With the three kids all on the same side, Estelle couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. She exchanged a glance with Cristofer and reluctantly agreed, saying, “Okay, but you have to behave and stay inside the building.”
That afternoon, the employees of the Hans Group were thrilled. They would occasionally stop by the reception room while going to the restroom or getting a drink. They walked slowly to get a better look at their boss’s children and then returned to chat with their coworkers.
Ultimately, they all came to the same conclusion, “Mr. Hans has an amazing life. His wife is stunning, and his three children are well-behaved and adorable. It seems like only our lives are a mess!”
****
In the afternoon, soon after he finished reviewing the math problems, Yohan walked around the building for a while. Then he returned and asked Estelle, “Mom, can I look around the company with Dad?”
Yohan’s outstanding performance at the front desk today had already spread throughout the company. After hearing the story, the executives who met with Cristofer were curious about the boy’s capability and offered him a company tour.
Cristofer looked at Yohan and asked him gently, “Do you want to go?”
“Yes. But I don’t want Mom to be worried about me, so I need to ask for Mom’s permission.” His answer amused all the people and made them laugh. Despite the people’s reaction, Yohan quickly went to the reception room and asked for Estelle’s opinion.
When Estelle saw Yohan, she gently brushed his stray hair away from his forehead and said with a smile, “Of course, you can go on the tour, buddy.”
At that moment, Yvonne woke up. She rubbed her eyes and asked quickly, “Mom, can I go with Yohan?”
Estelle felt that the people in the company were all friendly to the children, so she agreed, saying, “Yes, you can. But let me clean your face first, Yvonne.”
Hand in hand, Yohan and Yvonne went to the office area and quickly became the center of attention.
Impressed by how mature Yohan was acting, the head of the operations team joked with him, “Once you join us, there’s no backing out. Or we’ll have to report you to your dad.”
Yohan confidently replied, “I won’t back out,” glancing at Yvonne. Meanwhile, Yvonne was surrounded by a group of young women. Yohan walked over to her and asked patiently, “Do you want to continue touring the company with me or stay here and play with these ladies? I can take you back if you get tired later.”
Though he wasn’t much taller than Yvonne, Yohan indeed behaved like a responsible big brother. Seeing that, all the executives kept nodding and felt this intelligent boy would have a promising future just like Cristofer.
Yvonne slightly tilted her head when thinking and then smiled sweetly, “I think I’ll stay here and wait for you.”
The young women suddenly felt that their boring work became colorful with this cute little girl staying with them. They all told Yohan not to worry because they could take care of Yvonne.
After Yohan went with the executives, Yvonne became the center of attention in the office. She had a cute face, like the dolls you see in store windows. Her gentle and friendly personality, along with her soft-spoken nature, made her seem like a real-life, adorable cartoon character.
Eventually, one of the female employees couldn’t resist and asked Yvonne, “Can I give you a hug? I’ll give you this jello as a reward.”
Yvonne turned to see all kinds of snacks on their desks, from sweet treats like jello and chocolate to crunchy snacks like chips and popcorn. She hesitated, wanting the snacks but also worried about getting cavities. After a moment, she said, “You can hug me, but please don’t tell my mom. I don’t want to get cavities.”
The employee asked, “Why would your mom care?”
Yvonne explained seriously, “My mom always says I’ll get cavities if I eat too many snacks. So if she doesn’t know, I won’t get cavities.”
It was a perfect example of child logic, which was amusing for grown-ups. Then the woman put the jello in Yvonne’s pocket and gently hugged her. She said, “No problem. I promise I won’t tell your mom.”
“Okay,” Yvonne knew she was cute, so after the woman agreed, she immediately put her arms around her neck and squinted like a kitten who had just woken up. Her cuteness was a spur to the mother instinct of other women around them. They all asked to hug her while filling her pocket with snacks.
****
Meanwhile, Estelle was looking after Christina in the reception room. Her youngest daughter was still relatively weak and felt sleepy after playing with Cristofer, Yvonne, and Yohan for a little while. The sound of Yohan and Yvonne leaving didn’t even wake her up.
Worried about her, Estelle didn’t want to wake her up. Therefore, she held Christina in her arms while lying on the sofa and checking her emails on her phone. She managed to do all the things necessary this way.
Cristofer was very careful. After making sure that Vincent received the email of the project plan, he deleted the things he wrote from the draft box. Hence, Estelle didn’t know how much he did for her when she did her job. The first thing she saw in the email box was Wern’s new email.
‘Is there anything wrong with the design?’ Thinking of that, she quietly sat straight up. After reading the email, Estelle was relieved because Wern apologized to her personally without saying anything about business.
This man was quite romantic and unruly, and he wrote the email with the standard format but informal content as if he was casually talking to her face to face.
“Estelle, I’m sorry that I apologized to you too late. I knew it at noon today. I can’t believe that my girlfriend went to talk to you. I’m really sorry that it happened. It’s totally my fault. And I hope this incident won’t influence our cooperation. Also, I have to tell you that I invited you to dinner that day because I admired your talent. I hope you won’t mind.”
Looking at this short email from Wern, Estelle slightly frowned. ‘This man is really what he appears to be.’
Sleeping in her arms under Cristofer’s coat, Christina turned over and moaned like a kitten as Estelle tapped on the screen. Then Christina covered her eyes with her hands. It seemed that she wouldn’t wake up soon.
When she sensed Christina’s movement, Estelle carefully put her on the sofa and put a few cushions beside her so that she wouldn’t fall off. Then she walked toward the window to call Wern because Estelle thought it was the only way that she could express herself clearly when talking directly to him over the phone.