“Ms. Jarvis.” Estella spoke, gingerly tugging on Roxanne’s outfit. Roxanne dropped her gaze and saw the little girl piteously looking at her with her big round eyes. She seemed to be asking why Roxanne was ignoring her.
Roxame was ruffled by her puppy-dog eyes, but she could only return a forced smile. Lucian noticed her uneasiness with Estella. His brows furrowed, but he quickly hid his emotions and said, “We are counting on your support to make the play a success, Ms. Jarvis. This will be the kids’ first performance, so I hope you can set aside your personal feelings for the benefit of the kids.”
Roxanne’s expression froze. Her heart was in turmoil, but she put on a nonchalant front. She casually nodded her head and replied, “Don’t worry. I will.”
As his gaze swept past her face, he could see she had pursed her lips and looked indifferent. Very obviously, she had no intention of engaging with him.
Lucian lowered his gaze and exchanged a knowing look with Estella.
The little girl got the hint, moved over, and clung to Roxanne, asking, “Are you still very busy, Ms. Jarvis?”
Roxanne could not bear to ignore the little girl anymore. She hesitated for a moment, then replied, “Yes, I’m still busy. But since we promised to take part in the anniversary celebration, I’ll make time to join you in your rehearsals.”
Estella’s eyes instantly lit up when she heard that, joy written all over her face.
Roxanne noticed the change in Estella, and her heart melted. She could no longer behave coldly toward the little girl.
On the way to the classroom, Estella chattered with Roxanne, who entertained her tenderly.
As they stepped into the classroom, Roxanne felt all eyes were on them.
A bewildered Roxanne stopped in her tracks, turned to Archie and Benny, and asked, “Are we in the wrong classroom?”
The boys shook their heads and said, “No. This is our classroom.”
Roxanne nodded, then looked up and saw that the other parents were giving her a weird look. She was puzzled.
She had met those parents before, so she could not understand the hint of jealousy she detected in the air,
“It has been a while, Ms. Jarvis.” Roxanne was trying to convince herself to ignore the unwelcome attention when a lady came up to her and greeted her.
She was taken aback. It was the mother of one of her boys’ classmates. She had met that lady at the class outing to the botanic garden the last time, although she did not recall talking to her.
Later, Roxanne found out that lady was Cassandra Clark.
Cassandra sneaked a look at the man behind Roxanne, then moved in and cozied to her.
Taken aback, Roxanne subconsciously stepped back and found herself knocking onto a muscular chest, losing her balance.
Immediately, a hand reached out and held onto her by her waist to steady her.
Suddenly, the whole classroom turned eerily silent, and Roxanne could tell all attention was on her.
After a brief daze, she quickly realized what had happened. She stumbled out of Lucian’s arm, grabbed Archie and Benny by their hands, and stepped away from Lucian. At that moment, she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.
She tried all ways and means to keep her distance from Lucian, yet he publicly made such an intimate gesture for all to see.
Roxanne’s heart was still pounding wildly, and she had not noticed Cassandra walking up to her.
“From the looks of it, Ms. Jarvis is really close to Mr. Farwell.” Cassandra looked at Roxanne from head to toe with an enigmatic expression.
