As soon as they got downstairs, Lillian was stunned to see that the car he was driving was pink, covered with cartoon stickers.
“Give me the child,” he said, reaching out to take Jasmine. He placed her in the back seat and expertly buckled her seatbelt.
Watching this, Lillian felt an indescribable emotion welling up inside her.
“Get in,” Conrad said softly when he saw her standing there.
“Mommy, hurry up!” Jasmine patted the seat beside her.
Lillian got in, and the moment Conrad started the car, a pre-recorded voice played over the speakers.
“We’re heading home! Princess Jasmine, please sit tight.”
The lighthearted and gentle tone caught Lillian off guard. She looked up at Conrad in surprise.
Sensing her gaze, Conrad cleared his throat and said, “She made me record it.”
“Hmph! Daddy clearly likes it,” Jasmine said, pulling down the small tray in front of her. “Mommy, what kind of story do you like? I can tell you one!”
Conrad was surprised. Normally, at home, she would do everything she could to get someone else to tell her stories. Now she was volunteering?
“As long as it’s a story you tell, Mommy will love it.”
“That means Mommy likes all of them!”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll tell this one! Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful princess, and her name was…”
Lillian couldn’t take her eyes off her. No matter how much she looked, it never seemed enough. Under the golden glow of the setting sun, the fine baby hairs on Jasmine’s face shimmered ever so slightly.
Her daughter.
The daughter who wasn’t supposed to survive.
If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up.
Conrad noticed the way Lillian was watching Jasmine, saw the emotions in her eyes. He had countless questions, but with Jasmine in the car, he swallowed them all for now.
By the time they arrived home, Jasmine’s soft, childish voice was still filling the car.
“And just like that, the princess and the prince lived happily ever after! Mommy, I’m done!”
“Jasmine, that was amazing! You can recognize so many words now?”
Jasmine shook her head. “Nope! But Daddy reads me stories every day, and since they’re always the same ones, I’ve memorized them!”
As Conrad parked the car, Nancy had already rushed out excitedly. Assistant Ford had personally reminded her earlier to prepare all of Miss Lillian’s favorite dishes.
At first, she thought she had misheard him.
But once it was confirmed, she immediately sent someone to buy fresh ingredients and hurried to cook.
Now, as the car door opened and she saw Lillian stepping out, tears welled up in her eyes.
“Miss Lillian!”
Lillian hadn’t expected Nancy to still be here. A surge of emotions washed over her. She had once sworn she would never return to this place, yet now, stepping back inside, she didn’t feel the resistance she had imagined.
Maybe it was Jasmine who gave her the strength.
“Nancy, how have you been all these years?”
“I’m good, everything’s good! But what about you? These past years, where have you…”
She trailed off as she glanced at Conrad, who was carrying Jasmine. For Jasmine’s sake, she swallowed back her emotions, sniffled discreetly, and smiled. “Let’s not stand here at the door. Come inside and eat.”
Jasmine squirmed in Conrad’s arms. “Daddy, put me down! I want to personally take Mommy inside!”
“Alright, alright.”
The moment Conrad set her down, Jasmine dashed toward Lillian, grabbed her hand, and pulled her forward excitedly.
“Mommy, come on! These are your slippers!”
Standing on tiptoe, she carefully reached into the disinfected shoe cabinet, deliberately skipping over Melissa and the others’ slippers, and accurately pulled out a pair of custom-made ones-the same style as Conrad’s.
“Daddy gets a new pair made every year! These are brand new! Mommy, try them on and see if they’re comfy!”
Lillian knew that the brand custom-made for Conrad tailored each pair of shoes to fit their exact foot shape and comfort preferences. Her measurements had been recorded a long time ago, so there was no chance the slippers wouldn’t fit.
But since her daughter had picked them out for her, it felt completely different.
“Ada!”
Just as Lillian stepped into the living room, a large figure leaped down from the second floor-along with a smaller one.
Ada was no longer the little dog from before. When he saw Lillian, he tilted his head, let out a low purr, and trotted over happily, rubbing against her as if acting spoiled. His long tail curled around her, and his half-closed eyes gleamed with contentment as he purred continuously.
Lillian stroked him gently. “Is this your child?”
“What’s its name?”
“Ann,” Conrad answered from behind her. “She’s his little daughter. He likes to take her on walks.”
Lillian looked around at everything. Five years had passed. So much had changed, yet at the same time, it felt like nothing had.
There were more play areas for children now. The backyard, once meant solely for Ada, had turned into Jasmine’s sunny playroom.
“Let’s eat first,” Nancy called out.
Jasmine had been busy running around all day and was already starving. She had been waiting for Lillian to feed her.
Lillian glanced at the custom-made child’s chair, surprised by its lavish golden armrests that stood out completely against the villa’s overall decor.
“It’s from Steward. He said that when his son was little, he had one too! The diamonds on it are real. Mommy, which one do you like? I can give it to you.”
Lillian had heard of Steward-one of Conrad’s long-time business partners. She had met him before, and he wasn’t someone easy to deal with. She always kept her distance.
But Conrad’s friendships were never something she had the right to interfere with. Instead, she asked, “What does Jasmine like to eat?”
“Anything Mommy picks, Jasmine likes!”
“You’re not a picky eater? What a good girl.”
Conrad and the other villa staff: “…”
Not a picky eater… damn it.
And yet, they watched as Jasmine happily ate every single dish Lillian placed on her plate, stuffing herself until her little belly nearly bulged.
“She’s had enough. You should eat too,” Conrad said, noticing that Lillian had barely taken a few bites.
“Yeah, Mommy, I’m full now! Hurry up and eat! Daddy, pick Mommy’s favorite dishes for her!”
Conrad placed a sweet-and-sour rib on Lillian’s plate, then added some of the fresh local vegetables she liked. He was about to serve her a bowl of sweet soup when she stopped him.
“That’s enough.”
He froze, stiffly retracting his hand. Under the table, Jasmine anxiously kicked his foot.
Clearing her throat, she quickly said, “Mommy, we have a dishwasher at home too! Right, Nancy?”
Nancy, “…?”
Of course, we do. But, Miss Jasmine, you’ve never cared about that before. What’s gotten into you?
“Mommy, Daddy will work hard to earn money, okay?”
Lillian glanced at Conrad before continuing to eat her meal without responding.
Seeing that she didn’t react, Jasmine let out a dramatic sigh. She had no choice-time to use her ultimate move.
“Mommy,” she whined, “all the other kids at kindergarten have their mommies help them take a bath. But Jasmine always gets laughed at for not having a mommy. If Mommy could help Jasmine take a bath, Jasmine would be so happy…”
Lillian chuckled, unable to resist pinching her cheek. “Alright, Mommy will help you take a bath later. Don’t get shy, okay?”
“I won’t!” Jasmine declared proudly.
After dinner, Conrad was surprised to find that the little girl’s plate was completely spotless-not a single grain of food left behind.
She eagerly climbed down from her chair, ran off to wash her hands on her own, and then came sprinting back.
“Mommy, let’s go upstairs!”
“Come see my room!”
She grabbed Lillian’s hand, pulling her along. The sound of the chair scraping against the floor echoed through the room. As Lillian’s dress brushed against Conrad’s pant leg, his eyelid twitched.
Before he knew it, the mother and daughter had already disappeared up the stairs.
Nancy watched him for a long moment before walking over. “Need another plate of food?”
Snapped out of his thoughts, Conrad glanced down at the plate in his hands. “No.”
Nancy gave him a knowing look. “You’re happy, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Does Old Mrs. Brown know?”
“Not yet.”
He wasn’t even sure if he could get Lillian to stay-how could he risk complicating things further? If he set himself up for failure, who would he blame when it all fell apart?