Chubby Mommy: Scheming Daddy, Surrender Now!-Chapter 164: A Father’s Love

When Ethan Sterling returned home, Ruby Sullivan was piecing together Lego with the two children.

She was wearing loose beige cotton-linen pants, a white fitted tank top, and a large open-knit sweater. Her long, somewhat unkempt hair was casually tied back with a scarf, and laughter lines appeared at the corners of her eyes. Sitting in the afternoon sunlight, she seemed surrounded by a halo, making it hard for Ethan to look away.

Soon, he noticed another person in the room.

Leon Sterling was sitting not far away, holding a sketchpad, seemingly capturing the scene before him.

Frowning, Ethan deliberately raised his voice to interrupt the laughter inside, "Isn’t it cold sitting on the floor?"

Ruby looked up, a smile still on her face, "No, it’s not. Vivian bought a new carpet yesterday, it’s quite thick."

"Daddy, you’re back!" Honey climbed up from the floor and ran over to hug Ethan’s leg.

Though her mother had told her about the move, and she understood, she didn’t grasp what it truly meant, so she greeted Ethan with the same enthusiasm as always when she saw him each day.

Ethan picked her up, "Was Honey a good girl today?"

"Of course, Honey is always the best behaved baby," she glanced at Leon with a smile, "I helped Uncle Don paint his nails today, wasn’t I impressive?"

Ethan glanced at Leon’s hands; both of his nails were painted in vibrant colors. He felt a bit disgruntled, believing Leon was using small favors to compete with him for his daughter’s affection.

"Impressive." He replied perfunctorily.

Honey was thrilled, wrapping her arms around his neck, laughed, and said, "Then I’ll paint yours too, Daddy."

The moment she said this, not only did Ruby look up, but even Leon, who was focused on sketching, raised his head, seemingly curious about what decision Ethan would make.

Ethan’s expression turned a bit stern.

Ruby came to his rescue, "Honey, come back and build Lego with us. If you don’t, your brother and I will finish the castle without you."

Though Honey stepped down from Ethan, she lost interest in the Lego. In this regard, she was never as captivated as Seth was. Instead, her mind was entirely filled with thoughts about what nail polish color to paint for her dad.

"You all play, I’m going to take Daddy to my room to paint nails." Honey said, struggling as she pulled Ethan’s pinky.

Ruby quickly got up, walked over to hold Honey, and said with a mix of emotions and amusement, "Sweetie, you can’t paint Daddy’s nails. He has to go to work tomorrow, and his colleagues might tease him."

"Why?" Honey blinked her big eyes, looking baffled, "I’ll choose a really nice color for him."

"But..." Ruby tried to continue, but Ethan gently tugged her arm, signaling her to stop.

He bent down to pick up his daughter again, laughing as he said, "Then Honey has to pick the best-looking color for Daddy."

"Don’t worry, Daddy," Honey said confidently.

Ruby watched the father and daughter’s backs as they left, somewhat shocked, curious about the expressions on The Sterling Group employees’ faces upon seeing Ethan’s nails tomorrow.

Seth, sitting on the floor, sighed, slightly dissatisfied, saying, "Too little effort, eighteen springs too late."

Ruby glanced at her pretentious son and couldn’t help but smile with a shake of her head, "It’d be nice if you and Honey could balance out your personalities a bit."

Seth looked up at her and corrected her, "Mom, the difference between me and my sister isn’t our personalities, it’s... intelligence." He felt calling his sister silly was a bit too much, so he said the last two words very quietly.

Ruby, seeing his serious demeanor, playfully pinched his face, "How come with all your smarts, you can’t learn to act cute!"

"I’m learning, don’t rush it." Seth grinned, nearly drooling after uttering these words.

Ruby couldn’t help but laugh at his expression, pulling him in for a hug as she affectionately teased, "Silly boy."

Leon watched their interaction and joined in the laughter. Although he was drawing with a pencil, at that moment it seemed the picture gained a few more rays of sunshine, making the depicted people livelier.

Turning to see the father and daughter.

Honey had spread out all the nail polishes on the dressing table. Aside from solid colors, there were many sparkly ones, apparently bought in sets.

She picked up a bottle of flashy Barbie-pink nail polish and asked Ethan, "Daddy, is this nice?"

Large beads of sweat formed on Ethan’s forehead as he squinted, finding it hard to voice out. However, since he agreed to his daughter, it didn’t seem to matter much which he chose; the most important thing was making her happy.

With this thought, he took a deep breath and nodded, "It’s nice."

"Then let’s get started." Honey said seriously, as though she were a genuine manicurist.

To accommodate her height, Ethan sat directly on the floor. Honey placed his large hand on her knee, carefully painting and speaking, "Daddy, Mom, brother, and I are leaving soon. If you miss me, come see me."

Ethan looked at her, feeling a twinge of sadness, "Will you miss Daddy?"

Honey paused her painting, tilted her head in thought, "I suppose I will."

Ethan recalled their first meeting and couldn’t help but advise, "You shouldn’t call every handsome uncle you see Daddy, you only have one Daddy, understand?"

"Of course I know that." Honey replied matter-of-factly.

Ethan ruffled her hair and smiled as he calmed himself down.

An hour passed and Honey finally finished painting both hands. She lifted her father’s hand to admire it, satisfied with her work, "Daddy, look, isn’t it beautiful? I just wanted to do something for you, in case you don’t miss me."

Startled, Ethan quickly nodded, "Beautiful, Honey did an amazing job." He hugged his daughter, distressed, saying, "Daddy will surely miss you a lot, and you have to miss Daddy too, got it?"

"Got it." Honey vaguely sensed some sadness but inherited Ruby’s carefree nature, patting Ethan’s back, saying, "Daddy, don’t worry. Mom says Meridia is very close to Celestia, you can get there in just a bit by plane."

Ethan smiled bitterly, indeed, just a dozen hours, less than a day.

At dinner, seeing Ethan’s painted nails, Vivian burst into laughter, "Son, is this... a new fashion trend?"

Ethan shot her a sideways glance, saying nothing.

Honey laughed and said, "Vivian, this is Honey’s masterpiece, isn’t it beautiful?"

"Of course." Vivian gave her a thumbs-up.

Ruby looked between Honey and Ethan, feeling a bit grateful. At least his heart towards his daughter was genuine.

In the evening, after taking a shower and returning to the room, Ruby pulled Ethan to sit on the bed, "Let me wash it off for you."

"Can it be washed off?"

"Yes, just use some nail polish remover." Ruby said, pouring some onto a makeup cotton pad.

However, Ethan pulled his hand back, "Leave it, it’s my daughter’s masterpiece." He opened his hand to examine it, tilted his head looking at Ruby, "It actually looks pretty good, right?"

Ruby twitched the corners of her mouth, giving no comment.

He pursed his lips, lowered his hand, staring at the glittering polish, "Are you really determined to leave?"

Ruby paused, "Yes, I’m determined to leave regardless."

Ethan tilted his head to look at her again, "That’s fine, sleep now."

His freshly dried hair was a bit tousled, and sitting casually made his posture slightly slouched. With a faint smile, his look even carried a hint of abandon. Ruby stared blankly at him, for the first time feeling a slight hesitation, but it was a fleeting thought.

She climbed into bed, after turning off the lights, silently repeating in her mind once more, she must leave, no matter what.