When I heard the doorbell, I opened the door. We looked at each other straight in the eyes. We hadn’t seen each other for a whole night. His chin was bearded and he was a little tired.
“May I come in?” He said in a tired voice.
I nodded and made way for him.
He looked at me gently and said, “I’m sorry!”
I smiled, “I’m not angry.” Yara was the only elder of him in the George family. He could do nothing for that.
I was pulled into his arms. The smell of tobacco enveloped me. “It won’t happen again.”
It seemed to be a promise.
I nodded without saying anything. I didn’t sleep last night. Now I felt a little relieved in his arms.
Feeling tired, I closed my eyes and said, “If you are not busy today, can you sleep with me for a while?”
He smiled and said gently, “I’m not busy. I have plenty of time.”
How could he not be busy? The George Group was Hank’s target. Hank was trying to destroy the George Group all the time.
As for Dennis’s lie, I pursed my lips and smiled. It didn’t matter. Life was long, and there should be a few days that we spent on ourselves.
It would be great if life could always be peaceful like this.
That night, when I woke up, it was already dark. I had been sleeping all day.
Dennis was sitting next to me. He smiled after I woke up. “What’s in your dream?”
“I dreamed of a beautiful sea of flowers.” It seemed that I often had dreams recently. In my dream, there was Diana, my grandmother and grandfather, and a child who had already grown up.
Noticing that I was in a daze, he reached out his hand and pulled me into his arms. “I keep that villa for you. If you have bad memories there, let’s move to another one. What do you think?”
I was amused. “You are so rich. Aren’t you afraid of being caught by the reporters? They will say you are too extravagant.”
He rubbed his chin against my cheek. The stubble on his face was sharp and a little thorny. He said in a low voice, “For you, I’m willing to have rumors.”
I laughed. I didn’t want to waffle with him anymore, so I got up. I had just moved here, and I had to buy many things.
So I ordered the take-out.
In the living room.
He was working while I was studying. It was quiet and harmonious.
Before long, Toby brought Clarie here with a lot of daily necessities in his car.
The two men were talking business in the study. Clarie leaned in my arms and looked up at me. “Mom, I seem to have made a mistake today!”
I was stunned for a moment, put down the book in my hand, looked at her, and asked softly, “What happened?”
She pursed her lips and her eyes were a little red. “I pushed a boy down from the slide. I didn’t mean to do that. I just saw that he didn’t go down for a long time. There were a lot of children who wanted to play after him, so I pushed him. I didn’t expect that he would fall down.”
“How is he now? Did someone send him to the hospital?”
She nodded, “Uncle Toby sent him to the hospital and gave them a lot of money. Mom, I know I was wrong.”
“It’s not right to hurt others. Clarie, everyone has to apologize for what they have done wrong. You did it with a good purpose but in the wrong way. Do you know how to deal with the same situation next time?” Things had happened. It was useless to blame her. What I could do was teach her how to correct it.
She lowered her head and thought carefully for a while. Then she said, “I should tell him not to block the way and ask him to play with us. I won’t push him again.”
After a pause, she asked, “Mom, do I owe Uncle Toby a lot of money?”
In Clarie’s opinion, the money Toby spent was not her money. Subconsciously, she might not treat Dennis as her family.
After thinking for a while, I said, “I’ll pay Uncle Toby back. But Clarie, you’ll grow up and I’ll get old. In the future, you should learn to deal with problems rationally, okay?”
She nodded. She also felt guilty for hurting others. She leaned in my arms and kept silent.
When Dennis and Toby came out, she was asleep. Toby said goodbye to me and left.
Seeing that she was asleep, Dennis wanted to take her back to the bedroom. But the little girl woke up on the way.
It seemed that she didn’t see the person who was carrying her clearly. She said, “Mom, I saw my uncle in the hospital today. He was with an aunt who I don’t know.”
I was stunned and looked at her. “Do you know what they were doing in the hospital?”
When she opened her eyes and saw Dennis holding her, she was stunned and said, “Uncle George.”
Dennis nodded and sat back on the sofa with her in his arms, indicating her to continue to answer my question.
Clarie thought for a while and said, “Uncle said he would take aunt to check the condition of the baby. Aunt is pregnant.”
It suddenly occurred to me that Leo looked a little strange when I saw him in HL Area last time. I had guessed this long ago, but who was that woman?
It was getting late. After dinner, Clarie fell asleep. I had slept too much during the day, so I couldn’t fall asleep.
Dennis answered a phone call. It seemed that something had happened to the George Group and he was in a hurry to deal with it.
He said goodbye to me and left.
…
The next day.
After knowing that the George Group had banned her, the actress, Bernice, went to the rooftop of the George building and wanted to kill herself. She informed all the reporters in City P and made a story of Dennis and me.
In the story, Dennis and I were not a divorced couple. I was a lustful mistress who pestered Dennis for money.
She even told the reporters about something in the past four years.
The reporters didn’t refuse anything news about Dennis. With Bernice’s confession, the past between Dennis and me had become a ridiculous story.
I didn’t care much about the news, but I ignored Clarie’s feelings.
Dennis and I went to the school to pick up Clarie several times. Although we kept a low profile every time, it was inevitable that we would be noticed by others.
Children were innocent, but the adults always said something bad, and the children would learn.
When I received the call, Clarie was already in the hospital.
After I went to the hospital, I finally knew that Clarie had a fight with a kid because the kid had cursed me.
The kids didn’t know how to fight. They pushed each other and got hurt.
Clarie’s forehead was covered with gauze and she was at a loss. When she saw me, she hugged me tightly and sobbed, “Mom, they are all bad people. I don’t want to go to school. They are all bad people.”
We had underestimated the influence of a star and also underestimated the terrible consequence of the rumors.
Holding Clarie in my arms, I didn’t know how to comfort her. My heart sank.
Four years ago, my heart was full of resentment, and my parents got hurt for this. So I left City P and went to HL Area.
Now I was back, but I still got my child involved. If I didn’t do anything, my return would finally hurt Clarie.