Nora was someone who minded her own business. She rarely took the initiative to show concern for others, unless they were people very close to her.
Maureen was just her sister-in-law, and the two had only just met, so she was very averse to prying into other people’s private matters.
Thus, she merely paused for a moment before she started walking toward her room.
She had only taken a couple of steps when she suddenly heard voices coming from Mia’s room. She frowned. She hadn’t been planning on going over, but it suddenly occurred to her that she had brought Pete instead of Cherry back with her today.
Cherry would never allow anyone to bully her, so Nora didn’t bother herself with her matters.
However, Pete was sensitive by nature. After learning about his childhood experiences, she had contacted several well-known psychologists abroad and consulted them, so she knew that Pete’s condition was due to the psychological trauma he had suffered from being abandoned at birth.
Thus, she had to pay more attention to him.
This was also why she and Justin had switched children to take care of.
Cherry liked her father and was talkative, so she had let her go with Justin instead. Her son, though… He had almost died because she hadn’t gone after him for Cherry’s sake when they were born. Nora was constantly plagued with guilt because of that.
Thus, she paused and walked toward Mia’s room in the end.
Maureen likely also heard the voices, so she also followed her there. As soon as the two of them walked in, they heard Mia saying softly, “Mdm. Florence, Daddy’s the one who said Cherry could sleep with me.”
Florence, who had a sullen look on her face, said, “You can’t do that, Ms. Mia. How sad would your Granduncle Ian be if you did that?!”
A puzzled Mia asked, “What’s the matter with Granduncle Ian?”
Florence replied, “Your Granduncle Ian hates Nora Smith the most, yet you’re such close friends with her child. His condition is going to worsen because of this.”
She looked at Pete after she spoke, and her expression turned cold. There was none of the politeness and respect she showed Mia as she said, “Ms. Cherry, you’re not allowed to sleep with Ms. Mia. This place is meant for the Smiths’ children. By doing that, you’ll mess up the hierarchy of the family.”
Pete: “?”
This wasn’t a matter of hierarchy but the fact that he was a boy. Boys mustn’t sleep with girls. What if the girl became pregnant?
Was he supposed to let Mia give birth to the child, and then have the three of them attend kindergarten together hand in hand?
With that, Pete finally found an excuse. He looked at Mia and said, “I won’t sleep here, then.”
He turned to leave after he spoke.
Mia, however, grabbed his hand. “No! I was the one who asked you to sleep here, Cherry. If you leave, everyone will look down on you!”
Mia had been educated by her mother ever since she was very little, so she was very sensitive despite her young age.
Pete was touched when he heard what she said.
Mia really did have his interests at heart.
While he was thinking, Florence said, “You have to listen to me, Ms. Mia. If you make Ms. Cherry stay, your father will get angry, too.”
“No, he won’t!” Mia said in her young and tender voice, “Daddy agreed to it!”
Almost right after she spoke, they heard a sound coming from downstairs—Joel was back.
He had worked overtime today, which caused him to return home a little later. Nevertheless, he immediately went up the stairs to see if Mia had gone to bed. If she hadn’t, he would still be in time to say goodnight to her.
As soon as he came up, he met Mia, Florence, and Pete’s eyes.
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Florence was about to speak when Mia rushed into Joel’s arms. She said a little angrily, “Daddy, Mdm. Florence won’t let Cherry sleep with me! Tell her whether you agreed to it or not!”
Joel nodded. “Yes, I’ve already agreed to it.”
Mia became excited. She got off him, grabbed Pete’s hand, and got ready to go into her room.
Joel’s gaze fell on Pete.
Ever since he realized that Justin had a pair of boy-girl twins, his observation skills had become very keen. There was ultimately still a very big difference between girls and boys.
He could tell at a glance that the person Mia was dragging into the room was Pete.
Seeing that Joel had actually agreed to it, Florence couldn’t help but frown. She said, “Sir, that’s Ms. Smith’s daughter! You—”
Before she could finish, Joel suddenly took a couple of steps forward and stopped Mia and Pete. After casting a few glances at Pete, he finally looked at Mia and said, “Mia, let’s not ask Cherry to keep you company tonight, okay? She probably also misses her mom.”
Mia was taken aback. She looked at Pete puzzledly and asked, “Is that so, Cherry?”
Pete immediately nodded. “Yes… yeah!”
Mia hung her head disappointedly. “Then, when can you sleep with me?”
That would be when he switched places with Cherry again, of course.
After Pete silently answered her question inwardly, Joel said, “She will look for you when she wants to. Let’s go to bed now, okay?”
Mia nodded. As Joel carried her into the bedroom, he also said, “Send Cherry back, Mdm. Florence.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mdm. Florence, however, had misunderstood and felt that she now understood what Joel was thinking.
As expected, with regard to Nora, the old sir did mind. Otherwise, Joel wouldn’t have treated her daughter so poorly.
Sure enough, he had indeed driven her away.
Mdm. Florence sneered, “Please know your place in the future, Ms. Cherry. Even if your mother marries into the Hunts in the future, you still won’t be a real Hunt, either. Don’t compare yourself with the Hunts’ little mister, get it?”
Pete: “…”
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and walked forward without a word.
When Nora and Maureen came over, they were just in time to hear Florence say that. Maureen immediately looked at Nora, intending to comfort her, only to find that she didn’t seem to care at all?
Maureen coughed and said, “Florence is a crazy fan of Uncle Ian. Her true master is Uncle Ian in this house, so she’ll definitely have something against you. She is very loyal to her master and has worked for the Smiths for many years, so sometimes we can’t really say anything about her behavior…”
The subtext: ‘It’s better not to offend the old servant.’
“…Oh,” Nora said.
Pete quickened his footsteps when he spotted her. She took his hand and glanced at Florence, who was still in the distance. The woman raised her head and snorted arrogantly, but nevertheless nodded at Maureen and her as a sign of respect. Then, she left.
It was only after she left that Nora glanced at Maureen. When she noticed the concern in her eyes, and saw her eyes had turned red and swollen from crying, she thought of how she had kept sighing just now. She tried to hold herself back, but after a short hesitation, she still decided to ask, “What happened to you? Did you run into some kind of trouble?”
Upon hearing her question, Maureen heaved another huge sigh.
She suddenly asked, “Do you know any really good hackers?”