“Mommy, let’s go.” Hayden came to her senses and saw the car driving off from the complex and
coughed awkwardly.
On the way home, Stella held Hayden’s hand, looked at her mischievously, and said, “Mommy, were
you touched just now?”
“Who was touched?” Hayden immediately denied, “Touched? Impossible!”
“Then why did you stare at Joseph for so long after he left? Even I was feeling awkward.”
“Stella!” Hayden blushed and was speechless for a moment.
She suddenly thought of what Stella did as they exited the lift. Her expression changed and grabbed
Stella’s collar and said, “I have not settled this with you. How can you simply invite others to our place?
Did you even seek my permission?”
Stella struggled and continued to pester, “Mommy, release me, kindness begets kindness! This was
what the teacher thought!”
“…” Whether it was taught by the teacher or otherwise, she had to teach her a lesson today.
The following day was Monday and Hayden met Joseph at the kindergarten after school. Joseph
picked up his child and was about to leave.
“I’ll send you guys back, it’s along my way.” A black car was stopped at a nondescript old pagoda tree.
Hayden agreed as it was difficult for them to hail a taxi and the subway was a distance away.
Once they arrived, she thanked him politely, “Thanks, Mr. Beckham. If you weren’t always so busy, I’d
ask you to stay for dinner.”
The way she said it was so formal and polite as she was trying to hint to Joseph not to stay. But he
intentionally ignored the hint and pretended that he didn’t understand her and said, “I’m not busy at all.”
“Just nice Noah said that he likes your cooking. He doesn’t eat well when he’s at home. Let’s go.” He
got off the car after saying.
Hayden immediately regretted inviting them for dinner. Why did she say that? Couldn’t she just keep
her mouth shut?
Putting her regrets aside, she led Joseph and Noah to her place and started to prepare dinner with
whatever was in the refrigerator.
“Please don’t mind that it’s a small place.”
“It’s better than I imagined. Come, sit down and let’s eat together.” Joseph was serving food for the two
kids and behaved with familiarity as if he was in his own home.
Hayden felt strange after listening to what he said, removed her apron, and sat opposite him at the
table. The atmosphere was awkward and she tried to start a topic to improve the mood, “I heard from
Mr. James this afternoon that you frequently have dinners to attend.”
“Yes.”
“Then what about today?”
“Not tonight.”
“Oh.”
After a short and meaningless conversation, Hayden decided to keep quiet and not to speak. Joseph
didn’t seem to want to continue with the conversation. It was better for her to not speak to reduce the
awkwardness.
It was quiet for a moment before Stella began to talk about what happened in school. Joseph also
found that interesting and occasionally joined in the conversation. Noah just nodded or shook his head
as the conversation went. The atmosphere began to warm up.
After dinner, Joseph was chatting with the two kids in the sitting room as Hayden was washing the
dishes in the kitchen. It was close to nine o’clock when she finished.
“It’s late. I’ll take Noah home.” Joseph stood up from the sofa and said.
Hayden was startled and what she had prepared to say to urge them to leave was unnecessary now.
She felt embarrassed that she even had those thoughts. Once she walked them out, she began to be
polite and formal again, “Please forgive me if I wasn’t a good host. Do come again in future.”
Joseph held Noah’s hand and smiled, “Okay.”
Hayden’s heart sank and felt that Joseph didn’t grasp the hidden message in what she said. Would he
take it at face value?
The next day, the black car stopped at the old pagoda tree again. They took a lift and had dinner at her
place again. They ended up having dinner at her place three days in a row. Joseph had brought his son
to her place for dinner and Hayden increasingly found it inappropriate. On Thursday, she intentionally
avoided the old pagoda tree and took the subway home with Stella.
Joseph did not go to her place for dinner that night.
Hayden prepared two dishes and a soup for dinner. She said to Stella as she served her the food,
“Come, eat this, it’s nice.”
Stella was the same as before and didn’t feel any different because Joseph and Noah weren’t there.
However, it was Hayden who felt somewhat empty inside her. The house seemed quieter without the
two of them although they didn’t speak much.
The next day after school ended, Hayden picked up Stella and was hesitating whether to walk by the
old pagoda tree. Her phone suddenly rang.
It was Joseph.
“Mr. Beckham?”
“Are you picking up your kid?” The voice was strong and firm.
“Yes.”
“Can you pick Noah up for me? I have something on and can’t leave.”
“Ah?” Hayden was stunned and turned to look at the kids. She indeed saw Noah waving vigorously at
her. He must be trying to get her attention for some time as he was perspiring profusely from waving to
her.
“Okay, I will. Rest assured that I’ll take good care of him.”
“Thanks, I’ll pick him up later.”
“Okay.”
She explained to the teacher and picked Noah and walked to the car which was parked under the old
pagoda tree. Joseph’s steward, Mark, sent them back to her place.
Along the way, Mark looked into the rearview mirror and said, “Ms. Downey, you have no idea how
thankful the maids at the villa are for what you are doing.”
“Why?” Hayden was puzzled.
“Firstly, young master frequently refused to eat his dinner. This resulted master to be upset with the
maids for countless times. Now that master has young master eating at your place, everyone is more
relieved. Yesterday even the cook asked if you can teach her how to prepare the dishes that young
master likes.”
Hayden was stunned, “He brings Noah to my place because of Noah’s refusal to eat?”
“Yeah!”
Mark looked puzzled, “Then what does Ms. Downey think the reason was?”
“Oh, I thought the same.” Hayden quickly said but her heart was unsettled.
All these started to make sense when she thought about Joseph said last Saturday that he wanted her
to become Noah’s nanny and them going to eat at her place these few days.
He just wanted to let his son eat better. She had thought too much into what had happened! She was
glad that she wasn’t too obvious about what she thought, otherwise it would have been awkward.
When Joseph picked up Noah that night, Hayden said as they left, “Mr. Beckham, you and Noah may
come for dinner anytime you wish.”
Joseph remained nonchalant as before and simply nodded, “Okay.”
Noah fell asleep in the child seat as they left the apartment complex.
Mark was driving, looked into the rearview mirror, and said, “Master, I had done as you instructed.”
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