Araceli POV
I lifted my head and looked over.
Melany was standing a short distance away, arms around her chest, smiling coldly. She walked over. "Raphael, Essel, I'm here to pick you guys up..."
Raphael glanced at Melany indifferently and didn't say a word.
Melany bit her lip in anger, her face pale.
Essel jumped into my arms and spoke, "Ms. Chancey, our house has an amusement park, with slides, swings, wooden horses... Vallie will love it! I really want to take Valeria to play..."
I rubbed Essel's hair and smiled, "Thank you, Essel."
Raphael calmly said, "It's windy outside. You guys can just play in the house."
Essel pouted unhappily. "It isn't fun..."
I turned my head and looked at Melany's face. Her eyes were jealous and angry, as if she wanted to kill me the next second.
Melany's eyes seemed to have poison in them. She smiled falsely and stepped forward, pushing me away and standing in front of Raphael.
"Essel..."
No sooner had Melany spoken than Essel yelled out in displeasure.
"Bitch! What are you doing here again? You bumped into Ms. Chancey! Why don't you say sorry? You are so rude and impolite! Get out. I don't want to see you! You make me sick!"
I froze.
Essel's every word was like a slap in Melany's face.
In the past, these words had been spoken to me, but this time...
Melany's lips quivered with anger, and she clenched her fists in embarrassment.
"Ms. Melany, please let me take you back first," Maddox said in a hurry.
Melany didn't say anything, just stood in place, glaring angrily at Essel.
Essel lifted her head without fear and looked straight at her.
I stroked Essel's head to comfort her.
"Ms. Melany, I'm sorry, but you'd better leave now."
Maddox bowed slightly and advised respectfully.
Melany's gaze fell on Raphael's face.
I glanced at Raphael. Strangely enough, he never looked at her from the beginning to the end, but kept looking at Essel and me.
Melany turned around angrily and walked away. Maddox rushed to follow her.
I shook my head, bent down, picked Essel up, and whispered, "Essel, sweetie, you can't talk to people like you just did in the future."
Essel was a little confused, blinked, and asked, "Ms. Chancey, can I ask why?"
"Baby, you have to be polite when you talk to people." I stroked Essel's hair. "No matter how much you hate that person, you can't be rude. You can ignore her if you don't like her. Storming off will only make you look out of line. You are Royal Pack's Ms. Essel, so how can you lose your grace and poise?"
"Okay, Ms. Chancey. I promise I won't talk like that again."
Essel nodded her head and said sweetly, touching her nose, a little embarrassed.
Essel thought about it and suddenly said, "Ms. Chancey, the sandwich you made for me last time was so delicious. Can you make me a magic sandwich again?"
I smiled and nodded my head.
Krish whispered, "Essel, are you inviting us to dinner, or do you want my mommy to come over and make you a sandwich?"
Essel froze and scratched her head.
"Sorry."
I laughed, "It's just making a sandwich. It's not a big deal. Krish, be polite."
Krish pursed his lips and didn't say anything else.
We got into the car.
Raphael asked the Royal Pack driver to bring an Alphard car. It had more space.
He sat in the front. I sat in the back seat with the kids.
Essel was outgoing and animated and kept talking excitedly in the car about the jokes she had told the nurses in the ward.
I glanced at Raphael. Surprisingly, he looked in the rearview mirror and smiled.
Soon, we arrived at the Royal Pack's villa.
Essel took Valeria's hand and walked towards the villa. "Vallie, I'll take you to my room. I have lots and lots of toys, like Transformers, remote control cars, remote control planes..."
Valeria nodded in confusion and took Essel's hand.
I laughed.
Valeria had never played with these toys. Her favorite things to play with were puzzles and dolls.
Krish slowly surveyed the villa, pursed his lips, and asked, "Mr. Lancaster, is Essel's brother not home?"
Raphael said calmly, "He's at the office and will be back later."
Krish nodded and stepped over to the shelf, grabbing a book and flipping through it.
I glanced at the kitchen. The servants were preparing the food, so the kitchen was crowded.
I'd better make the sandwiches later.
I sat down on the couch, looked up, and found Raphael sitting across from me.
Essel and Valeria were upstairs, and Krish was reading a book. It was just me and him in the living room.
I felt inexplicably awkward.
I glanced at him slightly, thought about it, and stood up. I looked around the room and suddenly saw a painting.
I smiled and said, "Mr. Lancaster, I can't believe you have this painting."
Raphael nodded his head, slightly surprised.
I walked over, looked up, and admired the Claude Monet painting on the wall.
Monet's paintings had always been highly prized and collected, and some of them had achieved amazingly high prices on the auction market.
The highest auction record I could recall for a Monet work was for one of his Water Lilies series, which sold for 110.9 million dollars at a Sotheby auction in November 2019.
I walked over and took a closer look at the paintings hanging on the wall.
Suddenly, I froze.
Why did I seem to have seen this painting before?
I saw the signature in the lower right corner of the painting and it dawned on me.
It was the painting that Melany had taken away from me at the time. She was unhappy that Rhett had been admiring me, so she stole my painting one night and gave it to Rhett the next day as her work.
It had taken me close to six months to paint the painting, but it had been given to Raphael.
I frowned slightly, feeling nothing but discomfort, so I turned around and sat back down on the couch.
"Ms. Chancey, are you okay? You don't look well."
Raphael asked in a slow voice as he looked at me.
"I'm fine."
I leaned back on the couch and casually picked up a magazine and stopped talking to him.
Suddenly, Valeria came running down the stairs. She excitedly took my hand and asked if I had any brushes and paints.
I froze and rummaged through my bag, pulling out only a pen and a napkin.
"Vallie, I'm sorry. That's all I have."
Valeria took the pen and napkin and plopped down on the table to draw.
Essel's eyes lit up.
"Wow, Vallie, you really know how to draw! Can you draw me?"
Essel's laughter and words finally broke the awkward atmosphere in the living room.
I laughed too and watched Valeria draw.
"Valeria, this is how it should be..."
I held Valeria's hand and patiently instructed her.
Valeria tilted her head, listened carefully to the advice, and handed me the pen.
I took the pen and drew it for her to see.
"Valeria, look, you need to make the lines softer..."
Raphael got up, ready to leave, but he stood still and didn't go.
I handed the pen back to Valeria, looked up, and gave Raphael a look.
He was clearly frozen, his eyes full of mixed emotions.
I also suddenly froze.
Why...
Why did I feel as if I had experienced it before?
My memory was pulled back to a chance encounter with a man on the streets of New York many years ago...