Summer leaned on her pillow. The tears on her cheeks finally dried, but tears still glimmered in her eyes. Her big eyes were puffy as she looked at me.
“Mommy, can I stay at my school?” She pouted.
I couldn’t muster up the courage to tell her the truth when I saw the solemnness in her eyes.
I patted her on the head and hastily diverted the topic. “Summer, would you be happy if Uncle John and I were gone and left you alone?”
“Why won’t you be here?” Summer asked curiously, her wide eyes blinking up at me.
“Um…” I grew silent, pretending to contemplate her words for a long while. “Because your current school is very far from home, and Uncle John and I will have to travel very far to take you there and back. And right now, there are some bad people who want to hurt me and Uncle John. If you continue to go to that school, then we might get hurt, or worse, never be able to see you again. That’s why we might not be here anymore.”
Summer’s cheeks immediately puffed up in indignation, eyes filling with tears as she threw her blanket off and clung onto my arm tightly. “I don’t want you and Uncle John to go away, Mommy! I don’t want the bad guys to hurt you! I’ll change schools, so please don’t leave me behind…”
I felt upset watching her cry her heart out, but there was nothing else I could do. This white lie would serve to shield her from Jared’s attempts to hurt her.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I cooed quietly, patting Summer’s back reassuringly. “You’re a big girl now, Summer. You need to stay strong and take care of your little siblings, not cry all the time, right?”
She swiftly lifted her head at the mention of her siblings, clumsily wiping away her snot and tears and sitting up straight in her best impression of a grown-up. “I won’t cry anymore! I’ll do my best to protect Mommy and the babies! So please ask Uncle John to help me change schools; I can make new friends, I promise!”
It felt like Summer had instantly matured within the span of a few seconds.
It had been hard for her to get used to her family members after returning from the chemical plant, let alone fit in and make new friends at school.
I wondered if the change in her had anything to do with Jared in the back of my mind, but I quickly got rid of that thought.
How could the same man who plotted for years and almost killed Summer just switch her personality on command?
The next morning, I brought Summer to the hospital for another health check-up.
Thankfully, the doctors found nothing wrong with her, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Remembering how much Jackson doted on Summer, I thought of bringing her to visit him while at the hospital. It was only after we reached his ward that I realized Nick had already arranged for Jackson to move into another private, more expensive hospital.
With nothing else left to do, I brought Summer home.
The elevator doors slid open with a quiet ding, revealing a familiar stoic face.
Anthony was in the elevator, his expression completely unreadable as Thora stood beside him. She had gone for a lighter, more natural makeup today, but she had on a displeased frown. Even so, the sight of them together was, objectively speaking, somewhat aesthetically pleasing.
The air around us instantly dropped several degrees in temperature.
Completely oblivious to the tension, Summer lit up and ran forward to hug Anthony’s legs, beaming up at him. “Daddy!”
Anthony couldn’t react much because of Thora’s presence, but he reached down and gently patted the top of Summer’s head. “Hi there,” he greeted casually.
“Mommy!” Summer looked back at me over her shoulder, her eyes shining with anticipation. “Let’s eat lunch with Daddy!”
Oh, sweet child. Your daddy is busy being a spy right now. He has no time for a family lunch.
Sighing wryly, I stepped into the elevator and squeezed myself in between the two adults. “Daddy’s busy with work today, Summer,” I told her gently, pulling her to stand with me. “Let’s not cause any more trouble for him, okay? We’ll eat lunch with Uncle John, and then I’ll cook your favorite grilled eel. How does that sound?”
“Amazing!” she replied without even thinking twice before realizing that something wasn’t right here. She kept glancing between me and then Anthony, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion.
Turning her attention to Thora, Summer tilted her head in surprise.
Thora had likely been waiting for this exact moment, meeting Summer’s gaze as she put on a pretty, gentle smile. “You must be Summer, right? You’re adorable! Your daddy has told me a lot about you,” she praised in a soft voice.
“Thank you,” Summer replied politely, then went on to say, “Are you Daddy’s secretary too? Where’s Ms. Collins?”
Thora’s face fell, her expression souring significantly.
It must have been humiliating for the president of a highly-regarded listed company to be mistaken for a lowly employee such as Stella by a kid, even if it had been merely an innocent mistake.
Who would have thought that my baby would learn to defend her mother at such a young age? Way to go, Summer!
Internally snickering, I cleared my throat and pulled Summer even closer to me. “I’m sorry, kids these days don’t know what they’re talking about,” I explained sarcastically. “You won’t take her words to heart, right, Ms. Ziegler?”
Thora quickly regained her composure and steeled her expression once more, haughtily throwing her hair over her shoulder as if nothing had happened. “Of course not,” she sniffed. “It was just a joke, after all. These things happen with kids all the time.”
I’d expected nothing less from a woman who built her career up from the ground all by herself. She’d mastered the method of getting close to people by first exchanging niceties with them before making her advances aggressively. After failing to appeal to Anthony’s daughter, she had likely decided to steal him away through brute force instead.
Clearly, her interest in Anthony was born out of calculation rather than a pure crush if she didn’t even have the patience to deal with a child.
Ding!
I’d planned on picking apart even more of her puzzling confidence, but the elevator had arrived at our floor. I couldn’t act too much like a bully in front of Summer either, so I took a deep breath and led her out of the elevator.
Anthony and Thora followed closely behind us.
I’d barely taken a few steps before pausing, turning around, and walking up to Anthony. Leaning in close to him just like how I’d done a thousand times before, I reached my arms around his neck and fiddled with his collar, making sure that Thora was watching every single move. After that, I grabbed his tie in an elegant motion, straightening it before stepping back to admire my handiwork. “That’s more like it,” I smiled to myself in satisfaction.
Glancing up at Anthony innocently, I told him, “Remember to take some time out of your schedule to accompany the kids for dinner, okay? Our arms are always open for you.”
With that, I turned on my heel and pulled Summer out of the hospital.
There was a skip in my step all the way to the car, feeling especially proud of my amazing acting skills. Who wouldn’t feel envious after having witnessed such an intimate, tender moment between a handsome husband and a loving wife?
The memory of Thora’s unpleasant face turning several shades of red while she tried her best to suppress her rage literally made me want to laugh out loud.
Who cared if she was the woman with Anthony right now? The familiarity of ten years’ worth of emotions and the natural instinct to press close to one another was something that she, a woman who had solely been focused on her career for all of her life, would never be able to achieve with him.
She and Anthony were like the polar ends of a magnet. Even if they seemed perfect for each other on paper, the truth may turn out to be the exact opposite.
“Mommy,” Summer suddenly wrapped her arms around me, resting her chin on my chest as she stared up with questioning eyes. “Does Daddy not like us anymore?”
“Huh?” I reached down to fix her hair. “Why would you think of that?”
“Daddy doesn’t want to eat dinner with me anymore…” She pouted, unable to conceal the disappointment she felt. “Mr. Cress said that if you like someone, you always eat with them. That must mean that Daddy doesn’t like me anymore.”
Not Mr. Cress again.
Jared had infected Summer with his teachings, causing such a young child to constantly question herself and ruining her chances at having a happy, innocent childhood.
Swallowing back my temper, I patiently comforted her by saying, “Daddy and Mommy are the two people who love you the most in the world, silly. But Daddy is busy fighting bad guys now, so if we meet too much, he might get distracted and then get hurt by the bad guys. So, Daddy is actually working very hard to protect us. Knowing this, are you still mad at Daddy?”
“Then, is Daddy Superman?” Summer asked, completely serious.
I laughed wryly, not knowing what else to do other than to nod my head.
I’d meant to agree only as a joke, but Summer was much more earnest than I’d initially thought. “Then, that means I’m mini Superman!” she exclaimed, her mouth open in a wide “O” shape.
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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