Emma glared at him in displeasure. “Are you sure you get what I mean when I grumble that I’m bored?”
“What do you mean?” John was baffled.
Emma was enraged and almost stretched out her hand to pinch John on his arm again. Nevertheless, she put down her hand as something crossed her mind. “Forget about it. Anyway, don’t ever dream of having another baby girl again!”
In an instant, John felt dejected like an inflated balloon. Besides, he could not catch what Emma was thinking at the moment. Shrugging his shoulder, he was silent and did not persist to talk her into accepting his request.
My goodness! John is still as simple-minded and can’t read Emma’s mind after so many years!
It seems he never gets to understand women. Women are the same in general. Other than being tough on the outside and soft on the inside, we yearn for everlasting affection, attention, and care from our beloved partners!
When John tried to track down my whereabouts by all means around the world previously, he had sacrificed his family time for Emma and their son. Since they could eventually reunite with each other, Emma would definitely hope that they get to have more romantic moments with each other.
Nonetheless, John was never a romantic and sentimental man. As a computer expert, he was a bit too realistic in a way. Poor Emma, it’ seems like there’s a long way for her to go before my dumb brother learns about romance!
Looking at how the two of them were bickering with each other, Ashton turned slowly toward me, hinting me to speak up for him.
I used to be really protective of my children, and was reluctant to let them be exposed to any potential challenges of the outer world. As time went by, I gradually understood that the problems could not be resolved by hiding ourselves forever. The exposure to the hardships could be considered as intensive training sessions for ourselves. In other words, we tended to become mightier through the endurance of obstacles in life.
Therefore, I agreed to let Audrey go to the orphanage with Ashton. I decided to reveal the other side of the real world to her, giving her a picture that life was not just solely about beautiful moments all the time.
“Just let her go this round. I’ll accompany her,” I said gently as I stood up.
No doubt kids are innocent and lack courage. We as parents should play our role well and help them in boosting their courage.
Both Ashton and I could foresee that our children would never lead a free and easy lifestyle. Hence, I felt that it was practical to expose them to the outer world earlier so they would be able to experience the uncertainties and adapt better to the various types of challenges in life. Even though Ashton and I would try our best to be their all-time mentor and protector, we had to give them space to be independent.
The moment Audrey heard that I allowed her to follow Ashton out, she was over the moon. Before Ashton could open his mouth to say anything, she was already trotting toward the main door as she yelled jubilantly, “Hurray! I can go out to play now! Time to go out to play!”
I could not resist knitting my brows. Both Ashton and I have a cool temperament. How on earth does she have such a lively characteristic?
Glancing obliquely at Ashton, I was surprised that he actually looked calm and approved it silently. Stretching out his hand instinctively, he gestured to me to hold his hand.
My lips lifted into a smile as I walked toward him. The moment I grabbed hold of his hand, both Summer and Gregory stood up and gazed at us seriously.
“Both of you want to go with us as well?” I asked tentatively.
“Yeah.” Gregory nodded and replied firmly, “I’ll follow wherever Audrey goes. As his elder brother, I’ll protect her well!”
His words really warmed my heart. I was really proud of him.
“Oh! How sweet! Audrey is really lucky to have such a caring brother!” I complimented Gregory and patted his shoulder as a token of encouragement.
I was thankful that Gregory played his role well as an elder brother and was protective of his sister at such a young age. At the same time, I could not help letting out a deep sigh as the dispute between Ashton and his siblings flashed across my mind.
Later, I raised my head and gazed at Audrey. As we locked gazes, both of us smiled knowingly at each other. “Needless to ask, Gregory offers to protect Audrey, and you need to protect both of them, right?” I asked jokingly.
“Hehe!” Summer giggled shyly. There were sparkles in her smiling eyes.
In the end, we agreed to be fair and bring along all three of them.
Drew was the youngest among them, yet he was very observant and smart like John. The moment he saw Audrey and the others step out, he also stood up in an instant and tried to catch up with them.
As expected, both John and Emma tagged along with us as well since Drew was clingy to Audrey.
Both families ended up heading for the orphanage together. It was as if we were on a special family outing at night.
When we finally reached the orphanage, it was already ten at night.
Most of the children there had gone to bed, except those who were brought back from overseas by Joseph. At the moment, they were all gathered in one of the classrooms.
I started to feel uneasy the moment Ashton told me earlier that those children were rescued from the illegal lab involved with human genetic modification. Initially, I thought that those unfortunate children who were abducted for the experiment might be disfigured or even in a gory mess after being ill-treated. Hence, I kept telling myself to stay calm so as not to scare my children a while later.
Nevertheless, I was surprised at what came into my view when I stepped into the particular classroom.
