Mandy was overjoyed. Lisa was still willing to talk to her! But what was more endearing was the way
she called her "Mom"—it was so sweet and pure that she felt that her heart was starting to melt.
Right after they spoke, she hurried down to the hospital. She called Serge while on her way and asked
him to pick up Adrian later and to bring him to his grandparents' house. Since it was almost sure that
she and Lisa would hang out until late that evening, she wanted to make sure that Adrian was taken
care of.
She also wanted to tell Nathan that she would be seeing Lisa, but after checking what time it was, she
realized that he probably was busy as he was still at work. Because of that, she just decided to
postpone telling him about the trip until later that evening.
After hanging up the phone, Lisa ran to the bed and leapt on it. "Dad!" she squealed gleefully. "Mom is
coming! She really is coming!"
A soft smile appeared on Colin's lips. "That's good to hear, darling. I bet you're excited," he said
sweetly. As he stared at his daughter's face, he suddenly felt guilt swelling up in his guts. He didn't
want to do what he just did, but he had no other choice: the only way he would be able to see Mandy
again was if he took advantage of her love for their daughter.
Ever since Mandy started consistently neglecting him and his feelings, he started to see himself as
despicable. He felt like there were two entities living inside him: one had already told him to give up on
Mandy because she would never love him back. 'And besides, ' it said. 'Even if you manage to get her,
she will never truly fall in love with you.' But then, the other voice told him otherwise: 'Why not try?' it
said, hopeful. 'You never know. Maybe she'll love you back.'
When Mandy arrived at the hospital, Lisa was still fast asleep on the bed while Colin was quietly sitting
next to her, keeping her company while reading a book. 'What a heartwarming scene—Colin acting like
a loving father, ' she immediately thought.
In the past few days, Lisa had been resting well and recovering fast. Whenever she was tired, she
would just sleep. But aside from that, she would sleep whenever she felt excited about seeing Mandy
again. She hated waiting, and by sleeping, she didn't have to.
Colin quickly noticed that Mandy had already arrived. He, however, decided not to wake Lisa up as she
just fell asleep. "Is she asleep?" Mandy asked in a low voice as she walked towards the bed.
"Yes," Colin answered, smiling softly. "She had a lot of energy a while ago, but she got tired fast and
just fell asleep. This is the first time's she's had an afternoon nap this week, so I was surprised as well,"
he explained. When he saw a smile form on Mandy's lips, he immediately felt better. It was as if she
was his personal energy drink—everything she did invigorated his soul.
Mandy carefully sat on the edge of Lisa's bed and stretched out her arm to caress her daughter's
cheek. The moment her finger touched Lisa's cheek, Lisa's eyes fluttered open, as if she had been
waiting for this moment all this time.
"Mom?" Lisa asked, her voice soft and childish. With her sleepy eyes, she looked incredibly adorable.
"Hello, my baby," Mandy replied, her eyes full of love for the child in front of her. "How are you? Do you
want to sleep some more? You can go back to sleep if you want, I'll just be here beside you." Mandy's
eyes were full of love for the little girl in front of her. While she really wanted to play with Lisa at that
moment, she decided against it, thinking that the kid might need more sleep. With that, she began to
tuck the quilt in once again.
Lisa, however, practically jumped up and threw herself into Mandy's arms. "Mommy!" she said,
wrapping her arms around Mandy's neck tightly. "I swear I'm not sleepy! Let's play now! I miss you so,
so much!"
"Okay, baby girl," Mandy said, a bright smile appearing on her lips. She hugged Lisa back and asked
softly, "Where do you want to go today?"
Upon hearing that, Lisa couldn't help but squeal. She let go of Mandy and said excitedly, "I want to go
to the amusement park today, Mom!"
"Okay, then!" Mandy responded as excitedly. "To the amusement park we go!" Mandy was eager to do
whatever Lisa wanted to do. At that moment, no one was more important to her than her beautiful
daughter.
Ever since she could remember, she had always wanted to have a daughter. Back when she was
pregnant, she would always pray at night that the child she was carrying inside her tummy would be a
girl. But then it had always been said what you wish for wasn't always what you would be getting. So,
the more she wanted a daughter, the less likely she would have one. And it actually came true—she
had Adrian.
To be honest, at first, she was disappointed that that happened. However, she quickly got over that,
and now, Adrian was her whole world, and she would do anything for him. After all, he was the result of
her and Nathan's love.
That day, Mandy, Colin, and Lisa stayed out until very late. It was half past nine when they got home,
and so, Mandy hastily gave Lisa a shower to prepare her for bed. After doing that, however, Mandy's
dressed was soaked from the waist down.
Fortunately, some of her clothes were still in the villa. Colin had kept them in the wardrobe she had
used before as if he knew that she would come back again. The maids would clean them every now
and again, making sure that they were always ready to be used.
After taking a bath herself, Mandy came out of the bathroom and found that Lisa was still watching
cartoons. Since it was already half past ten by that time, Mandy wanted to make Lisa go to bed,
especially since she had just been through an illness.
She didn't want to scold her, and so she just gently walked to the bedside, took the remote control, and
turned off the TV. Carefully, she took Lisa's little face in her hands and she said, "Baby, it's time to go to
bed."
Wearing an aggrieved look on her face, Lisa looked at Mandy, pulled her sleeve with her little hand and
said, "Mommy, can you sleep with me tonight? You haven't slept with me in a long time."
This instantly melted Mandy's heart. She agreed quickly, jumping into the bed with her child, who was
now overexcited. Lisa made sure that she was as close to her mom as possible, while Mandy made
sure that her arm was around her daughter.
Due to the tiring day they just had, the two fell asleep quickly.
Colin still had work to do, and so he stayed in his office until after midnight. When he went back to the
room, he noticed that the light was still on. 'Are they still awake?' he asked himself, intrigued by what
was happening.
Quietly, he peered through the door and saw Mandy holding Lisa in her arms while both of them were
soundly asleep. He felt his heart swell with so much joy.
It was the first time that he smiled ever since Mandy left. He always wore a forced smile, but at that
moment, his smile was coming from the bottom of his heart.
Slowly, he walked to Mandy's side of the bed with eyes overflowing with affection. He stretched out his
trembling fingers and gently touched her face, fearing that he would wake her up.
At that moment, he felt bliss. 'If only the future could be as good as today, ' he thought.
He took a deep breath, bent down, and planted a kiss on Mandy's forehead. After lingering for a while,
he went to lie on the other side of the bed and fell asleep, dreaming of happy days.
Just like before, Lisa was sleeping between them.
Nathan's schedule for that afternoon was full of meetings with high-profile people. When he finally
managed to find some time to call Mandy, he discovered that he could not reach her. 'Is her phone off?'
he thought. 'Why would she turn it off?' His heart started beating crazily all of a sudden, and his usually
friendly face became contorted with fear and worry.
It was half past ten at night.
The phone in the villa suddenly rang. Such occurrence was strange in the household. Nacy picked up
the phone on the night table in a daze.
"Hello...?" Nacy mumbled. She was very sleepy.
"Is Mandy with you?" Nathan's voice came from the other end of the line. He couldn't help but frown
because he instantly recognized Nacy's voice. 'Is Mandy not with her?' he thought.
"No? Who are you?" Nacy retorted. "Why are you calling me so late at night? This is so annoying!" She
was so exhausted from hanging out with Bruce that whole day that she wasn't able to identify Nathan's
voice right away.
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