Charlotte’s expression changed and she frowned when she said, “I’m not doing it.”
“Charlotte, since it’s going to be a gift for your aunt, then you should be making it yourself. That’s how you show your sincerity,” Rachel said patiently.
“If I do it myself, then what would I need you for? Aren’t all of you here to work for me?”
All of you? When Rachel heard that, she placed the pastry bag down. “I’m done.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened as she stared at Rachel. “What are you doing?”
While taking off her gloves, Rachel said calmly, “I don’t care how accommodating the women who came before were toward your temper, but when it comes to me, you have to prepare your own gift for another person. You can learn if you don’t know how to do it, but if you refuse to participate, I won’t help you with the cookies.”
“You’re not doing it? Then I’ll tell Daddy that you’re mean to me!”
Rachel froze, for she never expected that Charlotte would use this as her weapon. Judging from how confident she sounded, she was sure that this trick had worked wonders everytime.
Just how has Justin been educating her all these years?
After taking off her apron, Rachel said in a huff, “Fine. Tell him just that.”
Charlotte was obviously stunned.
“I’m busy, so I’m leaving now,” Rachel said curtly and walked toward the door.
“I didn’t say you can leave yet!” Charlotte shouted, and Rachel heard her stomping her feet behind her.
As though she hadn’t heard anything, Rachel continued walking without turning back, and just when she was about to reach the door, Charlotte yelled loudly from behind, “I can give it a try!”
Immediately, Rachel stopped in her tracks and turned to look toward the kitchen, only to see Charlotte’s tiny face flushing red with reluctance. It was as if this was the first time she had yielded, and she was highly unwilling to do it.
“I mean, I can give it a try, but I won’t make a lot of it!”
Despite that, Rachel was already relieved. Looks like she can still be corrected.
Then, she passed the pastry bag to Charlotte and stood behind her as she held her hand to teach her. “It’s very simple, actually. Just like how you usually draw, the cookies can be any shape you want it to be.”
In a mechanical and indifferent manner, Charlotte allowed her to move her hand as she pleased.
“Let’s try to draw a baby tortoise. Here, we’ll start with the shell, and then the head…”
After the shape of a tortoise appeared on the baking tray, Charlotte straightened her back and her eyes sparkled. “It’s really a baby tortoise!” she exclaimed in her baby voice that was full of surprise.
“We can even draw a piglet.”
“Okay! My aunt loves piglets!”
This time, Charlotte was very focused, and she followed the movement of her hands with her eyes
carefully.
“Did you learn it? Would you like to try it by yourself?”
“Okay! I’ll give it a try.”
When Charlotte had successfully drawn out a piglet by herself, Rachel stroked her head and complimented her. “You’re great. It looks amazing!”
Charlotte actually appeared a little shy while she was scratching her head. “But why do I think that it looks a little ugly? It’s not as pretty as yours.”
“Just make a few more. You’re so smart. You’ve done so well at the first try, so I’m sure you’ll get better after a few more tries.”
That was encouraging to Charlotte, so she suddenly became pumped up. When Justin returned home, he immediately smelled the scent of cookies in the house.
“Where’s Charlotte?” he asked.
A servant replied, “Miss Charlotte is upstairs. She’s probably tired after baking the whole afternoon.”
Baking? Justin wondered. When he thought of Charlotte’s impatient personality, he had no expectations of the cookies she made, so he directly went upstairs after handing the servant his jacket.
Something suddenly came into the servant’s mind, and she said, “Sir, someone by the name of Miss Hudson is here, and Miss Charlotte seems to like her a lot. She’s upstairs now after playing with Miss Charlotte the whole afternoon.”
In an instant, that woman came into his mind, which made him frown and quicken his steps to the second floor.
The child’s bedroom was quiet on the second floor, and when he was about to push the door open to take a look, the person inside happened to open the door. They both almost walked right into each other. Rachel gasped in surprise and staggered, but Justin held her by the waist quickly with his lightning reflexes.
The fall she was expecting didn’t happen, and she felt a tight grip on her waist. After lifting her head, she saw that Justin’s face was just inches away from hers, and she couldn’t avoid looking at it even if she wanted to do so.
“Why are you here?”
“I should be the one asking you that!” Justin said as his eyes gradually turned cold. “What did you tell Charlotte?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t tell her anything.” Rachel regained her balance and looked at the door from the corner of her eyes. The look in them was one of gentleness. “She thought I’m just a woman who’s here to look for you.”
Only then did Justin’s face relax a little, but his tone remained aloof. “You’re not the first woman to show up here. Don’t think I have no idea what’s on your mind.”
“I’m just here to ask you about something. What could possibly be on my mind?” While looking at his sullen face, she took a step closer and whispered in such a low voice that her breath tickled his ears as she spoke. “Did you think that I’m here to reconcile with you?”
The woman’s face that was so close to his was beautiful and confident, but her eyes were innocent. As Justin looked into those eyes, he let his guard down for a few seconds, and some fragmented images flashed through his mind.
All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his temples.
“Justin?” Rachel called upon seeing the weird look on his face.
Jolted back to his senses, he abruptly grabbed her hand and said, “No matter what you’re planning, I’m telling you now that it’s impossible.”
From their “chance encounter” at the club to her sudden appearance at the exhibition and her showing up at his house on this day, these three encounters were enough to show that nothing was a coincidence. What is this woman planning to do?
She gasped in pain and cried, “Let go! You’re hurting me!” However, his hand remained on hers tightly. “You’ve gotten it wrong. I’m really here to look for you because of work.”
“Why didn’t you look for me at my office if it’s about work? Instead, you came here and even baked cookies with my daughter?”
“She’s also my daughter.”
Justin’s eyes darkened. “For five years, you didn’t show up even once and never fulfilled your most basic responsibility of a mother. Yet, you still have the cheek to say she’s your daughter?
With her brows furrowed together, she asked, “You really don’t remember anything at all?”
If she could have brought her daughter with her back then, she would have definitely done it, but she couldn’t because Justin had forced her to a corner. Despite that, his current attitude made it seem like she was the one in the wrong.
How amazing it is to be amnesiac. He deleted his past and accepted everything that had happened in the past while I’m the only one suffering all the pain for five years, she thought. After this man in front of her
d hurt her completely, he could actually forget all about it and lead a happy, blissful life with their daughter.
“It can’t be anything good if I can forget those memories so easily,” Justin said nonchalantly. Every word was so sharp that it pierced Rachel’s ears.
“That may not be true. Maybe the days you forgot were the happy days.” Instead of getting mad, she ran her fingers through her hair. The way she did that made her appear young and innocent in spite of the womanly charm she carried; any other man who saw her like this would have stared at her. “If you weren’t waiting for my return, then why didn’t you get married to Amber after five years of engagement?”
Her words caught him by surprise.
