Chapter 17\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 17\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the monthly base salary was only five thousand dollars, there were commissions for good performance. For Natalie, that was already a huge blessing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething to be happy about?\u201d Lucian asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing with Sarah is the greatest happiness,\u201d Natalie replied, lowering her gaze to look at her daughter with tender affection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t tell Lucian about finding a job. After all, he was still part of the Payne family. Until she finalized her divorce from Rowan and secured custody of Sarah, she wouldn\u2019t share the news with anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy, can I have another cake?\u201d Sarah had already eaten one, but it was really small and didn\u2019t fill her up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHere you go, Sally.\u201d Lucian handed her one from the plate beside him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah didn\u2019t speak but quietly waited for Natalie\u2019s approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust half,\u201d Natalie agreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks, Mommy. Thanks, Luc,\u201d Sarah said happily, taking the cake and cutting it into three pieces-one for herself, and the other two for Lucian and Natalie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCheers! Let\u2019s see who finishes first,\u201d Lucian said, lifting his plate toward himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll definitely finish first,\u201d Sarah said, lifting her plate and clinking it against his before digging into her cake with a fork.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucian\u2019s finger brushed her nose, leaving a bit of frosting on the tip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two of them laughed and played around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at you,\u201d Natalie said, grabbing a napkin to wipe the frosting off Sarah\u2019s face. \u201cMy messy Sally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At home, Natalie often baked cakes for the kids, but Rowan would always say sweets were bad for their teeth. Even if Natalie made them herself, as soon as Rowan saw them, he would forcibly stop the children from eating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucian and Rowan were both members of the Payne family, but their personalities and the way they interacted with others were completely different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSarah, don\u2019t get your great-uncle\u2019s coat dirty,\u201d Natalie exclaimed as Sarah accidentally smeared frosting on Lucian\u2019s dark\u00a0<\/p>\n
coat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWow, it smells so good,\u201d Lucian said, not upset at all. He even lifted his coat closer to sniff the frosting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLuc is messy too.\u201d Sarah giggled joyfully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie had expected Lucian to be annoyed, but judging by his expression, he didn\u2019t seem to mind at all. If it had been Rowan, with his extreme germophobia, he would have certainly lost his temper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After leaving the dessert shop, Lucian accompanied Natalie and Sarah as they waited for a cab by the curb.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah heard a puppy barking in the bushes and ran over carefully, gently lifting the puppy out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy!\u201d she exclaimed excitedly. \u201cThere\u2019s a puppy here!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust look, don\u2019t touch it,\u201d Natalie reminded her gently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rowan didn\u2019t allow any dogs or cats at home. Having pets was completely forbidden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so pitiful! Its parents aren\u2019t around, so it must have been abandoned. If no one rescues it, it\u2019ll probably die here,\u201d Sarah said, holding the puppy in her arms, unwilling to let go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we can\u2019t take it home,\u201d Natalie said helplessly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah pouted and didn\u2019t say a word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI promise you, Sally. In a little while, we\u2019ll definitely get a pet, okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 17\u00a0 1\/1\u00a0 Chapter 17\u00a0 Although the monthly base salary was only five thousand dollars, there were commissions for good […]<\/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-258","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\/258","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=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}