Chapter 78: Continuing Misunderstandings

"Miss Flora, you're up? Quickly brush your teeth and wash up, breakfast is ready, and the young master has been waiting since eight." A familiar voice echoed.

Startled, Flora turned around, initially in shock, then delight: "Aunt Laura, when did you arrive?"

"Young Master Matthew invited me here to care for you and the young master.

He went to the office early this morning, even before leaving, he instructed me to prepare porridge for you."

Aunt Laura's smile was as soft and kind as it was in Flora's memory.

She nodded vehemently. When she turned around back into the room, she found her eyes welling up...

How wonderful, everything finally returned to where it should be.

"This little one, your mom's oversleeping and you're making everyone starve? Do you know that I've been up since seven and it's been three hours and I haven't eaten anything?"

Barely stepping into the dining room, Flora heard Mimi's complaint.

The target of the complaint was none other than the boy reading next to her, her younger brother.

He nonchalantly lifted his head, glanced at Mimi's enraged face, and calmly returned to his book: "If you spoke less, you'd conserve energy."

"You mean if auntie doesn't wake up, I still have to sit here, right?" Mimi glared at the boy, and pushed her chair to stand: "I'll go wake auntie..."

"No, don't go!" The boy reached out to hold Mimi's wrist tightly, shaking his head: "Mom is tired, let her rest." Wanting to let his mother rest, yet not wanting everyone to eat before her, he made Mimi sit and starve with him.

Flora had been standing at the dining room doorway for a while, but the incessant bickering of the two children meant they hadn't yet registered the presence of a third party.

Feigning a cough, she said with a hint of amusement: "My, my... aren't you two spirited this early morning?"

Hearing his mother's voice, her son craned his head: "Good morning, mom."

On the other hand, Mimi muttered: "Auntie, it's nearly noon. This can hardly be considered morning." Matthew received a scowl from the lad nearly a decade his junior.

Flora laughed and took a seat on the empty chair beside her son: "Next time, you don't have to wait for me, you all can start without me. It's not fair to keep everyone hungry just because I woke up late, is it?"

"You wouldn't know, Auntie, this little devil here is even more tyrannical than Uncle. He insists on not letting me eat breakfast." Mimi, sitting beside her, seized the opportunity to complain: "I'm so hungry, my stomach's sticking to my back!"

With arms crossed and leaning against the back of the chair, she side-eyed the poker-faced lad beside her: "If he's this dreadful now, I wonder what he'll be like when he grows up... Even my father never denies people food, what gives him the right to keep me hungry?"

"Mimi, do you know that those who commit mistakes must face punishment? Getting caned, facing the wall, expulsion...starvation is one way too." The young boy didn't state outright, but the message was clearly conveyed through his eyes: "you are in the wrong".

Mimi, widening her eyes in disbelief, retorted: "What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't commit any mistake!"

"Think again, did you truly not commit any error?" The lad placed his chopsticks neatly next to the plate, turned his chair around, and stared directly at Mimi: "Didn't my father leave you by my mother's side to protect her? He specifically instructed you not to leave my mother's side, right? But my mom was kidnapped in your presence, twice." He lifted two fingers in front of Mimi's face.

In this case, from a broader perspective, no one was truly at fault.

Flora's arrest and subsequent days in temporary custody were unavoidable, given the manipulations of Selena and the White family.

However, viewed strictly, both of Flora's bodyguards, Emma and Mimi, had failed in their duty.

The guards were assigned to protect their charge, yet she was repeatedly taken right under their noses and they could do nothing but surrender. It was indeed a failure.

Mimi coughed awkwardly: "Fine... let's just say I was in the wrong..."

"It's not 'let's just say', but a fact that you were in the wrong."

"Fine, fine, you're right, I was wrong." Mimi sighed: "But you knew the circumstances then. There was only so much I could do, how could I stop them from taking Auntie? Didn't I end up in the holding room with her?"

The young boy gifted Mimi a condescending look: "Are you trying to deceive a child? You were held not because you followed my mom, but because you annoyed those people."

"Regardless, the outcome is the same..." Knowing she was losing the argument, Mimi's voice dwindled.

"Indeed, the outcome is the same.

No matter your excuses, the final result is that my mom got kidnapped. Nothing has changed.

If you can't protect my mom, what use is there in having you around? Having you there or not makes no difference."

Flora's head throbbed with the continuous argument between the two youngsters.

Tapping her chopstick on the table, she intervened: "Enough, stop bickering. Haven't you argued enough this morning?"

Mimi pulled a face at the young lad and turned to Flora with pleading eyes: "Auntie, this brat is bullying me!"

"You're taller than me, older than me, stronger than me, and even know martial arts. What could I possibly use to bully you? Don't try to tarnish my image in front of mom."

Flora found herself torn between laughter and tears, bowing her head to eat breakfast amidst the clamor of the two squabbling children.

A life like this doesn't seem too bad after all, does it?

Following her breakfast, little Mimi darted into her room as if eager to escape from the boy nearly a decade her junior, not willing to endure his presence a second longer.

The boy, in turn, rose from his seat, stepping into his own room. But the door, he left ajar.

"Why are you still standing there, mom? Don't you intend to come in?" He looked straight at the figure lingering by the door, his voice ringing in the air.

Flora sighed, realizing that an overly intelligent son might not always be a blessing. She had merely followed a few steps behind the boy, and he had already anticipated her intention to converse, even leaving the door open for her.

His room was meticulously tidy, everything had its place, mirroring the boy's personality. This character trait stood in stark contrast to his younger sister.

Thinking of her daughter, Flora let out another sigh. It had been a long time since she'd seen her little girl, who was overseas for treatment. She wondered if her condition had improved.

"Mom..." The boy clutched the hem of her dress, tugging lightly: "Don't you have something to say to me?"

Leading her son to sit on the bed, Flora caressed his head gently, softly asking: "Are you feeling upset?" Unlike before, the boy didn't pull away, letting her stroke his hair.

"Why would you ask that?" He responded after a long pause, not confirming nor denying, but turning the question back at her.

Flora gave a small smile: "I'm your mother. Even if you're very intelligent and mature for your age, you can't change the fact that I'm your mother. You've been arguing with Mimi all day..." Typically, the boy was not so quick to speak, nor prone to quarrelling.

"It wasn't an argument." The boy shook his head: "I just wanted to tell her that she should be responsible for protecting you. She can't neglect her duties for one reason or another, and then pretend nothing happened, as if she didn't do anything wrong. Everyone has their responsibilities and must answer for their mistakes."

Taking a deep sigh, Flora shook her head: "That's not fair, son. She has the task of protecting me, but that doesn't mean she's obligated to sacrifice herself for me. It was a force majeure, an unavoidable circumstance. We couldn't possibly force her to risk her life against those people, could we? After all, they owe us nothing."

"But dad paid her..." The boy furrowed his brows, seemingly confused by his mother's words.

"Yes, your father paid her, so she's here to help me. But just because we've paid her doesn't mean we can demand her to risk her life for us." Money can be earned in a multitude of ways, but life is irreplaceable.

The boy nodded: "I understand, it's just that... I still want to protect you..."

Flora smiled warmly: "Then can I wait for you? Wait until my son is strong enough to protect me."

At the headquarters of S.E.I Corporation.

Matthew sat behind his desk, tapping his fingers impatiently on its surface. In front of him stood a man, rigid, his face painted with exhaustion, and a long scar twitching from his forehead down his cheek.

"Did you come here just to watch me work?" Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not." Shaking his head, Winky let out a sigh: "I want to discuss something with you, about the little... about Selena."

Standing in the same position for nearly half an hour, Matthew had long guessed he had something to say related to Selena. After all, this man was, in his own way, a hopeless romantic.

"Selena has made many transgressions.

But, regardless of what she has done, her affection for you remains sincere and genuine.

She has lost her child, yet instead of being by her side, you fled to Flora.

Have you spared her any consideration?" His voice hardened: "As a man, to abandon your wife right after her miscarriage and run to another woman.

I disdain you!"

As he finished, only then did Matthew laugh.

His laughter, devoid of any restraint, burst forth from his throat, carrying with it clear and intense mockery.

He leaned back in his chair, looking straight at the man standing before him: "The person least entitled to disdain me in this world is you." How could this man be described: noble or foolish? "As a man, I truly despise you, Winky.

Selena is the woman you love, the child in her womb is yours.

Tell me, why should I care about your woman and your child?"

Barely able to watch as the woman he loves marries another man, carrying his child.

It's beyond understanding how Winky could accept this.

Winky's eyebrows furrowed, he shook his head: "If I had your status and position, do you think you would have the chance to hurt her?"

"Considering what she's done, I've been merciful to let her live.

Don't demand too much from me.

Moreover... my current status and position have been earned through my own sweat, blood and tears, they weren't bestowed from the heavens."

What kind of person is Selena? Surely, Winky, being so close to her, should know better than he does.

Repeated attempts to harm his wife and child.

Is her child a life, while his wife and child are not?

The same is true this time, the miscarriage was a consequence she brought upon herself, it had nothing to do with Flora.

Winky surely knows this, but he obstinately stands by her side.

Love blinds.

And Winky is the epitome of those men blinded by love.