With an innocent look on his face, the little boy held the receptionist’s hand as they went into the elevator. Sweetly, he said, “Miss, this building is so tall!”
“Yes, it is. The company’s pharmaceutical branch is on this floor, which is where your mom is,” she replied patiently while pointing at the floor numberings. “The president’s office is on this floor, while the other departments are on the remaining floors.”
Mentally taking note of this, he nodded.
Ding! The elevator had finally reached the floor where Rachel’s office was.
“I’ll go in on my own. Thank you!”
“No, worries, kiddo. Look for me if you have any problems, alright?”
Then, she patted his head before turning to enter the elevator again.
As soon as the elevator went down, he stood on his toes and pressed the button to go upstairs. After that, he entered the next elevator and headed to the floor where the receptionist said his dad would be.
Meanwhile, Charlotte sat down in Rachel’s office and opened her laptop to watch some cartoons.
The door to the office was not shut properly, so she could hear the two workers gossiping from their workstations nearby.
Just as she jumped off the chair to close the door, she froze when she overheard what they were discussing.
“Does Mr. Burton really have a son?”
“I heard him say it himself at the press conference yesterday. Why would he lie?”
“I also saw the news. Are those things online about Amber true? Is she really Rachel’s sister? Did she steal Mr. Burton from Rachel?”
Upon hearing this, Charlotte stayed silent.
In the meantime, Justin was in a morning meeting in the boardroom.
Suddenly, Gloria rushed in after knocking on the door and whispered into Frankie’s ears. Right after, he followed her out of the room.
As Justin listened to the business proposal, he looked outside the glass window to find a child standing in between Frankie and Gloria, who were speaking to each other.
He frowned.
After saying a few words, Frankie pulled Samuel to a quiet corner and asked Gloria, “How did he get in?”
“I don’t know. He was already standing right in front of me when I looked up.”
“Why did you bring him here then? Don’t you know where this is?”
“Oh, stop making a fuss, Mr. Beckham. Look at him. He’s clearly Mr. Burton’s son. I’ve seen the news. Where should I bring him to, if not to Mr. Burton?”
For a moment, Frankie could not find the right words to explain who Samuel actually was.
Just then, a voice sounded from behind. “What’s the matter?”
Frankie turned his head and saw Justin.
“Mr. Burton.”
Then, Justin raised his hand. Understanding what he meant, Frankie and Gloria left.
Finally, when there was no one around, Samuel batted his eyes at Justin before asking in a sweet but clear voice, “Are you Justin Burton?”
“I am. You’re looking for me?”
“Yes, I’m here to see you.”
From his pocket, Samuel took his phone and unlocked the screen to show Justin. “I saw yesterday’s news.”
Shown on the screen was a photo of Justin at the press conference yesterday.
“So? You came here to acknowledge me as your dad?”
Samuel shook his head. “No. I’m here to thank you for helping Mommy yesterday.”
As he was speaking, he took out an exquisite gift box from his little ducky schoolbag. “This is for you. I bought it with the pocket money I saved for a very long time.”
However, Justin did not reach out to receive the gift.
Even if Justin knew that the child was not Rachel’s, he felt hostile toward Samuel because Rachel would rather care for someone else’s child for years than her own and never even came back once to see Charlotte.
“There’s no need. I didn’t do it for her.”
“You behave just as Mommy described. Stubborn as a donkey.”
When Justin heard this, his expression changed. “Is that what she said about me?”
“She even said that you’re incorrigibly obstinate, self-righteous, and self-centered regardless of other people’s feelings. You rejected my gift when you haven’t even seen it. How rude!”
Though he was adorable, he was a chatterbox that talked too much.
“I have no idea what Mommy saw in you. I can’t believe you’re my dad.”
“I’m not your dad.”
“Are you trying to take your words back even when you’ve already admitted it to the press?” Samuel stuffed the gift into Justin’s hand. “This isn’t for you. It’s for my sister. Please give it to her.”
Annoyed, Justin fumed, “I already told you that I’m not your dad. Besides, she’s not your sister!”
As he spoke, he was trying to stuff the gift back into Samuel’s bag.
At this point, Samuel was getting irritated. “I said it wasn’t for you! I bought it for my sister!”
“She doesn’t need it.”
As they bickered, Justin was unaware of his strength and caused the gift to fall to the floor.
With a crash, the item in the gift box fell out. The lid and box of the music box which was inside fell apart.
Justin froze immediately.
Crouching in front of the music box, Samuel picked up the shattered pieces with his tiny hands, an aggrieved look plastered on his face
“Samuel!”
At the same time, Rachel’s footsteps sounded on the other end of the hallway. She left the meeting as soon as she received a call from Jolly. True enough, Samuel had come to the office.
“Samuel, are you okay?”
As she saw how terrible he looked, her first reaction was to check if he was injured anywhere.
With a pout, he showed her the shattered pieces of the music box. “Mommy, I don’t like Daddy anymore. He broke the music box that I wanted to gift to my sister.”
Instantaneously, Rachel pulled him into her arms and seethed, “The child did nothing wrong. Why did you do that?”
Only a moment ago, Justin was feeling regretful for what had happened. However, his face darkened as soon as she came up to accuse him. Indeed, the child did nothing wrong. But have you ever considered how Charlotte would feel if she saw him?”
Then, he added, “This is the Burton Group’s office and your workplace. Not a nursery!”
After hearing his cold remarks, she covered Samuel’s ears at once and carried him. “Let’s go.”
As she turned around, she saw Charlotte standing there.
Before, Rachel had come running from the meeting room in a hurry, so she did not notice that Charlotte had followed her as she ran up the stairs.
The little girl, who was running out of breath earlier, was still trying to catch her breath.
As Rachel was hugging Samuel, she said helplessly, “Charlotte…”
Charlotte looked at both of them with an alarmed expression.
Walking over quickly, Justin asked, “Charlotte, when did you come here?”
When she came back to her senses, she ignored his question and picked up the music box to turn the lever
twice. However, no sound came out of it, so tears started to well up in her eyes.
Justin’s heart ached as he watched her, thinking that she was feeling upset because of Samuel.
“Be a good girl and don’t cry, alright? Let’s go out and play, okay?”
Just as he was about to embrace her, she pushed him away abruptly to the point that he fell backward to the floor with a grunt. He then looked at her with a look of disbelief.
