It was a renovated children's room with cartoon bed and small table, a blue ceiling and white walls
painted with her favorite characters from the cartoons. The floor was covered with a cashmere carpet
with puzzles and blocks, the bed was stacked with a row of dolls of different sizes, and wind chimes
hung by the window.
“Do you like it?” Alan asked. The room had been decorated before the end of the year, and he had
designed it himself without telling Olive.
Annie did not answer him; she just pointed at the puzzle with her fingers, struggling to get out of his
arms. "I want to play that."
The puzzle on the floor was more complicated than the one Olive had brought home last time, but
Annie seemed to have a talent for it, and soon got her hands on it.
When he wanted to help, she pushed him away, saying fiercely, "Don't move. I know how to do it."
Alan sat down and watched her play.
"Annie, will you and Mommy come and live here? This will be your sweet room from now on."
The little fellow played hard, but she never ignored his words, so she answered what he asked, "No."
"You don't like here?"
"There are no grandparents." In the little girl's mind, where there were grandparents and mommy, it
was her home.
"So let’s take grandparents to live with us, isn’t good?"
"They won’t come."
“Why? "
“Grandpa said if you show up in front of him, he'll break your leg and won't let you in our house."
"When did he say that?"
"I don't remember. I only remember that he was talking to grandma. Grandma says she'll cut you up
with a kitchen knife to make the meat sauce."
Alan was ashamed. What a family they were.
Olive cooked the meal and went up to them. She stood in the doorway, startled at the sight of the room.
Was there such a room here? How come she never found out? But after thinking, she found that she
had never seen the house properly, and she had no idea how many rooms there were.
The little girl and the big man sat on the ground and focused on their own business. Annie's whole
body was in Alan's arms.
"Dinner is ready." She had to break them out loud.
Alan picked Annie up from the floor. "We can finish it after dinner."
"I'm sure I can finish it today." The little fellow was pushy that she didn’t want to give up in front of him.
Alan laughed. "What if baby finish it today and Daddy takes you to Disneyland for the weekend?"
"Will you go, mommy?" Annie had a twinkle in her eye, but she still wanted Olive's advice.
"Of course, she will," Alan answered for her.
It's just that there's no Disney in Luo City, but there was in Jiangcheng where Olive didn't want to be
anywhere near it. He couldn’t say more in front of the kid.
Kid's meals were the biggest headache for parents, but Alan found that Annie did not need to be
followed by adults with bowls. She was able to pick them up with chopsticks and eat them. A big bowl
of rice fell into her stomach without any adult worrying about it. And she will hold her bowl up and
shouted, "Olive, I want more."
Olive filled her half a bowl of rice, and then the little one enjoyed it.
Alan wondered. “Why does she sometimes call you by your name?”
The first time He met her daughter, she called her Olive. If she had called "Mommy," he might have
taken less trouble.
"There was a Japanese cartoon called 'Spirited Away' that she watched before, and she got attracted
to it and kept calling me Olive, and then I get used to it."
Alan’s expression showed that he finally knew it, and he thought it uncivil for children to call they
parents by their first names, but when he looked at them, it made them more closer that when the little
fellow called her Olive, it felt like she was so lovely with her soft and sweet voice.
After dinner, Alan went to wash the dishes, and Annie continued to work on her puzzle. Olive cooked,
and he washed the dishes with the kid’s laugh surrounded them. It's more like living at home.
He thought that housework was not all the women’s duty; he just liked the presence of the woman he
liked at home; it’s better that she cooked for him sometimes.
She had her strengths, which was not only in the kitchen. She liked to work, and he didn't mind her
being a strong woman outside, as long as she was gentle with him at home.
When he had finished, he went upstairs to see them. Alan will never forget the scene in his life, the
woman that he loved sitting and playing with their kid on the white carpet, warm and serene, and he did
not want to break this silence until Olive found him in the doorway.
At the hotel, Chloe's dinner for two was freshly cooked, and Jack spat out the salty dish without tasting.
"God, Chloe, what’s this? It is salt?"
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