“Yes,” Hayden nodded, “Stella, this is your great aunt.”
“Stella…” Scarlett repeated Stella’s name and glared at Hayden out of sudden, “What great aunt? Are
you calling me old?”
“What should Stella call you then?” Hayden felt awkward.
Scarlett left quite an impression on Hayden when she was a child. Her aunt was always mean, as far
as Hayden could have remembered. Hayden was scared of her during her childhood. If it wasn’t for
Hayden’s grandfather, Hayden would have scared to death every time she met her aunt.
“All right, never mind.”
Stella quickly greeted Scarlett, “Good day, great aunt.”
The cold expression on Scarlett's face turned warm. She beckoned to Stella, “Come nearer. Let me
have a clear look at you. I’m getting old. I couldn’t see things every clear now.”
Stella asked permission from Hayden, then approached Scarlett after Hayden agreed. She raised her
head and asked, “Is it near enough for you, great aunt?”
Scarlett smiled, “You’re not afraid of me?”
“Why should I be afraid of you? You’re not monster nor caterpillar.”
“Because the children were usually afraid of me.”
“Really?” Stella widened her eyes as if she heard an anecdote. She then replied in a serious tone,
“They are too easily frightened then. Parents shouldn’t allow them to act like that. How could they
protect their family in the future?”
“You should go and train them then.”
Scarlett laughed heartily. Hayden had never seen her aunt laughed like that.
Scarlett patted Stella’s hand after a while, then stood up and looked at Hayden.
“Look at her attitude. Do you want to hand her to me?”
Hayden didn’t understand, “What do you mean?”
“I know you gave birth to Stella overseas behind the Downey family’s back. They won’t recognize her
anyway. I don’t want to know what happened to her father, but it’s not good for you for her to stay with
you. How would you get married to her? I don’t want to be blamed by your mother when we meet in
heaven.”
Scarlett was straightforward, but what she said had scared Stella until she hid behind Hayden, “I don’t
want to be away from mommy. Mommy’s boyfriend likes me a lot, and I like him too. You don’t have to
be worried about mommy’s marriage.”
Scarlett took a glimpse at Stella and continued, “I’ve heard about you and Joseph. He has a son too. If
you didn’t have a daughter, I wouldn’t agree with your relationship with him at all. Since these are the
facts that we can’t change, you need to think about it carefully. The Beckham family isn’t as simple as
you think. You better make up your mind after I’ve investigated their family background.”
Hayden pursed her lips and listened to the advice from her aunt. She never thought of refuting
anything. She was still terrified by the impression of her aunt in her childhood.
A man and a child walked near the entrance of the cemetery during their conversation. They heard the
second half of what Scarlett said. They stopped, “Ask me anything you want to know. You don’t need to
do any investigations.”
Hayden was stunned. She saw Joseph and Noah when she looked in the direction of the entrance.
Noah shrugged off Joseph’s hand and ran towards Hayden when he saw her. He then started to play
games with Stella.
Scarlett turned around and stood in front of Hayden. She sized up Joseph emotionlessly, “The Director
of the ST Group, Joseph Beckham?”
It was rare to see people who didn’t see him as a notable person. However, there were many people
like this when he was with Hayden.
“Yes. You are?”
“You don’t need to know who I am. I’ve heard what you said just now. Are you saying that you wanted
to marry Hayden?”
Hayden got nervous when she heard her aunt’s question. She dazed and looked at Joseph.
Joseph kept his cool and replied calmly, “Yes.”
“Alright then. I have a few questions for you.” Scarlett didn’t look any weaker than Joseph. She looked
like a great warrior.
“Sure.”
Joseph now knew that the woman in front of her was a prestigious elder in Hayden’s family.
“Aunt, stop it. Joseph and I…” Hayden tried to stop her aunt. She gave Joseph the silent treatment, and
they hadn’t talked to each other for a few days. What was wrong with her?
“Shall we have a talk over there?” Scarlett ignored her and walked towards the entrance of the
cemetery with Joseph.
Scarlett raised her questions calmly after getting into the car with Joseph.
“First of all, who is the mother of your child? I need to know about the hidden threats for Hayden if she
gets married to you. It won’t be peaceful if your ex-wife misses the child all the time.”
“I haven’t been married before. There’s no ex-wife,” Joseph was open to Scarlett. He replied honestly,
“About who Noah's mother is, from where I see, he only likes Hayden.”
Scarlett frowned. She could see Noah and Stella were each holding a hand of Hayden’s outside the
window.
It seemed just like what Joseph told her.
“My second question. What would you do with your money and assets if you get married to Hayden?”
The question was more straightforward than the first one.
Joseph hesitated. He hadn’t considered that much, but it wasn’t too late to do it now.
“Hayden wouldn’t want to be just a housewife even if she gets married. I have a consultant managing
my money and assets. I could transfer everything to Hayden’s account if she wants to help in managing
what I have.”
“What if you guys divorce?”
“I’ll make sure that she won’t have to worried about money for her life after.”
“People would usually say that they wouldn’t get divorced,” Scarlett stared at Joseph emotionlessly,
“You are already thinking for divorce before even marrying her? Don’t you dare to think Hayden didn’t
have anyone to support her?”
“There’s no guarantee in a relationship. I can’t guarantee my feelings. Even if I could, I can’t guarantee
hers. That’s why I could only guarantee with I can, the material elements.”
“…”
Scarlett could see the children were playing happily with Hayden when she looked through the window.
The picture looked peaceful and harmonized. After all the questions Scarlett asked, Joseph too asked
her a question in the end.
“If you care so much for her, why did you left her with the Downey family for all these years and you
never took care of her?”
Scarlett thought Joseph already knew the answer before she said it. This young man in his 30s had a
pair of wise eyes that could read people’s minds.
The fittest ones survived in the Law of the Jungle. Scarlett didn’t want Hayden to follow in her mother’s
footsteps and grew up in a spoiled environment. If Hayden did, she would grow up as a person who
would run away if she met obstacles. This attitude would eventually get her killed in the end.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda