Victor ended up being asked by Rachel to head straight to her home and set the table, as well as calling Jolly and the others, telling them to come home as soon as possible. While riding his electric motorcycle, a thought suddenly hit Victor. “Wait a minute. Didn’t Rachel say to give me a ride? How did it end up being Justin? Would he not have driven if he came to pick the kids up?!”
After figuring that out, Victor tightened his grip on the handlebar as indignation enveloped his face beneath the helmet. Justin Burton, you shameless f*cking son of a b*tch! How dare you scheme against Rachel again!
Meanwhile, Rachel and Justin had already arrived at the supermarket. While Justin pushed the shopping trolley, the kids ran far ahead. Rachel, on the other hand, urged the kids to slow down and don’t run off too far while getting what they needed from the racks.
“Laundry detergent, shampoo… Rachel listed off what they were running out of at home on the top of her head. “We’re running out of hand soap too. I think. Have you used this before?” She suddenly turned to Justin as she grabbed a. bottle of hand soap from the rack. Justin shook his head in reply. “I don’t normally pay attention to these things.”
“Touché. You’ve never paid attention to these kinds of details anyway.” With that, Rachel grabbed a different bottle of hand soap and compared it to the one already in her hand.
Justin never really cared about the trifle things in life because to him, it was fine as long as it worked. Normally, his assistant or housekeeper would’ve had everything sorted, so he would never take notice. However, seeing how serious Rachel looked right then, he suddenly had an unusual interest in these details.
“Is there a difference between these two?” he asked. “Of course. The scent is the obvious difference. Then, there’s the nozzle. This one comes out as foam, and this one comes out as just liquid. The foam ones also come out differently with different nozzles.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Rachel’s eyes lit up as a thought crossed her mind. “Let me show you something fun.” She put the two bottles back onto the rack and grabbed a sample bottle. ‘This is Charlotte’s favorite. Can you guess why?”
Justin took a gander and found a flower printed on the outer packaging. “Because of the scent?” “Well, you’re half right. Give me your hand.” Rachel froze for a split second right after saying so, regretting her words. Justin, on the other hand, was unruffled, extending his hand to Rachel.
After pausing for a couple of seconds, Rachel pumped the hand soap once against his palm, and out came pink flower-shaped foam, looking dainty and cute. “This is the reason Charlotte likes this one. Looks good, doesn’t it?”
“Does it?”
“Does it not?” Rachel shot Justin a glance. “How can you not react to that?” She was in utter awe when she first discovered foam pump nozzles could form shapes, but who’d have thought Justin was unfazed?!
Then, she remembered his old-fashioned, dispassionate, unromantic temperament, and she didn’t dwell on it any longer, shaking her head. “Why am I telling you all this…”
Just then, Charlotte’s voice came from the racks a little further away. “Mommy, help me take this chocolate! I can’t reach it!” “Coming.” Rachel put the bottle of hand soap back at once and made her way to her baby girl, leaving Justin standing there alone with his palm still upright as the edges of the flower- shaped foam slowly popped away.
A hint of warmth laced Justin’s eyes as he glanced at the rack. Then, he placed a bottle of Charlotte’s favorite hand soap into the shopping trolley before making his way to the two ladies.
When they arrived at the seafood section, Rachel did a mental calculation on their dinner guests. “Two kids, five adults. We’re going to have to double the ingredients. What else are you making apart from sticky ribs?” “How about grilled turbot and baked scallops with cheese? I can just chuck them into the oven.”
“You’ve been spending your time experimenting with recipes, haven’t you?” Rachel took a surprising glance at Justin. Though she had. already seen how much Justin’s cooking had improved, she didn’t expect him to even know how to make these now, saying it like it was normal for him. “We should get a few cuts of steak,” he added. “There’s quite a few of us. The steak can come out sooner.”
“Sure.” Though they had only been shopping for a while, their trolley was already nearly filled to the brim.
“I was thinking of getting some flowers. But it looks like we’re going to have trouble carrying it,” mumbled Rachel as her gaze landed on the bucket of white roses in the fresh flower stand.
“You should get a bouquet, miss. These white roses had just flown in today. They’re at their freshest.” The middle-aged lady staff recommended it strongly. “You can keep it in a vase for a long time. It’ll look pretty too, if you turn it into dried flowers.”
Just as Rachel wanted to turn her down, Justin’s voice came from behind. “We’ll take a bouquet.” “No, don’t.” Rachel hurriedly stopped him. “Buy some if you like it. It’s not like they’re some kind of rare treasure.”
“The thing is, neither Jolly nor I have the time to care for them. We might just leave it as it is and only remembers a year later.” At that, Rachel smiled. “Thanks, but really, no.”
While speaking, she caught Samuel grabbing a toy from the rack out of the corner of her eyes, and she went over to him at once. “Why do you want to buy another Optimus Prime, Samuel? There’s no more space for you to put another one in your room. Have you forgotten what you’ve promised me?”
Though the boy was far more precocious than the others his age, he surprisingly shared an obsession for Optimus Prime like the other boys. He had hundreds of the figurines alone at home. “This one’s different. Samuel attempted to justify. However, Rachel still shook her head.
“Okay.” The boy put it back with acquiescence. “Thank you, Samuel. We had a deal-you can only get one every Christmas. You have to keep your word.”
“Mm, I’ll keep my word.” “Keep an eye on Charlotte for me, please? I’m going there for a bit.” At that, Rachel turned to the produce section. Meanwhile, Justin glanced at the crestfallen” boy, took the Optimus Prime Samuel had his eyes on, and hid it beneath all the food in the shopping trolley.
Samuel’s eyes lit up upon seeing so, and he tugged on Justin’s hand, whispering, “I now pronounce us friends.” “Haven’t we always been friends?” “Not for some time in the past.”
“And when was that?”
“When you made my mommy sad.”
The revelation stumped Justin. “When?” “When we were in Montenegro, and also when we just returned to Riverdale. I can often find Mommy drinking alcohol by the balcony alone when I come out for a pee at night. I can tell she’s sad.”
With that, Justin took a gander at Rachel, who was focused on picking out vegetables. Her long, raven-black hair was hung loosely around her shoulders, making her look demure and gentle from afar. “Is your mom happy now?”
Samuel nodded gravely. “She is. I can feel it.” Though he didn’t know when it started, he could tell his mom wasn’t forcing her smiles like she would back when they were in Montenegro. “Samuel, you have to tell me at once if anything happens, alright?”
“Alright.”
“Let me ask you this, then. What is your mom’s favorite kind of flower?”
