to her senses, Roxanne raised her head and saw Lucian beside her. She felt a pang of unknown guilt in her heart as she said, “Thank you…”
Instead of replying, he furrowed his eyebrows and didn’t let go of her wrist. She gently struggled to break free from his grip but to no avail. Instead, they attracted a lot of people’s attention.
Under the colorful lights, both of them looked astounding in formal attire. Lucian’s coat was draped over Roxanne’s white dress, and he was holding onto her wrist domineeringly. They looked like a prince and a princess who were escaping from somewhere.
“Sir.” Just as she was going to say something to make him let go of her hand, they heard a child’s voice. They stood still and stared in the direction where the voice came from.
A girl in plain clothing was hugging a huge bouquet of flowers in front of them and staring at them with an innocent expression.
When the girl saw the two of them looking at her, she flashed a sweet smile. “How about you buy a bouquet of flowers for her, Sir?” She raised the flowers in her arms. “My flowers are very fresh and cheap! I swear!”
Lucian frowned, his instinct telling him that it was a scam.
However, Roxanne was already kneeling in front of the girl. With a grin, she patted the child’s head and asked softly, “Are you here selling flowers by yourself, little girl?”
The child shook her head and held the bouquet with one hand before pointing at a stall not too far away from their location. “Mommy’s over there. I want Mommy to go home early.”
Roxanne’s heart softened. Just as she stood up and wanted to pull out her wallet from her bag, she realized her bag was left in the car. At that moment, she had no money on her.
The girl could tell she was interested in buying the flowers and was looking up at her with anticipation.
Roxanne felt troubled. I know Lucian has money on him right now. If I ask him to, he’ll definitely buy the flowers in the girl’s arms.
However, when she thought about that, her mind automatically reminded her of a past event that involved lots of roses. So she hesitated, fearing that Lucian would misunderstand her.
“No need to look.” Just as she was still wondering what to do, Lucian spoke.
Roxanne turned back and saw that Lucian had already pulled out his wallet when she was still hesitating. Without even asking for the price of the flower, he took out a stack of cash from his wallet and gave it to the girl.
As much as she wanted to help the girl, Roxanne thought he was acting like a spendthrift. Just as she wanted to stop him, the girl’s piping voice sounded.
“This is too much! I only need this much!”
With that, the girl carefully removed two bills from Lucian’s hand and gave the flowers to Roxanne with a sunny smile. “You can have these, Miss!”
Standing on her toes, the child placed the flowers in Roxanne’s embrace. Roxanne grabbed the flowers and watched as the girl ran back to her mother’s stall.
The girl’s mother smiled at them from afar after receiving the money from her.
Roxanne returned a smile.
After the girl’s mother looked away, Roxanne suddenly realized something. Does this… Did I just receive a bouquet of flowers from him?
Roxanne instinctively glanced at the man walking in front of her before lowering her gaze to look at the flowers in her arms. She hesitated about giving the flowers back to him.
However, before she could say anything, the three children came up to her. When they saw the flowers, they were elated.
“Mommy, where did you get the flowers? They look pretty, and they match you so well!” Benny praised despite knowing who had given his mother the flowers.
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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