Larissa's eyelid twitched involuntarily, and her heart seemed to have stopped beating. "He … "Due to panic, her thoughts were all jumbled up in her mind. At that moment, she did not know how to explain the situation. In her flustered state, Larissa couldn't think of anything else to say other than the first word she blurted out. Aster noticed her dilemma and answered Gary on Larissa's behalf. "He's not my real dad! I'm talking about Uncle Kevan. He knows that I don't have a dad, so he allowed me to call him Daddy." Aster lowered his head dejectedly, as if all the happiness he exuded just now was sucked out of him. "Uncle Kevan? Kevan Rogers?" Gary came to a realization. "Yes, he's Uncle Kevan." Aster nodded and pursed his lips together, which resembled Kevan's. The disappointment in Aster's eyes pierced Larissa's heart. Inexplicably, the scales in Larissa's mind quietly tipped in favor of Kevan. On the other hand, Gary's face turned scarlet with anger. Suppressing his fury,
Gary was used to throwing grand banquets and parties. "Just follow my lead, there's nothing to be nervous about. It might take some time, but you will get used to it eventually." Larissa felt a little intimidated by her future role as an heiress. "Is it too late for me to back out now?" she asked. "Back out? Don't even think about it!" Gary glared at her. He went through such difficulties to reunite with his daughter. If it weren't because of Larissa's refusal, he would have announced their relationship to the world. Now that she finally relented, he would not let her back out of this!While she was resting at home, Larissa kept herself busy. Every morning, she woke up earlier and prepared a simple breakfast for Wendy and Aster. After they left, she would start reading the materials sent by Lewis to get acquainted with her upcoming job. Around 3 pm, she would take a cab to the kindergarten and fetch Aster. Her leg hadn't fully recovered, so she wasn't allowed to drive a ca
On Friday, Larissa slept in for the first time since returning to Aldovia. It's not because she wanted to. After crying and drinking the whole night, she didn't realize it when her alarm went off in the morning. It was only when her stomach growled with hunger that she woke up. Larissa grabbed her phone and looked at the time. It was already noon She saw a few missed calls from Lewis on her phone screen. He hadn't received a reply from Larissa after a long time. So, he had sent a message saying, "I'll go over to your house at 2 pm." Larissa quickly got out of bed, every last bit of her drowsiness gone. Lewis arrived at Larissa's house on time. At that moment, Larissa was trying to depuff her swollen eyes.Lewis stared at her face for a long time. He asked cautiously, while scrutinizing the expression on her face, "What happened to you?" Pressing the ice against her puffy eyes, Larissa chuckled and dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "It's nothing. Last night, Wendy as
Larissa thought that the ordeal was over. Alas, when they walked out of that store, Lewis turned around and entered another store.The whole process was repeated.Larissa lost count of how many times she was bombarded by eager shop assistants. When Lewis finally said that they could go home, he was weighed down by many paper bags.Larissa had no energy to even respond to him.Shopping was torturous!"I was mistaken. I used to complain that the staff here gave me the cold shoulder. Now, I wish that they would ignore my existence," Larissa said. The shop assistants were hankering to serve her. She couldn't handle their enthusiasm."Ms. Seymour, you are now a VIP customer here. None of the shop assistants would dare give you the cold shoulder now." Lewis gave her a wry smile. He gestured to the shopping bags in his hands.Larissa sighed. "In your opinion, is this one of the troubles that comes with being rich?""Are you already troubled by this?" Lewis found it funny, but after
Before Larissa could stop him, Aster had already run out with his phone on a video call with Kevan. "Daddy! Mommy's bringing me to Disnieland tomorrow!" Aster shouted with glee. He couldn't wait to share the good news with Kevan. "Really?" Although the connection wasn't too good, Kevan's deep voice was still pleasing to the ears. His relaxed tone had a hint of amusement in it. "Why aren't you asleep? It should be past ten right now." "I'm going to sleep in a while!" Aster ran up to Larissa, kicked off his slippers, and climbed on the sofa. He snuggled into her arms and pointed the phone camera in Larissa's face. "Daddy, do you want to talk to Mommy?" Larissa was caught by surprise. When she met Kevan's gaze over the phone, she couldn't help but feel flustered. After a long pause, she greeted him awkwardly. "Hello!" "Hi," Kevan replied. He seemed to be surprised as well. His expression stiffened for a few seconds before returning to his usual smile. "Why aren't you asleep as
Kevan's face was calm and emotionless. "It's not worth it for you to make the trip. It's too far." Without hesitation, Larissa shot him down. Gary had invited his network of close friends in Aldovia. Kevan wasn't close to any of them. Thus, it would only be awkward for him. Besides, he had his own job to take care of. "Alright," Kevan replied, pursing his lips. He did not confirm whether he would attend or not. "You guys should have an early night. Aren't you going to Disnieland tomorrow? You won't have enough energy to play if you don't go to sleep now." "Yeah." Larissa nodded, suppressing her reluctance to hang up. Avoiding Kevan's gaze, she lowered her voice and spoke to Aster. "Say goodbye to Daddy." "Bye, Daddy!" Because of his excitement to go to Disnieland, Aster bid Kevan goodbye immediately. Usually, he would try to prolong the call for as long as possible. Kevan's eyes shone with amusement. With a wide grin, he ended the call in a cheerful tone, "Bye, goodnight!"
"Of course, I missed you! Larissa pinched his chubby cheeks fondly and straightened up. She asked Allen, "Shall we leave now?" "Wait a minute!" Allen turned around and entered the house. In less than two minutes, he appeared with a brown paper bag and passed the bag to Larissa. "I made some sandwiches. Both of you must have left home very early. Have you had any breakfast?"Coincidentally, they had left in a hurry. Larissa didn't have time to prepare breakfast for themselves. She handed the paper bag to Aster and reminded him, "Say thank you to Uncle Allen!" On the contrary, Aster didn't seem to be in a good mood. He appeared dejected and his excitement from yesterday had completely disappeared. Holding on to a corner of the paper bag, Aster's arm hung limply at his side. For some reason, he didn't make any move to retrieve the sandwiches from the bag. "Thank you, Uncle Allen," Aster said with a forced smile. He quickly diverted his gaze from Allen and hung his head, staring
Freddy opened the door from inside. When Aster got in, Freddy quickly shut the door, as if he was afraid that Larissa would change her mind. Chuckling, Larissa got into the front seat. She turned around and asked Freddy, "What game are you going to play with Aster?" Like magic, Freddy produced an iPad and started a game with colorful visuals. Sounds of cheerful music echoed in the car. Freddy and Aster were around the same age, so they had common interests. After a while, Aster's attention was focused on the game and both of them played together happily. Larissa's worry eased slightly. Diverting his attention from the boys in the rearview mirror, Allen glanced at the paper bag Larissa placed at her feet. "Do you not like sandwiches?" "Oh, no." Larissa laughed awkwardly and opened the bag. She took out a stuffed sandwich that was wrapped in paper. "It wasn't convenient to eat just now." She asked Aster, "Do you want some sandwiches? There's bacon and ham!" Aster was stil