Chapter 936 A Hint Of Hesitation
Seeing that the children were drenched in sweat, Roxanne chose an opportune time to call out to them, “You guys are sweating all over. Come and take a rest, or you might catch a cold.”
By then, the children had played to their heart’s content, so they obediently got out of the water upon hearing the woman’s words. Benny had a fish in his hand, which he reluctantly released into the water before he left.
As for Estella, she gathered all of the pebbles the boys had given her in her skirt, protecting the pile of stones as she walked toward Roxanne.
Noticing how the little girl was struggling, Roxanne stepped forward to help her. Estella’s footsteps became lighter when some of the weight of the pebbles were taken off of her.
When they reached the shore, Roxanne took the towels she had prepared earlier and gently wiped down the children’s bodies.
The three children wrapped themselves in their respective towels and returned to their tent, where Estella laid the pebbles out to dry.
The boys had specially picked some colorful and nicely-shaped pebbles that looked extremely beautiful when the sun’s rays bounced off of them.
Hence, Estella simply couldn’t turn her eyes away.
Roxanne patted the little girl’s head and got up to get their cups.
“You guys must be thirsty after all that fun. Here, have some water.”
As she spoke, she gave the children their respective cups, and they drank their water obediently.
“Mommy.” Archie took a sip of the water and thought it tasted odd.
Upon hearing her son’s voice, Roxanne turned around and cast him a puzzled glance.
Archie got up and walked toward her with the cup in his hands, gesturing for her to look at the water.
Naturally, nothing seemed off to the naked eye.
The situation brought a frown to Roxanne’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Archie’s expression mirrored his mother’s as he looked over at Benny and Estella.
Is it just me, or does the water taste weird? But Benny and Estella seem to think it’s fine.
Suspicious, he brought the cup to his nose and took a few sniffs.
The water didn’t smell odd either.
Roxanne was baffled by her son’s actions and asked again, “Is there something wrong with the water?”
The little boy nodded hesitantly and sounded uncertain as he explained, “I feel like it tastes weird.”
Hearing that, Roxanne turned to look at the other two children, who shook their heads in confusion.
“Archie, maybe you think it’s weird because you had some spring water earlier,” said Benny. He was practically oozing with smugness.
When they fell into the stream earlier, he had witnessed his brother being so startled he swallowed a mouthful of spring water as a result.
Archie couldn’t help but blush when he was exposed, but the rosiness in his cheeks disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.
On the other hand, not knowing that something like that had happened, Roxanne looked at the children amusedly.
Archie brought the cup to his mouth and took another sip of water.
After which, he proceeded to spit it out.
It still didn’t taste right to him.
When she saw this, suspicion arose within Roxanne. She took over the cup and had a sip of water herself.
Over the years, she had developed a keen sense of taste in order to discern between medicinal herbs.
Thus, one small sip was sufficient for her to instantly notice that the water tasted off.
In fact, it tasted rather familiar.
Roxanne felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach, and she quickly looked over at the other children.
Benny and Estella were still drinking their water, having not found anything odd with it.
Afraid that she might have made an error in judgment and not wanting to needlessly scare the children, Roxanne didn’t say anything else and merely stood up quietly.
She scanned her surroundings but didn’t find signs of anyone else having been there.
At that, a hint of hesitation flickered in her eyes.
