The knot between Brettley’s brows tightened. Irked, he got up and went downstairs. In the small restaurant downstairs, the little girl in the pink princess dress sat quietly as she stared in the direction of the kitchen.
“What are you looking at?”
“At my cookies.”
Nellie licked her lips, voice soft and sweet.
“Auntie said the cookies need to be in the oven for another thirty minutes before we can take them out.”
As his daughter mentioned Bethan, Brettley scanned his surroundings.
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
Nellie cocked her head to the side as she gazed at him with her big, dewy eyes.
“Are you talking about Auntie?”
At her cute expression, he couldn’t help but hold out his hand and patted her head,
“Yeah, her.”
“Auntie, she’s…”
Nellie pursed her lips before she sniffed and started crying,
“Auntie is gone!”
Her waterworks ran rampant as though they were pipes turned on.
“She said Daddy hates her, that even though she needs a job badly, she doesn’t want to live under suspicion and humiliation. So she went home! Sob, sob, sob, sob!”
Brettley blinked. The woman…Just left like that? He lowered his head, looked at Nellie quietly, and asked,
“Do you want her to come back?”
“Yes!”
The girl sniffed.
“But Auntie said that unless Daddy apologizes, said you misunderstood her, she’s not coming back.”
With that, she pursed her lips sensibly.
“Although Nellie likes Auntie, Daddy’s pride is more important.
“So Daddy, you can cook lunch for me today. I don’t like to eat meals made by servants. I only eat those made by people I like. In this house, I only like you, Daddy.”
The blue veins on Brettley’s forehead throbbed. She wanted him to cook for her personally?
“Daddy, you are so handsome and smart. A small matter like cooking is a piece of cake for you, right?”
The little girl blinked and stared at him seriously. Brettley fell into a pregnant pause, and it was only after a long while before the man rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen. As she laid on the small table, Nellie secretly took out her mobile phone and, taking a picture of the man standing in the kitchen in a mess, sent it to Bethan.
In the rented apartment.
Bethan laid on the sofa with a cold smile on her face as she looked at the man who busied himself in the kitchen. Back then when they were together, whenever Brettley said he was hungry, she would get up to cook for him no matter the time, even if it was at two o’clock in the middle of the night. He never cooked before. He never even walked into the kitchen, yet all of a sudden, he was cooking very seriously, all for Nellie whom he had met less than a day ago. She closed her eyes.
It seemed that he could cook all along, yet it was because she was not worth the effort to him that he did not. Thankfully, his attitude toward Nellie was pretty good. He was not as cold-blooded and ruthless as he was to her back then, at least. … Blue Bay Villa. As she sat on the children’s chair, Nellie eyed the sorry-looking dishes in front of her and silently dragged the cookies Bethan made in front of her.
“I’m not very hungry anymore, Daddy, so I’ll just eat this.”
Brettley frowned as he looked at the cookies that were only slightly bigger than peanuts.
“Is this enough?”
Nellie pursed her lips, worried he would make her eat his terrible cooking, and hurriedly covered her plate.
“I’m just a kid and I don’t eat much, so this is more than enough!”
With that, she involuntarily looked at the black lumps on the detail as a flash of terror passed through her eyes.
Brettley read her every subtle movement and expression, and a trace of irritation passed between the man’s eyebrows. A few minutes later, the little girl finished all the biscuits. She put the plate down, smiled, and looked up at the tall man.
“Daddy, I’m going upstairs for a nap!”
Brettley got up, picked her up, and carried her upstairs.
“I want to listen to the story of the little mermaid.”
As she laid on the little pink bed, Nellie’s large, dewy eyes blinked at the man lying by her bedside.
“Daddy, are you good at telling stories?”
Brettley flipped through the fairy tale book.
“Maybe.
After a while, the man frowned and began,
“A long, long time ago, there was a sea, and a group of beautiful mermaids lived in the sea…”
“Daddy.”
The little girl raised her head to look at him.
“You sound so fierce!”
Brettley was slightly taken aback. He tried to soften his usual cold and deep voice, so he slowed down again,
“One day, a little mermaid…”
“Daddy, don’t you know how to tell stories?”
The little girl flattened her lips as she muttered, aggrieved,
“Nellie’s Daddy is so powerful, but he can’t tell stories…”
Brettley fell silent as he sucked in a deep breath.
“Let’s not listen to stories. Just go to sleep, okay?”
“Not okay…”
Tears started to roll down the Little Princess’s cheeks.
“If I don’t listen to a story, I’ll get nightmares…”
Brettley’s heart melted into a puddle as he gazed at the little girl’s teary-eyed face. He ruffled the girl’s hair lovingly.
“I remember your mother doesn’t like to cry. This bad habit of yours, crying so easily, who did you get it from, hmm?”
Nellie pouted.
“Mommy likes to cry too. When I was younger, every time I woke up in the middle of the night, I’d see Mommy secretly wiping her tears.”
The girl’s childish voice hit him as if something punched him in the gut.
He stared at her in a daze, voice slightly husky,
“Your Mommy… Does she cry often?”
“Yeah.”
Nellie pursed her lips.
“But since Daddy said Mommy doesn’t like to cry, maybe you’re right. Maybe my bad habit of crying so easily is inherited from you, Daddy!”
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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