She Had Felt Exactly The Same Way
That went on for a few days. Estie had Rosalie to keep her company at home, but she was all alone at
the kindergarten. She watched as the boys played with the other children but ignored her. Finally, Estie
mustered up the courage and ran up to them. The boys exchanged a look and said sternly, “What is it
now?”
Estie gripped the hem of her little dress until it was crumpled, and she had a deep frown on her pretty
brow. She looked at them solemnly, opening her mouth and trying hard to vocalize.
Lucian and Nox watched her, anxiously and worriedly.
If they had not known that Estie could speak, they would never have been willing to force her like this.
They waited until they were about to give, when suddenly they heard a miniscule sound. “Lu… No…”
Estie‘s face was red as a tomato, but she could only manage a syllable for each of them. She lowered
her head dejectedly. Lucian and Nox were overjoyed, however. They wrapped her up in a huge bear
hug. “That was amazing, Estie!” Their hug took her off guard, but when they praised her, she finally
realized what they meant. She smiled brightly, her dimples showing. After that first time, Estie could call
their names much more easily from then on. Since she seemed to have overcome one of her
psychological obstacles, Lucian continued solemnly, “My Mommy‘s always so nice to you, and you
really like her too, don‘t you? But you never called her before, either. She has got to be even more
crushed than Nox and me.”
Estie grew anxious again, grabbing Lucian‘s clothes and just barely saying, “Lu! Lu!”
She wanted him to teach her how to comfort that pretty auntie.
A hint of craftiness flashed across Lucian‘s eyes. He said leisurely, “We forgave you once you said our
names. If you can call my Mommy Auntie, I‘m sure she‘ll be really happy!”
Estie hastily nodded at that.
For the rest of the day, Estie spent all her time at the kindergarten secretly practicing how to say the
word “Auntie“…
Rosalie had been worked to the bone over the past few days.
The project Quentin had assigned to her was urgent and complicated. While he had given her many of
the details, there were also some things he inevitably forgot to mention.
Rosalie had to lead her team and figure out these missing details from scratch. . Most of the
researchers at the institute had never worked with her before, and they were not familiar with each
other, so they could not keep up. Thankfully she had Yves to back her up. By the time she finally
completed the first segment, Rosalie was already utterly exhausted. She glanced at the time. Mrs. Zora
must have gone to pick up the children by now. Rosalie drove straight home and made dinner for the
kids.
Soon enough, the door opened and she heard a pitter–patter of footsteps, followed by Lucian‘s and
Nox‘s voices. “Ma‘am?” Mrs. Zora was about to cook, but she froze when she saw Rosalie busying
about in the kitchen.
“Why are you back so early today?” Rosalie smiled at her. “Work ended early today. I‘m almost done
with dinner, so have them wash their hands and get ready.” By then, the children had already run into
the kitchen and were surrounding her. Nox chattered away about everything that had happened at the
kindergarten that day. Seeing their smiling faces, Rosalie felt all her exhaustion melt away.
“…Aunt!” As soon as Nox stopped talking, Rosalie heard a sweet little voice call out. She gave a huge
jolt and looked down in disbelief at Estie, who was standing by her leg. . When Estie met her gaze, she
said again slowly, “Aunt!” Rosalie froze for a long time before she finally returned to her senses. She
crouched down and pulled Estie into her arms, laughing as she said, “That‘s right, call me Auntie!
You‘re amazing, Estie!”
For some reason, her eyes welled up with tears. Hearing the little girl call her Auntie reminded her of
the time when Lucian and Nox first learned how to speak. She had felt exactly the same way when the
two baby boys called her Mommy…
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda