She should agree obediently and nod in agreement, but she felt quite upset somehow.
She asked, “It’s so late now. What are you busy with?” She hadn’t seen Ernest so busy a few days ago.
“It’s related to the business,” Ernest answered in a low voice, and his tone sounded quite serious.
Ernest used to tell her that he was busy with his business before, but in Florence’s ears now, she felt that those words were quite perfunctory as if he had made an excuse at random.
Uneasily, Florence frowned, her intuition telling her that Ernest seemed to be hiding something from her.
“Ernest, are you hiding something from me?”
“No, I’m not…”
“I hate it when you lie to me,” Florence interrupted his words in an extremely serious tone.
Ernest kept silent. Suddenly, they both quieted down on the phone.
Faintly, Florence could hear several people walking back and forth. They walked at in fast pace, seemingly quite busy.
She frowned, wondering what on earth Ernest was doing.
Ernest said, “Florence, please don’t overthink. I’ll go to see you after resolving the issues. That’s all. I’ve gotta go. Good night.”
After finishing his words, without waiting for Florence to answer, Ernest directly hung up the phone.
All the sounds were cut off.
Florence gaped at her phone screen, looking slightly pale.
Finally, Ernest was still hiding it from her. He didn’t tell her what he was doing, but instead, he changed the topic and hung up the phone. That meant he was lying to her when telling her that he was busy with his business.
She couldn’t help wondering what on earth he was busy with.
Why didn’t he want to tell her?
Florence felt uneasy and annoyed as if a kitten was scratching her heart.
She couldn’t sleep at all that evening.
On the second morning, Florence came out from her room for breakfast, only to find that Stanford wasn’t there again.
Florence felt more annoyed. Ernest didn’t tell her what he was busy with, and she didn’t know what Stanford was busy with either. It made her feel as if men should be doing things, and as a girl, she was supposed to know nothing.
This helplessness made her so upset.
During breakfast, Florence put down her chopsticks.
She looked up at Alexander and said seriously, “Dad, may I participate in the operation of our family business in the future? I want to do something.”
Alexander looked at her in surprise. “Do you want to operate in our family business?”
Florence nodded. “Yeah. I don’t have anything to do now. I’m quite bored.”
Alexander laughed in satisfaction, quite delighted.
With a big smile, he said, “That’s good. You can…”
“Flory, don’t you want to be a designer? Why are you interested in our family business so suddenly?” Victoria suddenly asked and interrupted Alexander’s words.
Alexander was startled, looking at Victoria in confusion. He was smart enough and didn’t continue with the subject just now.
Florence sensitively noticed the interaction between her parents. Her heart sank slightly. She felt that Victoria seemed to be hiding something from her as well.
The more she thought, the more uneasy Florence felt, and she wanted to know the answer.
Looking at Victoria, she answered, “The design depends on my mood. In a short while, I don’t think I could calm down, so I can’t continue with the design. Anyway, I can take the chance and study business management during this period.”
After a pause, Florence added deliberately, “Isn’t Stanford so busy recently that he even couldn’t come back home? After I’ve learned it, I can share his burdens.”
Victoria’s eyes became more and more darkened when she listened to her daughter.
Looking at Florence with a complicated feeling, Victoria pressed her sexy red lips.
After a long while, she asked in a serious tone, “Flory, have you go to know something?”
It was a test as well as a question.
Florence was shocked. The thing that she was guessing had almost been confirmed.
Since Victoria asked her in this way, it meant that she must be hiding something from her.
While wondering, Florence kept calm on her face. She asked in a flat tone, “Mom, what do you think?”
Victoria creased her brows, looking at Florence deeply.
In silence, they seemed to be competing with each other.
Victoria didn’t know whether Florence knew about it, but judging from Florence’s expression, Victoria realized that she must know something. She just wasn’t sure how much Florence had known.
After thinking for a few seconds, Victoria said in a serious tone, “Flory, no matter what we are doing now, it’s all for your own good.”
She answered in a pretty smart way, neither denying nor admitting.
Florence, however, noticed the key point in her words. Victoria mentioned “we”, which meant she wasn’t the only one involved. And the other person involved was Stanford, who was busy outside.
She wondered if Stanford was busy with something that relevant to her.
Florence’s heart skipped a beat. They were doing something relevant to her and trying to hide from her, at this moment, mostly it should have something to do with Ernest.
“Mom, is Stanford doing something to Ernest at my back?”
Florence stood up nervously, short of breath.
In the past two days, Ernest suddenly had become so busy, and he even couldn’t accompany her. She believed that he must have encountered some difficulties.
Victoria’s expression changed slightly.
She retorted in a strict tone, “Ernest Hawkins is one of the Turner family. Your brother won’t do anything to him. Don’t misunderstand.”
Her affirmative tone made Florence hesitant.
She wondered if her mother was lying to her.
What on earth were they hiding from her?
Florence had a lot of questions in her mind, making a big mess that she couldn’t figure out anything.
Alexander cast a complicated glance at Victoria.
Then he said to Florence with a smile, “All right. Let’s stop talking about such things. Flory, come on. Eat more. You are too bony.”
As he spoke, he picked up several pieces of lean meat and put them in Florence’s bowl.
Florence looked at the lean meat, pressing her lips. She knew that if she kept asking her parents, nothing could be told.
If they purposely wanted to hide the truth from her, she couldn’t do anything.
Probably she might have misunderstood them.
Florence didn’t want to break her mother’s heart because of the unreasonable suspicion.
After breakfast, Florence walked away.
Alexander and Victoria walked in another direction. On the way, the former looked at his wife with a solemn face, his eyes twinkling.
“Honey, you keep hiding it from Flory. I wonder if it’s the proper way. In the future, if she knew about it, she probably would be angry at you.”
“She won’t know it,” said Victoria affirmative, her pretty face full of the determined and strict look.
She said affirmatively, stressing each syllable, “I won’t give her any chance to meet Ernest Hawkins again. Pretty soon, Ernest will leave here completely.”
Alexander heaved a sigh.
He looked a bit depressed. “I wonder if it’s right for us to separate them in this way.”
“How could it be wrong? Flory is still young, so she has been deceived. As her parents, we should protect her to guarantee her a future and lifetime happiness. Even if she would hate me now, she would understand when she marries a husband who truly treasures her.”
With a loving mother’s heart, Victoria was doing those things without any regret.
Alexander reached out and put his arm on his wife’s shoulder. He patted her and said, “No worries, Flory won’t hate you.”