At the sight of Estella throwing herself into Lucian’s arms, Roxanne stopped awkwardly and held back the two boys running behind her.
“Daddy!” Unaware of the change in Roxanne’s mood, Estella tugged ecstatically at Lucian’s sleeve. “Let’s play hide and seek for a while before going home!”
Lowering his head to gaze at Estella, Lucian then shifted his attention to Roxanne with an indiscernible look in his eyes. When she met his gaze, Roxanne felt a sudden sense of guilt.
She had just reprimanded the brothers for running wildly with Estella. But now, she was the one doing it instead.
After an awkward silence, Lucian remarked in a deep voice, “It’s getting late. I’ll be taking Essie home now.”
He had barely finished when he turned toward Estella and said, “We have to go now, but we’ll come back again tomorrow.”
Despite puffing her cheeks up to express her unwillingness, Estella recognized that she had had a lot of fun that evening already. After a brief hesitation, she demonstrated her acquiescence by holding her father’s hand.
When she reached the mansion’s door with Lucian, Estella turned around and waved at Roxanne with a reluctant expression. “Bye, Ms. Jarvis. Bye, Archie, Benny.”
Roxanne, too, bid the little girl farewell. “See you tomorrow.”
All of a sudden, Lucian looked down at Estella and surprised everyone with his next words. “Let’s go. We’ll play hide and seek again with Ms. Jarvis tomorrow.”
The mere mention of the game caused Estella to smile so happily that her eyes couldn’t be seen.
As for Roxanne, the sound of Lucian’s voice caused her to blush faintly.
After watching his car disappear into the distance, Roxanne led the boys back into the mansion,
The next evening, she went to school to pick them up just as she promised.
When she arrived at the kindergarten entrance, she saw the three of them standing in front of Pippa Unable to hear the exchange between them, all she could see was Estella bursting into gleeful laughter.
Upon her arrival, the children looked at her in unison, their faces glowing with joy.
The heartwarming sight melted Roxanne’s heart as she hurried over to their side.
“Mommy!”
“Ms. Jarvis!”
The children called out to her in their squeaky voices.
After giving their heads an affectionate pat each, Roxanne’s attention fell on Estella. “Essie, is your daddy not here yet?”
Estella nodded, as Lucian would usually arrive later.
Pondering for a moment, Roxanne then suggested with a smile, “In that case, do you want to come home with me first?”.
Estella nodded in agreement without giving it a second thought. In fact, she even reached out to hold Roxanne’s sleeve of her own volition.
Roxanne then held Estella’s hand before bidding goodbye to Pippa and herding the children into her car.
As the children climbed into the backseat obediently, they felt as if they had returned to the time when Estella was living with them. The only difference was that she could now interact with them normally, injecting further dynamism into their relationship.
Consequently, the car, filled with their excited voices, felt especially lively.
When Roxanne saw how they were fooling around in the backseat through the rearview mirror, a gentle smile emerged on her face. As she took her phone to give Lucian a call, it rang with a call from him instead.
Roxanne proceeded to answer.
“Are you picking Archie and Benny up today? I’m tied up with something right now. If you can, please bring Essie along to your place.”
Lucian’s deep voice rang out the moment she answered.
Even though his words were consistent with her intention, she had an indescribable feeling after hearing what he said.
