Fabio looked at Dany with interest.
She, however, was not as interested as he was.
She only wanted to be with Ashley. Even just sitting around without doing or saying anything sounded
nice enough.
She liked being in Ashley's company.
Every now and then, she watched Fabio and Richard as all three of them played together. For a
second, she opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
She had decided to play with them for a while, seeing that it was still early.
After spending some time with them, she couldn't take it anymore. Finally, she asked, "Where's your
mommy, Fabio?"
'How I wish I could just call her Mommy, ' she thought.
She knew, however, that it wasn't possible at the moment.
Ashley was Fabio's mother, not hers.
She couldn't call her that for the time being.
"Mommy should be in the study right now. Why? What's up, Dany?" Fabio inquired.
"It's nothing. I was just wondering," Dany said innocently.
The conversation continued, and it eventually bored her.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and a man with gray hair, who appeared to be around seventy years
of age, entered the room. Interestingly, he looked like he had the energy of a younger man.
Upon seeing the older gentleman, Fabio and Richard immediately stood up and ran toward him. They
addressed him as their great grandpa.
"Good boys," Chant said.
He held the children's hands.
Playing with Fabio and Richard was Chant's favorite thing to do.
As he was playing with the children, he noticed Dany sitting close to them. He was intrigued.
However, before he could even think of what to say to the little girl, Fabio took him by the hand and
dragged him toward Dany. "Great Grandpa, this is a friend I made in kindergarten. Her name's Dany."
Fabio then turned to the girl.
"You can call him Great Grandpa, too," he said.
"Great Grandpa," repeated Dany.
"What a sweet little girl," Chant told her. Immediately, the children resumed playing.
Not long afterwards, Ashley came out of the study and joined them. At last, she was done with her
work.
By then, Richard had left to do his homework, but Fabio and Dany remained in the living room watching
TV. Ashley decided to sit with them.
As they all sat together, Dany kept stealing glances at Ashley.
She tried to be very careful, but Ashley still noticed it.
"What's the matter, Dany? Do you miss your mom and dad?"
"No," replied the little girl.
Although she did miss Cayn a little, she preferred being with Ashley.
So, she tried not to think of Cayn.
Cayn could never have imagined that her adopted daughter of five years would reject him like this.
Ashley patted the little girl's head and smiled. "It's okay. If you miss them, you can tell me. I will drive
you back. But if you want to play here longer, that's okay, too."
"I want to stay a little longer," Dany replied.
"Okay."
Today, Ashley did not come home with Andrew, as she had to pick up Fabio and Richard from school.
Of course, Andrew, who had just gotten home, couldn't help feeling disappointed.
As soon as he arrived, he headed toward Ashley's direction.
He wanted to hold her in his arms as they sat.
Quickly, he got to the living room. When he was about to sit down, he found that the spots beside
Ashley had already been taken.
Fabio sat to her left, while a little girl he did not know sat to her right.
'Who is this little girl?' Andrew thought.
His inquiring eyes were fixed on the child.
Before he could study her for long, a hand covered his eyes.
He then heard Ashley whispering in his ear, "What are you looking at?"
She knew how Andrew's eyes looked. She knew that everyone would shiver upon seeing his
expressionless eyes.
Plus, Dany was just a kid.
With his eyes still covered, Andrew asked, aggrieved, "Why didn't you wait for me?"
"I didn't have much to do in the company today, so I came home early. I picked up the two kids on the
way."
While Ashley talked to Andrew, Dany raised her head and looked carefully at the tall and handsome
man.
He was just so tall.
And although a hand covered his eyes, Dany had an idea of how he looked like.
His chiseled face looked cold and calculating, and he had a sharp nose and beautiful lips.
He was the exact opposite of her own charming dad.
'Does Mommy like Daddy?' she asked herself.
At least in her head, she called Ashley 'Mommy'.
She noticed how close Ashley was to this man.
'Is he Fabio's father and Mommy's husband?' Dany wondered.
She then looked away and wondered who was better, her own enchanting dad or this man?
She couldn't help but feel disdain toward her own father.
Ashley was in no mood to argue, especially as they were with the kids.
Once more, she whispered into Andrew's ear. "Alright, alright. It's all my fault. I'll wait for you next time.
I'll make sure to call you."
She then continued to whisper a lot of soft words to him until finally, he gave in.
When Dany saw this, she became convinced that her dad was the better man.
This strange man looked intimidating, but he needed Mommy to coax him.
She was confident that her dad would never act this way.
She believed that her dad would love Mommy very much.
Hmph!
So much so that there would be no need for all this.
Her dad would always be the one to coax her Mommy.
Andrew sat down where Ashley had sat before. It was clear that he wanted Ashley to sit on his lap as
usual.
Ashley's eyes grew wide in disbelief.
This would have been okay around family members, but now, there was a little guest around. Ashley
was deeply embarrassed.
Andrew's eyes grew dark, but he decided not to push it.
Ashley could only sit beside him.
Dany looked away, looking quite unhappy.
As soon as he came in, he had taken Mommy away from her. Now, Mommy was sitting by his side.
Dany turned to look at Fabio, who promptly rolled his eyes. It was as if he wasn't surprised at all and
that was what he was used to.
She knew that Fabio loved his mother very much and would always be with Ashley whenever he
could.
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