Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 217: "Do You Want Dad to Live with Us?
The evening rush hour was over, so traffic was flowing freely. They even hit a string of green lights.
The car pulled over to the side of the road by the plaza, and Rory Linden got out after thanking him.
She had only taken a couple of steps when she realized someone was following her...
It was Sean Harrison.
"I’ll walk with you," Sean Harrison stated his intention directly.
"That’s not necessary. I can go by myself."
Rory Linden stopped in her tracks.
From where she was standing, she could already see Ryan Sterling and Leo Linden.
She didn’t want to walk over there with him.
Sean Harrison saw Leo Linden, too. His gaze fixed on the small figure in the distance. "As the child’s father, if I’m not qualified to accompany my son, surely I can at least watch from the side."
"What kind of father are you?!"
His words truly infuriated Rory Linden.
Her hands clenched into tight fists. She tried to suppress the emotions churning inside her, but she couldn’t stop herself from questioning him:
"Where were you when I was at my lowest? There is no father in this world more unfit than you. You have absolutely no right to call yourself his father!"
She didn’t want to relive the hardship.
From a certain perspective, it was all her own choice.
But when he stood there so shamelessly, she couldn’t help but want to lash out.
Sean Harrison fell silent.
Rory Linden forced herself to calm down. "Please, stop being so presumptuous. I don’t want to say anything more hurtful."
After saying her piece, she walked quickly in Leo Linden’s direction.
This time, Sean Harrison didn’t follow.
He just stood there, watching.
He watched as Rory Linden walked toward Ryan Sterling and Leo Linden, breaking into a small jog for the last few steps.
He watched her wave and greet the two of them, and even from her back, he could tell she was happy.
Leo Linden was happy to see her too, showing her the new moves he had learned.
After succeeding, he celebrated by high-fiving both Rory Linden and Ryan Sterling.
The plaza lights were dazzling, and the distant scene looked like a perfect portrait of a happy family of three.
Sean Harrison stood alone in the thick of the night, and the part of his heart he had been trying so hard to mend seemed to collapse all over again.
’If only I had been a little more selfish back then...’
’Would everything be different?’
’In truth, I had many chances to fix everything.’
’The last chance was on January 11th.’
’On such a cold day, Rory Linden stood alone outside the Civil Affairs Bureau for so long.’
’I was the one who didn’t show up. I really don’t have the right to call myself the child’s father.’ 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
’But I can’t accept this...’
-
Meanwhile, the three of them played together until almost 9:30 p.m. before getting ready to head home.
Ryan Sterling held Leo Linden’s skateboard for him. "Ms. Rory, one of my pieces is going to be in an exhibition this weekend. Are you interested in coming to see it?"
"I wanna go, I wanna go!"
Leo Linden raised his hand before Rory Linden could even speak.
Ryan Sterling patted Leo Linden on the head.
Afraid that Rory Linden would be disappointed, he quickly added, "It’s a small exhibition, nothing influential. The organizers gave me a bunch of tickets, and I can’t seem to give them away, so I thought I’d ask you."
"Of course," Rory Linden said with a smile. "You’re still a student. Just having your work in an exhibition is amazing."
"It’s on Saturday and Sunday. Which day are you thinking of going? I’ll go with you," Ryan Sterling asked tentatively. "I’m just worried the piece might be too abstract for you to understand, so I could explain it to you."
"Let’s say Sunday."
Rory Linden said.
Ryan Sterling nodded. "Okay!"
Ryan Sterling usually parked his car in the same spot every day.
As they got close to his car, Rory Linden subconsciously glanced back in the direction they had come from.
Sean Harrison’s car was still parked there; it hadn’t left.
In the streetlight, she could faintly make out a person sitting in the driver’s seat.
’He still hasn’t left.’
Rory Linden tore her gaze away and followed behind her son.
She had assumed that Sean Harrison had just been sitting in his car the whole time.
But later, when she was home tucking Leo Linden into bed...
"Mommy..." her son, who had been listening quietly to his picture book, spoke up. "I’ll tell you a secret."
"Hmm?"
Rory Linden shifted her gaze from the book to her son.
"I saw Daddy when I was skateboarding tonight." Leo Linden’s big, dark eyes looked up at her. "He was standing really far away, but I know I wasn’t mistaken!"
Rory Linden’s heart tightened slightly. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, Daddy stood there watching for a long, long time. I even smiled at him, but I don’t know if he saw me."
There was no trace of sadness or sorrow in Leo Linden’s voice as he said this.
But Rory Linden knew that her son definitely wished his father could be with him.
She closed the picture book, patting her son gently on his body, and asked tentatively, "Do you want Daddy to live with us?"
’She had always believed their life was perfectly fine as it was. It would only get better, and she didn’t want Sean Harrison involved in their lives. But Leo was innocent. Was she being too selfish, only thinking of herself?’
Leo Linden’s eyes darted around for a moment before he gently shook his head. "I don’t."
"Why not?"
Rory Linden hadn’t expected that answer.
Leo Linden said, "Because Mommy doesn’t want him to, so I don’t want him to."
Rory Linden asked, "What if Mommy did want him to?"
"Then I’d want him to!"
Leo Linden’s answer to that last question was noticeably quicker.
Deep down, he wanted to live with Sean Harrison, even though he’d never really met his father growing up and they had never lived together.
Since coming to Veridia, they had only met a few times...
Leo Linden clearly remembered his father’s face.
Perhaps this was the magic of blood ties.
Leo Linden seemed to sense his mother’s bad mood and took her hand. "Mommy, I don’t want to live with Daddy. I’m really happy having Mr. Sterling with me every day!"
Rory Linden put down the picture book. "Alright, time for sleep."
She got up and left the room.
Just as Rory Linden was hesitating, wondering if she should let the father and son meet, fate gave them a push.
「Friday at noon.」
Rory Linden had seven surgeries scheduled for the day.
She had just finished her fourth and was about to head into her fifth when...
A nurse ran over and said, "Dr. Linden, there’s a phone call for you at the hospital reception. They said they’ve already tried your cell several times and asked for you to call back."
"Do I have to call back right now?"
Rory Linden frowned slightly.
For these kinds of surgeries, even though she had seven, assistants did all the prep work. The lead surgeon just needed to go in and perform the most critical parts.
The assistants had almost finished preparing for the next surgery, and she could start at any moment.
The nurse said, "The person on the line seemed very anxious. I think you should call back."
Only then did Rory Linden go to her locker to get her phone.
She was shocked to find a total of twelve missed calls.
Two were from the kindergarten, and the other ten were from Auntie Wagner.
A bad feeling welled up inside Rory Linden, and she quickly called Auntie Wagner back.
The moment the call connected, a cacophony of background noise burst from the earpiece.
"Miss Linden, you finally answered! Um, uh, some kidnappers have taken the children hostage at the kindergarten! I’m right at the gate. C-can you come over right away?"
Auntie Wagner was hysterical, her words coming out in fits and starts.
After Rory Linden processed Auntie Wagner’s words, her mind went blank for a second, and she nearly lost her balance!
