Both Nicole and Evan were surprised to hear Maya’s words.
Quietly, the latter turned Nicole. “Maya is ranked first among her school’s public speakers?”
Nicole had a similar look of disbelief on her face. Nina had been saying that Maya could not express herself well since young. She was surprised to hear that her daughter had become the best public speaker in her school.
The woman’s heart soared in delight. “Maya’s a smart kid too.”
Just as her words left her mouth, Nina responded, “Stop bluffing. We’re in the same grade. How can I not know that you’re ranked first?”
“Hahaha! I dream of becoming the first. I’ve never told anyone about it, so how could you have known?”
“You… Maya, you’re getting more and more shameless.”
Tilting her chin higher, Maya grinned. “Of course. Look who our daddy is. Look who our uncle is. Look who our brother is. I learn from them.”
Evan was at a loss for words.
At the same time, Nicole cleared her throat. So Evan, Davin, and Juan are shameless people to Maya. Nicole was sure that the brother Maya was talking about was Juan, not Kyle.
When she turned to look at Evan, she saw his sullen expression.
“Don’t take the words of a kid to heart. Maya is just joking.”
In the beginning, Evan had been worried about Nina’s state. Hence, he was relieved to hear Nina’s response. He felt it was a good idea for Maya to talk to Nina; it was better than the girl wallowing in her sorrow alone.
He glimpsed at Nicole and replied, “I won’t take the words of a child to heart. Maya’s doing the right thing.”
The latter nodded. “Yes. Nina tends to make things difficult for herself. Maya should be with her. She really is doing the right thing. She’s such a sensible kid.”
Evan hummed in agreement. Sensing that Maya was enough of a company for Nina, he turned to retreat to his bedroom. Nicole followed after him. After closing the door, they started talking about how they should educate Nina on today’s incident.
Nicole was the first to speak. “It’s also our fault for Nina’s mistake this time. We didn’t teach her well enough, and that’s why she used the wrong method. I’ll have a talk with her.”
“She’s too aggressive. That’s why she’ll do anything to be better than the others. We’ll have to talk to her about this. Right. Her earlier makeup teacher said Nina can do her own research now, but I don’t think she’s great at the ingredients section yet. So, I’m thinking of getting someone capable to continue teaching her.”
“You want her to learn more?”
“Yes. She’s still young – it’s good for her to learn more things. It’s better than her having the time to come in contact with all those nonsense.”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“I’ll ask John to keep an eye out for anyone who can teach her. You should watch out for her moods.”
“Of course.”
After they were done discussing Nina’s matter, someone abruptly knocked on the door. It was the butler; he was here to tell them dinner was served.
When the two entered the dining room, they saw Maya taking a plate of food.
“Maya, what are you doing?”
“I’m giving this to Nina. She doesn’t want to come down for dinner.”
At that, the young girl brought the plate upstairs and knocked on Nina’s door.
“Nina, open up. It’s time for dinner.”
“I’m not hungry. I don’t want to eat anything.”
“The food’s really sumptuous today. They have your favorite crawfish for dinner today.”
When Maya realized that Nina was not going to open the door, she brought the plate back to the dining room and put it on the table. “Daddy, Mommy, Nina doesn’t want to eat.”
“Ignore her then. We’ll eat by ourselves. She’ll come to her senses when she’s hungry.” With that said, Evan began digging into the food.
“Mommy, let’s eat. Nina will be fine even if she skips a meal or two. You’re not recovered yet, so you should eat more,” Maya said as she took more food to put on her mother’s plate.
However, Nicole was distracted. She wondered if Nina would hold a grudge against Evan. If the girl were to come to her senses about the incident, she would realize that the one at fault was herself.
