“Thank you,” Summer replied politely, then went on to say, “Are you Daddy’s secretary too? Where’s Ms. Collins?”
Thora’s face fell, her expression souring significantly.
It must have been humiliating for the president of a highly-regarded listed company to be mistaken for a lowly employee such as Stella by a kid, even if it had been merely an innocent mistake.
Who would have thought that my baby would learn to defend her mother at such a young age? Way to go, Summer!
Internally snickering, I cleared my throat and pulled Summer even closer to me. “I’m sorry, kids these days don’t know what they’re talking about,” I explained sarcastically. “You won’t take her words to heart, right, Ms. Ziegler?”
Thora quickly regained her composure and steeled her expression once more, haughtily throwing her hair over her shoulder as if nothing had happened. “Of course not,” she sniffed. “It was just a joke, after all. These things happen with kids all the time.”
I’d expected nothing less from a woman who built her career up from the ground all by herself. She’d mastered the method of getting close to people by first exchanging niceties with them before making her advances aggressively. After failing to appeal to Ashton’s daughter, she had likely decided to steal him away through brute force instead.
Clearly, her interest in Ashton was born out of calculation rather than a pure crush if she didn’t even have the patience to deal with a child.
Ding!
I’d planned on picking apart even more of her puzzling confidence, but the elevator had arrived at our floor. I couldn’t act too much like a bully in front of Summer either, so I took a deep breath and led her out of the elevator.
Ashton and Thora followed closely behind us.
I’d barely taken a few steps before pausing, turning around, and walking up to Ashton. Leaning in close to him just like how I’d done a thousand times before, I reached my arms around his neck and fiddled with his collar, making sure that Thora was watching every single move. After that, I grabbed his tie in an elegant motion, straightening it before stepping back to admire my handiwork. “That’s more like it,” I smiled to myself in satisfaction.
Glancing up at Ashton innocently, I told him, “Remember to take some time out of your schedule to accompany the kids for dinner, okay? Our arms are always open for you.”
With that, I turned on my heel and pulled Summer out of the hospital.
There was a skip in my step all the way to the car, feeling especially proud of my amazing acting skills. Who wouldn’t feel envious after having witnessed such an intimate, tender moment between a handsome husband and a loving wife?
The memory of Thora’s unpleasant face turning several shades of red while she tried her best to suppress her rage literally made me want to laugh out loud.
Who cared if she was the woman with Ashton right now? The familiarity of ten years’ worth of emotions and the natural instinct to press close to one another was something that she, a woman who had solely been focused on her career for all of her life, would never be able to achieve with him.
She and Ashton were like the polar ends of a magnet. Even if they seemed perfect for each other on paper, the truth may turn out to be the exact opposite.
“Mommy,” Summer suddenly wrapped her arms around me, resting her chin on my chest as she stared up with questioning eyes. “Does Daddy not like us anymore?”
“Huh?” I reached down to fix her hair. “Why would you think of that?”
“Daddy doesn’t want to eat dinner with me anymore…” She pouted, unable to conceal the disappointment she felt. “Mr. Cress said that if you like someone, you always eat with them. That must mean that Daddy doesn’t like me anymore.”
Not Mr. Cress again.
Jared had infected Summer with his teachings, causing such a young child to constantly question herself and ruining her chances at having a happy, innocent childhood.
Swallowing back my temper, I patiently comforted her by saying, “Daddy and Mommy are the two people who love you the most in the world, silly. But Daddy is busy fighting bad guys now, so if we meet too much, he might get distracted and then get hurt by the bad guys. So, Daddy is actually working very hard to protect us. Knowing this, are you still mad at Daddy?”
“Then, is Daddy Superman?” Summer asked, completely serious.
I laughed wryly, not knowing what else to do other than to nod my head.
I’d meant to agree only as a joke, but Summer was much more earnest than I’d initially thought. “Then, that means I’m mini Superman!” she exclaimed, her mouth open in a wide “O” shape.
