“Mr. Grant, I’m sorry, they’re still young, so I should accompany them now. Thank you today.”
In fact, she really did not want to say thanks. He should do that for her, since she gave birth to two children for him and brought them up to five years old. She was tired when thought of this. It was tired for other people to raise one child, let alone she should raise two, so looking at Ronan at the moment, she hated him so much that she wanted to kick him out, but also felt that the small intolerance would be chaos. That was the last result she wanted.
“Mommy, who are you talking to?
A man!”
Nylah spoke with the tone of inquiry, “Mommy, are you going to find a daddy for us?
I’ll go see who’s here.”
The sound of footsteps sounded immediately on the stairs. They were twins, so Amirah was bound to follow down when heard Nylah’s words, the two little girls ran down without Halle’s consent. They were so curious, if only Mommy really gave them a daddy.
Ronan’s gazed at the stairs, to be honest, he really wasn’t interested in Jaiden’s children, but he couldn’t help wanting to see those two little ones since they were also Halle’s kids.
However, his cell phone rang at that time, looking at the number, he hurriedly picked it up, “Violet, what’s wrong?”
“Clayton fell down the stairs, Ronan, come to see Clayton quickly.”
Ronan was anxious, “Halle, I’ll come over to see you and the children another day, something happened to Violet, I’m going to check it out.”
He said, and was heading for the door with eagerness.
Halle didn’t say anything and just let him go. She didn’t want him to come at first, but he insisted to enter.
However, the name of Violet sounded so harsh to her. He had Violet, but why did he come to find her …
Early in the morning, after dropping off Nylah and Amirah at the kindergarten, she was called up by the aunt from the store next door, “Halle, we’re going to the municipal government to file a complaint, do you want to go with us?”
“Well…”
She was surprised, never thought of filing a complaint. Could they win by suing the government?
She really doubted it.
“I think it’s incumbent on each of us, because it’s beneficial to all of us if the government rescind the road closure notice.”
Yes, she understood it. Looking at the aunt’s eager eyes, she knew she had no reason to say no, though she wasn’t sure they could change the government’s mind.
She simply did some preparation and went along with a large group of people.
Hitching a ride with that aunt, she soon arrived. There were hundreds of people, only to be stopped by the guards at the door, “What do you want to do?”
“Petition.”
“Do you have information?”
The guard was not surprised to see it, and asked calmly,
“Yes.”
The man at the head of the group raised the information in his hand, “It’s unprecedented for a road to be repaired for six months.”
“Well, is there a rep?”
“Each of us is a representative.”
Everyone in the crowd shouted in righteous indignation, lest they be left behind.
Halle stood quietly in the crowd, she was just a very small member, she did not know what role she could play, but since she was here, she had to try to fight for it.
“Hold on, I’ll send it in first, you guys wait for the announcement.”
“No, you’re fobbed off us, right?
Are you going to let us wait for all day and then end up with nothing definite when you get off work?”
“No, it’ll just be ten minutes.”
Hearing it just needed ten minutes, people stopped protesting.
The guard took the information and went inside the government building, Halle was waiting with the crowd. She felt extremely hot. It was hot even staying in an air-conditioned room in such a summer, let alone the outdoor under the sun.
Ten minutes suddenly became a long time, and nobody knew if they would be allowed to enter.
Finally, they saw the guard striding out of the gate, and he shouted while walking to them,
“Halle, Mr. Porter, please go in as representatives to report on the matter you want to petition.”
“Well…”
Halle was startled, why would it be her?
The aunt to the side nudged her arm, “Halle, he was calling you. Go on, just tell the truth and the mind of we crowd.”
Being pushed and shoved, Halle stepped out of the crowd and walked into the government building along with Hugh, and soon reached the office that the guard had designated. Hugh knocked gently on the door. No one would like to offend others openly if there was any hope of resuming business.
“Please come in.”
The clear male voice numbed Halle for a moment, and instantly the song came to mind:
‘Do you know I’m waiting for you.’
How long had it been since she had heard the sound of a guitar, and it turned out it was Hunter.
The door was opened, Halle did not know how she walked into Hunter’s office. She had not heard the information about him for a long time, never thought that he had in the position of municipal director by Natalie’s relationship only for five years.
It was really awkward to meet him again.
Twisting the corners of her clothes, she stood in front of Hunter’s desk with Hugh.
“Sit down please.”
Hunter pointed at the two chairs opposite him and said with a smile, “Don’t stand on ceremony, you are the representatives of the masses to tell us the mind of the masses.”
Halle looked up at him, his voice hadn’t changed, nor had his appearance, only his clothes had changed, becoming more like a man in office.
“Director Hunter, why did you issue road closure instructions?”
Seeing that Hunter was very amiable, Hugh asked in a direct manner.
“The road should be built, isn’t it clearly written on the flyer that was sent?”
“So why the road was closed before it was repaired?”
Hugh continued to question, “How could we commoners do business?
You should tell us two months in advance to give us time to find other shops on other streets and reopen even if you would close the road. It was closed suddenly and we have no way to do business. How can we do for a living?”
“Mr. Porter, take it easy and speak slowly, by the way, Miss Halle, what is your opinion?”
Bright handsome eyes shot towards Halle, he was still as handsome as ever, so handsome that she couldn’t help reminding of Hunter who was good at guitar in University T.
She never expected it to be him. Suddenly, she had a bad feeling, could it be related to her that the road was closed?
Or it was connected with Hunter.
“Hunter, I’d like to talk to you alone, is that okay?”
There were some words that couldn’t be heard by Hugh, because she also wasn’t sure about it.
“Yes, but Mr. Porter…”
“Halle, I can’t leave you here alone, we’re here together to petition, we have to tell our reasons for petitioning together.”
Hugh didn’t understand Halle’s meaning and wanted to stay here.
Hugh was half a beat slower, but Hunter was shrewd, he smiled, “Mr. Porter, don’t worry, we will accept your opinions carefully, how about I talk to Miss Halle first and give you a feedback in detail?”
Hugh then reacted to the fact that it was Halle who had asked for it, and after glancing at her, he had to retreat.
Only Halle and Hunter were left in the office, and the sudden silence made Halle a little uncomfortable.
“Halle, it’s been a long time, how are you?”
Hunter had been in the official field for nearly six years, so he naturally knew how to open the conversation with Halle.
Halle looked at him indifferently, remembering the road that was blocked, at this moment of seeing Hunter, she didn’t believe at all that it was simply for repairing the road, “Hunter, tell me, was it your authorization?”
Hunter smiled. His thin lips arc was so seductive. He, a dignified director, stood up from the chair with no rashness to personally brew up two cups of coffee. Though it was made by ground coffee, the strong coffee fragrance was full of the office, and evacuated Halle’s indignation.
The coffee was placed in front of Halle, “Drink a cup of coffee to moisten your throat, Halle, the road repair was under the responsibility of the Bureau of Municipal Construction, there was nothing to do with our petition office, you are wronging me with this.”
He had got a point, but Halle just felt it had something to do with him, “Then why did you pick me out of all the people who petitioned?”
Looking at his eyes, she felt that he must be up to something, the Hunter that she liked eight years ago was long gone. She knew how shrewd he was with just one glance now.
People would change, and after working in official circles for so many years, any obstinateness would be polished.
“Well, when that guard brought the information to me, I saw your name with just that one scan, and how could I avoid you since I had seen it?
That means we should meet today, Halle, a few years have passed, how are you now?”
His tone was sincere, and he didn’t say anything harsh to her from the beginning.
Halle also got relax. Originally, it was they government department who made a mess about this matter, “I was quite good at first, but after the road was to repair, I got quite bad, because my shop was forced to close down.”
“It needs time to deal with it. Don’t worry, I don’t care about the others, but I’ll take care of this for your sake.”
“Thanks.”
His words were agreeable to the hearer, “But don’t worry about me, you need only be impartial in enforcing the law.”
“Okay, I’ll be sure to read the petition carefully.”
“OK, I’ll be out for now.”
Not wanting to have anything more to do with him, Halle got up and tried to leave.
“Halle …”
The man behind her called to her eagerly, “It’s been a long time no see, so let’s have dinner together tonight.”
“No need for that, I’m busy.”
She walked away quickly as if he carried a plague of contagion that would infect her.
After she went out, Hugh went in, and came out after a few minutes’ talk. Looking at Halle sitting at the door, he smiled,
“It’s all your contribution, Director Hunter said that he’ll handle it for the sake of your raising two children alone.”
Oh, she had never told him she had two children. She was stunned. Had he known about her current situation for a long time?