"Stanley, what are you doing?" Gloria asked when she saw Stanley texting someone with his head lowered.'Why is Stanley so absentminded? First, he was busy daydreaming and now he's looking at his phone. Is something bothering him?' Gloria wondered."Mom, I need to go out for a while. There's something I need to take care of," Stanley said as he got up.He could only help Cherry out as he had promised to do so from the very beginning. Therefore, he could not go back on his word."What's going on with him?" Daniel asked, puzzled by his son's behavior as well."Who knows. He's acting strange, that's for sure." Gloria sighed in defeat."Dad, Mom? Stanley can handle his own issues," Nicole comforted them, not wanting them to worry about him.She believed that Stanley must have felt something very different, which in turn made him uneasy. All she could do now was hope that he could figure his feelings out. Only then would things return to normal.After Stanley had left, he immediatel
"Come on, guys. It's still too early," Nicole said helplessly.There was little point in them rushing to preschool this early. Even if they did, the teachers would likely not be there yet."It's not early. By the time we get there, our classmates will have been there already." Lana argued, feeling rather impatient.Nicole smiled and patted Lana's head gently. "It's really too early. Let's have breakfast first. And then, we'll go to school, okay?""Okay," Nolan and Lana agreed, and reached for the remote to turn the TV on.They wanted to watch something for a while to pass the time.At first, there was some news about current political affairs, but as the children could not understand anything about the subject, they switched to the entertainment channel. All of a sudden, Stanley's figure appeared, on the screen, and right before their eyes."It's Uncle Stanley!" the two kids shouted in surprise as they stared at the screen.The voice of the anchor then emanated from the TV, "Ye
"Mom, let's have breakfast," Nicole suggested to divert Gloria's attention when she saw how conflicted Stanley was."Grandma, we're joining the parent-child event." Nolan and Lana added, eager to finish their breakfast and make a run for school.Understanding what Nicole's intention was, Gloria looked at Stanley and agreed, "Okay, let's have breakfast first."After the family were all seated in the dining room, they had breakfast, though with a lingering sense of awkwardness in the air. Gloria was also feeling antsy, prompting Daniel to pat her on the hand to comfort her while signaling to her to maintain her silence until their children had all left.All Gloria could do at that point was put up with it. She shot a glance at Stanley before lowering her head to eat what was left of her meal.After Nolan and Lana had scraped their plates clean, they pulled Nicole and Jared along and walked them to the front door with great enthusiasm."Grandpa, Grandma, we're going to school!" they
After a while, the car stopped, indicating that they had already arrived at the entrance of the preschool."You're here." Lawrence's voice greeted, surprising both Nicole and the rest of her family."Godpa!" Nolan and Lana exclaimed in surprise, though they did not run up to him as they had done before."Why are you here?" Nicole asked, finding it weird that Lawrence had shown up.Lawrence shrugged. "I really wanted to participate in the kids' events, so I wanted to give it a try, even though I didn't receive any invitation cards from the school.""There are no invitation cards for this activity, as it's only for the parents of the students here," Nicole explained, as a sense of awkwardness loomed over her.She had not sent him an invitation, for there never was one to begin with."I know, so I came here to ask you about this. A godfather should qualify, right?" Lawrence confidently asked.To Lawrence, being a godfather was pretty much the closest thing to being a parent, and s
"Mummy! Daddy!" All of the kids cheered, and gave the flowers they had to their parents.All of the other children had two flowers each, with the exception of Nolan and Lana, who had three flowers instead. After they had gifted the flowers to Jared and Nicole, they each gave Lawrence one, shocking him."Thank you, Godpa," Nolan and Lana said, and hugged him,Lawrence had a conflicted look on his face as he embraced the two little ones.He gently patted the kids on their backs and thanked them, "I'm the one who should be thanking you."As the performance continued, Lawrence sat there absentminded and lost in thought."Leo?" Nicole called out upon noticing how unusual he looked."I'll get going first. I've got a few things to settle. Do inform the kids about my departure," Lawrence requested, and hurried out of the venue.Safe to say, Lawrence's sudden departure left a strange feeling in Nicole's stomach. 'Lawrence seemed to have some kind of motive for coming here today. He wasn
"Well, of course you can," Nicole promised.Hearing Nicole's promise, Nolan added, "What about some ice cream?""You can have that too," Nicole agreed.Then, she turned to Max and ordered, "Let's go to a hamburger restaurant.""Sure thing," Max replied, and drove them to the nearest highway. As soon as he spotted a hamburger joint, he pulled up in front of it.The family got out of the car, entered the restaurant, and ordered two sets of hamburger and ice cream, which the kids enjoyed. As for the couple, they had only bought some fresh fruit juice for themselves.While sipping on her glass of apple juice, Nicole caught sight of two peculiar figures near their car. 'Wait, what's up with that?'Nicole was perplexed at the sight of Cherry locking hands with a man, both of whom were smiling from ear to ear. As the news from this morning was still fresh in her mind, she could not help but wonder what was going on."What are you looking at?" Jared asked, noticing Nicole's fixation on
With a plop, the pasta fell back onto the plate as Nicole snapped back to reality."Don't get nervous. You'll get to decide the time," Jared teased with a smile.Nicole blushed in embarrassment. "I'm not nervous. It's just that it felt so sudden."Jared had never mentioned the wedding preparations to Nicole, who thought it was still in the process. Thus, she was rather shocked to be informed that everything was ready."Everything has been ready for a while now," Jared said softly.Nicole lightly bit her lip, realizing that Jared had indeed waited on her for quite a while. Due to their current circumstances, it would not be wise for them to carry the wedding ceremony out. They had yet to neutralize Lawrence and Everett, and now, the sudden emergence of the Eastern Falcon had only added to their laundry list of threats to be dealt with.All of these groups and individuals had their eyes on the couple, so Nicole thought it was best for her to wait a little longer.Even then, she co
"Oh, you're at home," Gloria was surprised when she saw Jared and Nicole walking down the flight of stairs with the kids.She waved to the kids and said, "Come to Grandma!""Grandma!" Nolan and Lana responded, and sprinted toward Gloria.Nicole and Jared soon caught up and sat down on the couch next to Gloria. "Dad? Mom? Did you guys visit Grandpa?""Yes, we just came back from his place. Your grandfather wanted to have dinner with us, but we've declined his invitation. We wanted to come back and have dinner with you," Daniel explained."Is Grandpa alright?" Nicole asked with concern."He's fine. But it's taking quite some time for him to let go of things," Daniel sighed.This was inevitable. Fortunately for them, Benjamin's current condition was relatively stable, which was a relief to them."It will get better with time," Nicole reassured, knowing her parents were worried for Benjamin.Fortunately, the old man had done his best to remain composed and rational. Although he wa