THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 323: Saying Hi

"So what’s your complaint, Danny?" Lauren asked after she was seated beside Sarah, who lovingly held one of her hands.

Danny’s expression turned serious again as he said, "It’s about Uncle Steffan."

"And what has your uncle Steffan done?"

Everyone’s head turned towards the foot of the stairs where the voice sounded from and saw Steffan, who has been silently observing the whole drama between his mother, Danny and Lauren the moment he came from his room.

He was holding onto the railing with an indescribable smile on his face.

Stanley and Candace, his wife also appeared at that moment with Sophia, their daughter. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"What’s going on?" Stanley asked, seeing that everyone’s attention was focused on Steffan.

"Danny, here is about to lay a complaint about his uncle Steffan and we want to hear what it is. So everyone, take your seat," Sarah announced.

Everyone had an "Oh," expression on their faces, but they sat down nonetheless.

When everyone was finally seated, they turned their attention to the supposed complainant, who suddenly felt shy and forgot what he wanted to say.

"It’s like our Danny here has forgotten what he wanted to say, so that means it is now my turn to say something to our dear Lauren," Sarah teased with a triumphant smile at Danny which instantly gave the little guy the boldness he needed.

"No, I remember now." Danny cried out and quickly held onto Lauren’s arms.

"Aunty, as soon as Uncle returned from the hospital, he forgotten about poor Danny and what he likes the most. Is that good?" His cute face suddenly turned pitiful as he gazed at his dear aunt for help

She was the only person that can make his uncle listen to him.

Hearing that, everyone’s eyes turned to Steffan again and saw him looking on helplessly.

At this point Stanley had to come in.

"It’s not that your uncle forgot about you but he has been sick and can’t carry you on his back to play horse like he used to do?"

They all nodded in agreement as no one knew how to explain to a four year old child that his awesome uncle can’t remember the things that happened in the last five years of his life including him and how they used to hang out in the past.

Danny saw everyone agreeing to what his father said and for a moment believed his father might be saying the truth, then he suddenly remembered something that made him frown the next minute.

"If uncle Steffan was still sick, why did he leave the hospital? Did he run away from the doctors just like I did when I didn’t want to take the jab?"

Everyone: "..."

Steffan, who was actually finding his little nephew really cute at the moment, walked up to him.

"I came home because I missed Danny a lot, not because I was running from the jab, but if you want me to go back, I will return immediately," Steffan explained and pretended to be hurt.

However, from his uncle’s expression, Danny could tell that his guess was correct. His uncle was actually scared of taking the jab.

He has been in the hospital for several days now, who knows how many jabs he got to take within those days so he ran away when he could not bear it again.

He felt pitiful for his pathetic uncle and instantly said,

"No, Uncle, don’t go back. You can stay with Danny," he coaxed.

He remembered that when he didn’t want to take the jab his mother would ask for the sweet medicine in a bottle. Maybe his uncle can take that, right?"

"Thank you Danny. Uncle will stay and play with Danny later," Steffan said.

Danny nodded but he still felt that something was off.

"Why has Uncle not spoken to Aunty since she came? Do you have a fight?"

Everyone: "..." Why was he suddenly so vocal today?

But their eyes still went to the principal officer to see how he would react.

At the moment, Steffan, who was not liking the current version of his nephew, looked to his brother for help but his brother looked away.

He turned to Lauren, but she looked as if what was going on had nothing to do with her, so Steffan had no choice but to carry his cross.

"No, we don’t have a fight, I was about saying hi to her, but you started complaining about me as soon as I came," Steffan said,

"Oh," Danny said. "But I’m not complaining again, go on and say hi to her."

Everyone had an amused expression as they waited for Steffan to say hi to Lauren. They were sure he was going to fail woefully in the test that Danny had set for him.

Who asked him to always flaunt their love in everyone’s face.

Sure enough, as soon as Steffan finished, his "Hi, Lauren," Danny’s eyes had a disapproving look.

"What? Are you not happy? I already said Hi," Steffan asked, confused by the look on Danny’s face.

He even caught Sophia trying to stifle a laugh by the side, not only Sophia but every other person in the room.

The only person who looked like he was sympathizing with him was his father, yet he didn’t miss the slight crease at the corners of his mouth.

"What’s going on? Why are you all acting weird?" Steffan asked.

"That’s because you lied again," Danny pouted.

"How did I lie? Tell me."

"Let’s forget it," Lauren said but Steffan insisted he wanted to know. He can’t always be left out in the dark.

"Danny, I’m your best uncle, right? At least that’s what you said."

"I didn’t say it. You are the one that said it that day," Danny quickly corrected.

"Alright, I said it. Now tell me, how did I lie?"

Danny looked at him for some time then nodded his small head. "It’s because you didn’t say "hi" the way you used to?"

How do I normally say "hi?" Steffan asked.

"You used to..." Danny couldn’t complete it and looked lost for a few seconds, then his eyes suddenly lit up and he turned to his father for help. "Daddy show him," he said.

Stanley immediately shook his head. "That’s okay, Danny, remember your uncle is not feeling too well now, so we don’t need to stress him too much."

"I’m not sick Stanley! Stop treating me like a child. I need to understand what Danny is talking about, afterall nobody wants to say anything to me. Why are you all shutting me out?" Steffan snapped, unable to bear the suspense any longer. He walked off angrily to sit on a lone chair close to his father.

Their father had to intervene at this juncture. He stepped forward and placed a hand over Steffan’s shoulders.

"Son, you are taking this the wrong way. No one is treating you like a child. We all want what’s best for you and wouldn’t be happy if anything untoward should happen to you."

"I know dad? But have you also considered how I feel about all this secrecy. It’s killing me," Steffan complained and moved to another seat

"Stef..." Stanley started but was cut off by Lauren, who raised her hand.

She stood to her feet and walked up to Steffan who was looking as if the whole world owed him a debt.

"Now what?" Steffan asked warily as he saw her approaching him.

Lauren’s eyes held a challenging glint as she locked gaze with Steffan. "Don’t you want to know how you used to welcome me?"