Christina also buried her face in Estelle’s arms, looked at her with pleading eyes, and begged, “Just let us stay here for one night, please?”
Unable to resist their determined gazes, Estelle couldn’t bring herself to say no. She reluctantly continued, “Alright, then… Tomorrow, I’ll…”
Just as Estelle was about to say, “I’ll pick you up”, she suddenly heard a rattling sound. She stopped talking. And then, Estelle looked in the direction of the sound worriedly. Then she saw Cristofer standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a fruit plate. Beside him was the pendulum that he had accidentally knocked to the floor. He tried to put down the fruit plate first to help the pendulum up, but he stumbled as his leg hadn’t fully recovered. The next second, he nearly flopped to the floor.
Estelle was startled, and she wanted to rush over to help Cristofer up subconsciously. Yet, she hesitated, afraid that he was repeating the same trick, playing the pity to gain sympathy. Also, as she was about to leave at this moment, she was even more doubtful as to whether Cristofer did it on purpose.
Just when Estelle was still biting her lips and wondering if she should help Cristofer, Luke had already scurried over and helped Cristofer slowly stand up.
“Let me take the fruit plate for you, Mr. Hans,” Mrs. Moorsum said to Cristofer after coming out of the kitchen. She then took the fruit plate from Cristofer’s hand and put it on the coffee table. After surveying Estelle’s expression, she advised, “Estelle, it’s so late now. How about staying here for the night? You see, the children are a little sleepy now.”
Hearing that, Yvonne and Christina rested their heads on Estelle’s lap and began to rub their eyes tacitly. Yohan also raised his hand to cover his mouth and yawned, looking as if he was really sleepy.
Luke quickly added, “It’s very safe for you to stay overnight here, Estelle. What is there to be afraid of?”
‘Theoretically, it is safe for me to stay here for the night. But I’m not sure whether Cristofer would seize the chance to make a move on me just like before. Well, he did fall hard, and he still seems to be having trouble moving around. But I don’t know…’ Estelle was in a dilemma.
Meanwhile, Cristofer did not speak. He was frowning, and there were some bruises on his arm. This time, he didn’t play the same trick as he did last time, using Estelle’s sympathy to make her stay with him. Then he struggled to walk to the living room and took out the medical kit to disinfect the wounds on his arm.
Luke asked with concern, “Cristofer, are you okay?”
Cristofer shook his head and turned his face to Estelle calmly, saying, “Wait for me for a moment, I’ll drive you back, Estelle.”
However, as he turned around, Estelle vaguely saw the bulge on his forehead. And she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for assuming that Cristofer fell on the ground on purpose earlier.
Later, the children ran over and hugged her. Looking at her with their teary big eyes, they pleaded together, “Mom, please…”
At that moment, Estelle was uneasy when seeing Cristofer’s leg. She couldn’t bear to refuse the children’s request. Eventually, she gave in, saying, “Well, then, I’ll stay here for the night and leave tomorrow morning.”
****
That night, Cristofer read Yvonne and Christina the bedtime stories as they had wanted.
In the children’s room, with only a small night light on, Estelle was sitting on the edge of the crib holding her two daughters, patting them on the back from time to time. Meanwhile, Cristofer was sitting in the chair opposite her, holding a book and dedicated to reading the story to them in his most gentle voice, “The knight cut by the thorny rosebuds with his sword in the castle. And the red dragon that breathed fire…” Since his magnetic voice was pleasant to the ears, it worked even better than any lullaby. And before the story was finished, Yvonne and Christina had already fallen asleep.
When Estelle looked at her daughters under the warm yellow light, she raised a finger and gently “shushed” Cristofer.
Knowing that she wanted him to keep quiet, Cristofer immediately closed the book and put it on the bedside table. Then he helped her put the girls on their beds and tucked them in. After everything was set, Cristofer followed Estelle out of the children’s room.
The hallway was quiet, and at this hour, even Luke had gone back to his room to sleep. Then Estelle came into the next room to check on Yohan. Seeing that he was sleeping soundly on his own, she tucked him in and gave him a goodnight kiss on his forehead. After she came out of the room, she said to Cristofer, “You should go to sleep now. I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight.”
Out of her expectations, Cristofer said, “The guest room is not available right now.”
“Why?”
Cristofer answered with a straight face, “Mrs. Moorsum cleaned up the house when we were away. And she cleaned up all the items in the guestroom.”
“What about quilts? I don’t need much. All I need is a bed where I can sleep. I will get up early tomorrow to go to work anyway.” Estelle still insisted on sleeping in the guestroom.
“They were all sent to dry cleaning.” Cristofer replied and took the initiative to offer a solution, “Estelle, I understand your concerns, but I promise you, I won’t trick you this time. I can share half of my bed with you if you want. As I said, even if you do not agree to the idea, I won’t do anything to you.”
As it was already late at night, Estelle really did not have the energy to argue with him. She had no choice but to agree to his proposal.
When lying on the bed, Estelle turned her back to Cristofer and wrapped the quilt tightly around her body. And she moved to the side of the bed in the darkness. In this way, she managed to put her mind at ease. Later on, she slowly fell asleep by counting sheep to get herself out of the embarrassment.
And a while later, she felt the mattress sink down around her.
But after a few flutters of her eyelashes, she didn’t react. Closing her eyes, she pretended to be asleep.
Cristofer originally wanted to tuck Estelle in as well, but when he saw her move, he kissed her on the forehead.
Sensing his kiss, Estelle immediately tensed up. And she was worried about what would happen next, thinking, ‘If I push Cristofer away by force, I might hurt his legs. But if I reject him, I might feel regretful as to why I didn’t do so.’