Susan could not help but glare at Julian.
“Daddy, you sit next to Chessie too. Chessie wants you to rub her tummy.”
God was truly assisting him through his daughter.
Julian gave her a thumbs-up deep inside, but his expression was as crooked as though he was about to walk into a catastrophe. “Chessie, mommy is still angry at daddy, so daddy thinks he should leave.”
Susan shot a sideways glare at him and continued to rub Chessie’s belly silently. Not a word escaped her lips.
Susan did not react at all. The scene was too awkward to react.
“I guess… I shall leave?” Julian bit the bullet and walked toward the door.
“Daddy, daddy, I want daddy…” Chesney started crying and shrieking.
Susan sighed and then said softly, “Don’t go. Come here and keep Chessie company.”
“Okay!” Julian responded before he took off his jacket and shoes and then scooched onto the bed swiftly, just in case Susan regretted her decision.
“Daddy, tummy, rub.” Chesney stared at Julian eagerly.
Julian responded by starting to rub Chessie’s belly gently.
Chesney lay halfway between the two of them, and Susan and Julian rubbed her tiny belly together.
There was only that much space on Chesney’s abdomen.
Their hands touched each other from time to time.
Julian was delighted deep down, but Susan glared at him in annoyance.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Julian explained immediately.
Susan gritted her teeth and took her hand away. “You do it!”
“Mommy, mommy... Chessie wants mommy.” Chesney held Susan’s hand and did not want to let go.
Julian cleared his throat awkwardly. “In that case, you should do it.”
When he was about to retract his hand, Chessie held his hand too, “Daddy, daddy... Chessie wants daddy too.”
Julian gave Susan an innocent look. Susan clamped her jaw tightly and went back to the previous pattern.
The two of them massaged her together. It was so comfortable that Chessie started humming, yet Susan felt an indescribable, complicated emotion.
She had tried her best to avoid it, and it felt like Julian was not doing it on purpose either, but their hands still kept touching each other.
Susan lowered her head and kept quiet.
Julian’s hand was very warm. Every time their hands collided, she would flinch a little subconsciously. She had not felt that warmth in a long time.
“Daddy, mommy, why aren’t you talking?” Chessie glanced at them and said, “Can you read Chessie a story?”
“What story do you want to listen to?” Susan softened her tone.
“Let’s see…” Chesney’s eyes rolled around while she was thinking. “Romeo and Juliet! Chesney has that book. Daddy will be Romeo, and mommy will be Juliet, okay?”
As she looked at Chessie's expectant eyes, how could Susan say no?
The two of them held the storybook together and read it to Chessie softly.
Reading the lines of the script was extremely awkward at times.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun…” Julian took a glimpse at Susan from time to time as he was reading.
Susan could not help but feel annoyed. This man could just read the lines out loud. Why did he have to keep looking at her?
Susan, who was embarrassed, wanted to run away. However, Chessie stared at her eagerly. “Mommy, it’s your turn already.”
Susan could only read the lines of the script.
The words, full of affection and love, were spoken out loud.
“I know that my mother went overboard this time, but I’ve come up with a way to make mom stop troubling you now,” Julian said nervously. “I promise you that such a thing won’t happen ever again.”
Susan still did not speak.
Julian got more anxious. “For real, mom won’t be living with us ever again. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to see her at all.”
“This has nothing to do with your mother.” Susan was silent for a while. Then, she whispered, “It’s me. I want to re-examine our relationship.”
Julian’s voice was a little hoarse. “You… You’re angry at me? But Susie, she’s my mother and she had just been poisoned. Her body was weak, and I…”
“I know.” Susan interrupted Julian’s sentence. “I know that you’re helpless. I also know that it’s difficult for you. I know everything.”
But… This was still unreasonable in her opinion.
“Then why…” Julian was distressed.
Why?
Susan had too many things deep down that she wanted to say.
She wanted to ask Julian, if Madam Shaw was his family, were she and Chessie not family? Madam Shaw’s health was important, but was the grievance that she and Chessie had been suffering not important at all?
In fact, if she were to ask herself what she would do if she were in Julian’s position, she would not have an answer either. Julian had indeed tried his best.
However, there was an obstacle between them, and she could not overcome the hurdle in her heart.
They fell silent for a long time before Susan said softly, “Go to sleep. Don’t wake Chessie.”
Julian opened his lips. He wanted to say something else, but he did not in the end.
In the middle of the night, the two of them just lay there in silence. Chessie was sleeping in the gap between the two of them.
They did not utter another word, as though they were already asleep.
They were holding hands, but their hearts were light-years apart.
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