“Haha!” Mrs. Berry laughed. “From now on, I’ll be cooking for you guys. Make sure to eat well, alright?”
“Of course! I’ll eat everything up,” Ellie declared, clapping her hands excitedly.
“Me too.”
“And me!”
Robbie and Jamie stuck their hands up in the air.
Fifi, who had been lying in Ellie’s arms the whole time, looked up blearily and squawked, “Me too!”
“What’s wrong with Fifi?” Mrs. Berry asked, looking curiously at the parrot. “Is she sick? Or is she hungover?”
“She’s drunk, actually,” Ellie said, her eyes flashing with glee. “This morning, she drank Uncle Zack’s wine secretly. She has been in a coma ever since.”
Hearing this, Charlotte turned to Zachary and gave him a sharp pinch on his arm. “You gave Fifi wine again?”
“She wanted to drink some herself,” Zachary replied, looking very wronged.
“Yeah! You have me as a witness—Fifi wanted to drink it herself,” Jamie said, standing up for Zachary immediately.
“And me!” Robbie added. “It wasn’t Uncle Zack who fed it to her.”
“Oh, it’s alright. She’ll wake up by tomorrow anyway.”
Ellie patted Fifi’s green little head comfortingly.
“Alright, then. I’ll go prepare dinner first. Go and have some fun! Dinner will be ready at six, as usual.”
“Okay! Thanks, Mrs. Berry!’
After sending the kids off to play, Mrs. Berry looked up at Zachary, feeling a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry for hitting you with the mop last time…”
“No worries,” Zachary said, interrupting her. “You were only protecting your own people. Besides, you’re our elder.”
Although he wasn’t a particularly emotive man and didn’t know how to comfort people, he tried his best to reassure Mrs. Berry through his words.
Charlotte felt extremely shocked. Zachary was such a prideful man that she hadn’t expected him to lay down his dignity and forgive Mrs. Berry for her sake.
“Oh, thank you!” Mrs. Berry was equally stunned. She felt a little touched, too. There had been a few misunderstandings between Zachary and herself recently, and she wondered if their meeting today would be awkward.
However, his attitude towards her right now made her feel very shocked.
This was probably what people meant when they said ‘love me, love my dog’.
Because of his love for Charlotte, Zachary was willing to do things he would never have considered before.
“Don’t worry about it,” Zachary replied, smiling. “I’ve hired quite a lot of cooks. You can ask them for help, too. Don’t tire yourself out too much.”
“Oh, got it!”
Mrs. Berry nodded, smiling. She ran back into the kitchen to busy herself.
A few cooks hovered at her elbows, worried that she might faint from fatigue any moment.
“I’m going upstairs to change,” Zachary took Charlotte’s hand and pulled her upstairs.
“Look over there! Uncle Zack is holding Mommy’s hand!” Ellie exclaimed suddenly. She clapped a hand over her mouth, a horrified expression appearing on her face. “After graduating from kindergarten, boys and girls aren’t allowed to hold hands!”
“Oh no! Will they get pregnant?” Jamie frowned, his face full of worry. “If Mommy gets pregnant again, we’ll have the real-life Deedee, Lulu, and Kiki soon enough…”
“Oh, both of you are so ignorant!” Robbie said, puffing out his chest. With a pompous expression, he said, “You can’t get pregnant through holding holds! But…”
Here, Zachary looped his hand around Charlotte’s shoulders as the both of them proceeded upstairs, laughing as they went.
“Oh no, they’re hugging each other now!” Ellie cried, pointing to them in consternation. “Do you think they could get pregnant like that?”
“No…” Robbie said smugly. “That doesn’t mean anything. They have to kiss first…”
At that exact moment, Zachary pressed a kiss to Charlotte’s lips.
“Oh no!” Ellie hid her face behind her hands, too afraid to look.
“Oh no…” Robbie said, sighing.
“You can get pregnant through kissing?” Jamie asked, looking horrified. “I just kissed Ms. Wiklund on her cheeks! Does that mean…I’m going to be a father soon?”
“What? Jamie, did you really kiss Ms. Wiklund on her cheeks?” Ellie yelped, stomping her feet. “This is terrible! I’m going to be an aunt!”
“What are we going to do?” Robbie moaned, burying his head in his hands. “I’m too young to be an uncle! Besides, what will happen if Mommy’s baby is born at the same time as my nephew? Oh my gosh…”
