Estelle felt something was wrong. It suddenly occurred to her that when she was with Mr. Mysterious, Mr. Mysterious had done a lot of things for her, such as buying her a white puppy, planting sunflowers in the garden of the Hudson’s House, and taking her to the amusement park to watch stars on the Ferris wheel.
‘Those are all the wishes I wrote on my wish list… Has Mr. Mysterious also read my diary before?’ She wondered.
“Are you sure that no one else has read the diary except you and Gretchen?” Estelle asked again.
After thinking for a while, Cristofer shook his head and said, “I’m not sure if Gretchen has shown Melody your diary. If Melody read the diary, then York might also have read it. As for others, there should be no others who have read it. What’s wrong?”
Estelle was baffled, shaking her head in confusion. ‘How could Mr. Mysterious possibly know my wishes? Gretchen, Melody, and York have no knowledge of him, and they believe Mr. Mysterious is Tim. So, Mr. Mysterious couldn’t have learned about my desires through them.’
‘Back then, whenever I asked Mr. Mysterious how he knew what I wanted or thought, he would say that he guessed it. But it’s impossible that he could guess so many wishes. Could he know my wishes by the telepathy between Cristofer and him? Cristofer had read my diary, so Mr. Mysterious also knew my wishes?’
Estelle thought for a long time but still couldn’t figure it out. She felt that she was close to the truth, but something was wrong and made her unable to find out the truth.
****
About an hour later, the three of them arrived at the Hans’ Residence. Gary and Luke had fallen asleep, and so did the kids. Holding Christina in her arms, Estelle entered the villa and tiptoed upstairs.
With her eyes wide open, Christina looked around and whispered, “Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Is this Dad’s house?”
“Yes. Yohan and Yvonne live here. And your great-grandfather and a butler you should call Grandpa Luke also live here. They are all good people.”
Christina asked, “Can I also live here?”
“Sure.”
“What about Grandma?”
“Your Grandma doesn’t live here now. She will stay at her friend’s place these days,” Estelle explained briefly.
Beaming with joy, Christina said, “It’s so great to live here. I hope I can live here together with all of you as a family forever!”
With a gentle smile, Estelle said, “Okay. We’ll live here forever. But you should be good. After your great-grandfather’s birthday, you will go to the hospital for treatment. You should listen to the doctors. After you recover, you can eat whatever you want to eat and go wherever you want to go.”
With her arms tightening about Estelle’s neck, Christina nestled against Estelle’s chest and said, “Mom, I’m so happy. I not only have a Dad but also a great-grandfather. And I can live in such a big and beautiful house! Mom, I will be good and recover soon. I will be with all of you forever!”
“All that you want will come true. Now, let’s take a shower and then go to bed, okay?” Estelle said with her voice full of tenderness.
“Mom, which room am I going to sleep in tonight?”
“You’ll sleep in the same room with me,” Estelle smiled.
“But I want to sleep alone,” Christina pouted her lips.
“Why? Aren’t you scared of sleeping in the room alone?”
Christina pouted her lips again and said, “Mom, I’m already three years old now! I can sleep alone.”
Estelle couldn’t help chuckling and pinched her little cheek, “Okay, okay. You are so brave.”
“Moreover, you and Dad are a couple. He should be the one sleeping in the same room as you,” Christina insisted.
Estelle hesitated before responding, “Well, we don’t necessarily have to sleep in the same room.”
“No, you two should sleep together,” Christina stated with seriousness. “Mom, can you reconcile with Dad? I want both of you to be happy together.”
“Mom, promise me you’ll make up with Dad. Promise me,” Christina said as she acted like a spoiled child and rolled in Estelle’s arms with all her strength, which caused Estelle to lose her balance.
When Estelle was about to fall, Cristofer came over and put his big hand around her waist to keep her balance.
“Dad!” Christina’s eyes brightened with excitement when she saw Cristofer.
“Such a good girl,” Cristofer, feeling delighted when Christina called him Dad, responded with a smile. Then he glanced at Estelle and noticed the dark circles under her eyes.
Inwardly, he sighed, ‘Lately, you’ve been juggling company matters, searching for a suitable liver donor for Christina, and collaborating with me while pretending in front of Grandpa. Estelle, you must be utterly exhausted.’
Cristofer gently took Christina from Estelle’s arms and said, “I’ll look after Christina. Why don’t you take a shower and go to bed first?”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know how to lull a child to sleep?”
Cristofer nodded quickly, “Yes, I used to lull Yvonne to sleep every night when she was a baby.”
“But Christina is not a baby and is already three years old now. It’s not easy to lull a child at her age to sleep.”
“Don’t worry. I have even taken care of a five-year-old before. It’s not an issue to take care of a three-year-old child,” Cristofer said and then went to the small bedroom next door with Christina.
Seeing him holding Christina with his left arm only, Estelle suddenly remembered that he was in a cold sweat because of the pain in his left arm the day before yesterday.
Feeling a little worried, she followed them secretly and quietly. Then she saw that Cristofer looked fine and held Christina in his arms skillfully as if he was skillful at taking care of a child.
After entering the room, Cristofer gently put Christina on the bed and then went to the bathroom. Soon, he came out with a wet towel and wiped Christina’s face, hands, and feet. After finishing that, he tucked her in.
Considering that Christina might want to go to the bathroom at night, he put her little slippers neatly at the bedside to make it convenient for Christina to find them and put them on. Seeing what he had done, Estelle was rather surprised because she didn’t expect that he was so considerate.
Knowing that Estelle had been watching him outside the bedroom, Cristofer walked out of the room quickly after Christina fell asleep and then closed the door gently.
“She’s fallen asleep. I said I can take good care of her. I didn’t lie to you,” he whispered. The two of them then went back to their bedroom.
“Have you ever taken care of any other children besides Yvonne?” Estelle couldn’t help asking.