Chapter 371 – Her Sudden Departure: A Tale of Love and Redemption (Lucian & Roxanne)

Roxanne’s heart melted when she heard Estella’s adorable voice. “Hi, Essie! What brings you here today?”

“You were drenched in the rain yesterday. I was worried that you might get sick, so I came over to check on you!” Estella replied.

“I’m sorry, Essie, but I probably won’t be back for a while. I’ll have someone else bring you some food, okay?” Roxanne said apologetically.

“Okay!” Estella answered with a nod.

Roxanne then told Archie and Benny to take good care of Estella before hanging up the phone. After that, she prayed that Madilyn wouldn’t be too busy as she dialed her number.

“What’s up, Roxanne?” Madilyn answered the phone rather quickly.

“Are you home?” Roxanne asked.

Madilyn let out a huge sigh as she replied, “Of course I am! It wasn’t easy getting a few days off work, you know?”

She had pestered the director endlessly for days just to get a break from work.

Roxanne breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that Madilyn was home. “I’m outside at the moment. Archie, Benny, and Estella are by themselves at my house. I didn’t have time to prepare lunch for them today, so could you bring them some food when you make lunch later?”

Naturally, Madilyn agreed to her request since she cared deeply about the three kids.

However, she wasn’t about to go through the trouble of cooking on her day off. After giving it some thought, Madilyn decided to just order takeout for herself and the kids. She soon showed up outside Roxanne’s house with the bags of food.

The kids made sure to check the intercom to confirm it was her before opening the door.

“Hi, Aunt Madilyn!” Benny’s eyes lit up with excitement when he saw the food in her hands.

As she wasn’t sure what the kids liked, she decided to play it safe and went with fried chicken and hamburgers.

Sure enough, those happened to be Benny’s favorites.

“Your mommy couldn’t make it home in time, so she had me bring you kids lunch. You are allowed to have deep-fried stuff, right?” Madilyn said as she placed the food on the dining table.

Her gaze soon fell upon Estella, who was sitting in a corner of the living room.

As she had only seen Estella once, she didn’t remember much about the little girl.

Huh? Is it just me, or does this girl kind of resemble Roxanne in some way?

“You’re Estella, right? Do you remember me?” Madilyn asked as she stepped forward to take a closer look at her.

Estella blinked a couple of times before nodding and replying, “Yes, I do! It’s nice to see you again!”

Madilyn felt touched when she heard Estella’s adorable voice. I still remember how she refused to say a word the last time I saw her. A lot of people thought she was mute because of that. I can’t believe she changed so much in such a short amount of time! Not only is she willing to speak, but she also has an angelic voice and a sweet smile!

Madilyn gave her a little pat on the head when she saw how cute she was. “There’s a good girl!” As Madilyn stood up, Estella’s gaze fell upon the food on the dining table, and she got really curious.

Because she had been raised in a wealthy household where either a professional cook or her grandmother would prepare all her meals, Estella had no idea what takeout or fast food was. As such, she couldn’t understand why Benny and Archie were so excited about the food.

Madilyn had been sleeping in until Roxanne’s call woke her up, so she was getting a little hungry as she didn’t have breakfast. She then opened up the food packaging and handed the kids a fried chicken drumstick each.

Unsure of what to do with the drumstick, Estella just stared blankly at Madilyn. Madilyn paused in confusion, only to realize Estella probably never had fried chicken drumsticks before due to her status.

She then fetched Estella some disposable gloves, patiently put them on her tiny hands, and taught her how to hold the drumstick. Estella flashed her a shy smile in response. “Thanks.”

Madilyn felt her heart melt when she heard that. She was so distracted by Estella’s cuteness that she even forgot to eat. It wasn’t until the girl had finished eating her drumstick that Madilyn came to her senses and began munching away.

She had just eaten one when her phone started ringing in her pocket.

Madilyn tensed up when she heard that and reluctantly answered the phone.

Sure enough, it was none other than the director calling to have her return to work.

Madilyn rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone and stuffed a few chunks of fried chicken into her mouth. She then said goodbye to the kids and left the house.

After that, the kids gathered around the dining table and continued eating the rest of the food.

Meanwhile, Roxanne was completely clueless as to how things were with the kids at home.

She trusted Madilyn enough to not let the kids starve.

As the two of them chatted about medicine throughout the meal, Jack asked, “I realized something when I saw you preparing Jamie’s prescription earlier. You’re not very good at medicine, are you?”

Roxanne let out an awkward chuckle as she replied, “Yeah, that’s true. I major in acupuncture, so I’m not too knowledgeable when it comes to medications. I’d say my skill and knowledge are mediocre at best. Thank goodness you were there earlier.”

Jack nodded. “We all have something we excel in. Your acupuncture skills are so incredible that seeing them makes my jaw drop. As for the use of medication… I have some medical journals and books that I could lend you if you’d like.”

Roxanne couldn’t help but feel a little shocked when she heard that. “A-Are you sure?”

I chose to stay and work with the Damaris family partially because I wanted their ancient medicine books. Is he seriously going to just hand them over to me?

Jack arched an eyebrow at her. “Why not? You’re a partner of the Damaris family, so your improvements in the medical field will also benefit us.”

Roxanne couldn’t quite believe her ears. She froze for a good few seconds before flashing him a grateful smile. “In that case, I’ll give our collaboration my best effort.”

Jack raised his glass and said, “Great! On behalf of all the other partners, I hereby thank you for working with us! Here’s to our partnership!”

Roxanne chuckled as she clinked glasses with him. Jack sure has been a great help to me all this while! For some reason, I never seem to run out of things to talk about when I’m with Jack and Larry. Maybe this is because we’re all in the same field of work. My conversations with Lucian, on the other hand, often end horribly…

The smile on Roxanne’s face faded slightly at the thought of Lucian. “Oh, by the way…” Jack was about to say something when he noticed the change in her expression. While he didn’t know what was on her mind, he instinctively changed the topic to relieve some of the tension anyway. “What are the names of the two kids from earlier today?”

Roxanne’s smile returned when she heard him mention her kids. “Archie and Benny.”

Jack nodded. “I’ve always known about you having kids, but this is the first time I’ve seen those cute little angels in person. They sure look a lot like you!”

Roxanne froze after hearing that as she felt a strange sensation sweeping through her heart.

Jack’s choice of words sure can be misleading! For a moment there, I thought he was calling me cute!

Roxanne pinched herself underneath the table to snap herself out of it.

No, no, no! What am I thinking? What has gotten into me lately? Why have I been having such crazy thoughts? Jack is complimenting my kids, for goodness’ sake! Why did I associate that with myself? This must be Lucian’s fault! I’m being paranoid because of those strange things he said!


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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