Estella lowered her head and muttered aggrievedly, “Ms.Jarvis…”She yearned to meet with Roxanne.Hearing Estella’s words, Lucian’s face darkened instantaneously.He had been too occupied lately, so he had not considered Roxanne would also participate in that activity.However, at the thought of how Roxanne was evading him, Lucian highly doubted she would personally bring Archie and Benny to join the event.He figured Roxanne might even disallow them to go altogether.The screen of his phone lighted up.Pippa sent a message in the WhatsApp group: No guardian has texted me in private thus far, so I assume everyone will be coming.This activity will enhance the bond between children and their parents.I’ll take this opportunity to wish everyone a great time in advance.The screen slowly dimmed afterward.Lucian’s resolution wavered.He patted Estella’s head and croaked, “I got it.It was weekend soon. Roxanne brought the kids to the kindergarten early in the morning.That was the first
Lucian strode over through the crowd without Roxanne realizing it.Standing in front of her, Lucian gazed down at her with an unfathomable look on his face.“Essie, Ms.Jarvis has to take care of Archie and Benny.Let’s not bother her,” Lucian uttered in a hoarse voice after a few moments and bent down to hold Estella’s hand.Feeling reluctant to leave, Estella turned sideways to avoid her father’s hand.Then, she inched closer to Roxanne and said stubbornly, “I want to stay with Ms.Jarvis.” Lucian and Roxanne’s expressions froze after seeing Estella’s reaction.Many people around them had been keeping an eye on Lucian’s every movement.As a result, they were all staring in Roxanne’s direction.Panic surged within her like vomit.When she made the decision to join the activity with Archie and Benny, Roxanne had actually anticipated something like that would happen.Still, she did not know how to react when she was stuck in that awkward situation.According to her plan, she should have
After taking Estella, Roxanne now had to carry two children on her lap.Hence, her seat was getting a little cramped.Furrowing his brows, Lucian said softly, “Let me take Archie.” Roxanne was taken aback upon hearing that.Thinking of Archie’s relationship with Lucian, she felt conflicted.Moreover, she had noted how her son resented Lucian and didn’t think Archie would agree, especially since Archie was usually cold and indifferent.But to her surprise, the boy in her arms actually stretched his arms toward Lucian.Roxanne’s and Lucian’s expressions shifted as soon as they saw Archie’s response.S A hint of surprise flashed across Lucian’s eyes as he had not expected Archie to agree to his offer.Then, he reached out and carried the boy over.As for Roxanne, she lowered her gaze as an inexplicable sense of fear rose within her.Archie only did that because he did not want Roxanne to tire herself out.Although he had stretched his arms toward Lucian, his expression was tense.And onc
By the time they settled in their room, it was already nighttime. Pippa led the parents to the restaurant the botanical garden had arranged for them.Roxanne took Archie and Benny to get their food.There were far more employees of the botanical garden at the restaurant than when they first got off the bus, and Estella did not like that.She followed closely behind Roxanne, never taking her eyes off the latter.Roxanne turned around when she sensed Estella’s gaze, and a pained look appeared in her eyes upon noticing the girl’s timid expression.She immediately let Archie and Benny hold hands, thus allowing her to free one hand to take Estella’s.Seeing Roxanne reach her hand out toward her, Estella took it without hesitation, her eyes crinkling as she beamed.All signs of timidness had vanished from her face without a trace.Lucian was still worried about Estella, so he followed her.Then, he saw Roxanne and Estella holding hands, and mixed feelings surged within him as he walked behi
Mr.Farwell only interacts with you for the sake of his child.Don’t have any ideas about weaseling your way into the Farwell family.”Roxanne’s head pounded inadvertently at the woman’s words.knew running into Lucian here was catnip for unsavory comments.I just didn’t think it would come so soon.“You must be mistaken about the situation…” Roxanne tried to explain.Alas, the woman cut her off disgustedly and retorted, “Mistaken? Everyone knows how much time you’re spending with Mr.Farwell these days.Know your place, Ms. Jarvis! Mr. Farwell’s fiancée is Ms.Pearson, and their relationship is stronger than ever.I hope you don’t humiliate yourself in this hopeless scheme to win Mr.The mention of Lucian and Aubree’s impending wedding caused Roxanne to lower her gaze. She swallowed the retort on the tip of her tongue and replied to the nasty woman, “Thank you for your advice.I’ll be more mindful in the future.” The woman took Roxanne’s meekness as a sign of her victory.She made a ment
Suddenly, Estella tugged on Roxanne’s hand and said, “Over here!” Roxanne followed Estella through a complicated route and was surprised to see the boys hiding behind a man made hill.“How did you know Archie and Benny were hiding here, Essie?” asked a surprised Roxanne.The boys always hid in the most creative places, and Roxanne had always struggled to find them during their hide-and seek sessions.She never imagined Estella would find them so easily.Estella tilted her head and replied, “I don’t know.It was a guess.” Roxanne did not think much of Estella’s response and promptly believed her.By the time Lucian, Roxanne, and the children returned to their rooms, it was already nine at night. Archie and Benny were dripping in sweat from playing hide-and-seek earlier.Roxanne quickly ushered the boys into the bathroom to shower them once they got back.Their playful chatter drifted out of the bathroom from time to time.From where she sat on the bed, Estella stared at the bathroom do
The tree-planting activity started very early the next morning.After waiting for the parents and children to finish breakfast, Pippa led them to the venue of the event.The kindergarten had collaborated with a botanical garden to provide the kids with an empty spot to plant some trees.There was quite a lot of staff standing by when they arrived.As the kids were all born with silver spoons in their mouths, the staff made sure they were extra friendly with them.Pippa then introduced the parents to the staff, split them into groups, and had them follow the staff to collect their saplings.Estella stared reluctantly at Roxanne when she heard they would be split into groups.She refused to budge even when the teacher called her name.Lucian frowned when he saw that and shifted his gaze toward Roxanne, who was standing nearby.After hearing the conversation between Lucian and Aubree last night, Roxanne instinctively tried to keep her distance from them.She then took Archie and Benny by
Lucian frowned in frustration as he found the shovel extremely unwieldy.While struggling with it, he felt Roxanne’s gentle gaze on him and looked up in response.As their eyes met, Roxanne quickly retracted her gaze and put on a neutral expression.Lucian frowned when he saw her response, but whatever frustration he had earlier seemed to have vanished completely. He then turned toward a staff and said, “Excuse me, I’m having some difficulty using this. Could you please show me how to use it?”The staff had been observing him from the side for quite some time. He had wanted to tell Lucian that he was doing it wrong but held himself back when he saw how intimidating Lucian looked.Seeing as Lucian had asked him for assistance, he quickly stepped forward to perform a quick demonstration.Even Lucian chuckled in amusement when he saw the staff’s technique and realized how funny he looked earlier.Having learned the proper way to use a shovel, they were able to speed up the process of fil
Hearing his suggestion, Roxanne was almost convinced but remained hesitant.After all, Lucian wasn’t in the medical industry. He couldn’t recognize many medicinal herbs.Besides, she also needed the exact dosage.She couldn’t afford the consequences of getting an incorrect dosage.Lucian had already gotten into his car to start the engine. “I’m going to the research institute now. I’ll call you when I arrive, so you need to think about what medicinal herbs you need now.”Without waiting for a response, he cut the line and called Cayden.“Mr. Farwell, where are you? The meeting…”Cayden felt an incoming headache when Lucian left without looking back, leaving the higher-ups waiting inside the conference room.Lucian ordered, “Something else cropped up, so the meeting is adjourned. They can leave now.”Cayden agreed hastily and entered the conference room to relay his orders.After giving that order, Lucian hung up and sped toward the research institute.Roxanne stared at the smartwatch
Roxanne shut the door and gave Madilyn a call.It took a while before Madilyn answered.“Roxanne? Didn’t you go camping? Is there something you need?”It seemed pretty noisy on the other end of the line, so Roxanne asked, “What are you doing?”Madilyn sounded pained. “Don’t mention it. I was forced to work overtime again.”As soon as she said that, the noise increased.Before Roxanne could say anything, Marilyn hurriedly added, “I need to get back to work. I’ll call you later.”She then hung up right away.Roxanne’s gaze turned dark as her phone screen dimmed. She didn’t call Marilyn back.After a brief hesitation, she tried calling Larry.Larry picked up pretty quickly, but he was in another state and couldn’t be of help in time.Roxanne didn’t tell him anything despite his concern. She dismissed him with a few cursory words and hung up.There was no time to explain things. Besides, she didn’t want to trouble them further.As her friends couldn’t be of help, Roxanne couldn’t stop pan
“Ms. Jarvis…” Estella, who was in Roxanne’s embrace, called out weakly. Roxanne stroked her cheek and a*sured her, “Come on. You’ll not be in as much pain anymore after drinking the medicine.”Naturally, Estella trusted her and leaned over to have her medicine.A frown instantly formed on her face after she took a sip.Roxanne placed the cup near Estella’s lips. However, the latter refused to open her mouth again.Ever since Estella was young, she had always taken pills or been on an IV drip when she was sick. She had rarely had any traditional medicine.Hence, Estella could not stand the bitterness of it.Just as Roxanne was worrying about how she could get Estella to finish her medicine, Archie walked in.“Hurry up and drink your medicine, Essie. I’ll give you a piece of candy once you finish it!”He squatted down in front of Estella and waved his fist.Hesitating, Estella looked at Archie for a moment before opening her mouth and chugging the medicine. She then turned her head and
Early on, Archie mentioned that there was something wrong with his water, and Roxanne had indeed detected a faint smell that usually occurred only when a certain type of bacteria was mixed with water. However, the problem was that it was a type of bacteria that only survived under laboratory conditions.The fact that it was found in the wilderness meant that someone must have intentionally placed it there.As such, the first thing Roxanne did was to check if there was anyone else around.However, she had a clear view of the entire field. Apart from them, there was no one else.Due to that, Roxanne a*sumed it was a coincidence that the water had such a smell and not because the bacteria were actually present.Little did she expect that someone had added the bacteria to the kids’ water.Roxanne’s heart clenched when she thought about the symptoms one would experience after ingesting the bacteria.“Mommy, it hurts so much…” Benny muttered, grabbing his mother’s hand. He had finally cave
When he saw that Roxanne wanted to have a look at his stomach, Benny removed his arms without a fuss. Roxanne caressed Benny’s forehead. Her eyes were filled with distress.However, after examining the two children, Roxanne still could not arrive at a diagnosis.As time pa*sed, the children’s pain became increasingly severe.Roxanne felt immensely helpless and powerless at that moment.She blamed herself for having brought the children out to camp but failing to watch over them properly.Her guilt and distress were plainly written all over her face.Archie noticed his mother’s mood and approached her quietly. “Mommy.”His voice pulled Roxanne out of her reverie, and she forced herself to calm down. Then, she said, “I brought a medical kit with us. Can you go get it from the tent and bring it here?”The children were in excruciating pain, and yet, Roxanne had not managed to locate the cause of it.At that moment, she could only do her best to ease their symptoms.I’ll give them some p
“Mommy, did this cup get contaminated?” Archie inquired in puzzlement. Hearing her son’s voice, Roxanne snapped back to her senses and flashed him a rea*suring smile. “No, something must’ve fallen in it. I’ll get you another cup of water.”She caressed the boy’s head and got up to toss the water. After that, she refilled the cup.However, Archie refused to drink anything.Regardless if something fell in it or something was wrong with the water, the boy was traumatized.As such, Roxanne didn’t pressure him but pa*sed him a bottle of mineral water from her bag instead.Only then was Archie willing to gulp down the water.Meanwhile, Benny and Estella had already finished their water. Their eyes were fixed on the pebbles that the latter had laid out on the ground.Roxanne didn’t interrupt the two and only instructed her oldest son, “Archie, take care of Benny and Estella. I’ll go pick some medicinal herbs.”Since it was still early, she wanted to take advantage of the daylight to gather
Aubree quickly grew impatient as the group of four didn’t return to their tent even after a long while. She whipped out her phone and sent the private detective a message: Where are you?Logically, he should have arrived before her, but Aubree hadn’t noticed anyone else around when she scanned her surroundings earlier.Where on earth did he go? What a useless man!She furrowed her brows in dismay.Seconds later, her phone screen lit up with a response from the private detective: Look up.The puzzled woman lifted her head and noticed that the leaves of a nearby tree appeared to be rustling.In the next second, she caught sight of a camera flash.Aubree frowned in displeasure and lowered her head as she typed a reply: Keep a close eye on them! Take pictures if anything strange happens and send them to me.The private detective a*sented without hesitation.After that, Aubree cast one last glance in the direction of Roxanne and her kids before slowly driving away.If it was possible, she
Estella was confused, but she still smiled innocently, for she knew Roxanne was praising her. The former then retracted her hand obediently. Subsequently, Roxanne took out the tools she had prepared and carefully scooped out the yellow flower along with its roots.Estella cocked her head to one side, confused by what she saw.“For medicinal herbs like this, we need to preserve their roots as well,” Roxanne explained patiently.Hearing that, the girl nodded even though she did not understand Roxanne’s words completely.Now that Estella knew Roxanne was looking for that kind of flower, the former quickly got up and scoured the area.It did not take long for Estella to find a huge area of it, so Roxanne collected a few more to be preserved.Soon, noon arrived. The children were clearly hungry because their pace had slowed.Noting that, Roxanne brought them back to the tent to prepare food for them.She had woken up early that morning to prepare a various selection of food for the childr
“What is…” Estella carefully placed the wreath in her hand and shot Roxanne a delighted look. Smiling, Roxanne patted Estella’s head and said, “It looks a little funny because I haven’t made one in a long time.”In response, Estella shook her head fervently. “I love it!”As if to prove how much she loved it, Estella placed it gently in front of her and began drawing it.Seeing that, Roxanne and the boys scooted over curiously, only to be shocked by Estella’s drawing, which was slowly becoming complete.Her previous drawing of the plants was rather decent, though her brushstrokes were a little childish.However, her drawing of the wreath was unbelievable. In fact, it almost looked real.“Essie, you’re amazing!” Benny breathed.Roxanne, too, smiled and nodded in agreement.By the time Estella was done with the drawing, Benny could not help but ask, “Essie, have you taken art cla*ses before?”However, Estella shook her head in confusion.The look of surprise in Benny’s eyes only intensi