The two kids were waiting for Roxanne by the time she got home that night. They ran up to her and stared cautiously at her face the moment she came in through the door.
“What’s the matter?” Roxanne asked with a confused frown. Benny exchanged glances with Archie as he asked in his usual adorable voice, “Are you unhappy, Mommy?”
Roxanne felt confused. “What makes you say that?”
“You requested for a change in teams earlier at school, but it didn’t happen…” Benny replied nervously with his lips pursed.
Roxanne felt a little stressed when she recalled the stage play that she would be in. “I’m not upset, Benny. Now, be a good boy and go get ready for dinner.”
Still worried about her, the kids waited until she had taken her coat off before sitting down at the dining table.
Roxanne saw a mountain of food on her plate when she came back from washing her hands. Archie and Benny were still topping her plate up with food like worker ants feeding their queen.
“All right, that’s enough. I’m not angry or anything, you two. I really do feel bad for Essie,” she said with a chuckle as she ran forward to stop them.
Seeing as the kids were still a little unconvinced, Roxanne flashed them a reassuring smile as she put some of the food back. “I can’t finish all of this by myself, you know?”
The kids stopped trying to top her plate up, but still glanced at her worriedly from time to time.
Not only did Roxanne fail to change teams, but Pippa had also stated that there would be no change in the plot of the stage play.
They knew how much Roxanne wanted to stay away from Lucian, so they were worried that she only agreed to attend the activity because of them.
Both Archie and Benny had spent the entire day blaming themselves for what had happened.
Oblivious to their thoughts, Roxanne simply continued having dinner with them as
usual.
After dinner, she was about to take them out for a walk when her phone started ringing
Benny quickly fetched her phone for her, but the look on his face changed when he saw the name on the caller ID.
Roxanne felt confused when she saw his sudden change in expression.
It wasn’t until she saw Lucian’s name on the screen that she understood his reaction.
Why would Lucian be calling me at this hour?
After hesitating for a bit, she answered the call and asked, “What is it, Mr. Farwell?”
Lucian’s deep voice came on the other line. “The stage play takes place next week. When do you plan on rehearsing, Ms. Jarvis?”
Roxanne felt her heart sink when she heard him mention the stage play.
Oh, right, I forgot we’ll have to rehearse it. This means I’ll be spending more time with Lucian…
“This is the first time our kids will be participating in a stage play, Ms. Jarvis. I’m sure you’d want it to be a smooth experience for them, right?” Lucian pressed on.
Naturally, Roxanne couldn’t bring herself to deny that statement. “When do you wish to start rehearsing, Mr. Farwell? You’re a lot busier than I am, so I’ll try my best to accommodate your schedule instead,” she said after a brief pause.
“We can start tomorrow after our kids get off school. We can do it at your place if you don’t mind,” Lucian replied.
It would be late at night by the time they finished rehearsing, so Lucian wanted to save Roxanne the trouble of rushing home with her kids.
Since there’s no escaping the rehearsal, it doesn’t matter where we do it.
With that in mind, Roxanne agreed to his arrangement.
