\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
After school that afternoon, Imogen went straight to the school and picked up Roger, leaving Sarah standing alone at the school gate waiting for Natalie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several classmates passed by and invited her to come play at their houses, but Sarah politely refused.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As time passed, it got later, and almost all the students had gone home. Sarah was still standing there by herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A black Maybach pulled up beside Sarah, and she instinctively took two cautious steps back. Then a young man stepped out of\u00a0<\/p>\n
the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucian, dressed in a dark wool coat, walked over to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLuc, why are you here?\u201d Sarah asked excitedly, walking up to him with her backpack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI happened to pass by and saw you,\u201d Lucian said as he crouched down and gently ruffled her hair. \u201cDidn\u2019t your mom come to pick you up? And where\u2019s Roger?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left with Imogen. Mommy must be busy with something, so I can wait a little longer,\u201d Sarah said obediently, showing no impatience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you hungry? I can take you to that dessert shop over there and get something to eat,\u201d Lucian said, pointing to a store not far away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not hungry. I\u2019ll wait for Mommy here.\u201d Sarah shook her head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had promised Natalie that no matter what happened, she would always wait for her at the school gate. If she didn\u2019t come, she wouldn\u2019t leave with anyone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright, then I\u2019ll stay here and wait with you.\u201d Lucian stood to Sarah\u2019s left, using his tall frame to shield her from the cold\u00a0<\/p>\n
wind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before long, a cab pulled up by the curb.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSarah,\u201d Natalie called as she got out and hurried toward Sarah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy.\u201d Sarah ran over and hugged her tightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Sally. I was held up and got here late. You\u2019ve been waiting a long time, haven\u2019t you?\u201d Natalie said, holding Sarah\u2019s hand, gently rubbing it and cupping it near her mouth to warm it with her breath.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot really. I knew you must have been busy, so waiting a little was fine,\u201d Sarah replied. She turned to look at Lucian and added, \u201cLuc waited with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie stood up, still holding Sarah\u2019s hand, surprised to see Lucian there. \u201cLucian, what are you doing at the school?\u201d she\u00a0<\/p>\n
asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy, that\u2019s what I asked too. Luc just happened to be passing by,\u201d Sarah explained on his behalf.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI called ahead and reserved a table at that dessert shop over there. Why don\u2019t we take Sarah there and get something to eat? \u201cLucian said with a gentle smile as he looked at Natalie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSure,\u201d Natalie agreed after a brief pause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had wanted to decline, but she was in a good mood today. Plus, since Lucian had helped watch Sarah for so long, leaving without saying anything would have been rude.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The dessert shop was busy, but since Lucian had reserved a table, they were seated immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy, I listened to you. I didn\u2019t leave with anyone, and Roger was picked up by Imogen,\u201d Sarah explained seriously while eating a slice of cake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re such a good girl,\u201d Natalie said. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about Roger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked up and noticed Lucian watching her from across the table and smiled. \u201cThank you for helping me watch Sarah.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seem very happy today,\u201d Lucian remarked, taking a bite of his cake with a small fork.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I?\u201d Natalie touched her face, feeling her muscles relax as her smile lingered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carmen had helped her submit more than a dozen job applications, most of which were ruthlessly rejected without even granting an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, one fashion company made an exception and offered her an interview, giving her a chance to complete a live design test. In the end, they agreed to hire her as a design assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Chapter 16\u00a0 Chapter 16\u00a0 1\/2\u00a0 After school that afternoon, Imogen went straight to the school and picked up Roger, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divorced-upgraded-and-married-rich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}