Joshua grinned, "Dude, you know me too well. But get this: Mr. Huo is very strict when it comes to Terilynn. I barely see her. But this is my chance. Mr. Huo's off on a business trip, so I can spend some quality time with my girlfriend. Sure, Terilynn and I can take care of Gwyn. But what if I can't control myself around her and try something? It's not good if Gwyn gets exposed to that, right?"
Sheffield didn't want to waste any more time on Joshua. "Cut the crap. I'll keep Gwyn, then. Go on your date. She can sleep at my place tonight. I can pretend she's my daughter from now on."
Gwyn was really thirsty. She took a big gulp of the juice before stopping to take a breath.
"We'll come and get her when you get tired. All right, I'll let you get back to taking care of Gwyn, Uncle Sheffield!" Joshua joked. Sheffield snorted and hung up the phone.
After drinking some juice, Gwyn held the cup and looked up at Sheffield.
Sheffield put his phone in his pocket. He took the juice from Gwyn with one hand and held her in his other arm. "Let's go, Gwyn. Ignore them. I'll take you to buy some toys. How about a pair of beautiful princess shoes too?"
Two hours later, Terilynn was getting worried. She hadn't heard one word from Sheffield. "Let's go find them. Gwyn is so cute, what if Sheffield wants to keep her?" she told Joshua. Actually, she was simply afraid Sheffield would find out Gwyn was his biological daughter.
This secret was huge. He had to be told properly, not find out by accident.
"No way. Tell you what: if he takes Gwyn away from you, as his best friend, I'm willing to give myself to you in trade," Joshua declared.
Terilynn rolled her eyes at him with a smile and pushed him. "Hurry up. Looking after a toddler is no mean feat. Sheffield's been at it a long time. He must be tired. Let's go find them."
"Okay!"
The two of them found Sheffield and Gwyn at the resting area of the children's clothing floor. Gwyn slept soundly in Sheffield's arms, covered by Sheffield's suit jacket. Tons of shopping bags surrounded Sheffield's feet.
"Oh my God! You bought all this? What did you get?" Joshua's eyes widened when he saw all those bags. There were at least ten shopping bags in all different colors.
Sheffield didn't bother to look at him. He was texting someone on his phone. Since it was about business, his eyes looked more serious than usual. "Keep your voice down. Gwyn just fell asleep," he whispered. "I got a few toys, food, and clothes."
Raising his eyebrows, Joshua whispered back, "Didn't know that you liked kids so much."
"I do," Sheffield replied perfunctorily as he edited his message.
In fact, he just liked Gwyn. He liked this little girl even a lot more than his own little brother, Nastas.
If he were with Nastas today, he would have never gone shopping with him.
"Let me hold Gwyn. You've had her for a long time. You must be beat," Terilynn offered. But Sheffield refused to hand Gwyn over. "I'm not tired. You two sit down and have a rest. I just got her to sleep. Let's not wake her up. We can wait a bit and leave later."
Terilynn was shocked to hear what he said. "O-okay!"
Sheffield didn't know Gwyn was his daughter yet, but he was already so good to her. Terilynn couldn't begin to imagine how he would treat her once he found out the truth. He already treated her like a princess, so how much further would he go? So far, Sheffield and Carlos at least had one thing in common—spoiling their daughters without a care in the world.
Half an hour later, Gwyn slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Sheffield's face. He was looking at his phone thoughtfully. Gwyn blinked her eyes and gave him the cutest smile.
Sheffield happened to glimpse that lovely smile as he turned to check on her. He was delighted and surprised. "Gwyn, you're awake. You look happy. Good dreams?"
Terilynn and Joshua were whispering to each other sitting opposite Sheffield. When they heard Gwyn waking up, they immediately walked over. "Yep, she's awake. Come here, Gwyn," Terilynn said.
"Let me hold her first. Both you and Sheffield have had a turn. I haven't gotten a chance yet." Joshua thought it would be a tragedy if he didn't get a selfie with a child as lovely as Gwyn.
With a broad smile, Terilynn said, "I have no problem letting you hold her. But Gwyn might say no. I don't know. Give it a try." She stepped back and let him have a go.
Joshua removed Sheffield's jacket Gwyn used as a blanket and put it on the couch, ready to hold her. He tried to make himself sound as gentle as possible. "Hi, Gwyn. Come to Uncle Joshua!"
The moment Gwyn looked at him, she looked away again. Immediately. She never made eye contact with strangers. Not only was her smile fading, but her face wrinkled up like she was going to cry.
Sheffield hastily pushed Joshua away and said, "You want to hold a baby, go make one. Don't upset Gwyn." Joshua didn't know what to say. He just wanted to hold Gwyn for a while. How did he upset her?
Terilynn giggled and held Gwyn in her arms. "Let's go, little cutie. Your grandma just called. We're going home!"
When Gwyn was taken from him, Sheffield's arms felt empty. So did his heart.
It was so strange. He had never felt this way before.
The three of them walked out of the shopping mall together. Joshua put all the bags in the trunk. When he walked back to the group, he found Sheffield saying goodbye to Gwyn.
He kissed her on the cheek and said, "Come and visit me soon, Gwyn."
For a moment, Gwyn just stared at him. But after Terilynn put her into the car, she waved at him through the window.
Sheffield returned her smile. He didn't get into his own car until Terilynn's car was out of sight.
On the way back to the Huo family manor, Terilynn kept telling Joshua, "I'll tell Gwyn's parents you bought the things in the trunk. Don't tell anyone that Sheffield bought all this, okay?"
"Okay. Why not?"
Joshua didn't understand. Terilynn avoided making eye contact with him. She had to come up with another lie. "Because they don't want her around strangers. I mentioned you to her parents once, so you're not a stranger."
To keep Gwyn's identity a secret, Terilynn felt she had told more lies in this short time than she had in her entire life.
"Makes sense," Joshua agreed, happy he wasn't a stranger to Gwyn.
But he felt Terilynn was being a little weird, and yet he couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong.
Evelyn staked out Sheffield's apartment for two days before she figured out he had been sleeping in his office.
She booked two movie tickets online for that night and sent the link to Sheffield and said, "Let's have dinner and catch a movie tonight."
After a long pause, he replied, "I already have a dinner appointment."
"Then let's go to the movie after that. I can switch out the tickets." The movie started at 8 p.m.
"No, don't change it. I have something to deal with tonight. I can't make it."
Reading the message, Evelyn was in a daze. After a long while, she replied, "I can wait for you at the theater."
"Not necessary."
Evelyn insisted, "It is."
This time, he didn't reply.
Evelyn got to the theater by 10 p.m. Since it was so late, there was almost no one there. Only a few young people, who were there to watch a horror movie, were hanging out, waiting for their movie to start.