Chapter 61 I Have to Do What I’ve Promised You
It was almost time for dinner, and there were only a few customers in the cafe on Sunhill Enterprise’s first floor. After serving some coffee to the table in the corner, the waiter—who seemed to know Courtney very well—nodded to her with a smile.
Courtney often worked on the first-floor lobby, so she was well acquainted with the people who worked in the shops on the first floor. She felt a little ill at ease while stirring her coffee. “What brings you here, Dad?”
The man across from her looked about 50 years old. Dressed in a brown suit, he looked very refined. Threads of silver ran through the black hair at his temples, and the watch on his left wrist—which was worth at least 1 million—had a cold luster to it.
“Your sister said that she saw you when she attended Isaac’s engagement party last Saturday. She told me that you’re working here.”
Courtney had guessed a long time ago that Anna was bound to take liberties with the truth after going back that day, so she took a colder attitude at once. “What else did she say? She didn’t put in a good word for me, did she?”
Courtney’s father, Lucian, frowned upon hearing that. “How could she say nasty things about you? She just told me that you’re working here. Do you have any misunderstandings with your sister, Courtney?”
Courtney’s face clouded over as she clenched the spoon in her hand. “What kind of misunderstanding can I have with her? We simply can’t get along well because our personalities are incompatible.”
“Indeed, Anna doesn’t have a good temper, but she cares a lot about you. Since both of you are from the same family, she treats you more sincerely than the outsiders, Courtney—”
“Dad,” Courtney interrupted him. “You didn’t come here just to mediate between us sisters, did you?”
Lucian glanced at her upon hearing this. “I heard that you’ve been dating President Duncan of Sunhill Enterprise. Is that true?”
Courtney wasn’t surprised that her father would ask this question. Since Anna would talk about her encounter with Courtney at the engagement party when she got home, she would surely talk about the matter between Courtney and Alexander, for this matter had caused a great stir back then. Even if Anna said nothing about that, Lucian would probably hear it from his friends; someone as smart as Anna wouldn’t let her father hear this from anyone other than herself, of course. Not only that, Anna was probably worried that Lucian might learn of how she had ridiculed Courtney at the engagement party that day if he asked someone else about this.
“Who cares if it’s true or false?” Courtney lowered her head without denying it, but she didn’t have the nerve to acknowledge it as well. “You never cared about how I have been doing over so many years anyway, so don’t concern yourself with this matter. I’ll take care of it myself.”
Lucian wasn’t angered by Courtney’s indifference. Instead, he worried for her by saying with a concerned expression, “I heard that he has a son. I’m afraid you’ll have a lot to consider if you want to be together with him.”
Courtney slowly raised her head. “What if I tell you that I have a child as well?”
Lucian’s expression slowly changed. Courtney waited for her father to lash out at her. Ever since she grew more sensible, she had been waiting for him to lash out at her. That way, she could pour out all her doubts and grievances over these years.
To her dismay, however, Lucian only looked astounded for a moment. Then, as if wanting to calm down, he held up his cup of coffee with a trembling hand to take a sip of it. When he finished drinking his coffee, he assumed the look of a loving father again. “When did that happen?”
Courtney answered perfunctorily, “I went overseas five years ago because I had given birth to a child whom I didn’t want to take home.”
“In that case… the child should be five years old.” Lucian frowned. Naturally, he couldn’t calm down so quickly, but he didn’t show signs of getting angry. He even asked after a moment of silence, “Is the child a boy or a girl?”
“A girl.”
The conversation then headed in an increasingly weird direction. Courtney was anticipating her father’s anger, but he patiently asked many questions about her daughter as if he had forgotten that he was initially here to question her relationship with Alexander.
When he finally left, he settled the bill, hesitated for a moment, and advised with a hint of mindfulness, “Take your daughter home for a visit when you’re free. It’s okay to live at home with your daughter if you’re willing to do so. No one in our family will say anything.” With that, he left. For some reason, his figure looked lonely from behind.
Courtney had lost her mother as a child, so she spent her childhood in the care of her maternal grandfather. It wasn’t until her maternal grandfather passed away afterward that Lucian took her home. At that time, he had remarried and had a daughter, Anna, who was a few months older than Courtney. Children probably knew nothing when they were little, but they would inevitably hear rumors and gossip when they grew up. After all, some matters couldn’t be concealed.
Lucian always thought that he was indebted to his daughter, so he was set on making it up to her. Not only did he never deny her anything, he even said yes when she suddenly brought a beggar-like boy home for him to adopt at 15 years old. Even so, he still felt that he couldn’t care for her as he would have liked to, for he couldn’t help feeling that he didn’t fulfill his responsibility as a father.
Courtney felt a little agitated after meeting her father. Luckily, the construction work in the afternoon had ended, and it wouldn’t resume at night to avoid disturbing the guests upstairs while they were resting.
Walking out of Sunhill Hotel with her backpack on her back, she raised her wrist to check the time. As she was lost in thought, she suddenly remembered that she was so busy that she had forgotten to pick Tina up. She quickly hailed a taxi. “Go to Sapphire Kindergarten, please.”
On the way to the kindergarten, she called Nora, the kindergarten’s helper. “Someone has picked her up?” she exclaimed while sitting in the taxi. “Who picked her up?”
Nora’s voice could be heard over the phone as she explained nervously, “Mr. Alexander picked her up. I thought you were on good terms with Jordan’s father, and you two often pick up each other’s children, so we handed Tina over to him when he offered to pick her up. Is there a problem with this, Miss Hunter?”
“Oh, t-that’s fine then.” Courtney sighed with relief. “Sorry for troubling you.”
After hanging up the phone, she noticed an unread message from Alexander on her Messenger. It read, ‘I have taken Tina back to my home.’ She immediately instructed the driver to change their route and went to the Royal Park Manor. Then, she gave Alexander a phone call.
“Hello?” Alexander, whose voice sounded as low and deep as his whispers in her ear that night, spoke from the other end of the line.
Feeling that the air was stuffy, Courtney quickly wound down the car window to get some fresh air. “Uh, thank you for picking Tina up. I forgot about this because I was so busy today.”
“You’re welcome.” Alexander’s voice was devoid of emotion. “It’s only natural that I have to do what I have promised you.”
“Promised me?” Courtney was stunned. “What have you promised me?”
Alexander sounded very justified. “Didn’t you make me promise to pick Tina up? Also, I’ve promised to let you two stay at my place for the time being while you’re busy with the hotel’s anniversary celebrations.”
“What?” Courtney was totally baffled. She asked hastily, “When did I make such a request?”
There was silence for a few seconds on the other end of the line. Then, Alexander uttered four words in a very serious tone. “The night before yesterday.”
