Joshua and Terilynn already had a little third wheel on their date. Joshua figured, 'What's one more? Nothing amazing is going to happen tonight anyway.' "Hello, Sheffield, I'm going to see my idol. Wanna come along?"
"Your idol? Since when do you have an idol?"
"Terilynn's bringing over the little girl in my WeChat profile photo. Come on, man. You gotta meet her!"
Having just been tortured by little Nastas the whole day, Sheffield felt his head spin. He was still nursing a headache from that little encounter. "No way."
"Blowing me off just like that? The baby is part of the Huo family. You wanna get in good with these guys, then you need to learn to like them. All of them. At least try to be civil." Joshua wasn't going to give up so easily.
"Piss off! You want to be a punching bag for a little kid, be my guest. Not my style, sorry." Evelyn had to take his surname. Their kid wouldn't be a Huo, not technically, anyway.
Joshua insisted, "You need a break. A little R and R will do you some good. Come on, meet the baby girl with me. We can hang out while we watch her."
"Leave me alone! I feel like crap!"
"Fine! I just helped you out and you can't help me? See what happens next time you need help!"
Of course Joshua had it all planned out. He would play with the little girl for a bit, then pawn her off on Sheffield and go on his date, sans kids.
Sheffield rolled his eyes and gave in reluctantly. "Fine. Where?"
Joshua grinned. "Nice! The north gate of Shining International Plaza."
"I'll be there," Sheffield said, wearily. Sheffield thumped his pen on the desk. But when he thought of who got it for him, he picked it up, blew off the imaginary dust, put the cap back on and lowered it gently into the pen holder.
At the north gate of Shining International Plaza
Joshua and Terilynn were there, but Sheffield hadn't arrived yet.
"She is even cuter than the photo. You need to take better pics, Terrilynn," Joshua commented when he saw the baby girl. He brushed her hair affectionately. She was wearing a mask. Her big eyes blinked adorably.
Then he asked curiously, "Why the mask?"
"Her parents are celebrities and don't want their child to have to face the paparazzi yet," Terilynn replied. She had already come up with this excuse before she left.
"I see. Can I hold her?"
Terilynn paused and then said, "Let me ask her." Then she turned to Gwyn. "Gwyn, this is your uncle Joshua. He wants to hold you."
Gwyn stared at Joshua who was grinning innocuously. Then she put her arms around Terilynn's neck and turned her back to him.
The smile on Joshua's face immediately disappeared. "Even kids don't like me anymore!" he complained.
Terilynn soothed him, "It's not like that. Gwyn's not like other kids…" She paused, not knowing how to continue. "She wasn't like this before. She was outgoing and happy…" The little girl used to be as extroverted as Sheffield.
"Okay. So what happened?" When he heard this, Joshua understood something must have changed the way the girl looked at the world.
"Well, a few months ago…" Terilynn hesitated for a moment and advised him earnestly, "This is just between us. You can't tell anyone."
"No problem!" Realizing that she was serious, he nodded.
Leaning closer to him, Terilynn whispered, "A few months ago, she was kidnapped by a nanny who took care of her for nine months." Thinking of that, Terilynn still wanted to cry.
Joshua was startled. "And then what happened?"
"The woman took her hostage—" She stopped herself. She almost blurted out the whole truth. Luckily, Terilynn realized it before it was too late. "Not the place for it. I'll tell you when there aren't so many ears around to hear." Her eyes reddened as she recalled the past.
"Okay." Joshua was aware of the seriousness of the matter and decided not to press her.
"Gwyn has been withdrawn since then…"
Just then, the toddler, who was resting her head docilely on Terilynn's shoulder, suddenly burst into tears.
Her sudden cry confused Terilynn. She immediately comforted her, "It's okay. It's okay, Gwyn. Please don't cry…"
Terilynn had been holding her a long time, and her arms were sore. But Gwyn wouldn't let others hold her, so Terilynn had to try her best to calm her down.
Joshua tried to take the baby into his arms, but the kid cried even harder.
"It's so weird. She almost never cries, never this much." Terilynn felt helpless. Gwyn had never been like this.
The baby's crying had already attracted a lot of attention. If not for the fact that Joshua and Terilynn were both well-dressed and looked like decent people, the crowd would have mistaken them for human traffickers.
"Is she hungry?"
"I don't think so. She had some milk before we came out of the house." She had watched Gwyn finish the bottle.
Joshua was also at a loss what to do. They were starting to attract a crowd.
"She must have heard what I said." Terilynn blamed herself for upsetting the baby.
"Don't worry. Take it easy. You'll get better at it." Joshua tried to comfort her.
Just when Terilynn was about to call Evelyn for help, Sheffield showed up.
As a matter of fact, he heard the crying and went to see what the matter was. He thought the same as everyone else: The girl had been crying so hard. Was she stolen by a trafficker?
To his surprise, when he got there, he saw Joshua and Terilynn.
He rushed over. "Hey, what's going on?"
Terilynn was excited. "Oh, good, Sheffield, you're here. See if you can calm her down." It was said that a father and daughter had a special connection. Sheffield should have a way to stop her from crying.
To Sheffield's bewilderment, Terilynn finally realized that she was too excited. She took a few deep breaths and said, "Joshua and I have tried everything, but she's still crying. Can you give it a try?"
"Me?" Sheffield pointed at himself in surprise.
"Yes, you're handsome. Gwyn likes handsome boys. Come on, give it a try!" Without giving him a chance to refuse, Terilynn put Gwyn in Sheffield's arms.
Sheffield was forced to take the crying baby. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Hey, what's up with the mask?"
"To hide her from the press. Why do you ask?" Terilynn asked.
"She's short of breath already from crying so much. The mask makes it more difficult for her to breathe. We gotta take it off." Sheffield eased the straps off gently, then took the mask off.
The baby's face was covered with tears and snot. Terilynn took out a tissue to mop the little girl's face.
Gwyn continued to cry as she looked at Sheffield's face. With one arm holding the little tyke, Sheffield took the tissue from Terilynn to wipe her nose. "Sweet little girl, don't cry. Uncle Sheffield is here with you. It's all right…" Sheffield was never so patient.
After wiping her tears and snot, Sheffield finally saw her little face clearly. He nodded and said, "Cute and pretty. She'll be a heartbreaker when she grows up."
Hearing his voice, Gwyn never moved her gaze away from Sheffield's face again.
