Before Jack could sort out his feelings for Rachel, life brought him and her together once more.
It seemed that there was no need to avoid her anymore.
While he was away, he couldn't figure out his feelings. So when he was being given an opportunity to
stay with her, he would go with the flow.
It was better to let things happen than to interfere.
After rush hour, the heavy traffic in the city grew lighter, and they were able to return without much
trouble.
They got home in less than fifteen minutes. When Jack got out of the car, he felt slightly embarrassed.
Not long ago, he had promised himself that he wouldn't come here unless he sorted out his feelings. At
this moment, he was shooting himself in the foot.
Mendes had grown grumpy when he learned that he couldn't play with Jonathan. He frowned until
Rachel explained things to him.
The biggest change that they had seen in this kid was that he had become more sensible.
Rachel wondered if this change was brought upon by growing up without his parents' company.
If that had been the case, she felt sorry for the boy. In a place where a child did not feel a sense of
security, he had to have carefully observed others and played smart at his young age to have turned
out the way that he had.
She felt a mixture of anger and pity. His parents should have been more responsible.
She liked the kid and was willing to take care of him, not only out of adoration but also out of sympathy.
As soon as they got home, the kid's mood changed.
Upon entering the house, he took a few steps forward and asked, "Can I go get something upstairs?"
'Get something upstairs?' Rachel thought. What did he want to look for?
She didn't ask. She simply nodded her consent. When Jack finally came in, he saw the little boy
hurrying up the stairs.
He was stunned. "Where is he going? Why is he running so fast?"
"He's going upstairs to find something."
Had Mendes left some of his valuables here?
He had, indeed, unknown to both Rachel and Jack.
Rachel watched as Mendes dashed up and down the stairs. He ran down to bring all sorts of toys—a
model airplane, a tank, race cars—and then ran back up to get more. He ran tirelessly until he was
finished.
"When did he place these things upstairs?" Jack asked.
Rachel shook her head. "I don't know."
Curious, Jack followed the boy upstairs to take a look for himself. Following the sound, he found the
boy digging things out of a cabinet.
Jack stood quietly by the door and studied the child. He had no idea as to when the boy had kept all
these toys here.
The boy took out a toy gun and was running out of the room, beaming with joy, when Jack gently
stopped him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Boy, how many things are you hiding in there?"
Mendes was startled. He hadn't noticed Jack. He turned around in surprise, still holding the gun. He
said sheepishly, "This is the last one."
The boy continued on his way down to the living room, where he placed the toys on the carpet. The
world seemed to disappear as he now sat in a sea of toys.
Jack and Rachel thought for a while. They both realized that these were the exact same toys that
Jonathan had brought the boy last time.
However, they didn't know why the toys were left here. Why hadn't Mendes taken them with him?
"Grandpa Jonathan told me that I could continue to play with them the next time I came here,"
Mendes explained. 'This was all planned out. Had he thought that the child would come to be here
again?'
Since Mendes was now busy with his toys, he no longer paid attention to the two adults in the house.
Rachel walked over to open the living room window and let some air in.
Jack turned around and headed to his room.
Until he was inside his room, he didn't notice that everything was in the same place. Even the quilt
looked the way that it had when he left.
Rachel had not touched a single thing in this room. She hadn't cleaned or put away his things.
Pleased, Jack walked around in the room, studying it. When he was satisfied, he went back downstairs.
Moments later, Rachel was walking out of the kitchen with a plateful of fruit. She handed Mendes a
fork.
Upon noticing Jack, she asked casually, "Fruit?"
"Okay." He strode over and picked up a slice of mango with a toothpick.
The boy approached, pressed his little body up against Jack, and opened his mouth. "Ahh..."
Jack popped the piece into Mendes' mouth. The boy accepted the fruit with joy.
Jack then rolled up his sleeves and then, turning to Rachel, he said, "I'm going upstairs to work. Call
me if you need anything."
She nodded and watched him go up the stairs. The villa was filled with life again.
Jack still had some work he had to finish. His plan was to finish all his tasks as early as he could and
have a video conference with several project managers afterward.
A few minutes later, Mendes came in with his tank.
Jack was studying the documents in front of him when suddenly, he heard a child's attempt at bomb
and gunshot sounds.
He looked to the side and saw that Mendes had come in.
The boy made more noises, playing around Jack's feet for a while. Then he silently exited the room.
Jack tried his best to ignore the noises and focus once more on his laptop.
He had felt relieved when Mendes first went out, but now the boy was back.
He dawdled in the room for a while, making small but audible noises.
Unable to control his anger, Jack stood up and took Mendes out of the room. "I'm working. Don't bother
me, okay?"
The child blinked and look at Jack with sad eyes. "Why can't you play with me?"
Jack raised his hand to his forehead as he tried to comfort the boy. "I have some work to do. Can you
go downstairs for a moment? We can play after I'm done."
Mendes asked, "When will you finish?"
"It will take a while."
"How long is that?"
Jack had seen a lot of brazen and obsessed people, but none of them were as difficult or as
unreasonable as this child was.
However, he couldn't keep a straight face as he talked to the boy. Patiently, he said, "Go and find
Rachel, okay? I will come down once I'm done."
To his surprise, Mendes was not that easily convinced. He raised his hand and started quietly counting
on his fingers. "Is ten minutes enough?"
Jack was speechless.
He didn't know that such a young kid was capable of this.
Exactly ten minutes later, the boy entered the room once more and proceeded to make play noises
near him. Jack immediately stood up and threw him out of the room.
Another five minutes later, Mendes returned. Again, Jack threw him out without a word.
Mendes returned five more minutes later.
Jack couldn't stand it anymore. After throwing the boy out the last time, he locked the door. Mendes
pitifully rapped on it. "Jack... when can you come out and play with me?"
Jack massaged his temples. This was shaping up to be more difficult than anything he had ever
encountered at work.
After a while, Mendes stopped. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.
Moments later, the sound of typing filled the room once more. If everything went well, he could finish
this in ten minutes.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The sound of his keyboard stopped. He clenched his fists and stood up with a dark expression on his
face.
Rachel was about to knock again when the door opened unexpectedly.
Jack appeared at the door, frowning, and not expecting to be standing face-to-face with her.
He was speechless for a moment, but then, he quickly recovered. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Rachel recognized the unhappy look on his face, so she hesitated for a moment. Then she showed him
the toy car that she was holding. "It's broken. Get on with your work. When you're done, can you
please come downstairs and fix it?"
Noticing the displeasure on Jack's face, she stopped talking.
He nodded his agreement and sat back down at his computer, but he couldn't do anything.
He was completely distracted. Finally, he went downstairs and accompanied the boy. He sat beside
him, still with a gloomy look on his face. He poured all his energy into fixing the toy car.
He hadn't expected to be using his talents on this. He was a grown man who could repair an actual
racing car. Yet, here he was now, fixing a toy.
After fiddling with it, he put the toy car back on the floor and flicked the switch. The little car slowly but
steadily moved forward.
Mendes cheered and ran to catch his car.
The warm light in the living room softened the atmosphere. Rachel sat cross-legged on the floor, her
soft hair falling loosely on her shoulders and a faint smile on her lips. She bent down slightly and
whispered something to Mendes, and her black hair parted to expose her white neck.
The jade-like skin of her neck, which had beckoned Jack a thousand times in his dreams, now
appeared right in front of him. He blinked rapidly and then looked away, embarrassed.
What a sweet scene it was! He studied her graceful profile out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, he
found himself thinking about how she would look like as a mother.
She let her guard down, tore down her walls, and smiled gently.
She had never shown this kind of tenderness to him before. With this thought in mind, he couldn't help
but feel a little jealous of the boy.
She took the child home, played with him, and even bathed him.
After Rachel took the boy to the bathroom, Jack went back to work. He thought the boy wouldn't bug
him anymore. But again, someone knocked on the door.
Jack had no choice but to suppress his anger yet again. He had been interrupted so many times, and
he was beginning to lose his temper.
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