"Lisa, do you miss Mommy?" Colin asked with a hint of excitement in his deep voice. He thought he
was a despicable man, but he couldn't help himself.
Truth was, Lisa had gotten pneumonia so she had to stay in the hospital for a few days. Colin had
designed some plots in advance to bring Mandy to the hospital to see Lisa. It was Colin who had told
Lisa that he and Mandy had gotten divorced. He took advantage of the child's kindness so she would
cooperate with his acting.
Lisa was an innocent, simple-minded girl, and she had no idea what was going on between the adults.
Colin told her if she helped her father, her mother would come back to them. Hence, she pretended that
she hated Mandy, which broke Mandy's heart.
Lisa nodded her head, still trying to understand the meaning of his words. "Yes, I miss mommy. Daddy,
will mommy come to see me after I leave the hospital? Do I need to act like I'm sick? Then she will
come to see me, right?"
Colin's fingers were trembling. He grasped his daughter's hand, feeling sad and disgusted with himself.
What kind of man was he? He was using his own three-year-old daughter to fool her mother? Luckily,
Lisa didn't mess it up, or he would have been really ashamed of himself in front of Mandy.
According to Eve's information, Nathan had recently gone away on a business trip. It was the perfect
time for Colin to get in touch with Mandy.
"Lisa, Dad will discharge you from the hospital today. Where do you want to go?" he asked.
Lisa lowered her head and looked at the floor with her bright eyes. With an innocent look on her face,
she said, "I want mommy to play with us..."
"Why don't you give mommy a call? Tell her about it." Colin took out his phone and handed it to Lisa,
wearing a warm smile on his face, like he meant to do what was best for the child and had no ulterior
motives.
Lisa loved that idea. She quickly found her mother's contact and called her.
At the time, Mandy was in a meeting. Seeing it was Colin who was calling her, she didn't answer the
phone. The business director of the Mandy Mall was giving a presentation. She had proposed to
improve the theme environment of the Mandy Mall. His ideas appealed to Mandy, and she was totally
engrossed in them.
After a while, Colin called her again, but she still chose to avoid it. A few seconds later, she received a
voice message from Colin. Mandy put the speaker close to her hear but accidentally pressed the loud
speaker option. The audio of little Lisa's voice rung in the quiet conference room.
The voice message said, "Mommy, what are you doing? Why didn't you answer the phone?"
Mandy's heart skipped a beat, but she chuckled to herself. She hadn't expected that Lisa would take
the initiative to send her a message through WeChat. 'Is the little girl no longer mad at me?' she
wondered.
The people seated in the conference room looked at each other, confused. They looked at Mandy,
wondering why had they heard a little girl's voice just now. And she had called Mandy 'mommy.'
Everyone knew Mandy and Nathan had a son, not a daughter.
But they knew Mandy had a daughter with Colin when she was in America. Was that the girl who had
called her?
All the managers and other executives pretended they hadn't heard anything. They didn't dare stir or
talk about it with each other. This was a rule they strictly followed in JS International. The staff was
forbidden to gossip about their boss's private life. Nathan hated those who gossiped the most.
"Director Zhang, that's a good suggestion. Let's do it. Make a theme design for each month as per the
most popular elements. You can submit the design draft of this month to me before the twentieth of this
month," Mandy said carefully, a little awkwardly. This was the first time she was presiding over a
meeting since she had taken the office. Although Nathan was absent, she wasn't as nervous as she
had thought she would be.
"Yes, Miss Zhou," Director Zhang nodded slightly and replied.
The meeting ended in a hurry after that. After returning to her office, Mandy called Colin immediately.
Colin was peeling an apple for Lisa when the phone rang. Mandy had played some music for him a
long time ago, which he had recorded on his phone and was using as his ringtone.
"Daddy, it's mommy," said Lisa, sitting on the bed in her pink, princess-like dress. She had already
dressed up, and her face was as red as an apple.
"You answer it..." Colin's heart started beating faster, but he didn't reach for his phone. He knew he
shouldn't call Mandy to the hospital every day, and hence, he didn't have the courage to ask her.
Conveniently, Lisa was here...his best trump card.
Colin felt so lucky to have adopted her.
No matter how his and Mandy's relationship would be in the future, this child would always be the
connection between them.
Lisa answered the phone with a bright smile. She lay down on the bed with her head tilted to one side,
listening to Mandy's gentle voice from the other end of the phone.
"Colin," Mandy spoke, not knowing that Lisa had answered the phone.
"Mom, it's me...Lisa." The smile on Lisa's face was so sweet and soft; it looked like she had been
soaked in a can of honey.
"Lisa... Are you feeling better, honey?" Mandy asked with concern. Nervous, she grabbed a pen and
started drawing random patterns on her notepad. It made no sense, but this was one way for her to
cope with nervousness.
"Mom, I'm all right. The doctor said that I can leave the hospital today." Her voice was full of warmth
and affection.
Mandy heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. "Really? That's good. Take care of yourself and don't catch a
cold after you are discharged."
Lisa kept silent for a while and winked at Colin. She then frowned, preparing for what Colin had taught
her to say. Colin's hand with the knife hovered in the air in anticipation.
"Well... Mom, I miss you. Can I meet you today? I want to go out with you..." Lisa repeated what Colin
had taught her to say.
The girl's sweet, innocent voice softened Mandy's heart.
But Mandy had her own worries. She had promised Nathan that she wouldn't go to see Lisa frequently,
but the little girl was getting discharged and had called her herself. After pondering for a while, she
decided to go and see her.
"Well, are you still in the hospital? I'll come and pick you up after work." She looked at the clock
hanging on the wall. Time had flown fast this afternoon.
"Mom, when will you get off work?" Lisa asked in a childish tone.
"About four o'clock,"
"Mom, so many people are there to work...can't you come here now? Please, mom?" Lisa said, looking
into Colin's eyes, as if asking for his approval for her performance.
Mandy bit her lip and stared at the clock for a few seconds. 'It's quarter past three. There are still forty-
five minutes left to go home. Well, I can visit Lisa earlier today since she is being discharged from
hospital...' she concluded, gathering her stuff, thinking Nathan wouldn't mind this one time...
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