Hayden was consumed by rage as she kicked the both of them out of the kitchen immediately.
It seemed that the two of them had something strange about them. If they continued to stay in the
kitchen, it was very likely that the meal would never come to completion.
Joseph and Freddie were both shut out of the kitchen, and as their eyes met, both of them were looking
at the other disdainfully.
At the moment, Stella and Noah were crouching behind the door of the bedroom and checking out the
situation in the kitchen through the tiny gap. They were stifling their laughter by covering their mouths.
“See, what did I say last time? He will only feel motivated if there is some external pressure.” Stella was
looking smug.
Noah nodded furiously in agreement, and he was obviously thrilled.
This was the first time he had seen his father taking the initiative when it came to women.
Their lunch was very scrumptious as fish slices, braised chicken wings, stir-fried shredded pork with
lettuce, tomato and egg soup were all served on the table. Intoxicating aroma was spreading out in the
air.
Everyone was very supportive as they wolfed down everything in no time.
After lunch, the two children went back to the room to continue having fun while Freddie was helping to
tidy up the cutleries on the table as if he was afraid that the other guy would take a step further. He
offered to wash the cutleries after this.
“Hayden, I will make sure each of them would be sparkling clean.”
Hayden was happy to let him help out, so she wasn’t going to stand on ceremony, “Then you can wash
all of them. Don’t break any of those plates.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Freddie carried those cutleries to the kitchen while in an upbeat mood, but after washing those for a
while, he had a feeling that something was off.
While he was working hard to wash these plates and bowls, didn’t he just give the two of them the
perfect window to be alone together? He turned around and glanced at the living room, but nobody was
there. Where had they gone to?
Stella was in the bedroom, and the two adults and the two young ones were surrounding aeroplane
chess. The four of them represented a faction in this chess war, and they were progressing through this
game with much jubilance.
“I finally reach the end! All of you are losers now, so you all get a sticker.”
Stella, who had her face almost full of yellow stickers, excitedly stuck a yellow sticker on each of
Joseph, Amber and Noah’s faces.
The four of them had so many stickers on their faces that they looked like a striped cat.
Freddie, who was wearing rubber gloves used to wash dishes, stood by the door and grumbled, “You
guys leave me out while you are having fun with a game while I wash the dishes alone. You guys are
too much.”
All of them turned their heads and looked at the door.
Hayden felt a little embarrassed by his words since Freddie had just returned to the country yesterday
and she shouldn’t mistreat her guest despite being very familiar with each other. She suggested, “What
if you come and play while I go wash the dishes?”
“Who is interested to play with that guy?”
Freddie furrowed his brows as he was convinced that Hayden wouldn’t allow Joseph to wash the
dishes. He said with agony, “Wait for me to finish washing the dishes, I will be here in no time.”
After that, he disappeared into the kitchen and washed the dishes with crazy speed.
Hayden didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry upon seeing that.
Ten minutes later, Freddie joined the fray, and the game changed from aeroplane chess to five-in-a-
row, to international chess and to Go, and in the end, only Freddie and Joseph were left duking it out
with the chess set.
Joseph was very scheming while Freddie could also hold his ground. Freddie was good at international
chess while Joseph trumped over him in a game of Go, and throughout the whole afternoon, they were
as good as one another, and it the end it was a draw.
The sky had turned dark, and Hayden was calling them to have dinner from outside the room.
Freddie didn’t know when had Hayden gone out of the room, and with a sudden jolt, he realized that he
had wasted a whole afternoon with Joseph here. He felt a terrible regret at the moment.
After dinner, Freddie asked Joseph without reservation, “It’s getting late now, when are you bringing
your son back home?”
Joseph was sipping his tea leisurely, “I think I won’t go back home tonight.”
“What?” Freddie shot out of his chair and protested, “Why are you staying overnight? This is not your
house.”
Hayden was startled by his words too. She couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind Joseph’s words.
Was he implying that he would stay here overnight to sleepover? That would be beyond strange.
“Noah doesn’t want to go back.” Joseph looked at Hayden and said this naturally, “He told me before
we came here that Stella used to stay in my place for an extended period, so he wanted to stay at
Stella’s home too.”
“No way! I can’t approve of that.”
Freddie instantly rejected his proposal. He just knew that Hayden had been staying in Joseph’s place
with her daughter for some time, or else he wouldn’t allow Joseph to step into this place in the morning.
He had labelled Joseph as his number one love rival.
“This is not your home, and you are taking shelter here as well. Your opinion doesn’t matter.” Joseph
eyed him slightly before shifting his gaze back to Hayden.
Hayden was really stuck in a rock and a hard place.
If Joseph were to stay here, it would be too strange to have two men staying over, but if she didn’t allow
him to stay over, Joseph was right about her living in his place for half a month with Stella. If she didn’t
allow him to stay over, didn’t that mean she was just an ungrateful person?
As she was stuck in a dilemma, Stella emerged from the bedroom and jogged over as she announced,
“Mummy, Noah is asleep now. Is uncle and Noah staying with us tonight?”
Hayden nodded and replied, “That’s the only way.”
“Hey, that’s not right!” Freddie wanted to stop this from proceeding further, “If your child is asleep, you
still can carry him away, right? He’s not too big in size anyway. Why is staying here the only choice?”
“Noah isn’t very healthy. If there’s a cold breeze sweeping through him while he’s asleep, he will get a
cold.” Joseph explained slowly.
Hayden adored Noah a lot, so of course she wouldn’t let him getting buffeted by the cold wind while
being asleep. She immediately nodded, “Yes, we can’t let him go for now. He’s a little insecure.”
“What about him? We can let the child stay over, but it won’t be anything wrong to ask him go, right?”
Freddie clutched the last straw of hope as he gritted his teeth hard.
“My son has never been apart from me since young. He won’t get used to my absence.” Joseph’s soft-
spoken answer rendered Freddie completely speechless.
It was so infuriating. He knew that this guy had ill-intentions, yet all of his words were coated with
sugar. What kind of sorcery was this?
After deciding their sleepover, Hayden tidied her room and made it available.
“I didn’t tell Alayna about this, so you can’t sleep in her room. You will sleep in my room while I sleep in
her room.”
Joseph naturally didn’t have anything against that, yet Freddie exploded once again, “That can’t be! I
can’t agree to that. How can he sleep in your room? Hayden, you must remember that you are a
woman and he’s a man, you must know how to protect your own privacy. I can’t allow this to happen.”
“Is there any other way?” Hayden stared at him, “The number of rooms in this place is limited.”
“I allow him to sleep with me, albeit my reluctance.” Freddie widened his eyes and his expression told
the others that he had compromised a big deal in this matter.
“I can’t agree to that.”
Joseph shot a glance at him, “I don’t like to sleep with men.”
“You…”
“That’s enough.” Hayden interjected Freddie’s words, “Stop your nonsense, he’s just here for a night.
There’s no difference about him staying in which room, what’s more, there’s nothing too private in my
room anyway. Come out of there now, the two of you. I need to change the bed sheets and blankets.”
As she said that, she pushed Joseph and Freddie out of the room and shut the door in front of them to
start tidying up the room.
Freddie crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Joseph with dissatisfaction. He said
ironically, “You are a president yourself, how can you come here and sleepover in this small place? Or
are you tired of your entitled life and you’re coming here to experience some hardship?”
“If I do say so, will you believe in me?”
Joseph said meaningfully before walking towards a bookshelf. He wasn’t the least bit concerned about
Freddie at all.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda