“How about having dinner here?” Russell proposed.
“That would be great,” Horace and Clara agreed.
…
After having dinner at Russell’s, they were about to head home.
Horace and Clara were reluctant to say good by, so was Neo.
However, they had to leave Neo here. Because Neo’s life would be in danger if he kept staying with them.
Moreover, they wouldn’t have time to take care of him.
It wasn’t their fault, but Laura’s.
“Don’t worry, honey. Mommy and daddy will come pick you home soon,” Clara said, touching his head and trying to hold back her tears.
She didn’t want to cry, because if she did, she would want to take Neo home with her.
“Okay now. Neo, you are a big boy now, stay with great grandpa here and be good, okay? Mommy and daddy have to go now,” when Clara was about to cry out, Horace spoke for her.
Although he felt terrible either, he was the man here and he had to be strong.
“Okay, daddy. I will be good and wait for you to pick me home here.” Neo, somehow, looked surprisingly calm.
He knew how sad Clara felt now and knew if he acted cool, she would feel better.
However, he was wrong. The cooler he acted, the worse Clara felt.
“Goodbye, mommy and daddy!” after saying that, Neo closed the door and shut them out.
Squatting down on the ground, it took Clara a while to calm down. She then stood up, grabbed Horace’s hand and they went home.
When they returned home, the house was empty. The two of them had been tired, they lay down on the bed for a while and soon fell asleep.
In Clara’s dream, at first, Neo was smiling happily at her and calling her mommy.
Then, his face changed and he was crying. He kept saying that she didn’t love him anymore.
Clara woke up with a start.
When she woke up, Horace wasn’t in bed with her.
She checked the phone and found it was just half past seven. After washing up, she went downstairs and saw Horace busy in the kitchen.
It turned out he got up early to make her breakfast.
As she thought, she walked up to him and watched him cook.
Half a year ago, he would burn the kitchen if he cooked. But now, he had been skillful at cooking.
It seemed he had done a lot of practicing.
Clara then sat down beside the dining table and waited for Horace to bring the food over.
“Honey, good morning,” with a fried egg in the plate, Horace looked at Clara gently and said.
“Good morning,” Clara replied with a smile.
“I want everyone to be in high spirit today. This is a critical moment.”
After Horace went back yesterday, he had informed all the employees back for work.
Seeing that everyone was here now, he wanted to cheer everyone up.
He was in a good mood today, because he had thought of a way out yesterday evening.
Although it would be a bit risky, he had to give it a shot because the reward would be worth it.
As he thought, he walked into the office with Clara.
The employees were guessing if the woman behind Horace was his wife, but they dared not ask and began working.
The day went fast, soon, the evening came and it was time to see the result of today’s hard work.
However, before Horace could turn on his computer, he got a document.
He opened it and saw that it was the purchase agreement from Saunbond Inc.
Horace frowned, looked through it and found something.
Most of the shareholders had transferred their shared in the Solrace Corporation to Saunbond Inc.
If Saunbond Inc got more shared of the Solrace Corporation, Horace would no longer be the manger executive and his position would be taken over by Chester Saunders, the CEO of Saunbond Inc.
Horace’s heart sank when he saw this.
He lay all his hope on the efforts they had made today. If his solution worked, he wouldn’t need to worry about Saunbond Inc.
Both excited and nervous, he turned on the computer. After checking, he dropped the document in his hand.
Sitting on the sofa, Clara was startled. She looked at Horace and knew that the plan had failed.
“It’s okay. We’ll think of another way,” Clara comforted him and wanted to make him feel better.
“No! You have no idea how much efforts I have put into this!”
Horace broke down and yelled at Clara. He regretted it soon after he said those words.
It was the first time he had ever yelled at Clara.
Both Clara and he was stunned.
Clara didn’t know why he yelled at her while Horace was regretting it.
“Clara, I’m sorry. I was… I was just too upset…” Horace grabbed her hand and apologized.
He had nothing now, he could afford to drive Clara away.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s okay.” Clara understood.
She didn’t blame him. After all, everyone could have a mental breakdown sometimes.
She understood him. As long as they have mutual support for each other, they could solve everything together.
“Honey, Saunbond Inc wants to purchase us. What should I do?” Horace grabbed her hands and asked with a depressed look on his face.
Someone wanted to purchase his company, of course, Clara knew how it must have felt.
The Solrace Corporation was all Horace had, if it was purchased by someone else, all that he had left would be his family.
Without the company, he might not even be able to support his family’s livelihood, let alone giving Clara freedom to live as she wanted.
“It’s okay. It will be fine,” Clara stroked his back and comforted him.
“If Saunbond Inc wants to purchase Solrace, they will give us money in return. With money, we can always start over, right? You managed to establish Solrace, you can do it again.”
As Clara was comforting him in a gentle voice, she heard Horace’s soft breathing,
She lowered her head and found that Horace had fallen asleep.
In the past few days, he hadn’t had much rest.
He had been exhausted. It was good that he had some rest now.
Clara tried her best not to wake him up and made a call with his phone.