From a second glance, the girl appeared a little familiar. However, Jay couldn’t quite remember where he had seen her. She was wearing a little pink dress, and her face was exceedingly beautiful. He had met many child actors in showbiz, but this was the first time he was seeing one as beautiful as this girl. She was so lovely, a single glance was enough for him to tailor a role for her."Daddy?"Yelena called out to him again since he wasn’t responding. Jay smiled, dropping to a crouch before her.Even if it was inconvenient to do so with the cane, he did his best to maintain level height with the girl. He asked gently, "Were you calling me, little girl?""Yes." Yelena nodded tamely, and threw herself into his arms.Jay's entire body stiffened as he felt a sensation he couldn’t quite describe…and his chest somehow grew warm.He gently pushed her away nonetheless; at that, she leveled her round eyes at him with a wounded look. "You don't like me, Daddy? Is that why you push me
Zoe frowned. When did she ever point out someone on television and tell Yelena exactly who her father was?"I'll show you, Mommy." Yelena gave up on explaining, feeling the urgency to take her mommy to see her daddy.Zoe was being pulled along by the girl, almost taken into the men's room. Before things could escalate, she hurriedly scooped Yelena up in her arms. "Yelena, sweetie, girls don't go into the men's room.""But Daddy's inside…""You don't have a daddy," Zoe explained feebly as she carried Yelena away."Everyone in the kindergarten has a daddy. Why not me?" Yelena asked."...You had one. He just died early," Zoe lied."But I just saw him!" Yelena furrowed her little brows, looking a little angry.Zoe said nothing, and brought Yelena back to her highchair. She simply considered it a sudden fantasy of Yelena's, since a three-year-old would occasionally have her head in the clouds.Even so, Yelena refused to let it go. Seeing that her mommy doubted her, she told her g
Zoe racked her brains, but she simply couldn’t remember when she had ever told Yelena that Jay was her father.Still, that wasn’t important. She needed to leave with Yelena right now if she didn’ want unnecessary trouble.A waitress arrived with their food, at which Zoe promptly made up her mind. "Excuse me, but can you box that up for me?""What?" The waitress did a double take, but quickly replied, "Oh, yes, we do, but we do charge an extra fee…""Sure," Zoe said. She immediately took a tissue off the waitress to write on. "Here, this is our address." "Okay." The waitress left with the plate of food."Are we leaving, Mommy?" Yelena asked in surprise. "Yes, we are.""Why? I don't want—I want to enjoy my birthday! Bad Mommy!" Yelena immediately refused to leave, since it was a rarity to celebrate her birthday."Be a good girl, Yelena. We can celebrate at home too. I'll buy you a big cake, okay?""No, I want to celebrate with Daddy!" Yelena snapped. She quickly got off her c
Yelena's little face was covered in bubbies as she babbled excitedly, "Mommy!"As Zoe helped Yelena wipe the bubbles off, Yelena asked innocently, "Let's take a bubble bath with Daddy next time, okay?"Zoe felt her good mood killed right then—Yelena really couldn’t get over the whole daddy thing, could she?Zoe scooped Yelena out of the bathtub, quickly rinsing the little girl before coaxing her to sleep.Zoe was going to read Yelena a fairy tale of a prince and a princess, but the latter yawned and instead asked, "Can Daddy read to me next time? I want Daddy to read it to me…"How many times had Zoe told Yelena that she didn’t have one?Fortunately, Yelena was too tired and quickly fell asleep. Even as she closed her eyes, she was still murmuring, "Daddy…"Zoe was genuinely speechless. She tucked Yelena in before going to the living room for a drink of water, where she found Clara cleaning up the room after the little birthday party.The house was always a mess because they
Clara actually regretted doing the dishes instead of staying with Zoe at the time.She missed the opportunity to find out who Yelena's father was!And now, they were never going to make Yelena understand, even if they wanted to.Moreover, judging from Zoe's attitude, she wasn’t going to say anything to Yelena's father. Just then, Zoe's phone rang. She hesitated a while after seeing the caller, but ultimately answered. "Where are you, Zoe?" Candice asked excitedly from the other end. "What is it?""Are you done with whatever you need to do?" Candice pressed."Uh…" Zoe did not respond—experience told her that Candice was definitely asking her out for drinks.And to no surprise, Candice went on, "Come to the karaoke bar! We're changing places now.""I think I'll pass…""Whatever it is that's important to you, you have to come!" Candice exclaimed. "Mr. Parker’s still here. It won't do if you're the only one missing out. Hurry, everyone's waiting! I'm sending you the address n
After all, their victory at the competition was overwhelming.Zoe didn’t hold back either, and poured herself a full glass while toasting Jay. "Sorry for being late, Mr. Parker. Bottom's up. "Zoe chugged her glass right after she spoke, while Jay glanced at her before picking her glass and finishing it in one go.Zoe remembered that he couldn’t hold his liquor.Had he improved so much after they were just years apart?Well, that had nothing to do with her anyway."I thought you were busy?" Jay asked nonchalantly."I was just finished," Zoe replied, not bothering to elaborate."Right." Jay didn’t ask anything further—it was just a polite exchange.After they drank, Candice pulled Zoe along to start drinking with the others. Though she was late, Zoe didn’t try to push them away. However, they were so intoxicated that they promptly joined in once Zoe offered them a toast.And thus it was a massacre in under an hour, with some of them vomiting their stomachs out right then and
Zoe quickly asked, "A-Are you alright? Should I call an ambulance?"Jay's heart rate was frighteningly fast! "I-I'm fine," Jay stammered, working hard to make his voice sound calm. "I just had a little too much to drink.""But your heart’s racing," Zoe said seriously. "You might contract something in your veins, and a blood clot in your brain can lead to stroke."Jay chuckled feebly at her words. "You really want me dead, don't you?"Zoe was speechless—that wasn’t what she meant, but whatever. She didn’t want to waste time on him; they were all adults, and it was his own business to take care of himself."Where's your phone? I'll call your assistant to take you home," she said."I think it's in my pants pocket," Jay replied, but he was not reaching for it.Zoe was speechless—a drunk person was really difficult to deal with.She reached into his pockets, but there was nothing in either of them.Was he messing with her?"There's nothing there," she said, not noticing that t
Jay was more or less keeping himself in line on the way home, saying nothing and not vomiting until they arrived at the destination.Zoe paid the cab fare and helped Jay out of the car, asking, "Can you go upstairs yourself?"Jay's figure wobbled, before he said slowly, "I don't know."That was definitely a no—Zoe knew that much.Jay had always been cunning, always troubling others even though he looked like the type who wouldn’t.Zoe clenched her teeth and helped him into his apartment complex, and up to his unit.Naturally, the man was staying in an affluent district. Zoe opened the door to see a spacious apartment, with glass walls covering three of the four walls. It was an expensive property Zoe hadn’t seen for a while, a little impressed and unable to resist giving it a few more looks.She used to scoff at grand apartments like these, but now, they were her dream house.As she helped Jay into his exceedingly luxurious bedroom, he suddenly said, "I think I'm going to be