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nChapter 12

nChapter 12 – Chapter 9: Richelle Dunn – Is she married? Does she have children?

nRoy Lewis had always thought of himself as cold-hearted. In his opinion, to be successful, one must be ruthless and cruel.

nBut at this moment, seeing his son’s darkened eyes, his heart softened. Without thinking, he bent down to pick up his son and motioned to Uncle Axel while walking.

n“Uncle Axel, get the car ready!”

nThere were many cars on the road, and after half an hour, Roy Lewis stood with his son in front of an old residential building.

nHe was puzzled. As far as he knew, Master Seaton, Richelle’s teacher, charged high fees, and as a favored disciple of his, she could easily earn quite a fortune just by treating a patient. Why then would she live in such a shabby house?

nYoung Master Timmy, however, had no such concerns and pulled him excitedly into the narrow staircase, climbed to the second floor, and rang the doorbell of room 201.

nThe wooden door opened quickly, and through the metal bars, Richelle Dunn’s face was clearly visible.

nWhether it was Roy Lewis’ imagination or not, Richelle looked surprised when she saw him, then a flicker of fright flashed across her face.

n“Mr. Lewis?”

nRichelle did not open the door, instead, avoiding his gaze, she greeted him from behind the iron door.

nRoy Lewis ignored her unnatural reaction and asked, “Why was your phone off?”

nRichelle frowned and immediately retorted, “What’s it to you?” She then turned to close the door.

nRoy Lewis hurriedly explained, “Timmy said he wanted to come to your house for dinner. You have to take responsibility for the mess you caused!”

nDespite shamelessly inviting himself and his son over for dinner, his arrogance seemed typical for Master Lewis!

nRichelle’s eyes flashed with surprise, but she completely ignored Roy Lewis’ shameless words and hastily said, “Please wait a moment!”

nThen the interior wooden door slammed shut.

nRoy Lewis and Young Master Timmy stood outside, completely puzzled by Richelle’s behavior.

nTimmy lowered his head and twiddled his little hands. After a while, he looked up at Roy Lewis with a hurt expression, “Is she ignoring me now?”

nRoy Lewis thought the question a bit strange but assumed his son was just hungry and misspoke.

n“No, she asked us to wait for a moment…”

nRoy Lewis wasn’t sure what Richelle meant, but since they came all this way, there was no way they were going back!

nCrashing noises came from inside the door, most likely the sound of tidying things up, mixed with faint children’s voices.

nWhile trying to figure out what Richelle was doing behind the door and planning for how to make her open it, the wooden door suddenly clicked open again. Afterwards, the iron door also opened, revealing Richelle, dressed in casual sportswear, and a forced smile on her face. “Please…please come in…”

nRichelle’s voice trembled slightly, her gaze briefly swept over Roy Lewis’ body before settling on Young Master Timmy’s face.

nWhen she saw the faint purple bruise on Timmy’s face, her eyes reddened, “Your face…”

nRoy Lewis, afraid she would think he abused his son, quickly interrupted, “He got it during combat training. It’s just a superficial injury, nothing serious.”

nRichelle glared at Roy Lewis but luckily, his attention was on his son and he didn’t notice her anger.

nRichelle’s heart ached, and after a moment of hesitation, she reached out her hand to Timmy.

n“Timmy… Young Master, please come in!”

nLittle Timmy looked at her silently, hesitated for a moment, and finally reached out his hand to place it in hers.

nRichelle’s suspended heart finally settled. Afraid of startling the child, she gently closed her fingers, carefully holding Timmy’s small hand in the palm of her hand.

nShe provided Timothy with monkey slippers at the entrance, then led him cautiously into the living room. Seeing his good behavior and lack of complaints, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

nRoy Lewis, trailing behind, stopped in the hallway, “Do I need to change my shoes?”

nHe was somewhat puzzled that Richelle even had shoes for his son to wear.

nRichelle quickly emerged with a brand-new pair of men’s slippers from the shoe cabinet.

nRoy Lewis’ gaze inadvertently swept over the shoe cabinet, noticing that apart from this pair of men’s slippers, everything else was women’s and children’s shoes.

nChildren’s shoes?

nRichelle Dunn, married? And with kids?

nRoy Lewis’s heart skipped a beat.

n“You’re married?”

nHe asked the question so abruptly that it even startled him.

n“Huh?” Richelle seemed stunned by the question too.

nSince the words were already out, Roy had no choice but to point at the shoe cabinet, “I saw children’s shoes here, both for boys and girls.”

nRichelle froze for a moment, then awkwardly laughed.

n“Yes, I’m married, and I have a son and a daughter.”

nAs soon as Richelle closed the door, she hurriedly moved Timothy and Tiffany to the bedroom.

nThe twins looked strikingly similar to Timmy, and anyone who saw the three of them together would know they were siblings.

nBut she couldn’t bear to leave her eldest son out. Her place showed everywhere signs of the children’s lives, which she didn’t have time to clean up. All she could do was to warn a thousand times before locking Timothy and Tiffany in the bedroom.

nAs for the matter of marriage, she could only acknowledge it vaguely.

nAfter all, wasn’t Roy always suspicious of her motives towards him?

nBy saying she was married, perhaps it could lessen his hostility.

nRoy was somewhat surprised, and an inexplicable feeling made him suddenly feel irritated. However, this was someone else’s private affair, and he, an unexpected guest, had no right to interfere.

nHe followed Richelle into the inner room. Contrary to his expectation, the living room, although small, was very clean and cozy. There were many children’s belongings, but they were placed neatly. It was clear that the host was tidy and good at managing her life.

nRoy, showing no self-consciousness or unease as a guest, looked around the living room openly.

n“Where are your children?”

nNow, he was fairly sure that the children’s voices he heard earlier weren’t hallucinations nor from the TV.

nRichelle pointed to the bedroom inside, “They’re a little shy and don’t like meeting strangers, so I let them play in there.”

nThe little master seated on the sofa jumped off and walked up to Richelle in a few steps.

n“I want to play with them!”

nRoy looked at his son with a strange expression. If he remembered correctly, his precious son was never a social type in kindergarten, and even when he was with the Lewis family’s children or other noble children, he hardly showed a pleasant face.

nWhen asked why, he would reply with a single word, “stupid”.

nHowever, Roy’s mentality as a child was quite similar to his son’s, so he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

nBut now, his son was asking to play with other kids?

n“Timmy, Richelle’s children are a bit shy and don’t like playing with strangers…”

nRoy, afraid that Richelle would refuse, tried to stop his son first.

nHowever, Richelle crouched down instead and asked, “Do you really want to play with them?”

nThe little master nodded, and Richelle looked at Roy for his opinion.

nRoy couldn’t shake off the bizarre feeling in his heart, but since he had already compromised to this extent, he didn’t care about compromising a little more.

n“Go ahead!”

n“Mr. Lewis, please have a seat first.”, Richelle took the little master’s hand and walked to her children’s bedroom door, knocking twice, and deliberately raised her voice, “Babies, Timmy wants to play with you, come and welcome him.”

nThe door cracked open, and two chubby little hands reached out, followed by two babyish voices.

n“Ding dong, welcome Timmy to play at our house!”

nCompared to his awkwardness around Richelle, the little master was much more honest with his younger siblings. With a slight smile, he extended his hands and held the two chubby hands. The door opened a bit wider, and the little master slipped inside.

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