“I’m sure Mommy was the person who called me,” Samuel said affirmatively.
Boyce looked at Matthew and exchanged a glance with him. Matthew asked, “Can you find out her
location?”
“The call was connected for only a few seconds. I can’t find the exact location but I could find the region
of the number,” said Boyce.
“If I call back this number, can’t we find the exact location?” Samuel couldn’t suppress his excitement at
all. All he wanted to do was to find Mommy as soon as possible.
Matthew grabbed his hand, slightly increase his strength, and pulled the boy into his arms. Samuel
wanted to struggle, but Matthew pressed his shoulders. “If your mommy is free, she’ll certainly get in
touch with you. But after the call was connected, she didn’t speak but you heard another person’s
voice. That means she’s not free now. If you called her back suddenly, what if the bad guy transferred
her?”
Samuel had to admit that his words made sense. If Mommy were free, she must get in touch with him.
Since she hadn’t called him again, certainly she was watched by the kidnapper.
“What should we do now?” Samuel asked anxiously.
“Trust me. We’ll definitely find her. No worries.” Matthew successfully distracted Samuel’s attention.
The boy had completely forgotten he was sitting on his lap now. He kept thinking about how to find
Mommy instead.
Boyce cast them a glance in silence. “I’ll tell the routes to the driver”
According to the landline number, he had found the region. Although it was still a big area, as long as
they could arrive there, they would be closer to the place where Dolores was hidden, which would be
quite helpful for them to locate her.
“Okay,” Matthew answered indifferently.
“Can we find Mommy?” asked Samuel.
“Of course,” Matthew answered affirmatively.
He strongly believed that.
He would find her back for sure!
Boyce came in. “We’ll stop the cars in the service area. Let’s take the kids out for some fresh air.”
They would be bored if they kept staying in the compartment. There were all necessities in the caravan
as a house, but it had limited space.
Samuel stood up. “I’ll go with you.”
“Sure.” Boyce reached out his hand. “Take my hand.”
Samuel was obedient, putting his hand in Boyce’s palm.
“Look after him,” Matthew said.
There would be too many people in the service area, which would be quite crowded with all kinds of
people.
“I know.” Boyce glanced at him, wondering why Matthew became quite womanish after becoming a
father.
Boyce believed that as an adult, he was able to take good care of the boy.
However, he knew that Matthew loved his son very much, so he didn’t say anything else.
“Let’s see if we can find a place to take a rest.”
Boyce took Samuel off the caravan, and Matthew walked to the back compartment to hold his
daughter.
The little girl was still sleeping, her cheeks chubby. He bent over and lifted her. As soon as she was
moved, she woke up. She opened her sleepy eyes and saw Matthew holding her. She called him in a
soft and sweet tone, “Daddy.”
Her voice almost melted Matthew’s heart. He kissed her on the forehead. “Let’s get off and take a
break.”
Upon hearing that she could get off the caravan, the girl became spirited. She immediately sobered up.
“Can we buy something?”
Matthew stroked her little nose and said dotingly, “Sure.”
The girl grinned ear to ear.
Simona’s hair was a bit messy. Matthew wanted to brush her hair, but as soon as he moved, the girl
looked painful. “It hurts!”
Matthew had never done such a thing before.
In a hurry, he stopped and put down the comb. “I’ve never brushed hair for others before.”
Simona looked at herself in the mirror, only to find that her hair was indeed messy, but she didn’t want
her father to comb it for her. She pouted. “Daddy, do you dislike me because I look ugly, so you want to
comb my hair?”
Matthew was speechless.
“Of course not. You are the most beautiful girl in the world. No one can compare to you.” Matthew held
her up. “Forget it.”
The little girl lay prone on his shoulder. “I want to get some food.”
Matthew glanced at her. Samuel had said that she was a heartless foodie, which seemed to make
sense.
However, he liked her in that way.
He had seen so many scheming, double-faced, and hypocritical people. With such a naive and lively
child in his world, he would never think that his life is meaningless again.
“Daddy, over there. Over there.” Simona reached out her index finger, pointing at the supermarket not
far away.
Matthew answered patiently, “Yes, I’ve seen it.”
He felt helpless but liked her extremely in this way. As soon as they walked into the supermarket,
Simona insisted on getting down. She wanted to pick up food by herself.
Probably it was the supermarket was opened in the service area, all things were sold at high prices, so
there were not so many customers. Matthew put her down, and she trotted away happily.
Matthew slightly frowned and followed her. “Slow down.”
“I want this one.” Simona got a box of chocolate and held it in her arms. “I also want potato chips, and
this one, that one...” In a few seconds, she couldn’t hold those things any longer. She yelled at
Matthew, “Daddy, I can’t reach that one.”
The shelf was quite high. The snack she wanted was on the top, but she was too short to get it.
Matthew stood behind her. He raised his arm and easily grabbed the snack his daughter wanted. “I’ll
hold it for you.”
“No.” Simona shook her head. She felt secure only if she was holding them.
“Put this one back. It’s way too expensive,” a mother said to her son in the opposite.
The boy looked at the bottle of fruit juice, longing for it, but he didn’t insist. His mother got him a bottle
of mineral water. “Drink this if you are thirsty.”
The woman gave the mineral water to her son and they went to check out.
Simona looked at things in her arms and then at the boy and his mother. She raised her head and
looked at Matthew, “Daddy, did I take so many things? Are they quite expensive? Do we need to spend
a lot of money?”
Matthew squatted down in front of his daughter. Reaching out, he tossed the short hair in front of her
forehead to the back of her ear. He answered gently, “No at all. I will try my best to earn much more
money, so you can buy anything you want.”
“Daddy, I love you.” Simona bent over and kissed Matthew on his cheek. “May I have that bottle of
juice, please?”
Matthew was still stunned by his daughter’s kiss. He reached out to stroke his cheek, on which her
saliva remained.
He didn’t felt it was dirty, but it was the love from his daughter for him. He looked delighted, stood up,
and got her the bottle of juice.
Simona took over the juice and trotted to the cashier’s counter. She handed it to the boy. “This is for
you.”
“We don’t want it,” said the boy’s mother awkwardly.
“My daddy would pay it for you.” Simona kept reaching out her hand stubbornly. She widened her bright
big eyes, looking at the boy. The boy was a bit skinny. He was in a black-striped hoodie, which wasn’t a
famous band. It wasn’t a new hoodie, but pretty clean.
The boy looked at her and didn’t reach out. Although this little girl’s hair was a bit messy, he could tell
that she should be from a rich family.
Looking at her naive and innocent eyes, he knew that she was protected quite well when growing up.
Only those, who had never been tortured by life, didn’t know how hard life could be and had no idea
how evil the human’s mind could be, could have such a pair of crystal clear eyes.
He said politely, “No, thank you, though.”
“But, don’t you want it very much?” Simona blinked.
“I do want it, but I should rely on myself.” After finishing his words, he pulled his mother’s hand. “Mom,
let’s go.”
The woman paid for the mineral water and took the boy away.
Simona stood motionlessly, looking at the boy’s receding figure in a loss.
She wondered if she had done something wrong.
Did she make mistake?
Since Simona was refused, she started doubting if she had done something wrong.
She kept asking herself again and again inwardly.
Matthew held her up and rubbed her hair. He comforted her, “Simona, are you feeling sad?”
Simona nodded. “I can tell that he did want it, so I wanted to give it to him. Why did he say no?”
Matthew looked out of the window and saw the mother and her son standing in front of a bus,
squinting. He could tell that the boy was quite proud and had his dignity. He could foresee that the boy
would become a capable man after growing up.
“Simona, in this world, not all kindness could be treasured or be accepted.” He knew that his daughter
had done it out of her kindness. She felt compassionate to the boy because he couldn’t get what he
wanted.
However, in the boy’s eyes, his kindness had become a pity.
Hence, the boy wasn’t willing to be pitied.
Matthew gently stroke his daughter’s forehead. “Your mother has been protecting you very well.”
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