Ivan waved his hand at Debbie. "No, that's okay. I'll take Piggy with me. She can charm my client over dinner."
Debbie was surprised. 'Charm your client over dinner?' she wondered. "No, no. She's a kid. Kids are cute, but…"
"Never mind. Just leave everything to me. You have enough to worry about," Ivan assured her as he patted her shoulder.
Since he insisted, Debbie nodded and said a warm maternal goodbye to her daughter before leaving the office with Ruby.
Luckily, her daughter was easy to manage. She did what she was told, and wasn't very clingy. Otherwise it would be hard for Debbie to balance family and career.
In the evening, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up in front of the entrance to a five-star restaurant downtown.
The driver got out of the car and opened the backseat door. A man dressed in an expensive grey suit got out and straightened his clothing. Then he poked his head into the car and, when he emerged, he was carrying a little girl wearing a pink bubble skirt.
Her black hair was braided fashionably. Holding a limited edition doll in her hands, she curiously scanned her new digs. Expensive restaurants were nothing if not opulent, and that applied to the outside as well. She took in everything with a pair of big, bright eyes.
"Wow, what a beautiful little princess!" someone passing by on the street was moved to remark.
"Yeah, no kidding! That bubble skirt is designer threads. Over thirty thousand! I sure can't afford that," said another.
"I just want to hug that girl. Her face is so cute."
As people were eagerly commenting on her beauty, they saw the man whisper something in the girl's ear, making her giggle.
The group of people erupted in audible wonder, with gasps, oohs, and ahhs. The smile on the girl's face was like a blossom flower in spring, healing everyone's heart. "She's so cute! I'm her fan now."
"Is that guy her dad? I don't see the family resemblance. Still, he's a good-looking guy."
Ivan kept a calm face as he heard everyone talking. He was used to it. This little girl always attracted so much attention each time they went out. He wasn't surprised—because he was fond of this lovely girl. He still didn't want kids, but he had to admit it was nice to carry her.
Quickly enough, the manager of the restaurant came out and ushered Ivan inside.
The restaurant was luxuriously decorated. Piggy ran her big eyes over the whole place to see if there was anything interesting. There was, but not necessarily to a child. There was a very serious-looking bar area, with colorful bottles aesthetically arranged. She could see works of art in wood and iron. There were lamps that were made to look like vines hanging from the ceiling. They were polished to a fine sheen, and had abstract leaves as a motif. The colors were red and gold.
Then the manager led them to a shiny carved black table next to a window. A man dressed in a dark-colored designer suit was already sitting there, waiting for his business partner. This well-appointed gentleman was on his phone when Ivan arrived.
Hearing footsteps from behind, Carlos turned around and saw a man coming nearer with a little girl in his arms.
He was a little taken aback when he noticed the little one. He had never talked important business with a client who would bring a kid along. That was certainly out of the ordinary, but he wasn't sure if it was a deal-breaker.
But when he carefully studied the girl's face, he felt she looked quite familiar. He had the oddest feeling he knew her.
Carlos was so lost in her large eyes that he totally forgot his phone call. Ivan reached out his right hand to shake, but he didn't even notice it. His full attention was drawn to the little girl.
"Hello!" Piggy suddenly said in a cute voice, snapping Carlos back to his senses.
Realizing his impropriety, Carlos let out a light cough and quickly ended the call. Then he stood up, took Ivan's hand and shook it firmly. "Are you Mr. Wen? I'm sorry. Please have a seat."
Ivan didn't mind at all. He sat Piggy down In the baby chair that the manager had brought out to him.
As they were all seated, Carlos regained his composure and greeted Piggy politely, "Hello."
Wearing a lovely smile, Piggy asked, "Uncle, what's your name?"
"Carlos Huo. And yours?" Carlos said as tenderly as he could muster. He had next to no experience talking with kids, so he wasn't sure how he should talk to her.
Ivan silently watched this scene without cutting in. He gestured to the manager and asked him to arrange a French Michelin-Three-Star chef to prepare some specialty dishes.
After the manager left, Carlos shifted his eyes to Ivan and asked, "Your daughter?"
Ivan shook his head. "She's my goddaughter. Nice to meet you, Mr. Huo. Sorry I was late." In fact, this was the first meeting between the two men. But all of Carlos' attention had been focused on the little girl, so the niceties had to wait until both men were focused on the meeting.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Wen. I was just a minute earlier." As Carlos finished his sentence, his eyes fell on the little girl again. Making eye contact with the handsome uncle, Piggy grinned happily, revealing her neat and white teeth. She suddenly thrust out her hands towards him and said, "Hug, hug…"
Carlos froze, unsure of what to do.
Before he came here, Ivan had imagined that the father and daughter might naturally feel closed to each other since they were bound by blood. But he was still shocked by how much enthusiasm Piggy had shown around Carlos. The little girl never liked to play with strangers, yet she was actively engaged with Carlos. 'Bonds of blood are truly amazing!' Ivan thought in his mind.
Seeing Carlos in bewilderment, Ivan explained, "Seems like Piggy is fond of Mr. Huo. She never does this. We always wonder how a two-year-old kid could be this cold. I never imagined she'd warm up to you like this. Do you want to give her a hug?"
Carlos was nonplussed. He almost never interacted with kids. Certainly never hugged them. Even when he was around Damon's son, he would merely give the boy a thin smile. That was all. But now, he was asked to hug a little girl.
This was something more difficult than negotiating a 100-million dollar contract.
He wanted to refuse, but he found himself irresistibly drawn to the expectant look in her sparkling eyes. The next second, he took a piece of wet tissue from the bowl and wiped his hands clean.
When Ivan gave up the idea and Piggy was about to drop her hands, Carlos suddenly stood up from his seat, came close to her and carefully pulled her up from the baby chair. He pulled her close, lingering there for a moment, with her head on his shoulder.
Glowing with happiness, Piggy threw the doll to one side and wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his cheek.
Unbelievably, the soft kiss touched his heart, and touched something deep inside of him. Something he didn't even know was there, buried deep under layers of ice.
A warm feeling now coursed throughout his body. "Your name is Piggy?" he asked. The workaholic man put aside his work and tried to connect with this little vision of heaven.
Piggy sat on Carlos' lap, raised her head to look into his eyes and answered with seriousness, "Evening. Mom calls me Piggy."
'Piggy? Evening? Maybe she means Evelyn…' Carlos was amused by her names. He wondered what kind of strange parents would name their cute daughter Piggy. What was going through their minds?
As Ivan was filling two glasses of red wine, he chipped in, "Normally, a two-year-old kid can only say a few simple words. But Piggy can speak in full sentences when she wants to. She even knows several English words. Her IQ is remarkable. Probably her dad's good genes." Of course, it had to be Carlos' genes. Ivan didn't think that Piggy's high intelligence had anything to do with Debbie.
Carlos raised his eyebrows. And he remembered that Damon's son wasn't able to speak so fluently at the age of two. So he praised her, "I'm impressed, Piggy! But why would your parents call you Piggy?"
Certainly a nickname like "Sugar" or "Bunny" would be more suitable for this cute girl.
Piggy's cheeks bulged up as she complained, "Mommy said I didn't like… eating meat. I was thin. She wanted me…like a fat pig… so she called me Piggy."
Her words came with great difficulty. It seemed that she still needed to pause and think when it came to longer sentences. After all, no matter how smart she was, she was still a kid who wasn't even in kindergarten yet.
