Olivia gave North an apologetic look. “It’s my bad. I should’ve called you, but I didn’t because I thought you were sleeping. I just went to a skating rink with your daddy, where we bumped into someone you know.”
North asked, “Who was it?” Olivia led him by the hand into the room. “I’ll tell you when you’re back inside.” Once they were in the room, a worried North asked, “Did you come across that Azalea lady?
What did she say? Did she make you angry?” Olivia felt like laughing and frowning at the same time. “You can’t sleep because you’re worried about me?”
‘If she bullies you, I’ll sort her out for you.” “No, you don’t have to,” said Olivia while ruffling North’s soft and fine hair. “Don’t bother your little head with things like this. I can handle it well so that no woman can steal your daddy from me, so don’t worry.”
North replied, “It’s okay, Mommy. If Daddy bullies you, I’ll turn my back on him.” Olivia burst into a chuckle. “He wouldn’t dare to bully me with my son watching my back.” Only then did North flash his teeth in a smile. “So, who did you say you just bumped into?”
“It’s the girl you talked about.”
“You mean Charlotte?”
“Yeah.”
“She was at the skating rink, too?”
Olivia said excitedly, “I’ll take you there tomorrow. It’s so much fun, really.” North replied, “Okay. We can take Carter and others with us.” Olivia was surprised by what he said. “You don’t hate them anymore?”
“I like them if you like them.” “I like my son the most,” Olivia said while rubbing her head against North’s chest, causing the boy to roll around in bed in a fit of giggles. Seeing him get more and more energetic as he giggled, she coaxed him to sleep, saying, “Alright, I’m not gonna play with you anymore. Time to sleep already. Today’s a weekend, luckily, or you’d have trouble getting up tomorrow.”
“Okay. Good night, Mommy,” replied North obediently. He lay in bed and closed his eyes for a moment, only to open his eyes again and stretch his little arms out around Olivia’s neck. “Mommy, I missed you.”
Olivia hugged him in return while bending down to kiss him on the forehead. “I missed you, too,” she said, lying down next to him with her hand gently patting him. She was busy dealing with Eugene and her own problems today, so much so that she didn’t have time to talk to her dear son. He probably missed me a lot. That’s why he stayed up late to wait for me. Her nose twinged sharply at the thought of this. “Sorry, baby. I should’ve come back earlier.”
North didn’t hear her, though. In reality, he was already very sleepy, so he soon fell asleep in his mother’s arms. After he was coaxed to sleep, Olivia finally came out of his room. Eugene also got sleepy waiting for her outside. Seeing her come out, he immediately asked, “North wasn’t angry, was he?”
Olivia said with a note of self-reproach, “No, he wasn’t, but he said he missed me. I shouldn’t have gone out roller-skating today. That way, I could’ve come back earlier.”
Eugene was startled by her words. Indeed, everyone was so concerned about his emotions that they neglected North’s feelings. Just because he’s mature doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need to be cared for, he thought. Feeling bad all of a sudden, he replied, “No, it’s not your fault. It was me who insisted on taking you there. I was so focused on how much I missed you that I forgot that our son needed his mommy even more.”
Feeling sorry for North, Olivia said, “He’s always been very mature, and I never had to worry about him.” “Let’s take him out for a day of fun tomorrow to make it up to him.”
Olivia said, “I promised to take him to go roller- skating.” “Okay,” Eugene replied. Wrapping his arms around her, he leaned close to her, asking, “Olivia, can you stay here?”
Olivia pushed him away heartlessly. “No, I can’t. I have to go to sleep.” “Let me tell you a secret.”
“What?” Eugene said with a smile, “Actually, I’ve been sleeping in your room over the past two weeks. I can’t sleep without you.”
Olivia retorted icily, “Are you trying to get me to help you with your insomnia?” Eugene was speechless. I’m sure that the “help” she’s saying is different from the “help” I’m imagining!
