The tall and thin John was a little surprised by his question. He replied politely, “Mr. Smith, milady’s name is Jessica.”
Jessica?
Ian broke into a frown. “Is she American?”
John answered, “Yes, she is.”
She was American!
Ian’s heart thumped wildly again. He then asked, “Does she go by any other name?”
“Yes,” John paused and then said, “She also goes by Queenie Schmidt.”
Ian lowered his eyes in disappointment when he heard the unfamiliar name. He stared at the two gems in his hand. Suddenly, he pointed at them and asked, “How did she get this?”
John smiled. “Ma’am said that a friend who has already passed away had given it to her. Since it’s that friend’s granddaughter’s birthday today, she shall return it to its original owner.”
A friend who had already passed away had given it to her…
That friend must be Yvette.
Ian’s disappointment grew even stronger.
He shook his head, feeling like he must have lost his mind.
Although he knew very well that Yvette had already died twenty years ago, the moment he heard a bit of news about her, he could not help but wonder if she was still alive.
He lowered his gaze and put the other gem into the box.
Then, he sighed.
As he had only just recovered, he couldn’t stand for too long. Thus, Ian turned, went up the stairs and toward the VIP lounge to rest.
Justin didn’t understand why his father-in-law had suddenly become depressed. He followed after him and asked, “Uncle Ian, what’s wrong?”
Ian waved him off. “It’s nothing. You get back to the party.”
Justin held his arm and said, “I’ll take you upstairs, and also check in on Nora along the way.”
Nora hated crowds the most. Besides, she wasn’t the star today, so she had been hiding upstairs the whole time.
Ian nodded.
But after Justin helped Ian upstairs, he found that Nora, who should have been resting in the VIP lounge, was not in there?
Where had she gone?
It was extraordinarily lively downstairs.
Cherry and Princess Lucy hadn’t met for a very long time, so they had a lot to talk to each other about. The way they couldn’t stop talking to each other was as though the two of them had become conjoined twins.
As for Pete, he was surrounded by the children of the Hunts. He was the future heir to the clan. Moreover, he had grown up with them and also gone to school with them. Thus, even though he was introverted, the group of children still played with him.
Pete didn’t want to talk to them, so he turned and joined the children from the kindergarten instead.
The Hunts were celebrating the children’s birthday today, so most of the guests had also brought children of similar age with them.
The children, led by Mia, didn’t dare to disturb Cherry and Princess Lucy, so they could only circle around Pete instead.
“Wow! You really look just like Cherry!”
Someone stretched out their little hand to pinch Pete’s cheek.
Mia smiled shyly and gave Pete a birthday present. “I drew this for you, Pete. Have a look and see if it looks good?”
When Pete opened it, he found that it was a drawing of three children.
Two of the children looked the same. One of them was wearing a white organza dress-it was Cherry.
The other was wearing a small suit-it was Pete.
The timid little girl in the middle was none other than Mia.
Mia looked at him and said timidly, “Pete, shall the three of us stay together forever?”
When Pete and Cherry were staying with the Smiths, they hadn’t played with Brandon but only with Mia instead. The three of them got along very well.
Pete nodded. “Sure!” “Cherry!”
Brandon, who had been in a state of shock and silence ever since he saw Pete, suddenly yelled, “So you guys are two different people! It’s not because you can cut off your little willy, turn into a little girl, and then have it grow back!”
Everyone: “??!”
Pete: “???”
Brandon wailed, “… To think I trusted you so much and started studying how to cut off my little willy without any pain! I’m lucky that I haven’t gotten around to doing it yet! Sob!”
After a moment of silence, they suddenly burst out laughing.
Children’s laughter was contagious. The whole party livened up because of their laughter.
In a corner one was paying any attention to, Xander stood all by himself and looked around blankly.
He didn’t have a single friend here. Apart from the three gifts from his relatives, there was no one else here who would bring gifts for him.
“Wow! Did you see? Princess Lucy gave Cherry a diamond hairpin that she made! She’s so good with her hands! That hairpin is really pretty!”
“Mia also drew a picture for Pete! And Brandon gave Pete his favorite plane!”
“When is my birthday? I want gifts too!”
In the children’s world, how expensive a gift was didn’t matter. What mattered was the amount of sincerity in the little gifts that the classmates gave one another.
Xander clenched his jaw.
He balled up his little fists tightly.
He suddenly wanted very much to go back, return to the basement, and lock himself up.
Just as his imagination was running wild, a big warm hand suddenly stroked his hair.
Xander was taken aback.
He looked behind abruptly and saw Nora standing behind him.
The woman was very tall and slim. Her almond-shaped eyes were slightly downcast. When he raised his head, the woman tugged her trousers up a little with her long and slender bandaged hands, and then she slowly squatted down. She rested her chin on her hands, looked at him at eye-level, and said, “Happy birthday, precious.”
Xander’s cheeks slowly started to burn.
The woman’s voice was low and sounded pampering
This made his expression turn somewhat embarrassed.
He coughed and said, “Don’t call me that, it’s so mushy!”
Nora laughed. “Then what do you want me to call you? Babe? Darling? Or baby? Or perhaps… Xander?”
Xander rolled his eyes. “You can just call me Xander! Why are you so frivolous?! Be serious!”
Nora retracted her smile. Suddenly, she stretched out her uninjured hand to him and said, “Hello, Xander. Let me introduce myself. My name is Nora Smith, and I am your mommy. Mm, although I have been Cherry’s mother for five years, and have also been Pete’s mother for three months, I am still too incompetent a mother. I hope we can get along in the future. Oh, by the way, my hobby is sleeping.”
Xander: “?”
The woman was speaking to him so seriously that it instead made him a little embarrassed.
He paused. Then, he suddenly grinned and said, “Hello, Nora Smith, my name is Xander. Although I have a father, it’s as if I don’t. This is my first time being someone’s son. Please take care of me!”
One of the little guy’s canine teeth was visible when he smiled, making him look very adorable.
Nora stroked his hair. “Yup, let’s both try our best, okay~?”
II
11
Xander pursed his lips.
The way she spoke as if she was coaxing little kids sure was dumb!
But he didn’t realize that even though he was pursing his lips, there was also a smile there.
During their conversation, Pete suddenly walked over and handed Xander a gift.
Taken aback, Xander stared at the box in front of him.
Pete said, “Although you haven’t acknowledged us yet, Mommy has already told us that you are our brother. So, happy birthday.”
Xander felt his eyes stinging again.
He took the gift and said in a stuck-up manner, “I didn’t prepare birthday presents for you guys though-“
“It’s okay, yeah!”
Cherry also walked over hand-in-hand with Princess Lucy. She handed him the little gift that she had prepared a long time ago and said, “We are older than you, so we won’t mind. Since you are the youngest, we will give in to you!” Xander: “??”
He frowned and got mad at once. “I’m your elder brother!”
Cherry tilted her head. “You are my younger brother! We should be particular about who comes first! Besides, isn’t it great being a younger brother? This way, I’ll give in to you!”
Pete also nodded and cooperated with Cherry.
Xander: !!
