My Darling, My Dearest

Celia and Mendes1 father was indifferent to his children. After the boy had broken his arm, their father had just stayed by the boy's side for two days before flying abroad. Celia had asked the old man where Mendes1 mother was, but he just said he didn't know.

Celia could not hold back her tears any longer. Thinking about Mendes made her feel driven to a corner. It was not until Rachel comforted her that Celia gradually stopped crying. While Celia calmed down, she began to tell Rachel about the phone call.

The phone call was from Celia's father, asking about Mendes.

Celia had asked him to come back to bring Mendes home or give him to his mother.

To her surprise, her father had bluntly denied her request. It had angered Celia to the point that she had threatened to hand over the boy to an orphanage.

But her father had said she could do whatever she wanted. He could care less about the boy.

At the state that she was in, Celia thought she wasn't qualified to take care of Mendes, but there was no way that she could just leave him alone or let the nanny take care of him.

To add insult to injury, Mendes was not ■3

obedient to her. Celia felt helpless.

After learning the truth, Rachel brushed aside the strands of Celia's hair that strayed on her face and said, "Don't worry. You know who Mendes' mother is, right?"

Celia shook her head. "I know who she is. I just don't know where she's from." Her voice was still a little shaky.

Rachel continued comforting her and said, "I'm having dinner with Dr. Zhou later. If Mendes is willing to go back with you, then you can take him back. Otherwise, I'll take him with us to have dinner What do you think?"

Celia was not patient enough to take care of her brother. She thought that it might be the reason Mendes did not want to go back with her.

Upon hearing Rachel's suggestion, Celia eventually nodded in agreement.

As soon as Celia came to her senses, they went out and saw Lucas coaxing the boy by holding him in his arms.

Rachel and Celia tried to convince Mendes, but he didn't want to go back to the ward with Celia. Celia was left with no other choice but to let Rachel take the boy to dinner.

"Thank you, Dr. Shen," said Celia as she gave Rachel a warm smile.

"It's my pleasure, Celia." Rachel turned her attention to Mendes and stroked his head. "I like you very much, Mendes," she said.

Hearing that, Mendes could not stay angry. His ■3

puffy cheeks blushed when he smiled at Rachel.

Mendes was a precocious child. He was smarter than he appeared to be. Under the guise of a naughty little boy, he was already emotionally mature.

"Lucas, you wouldn't mind if we took Mendes with us to dinner, would you?"

Rachel tried her best to be as convincingly sweet as possible.

"Of course not." Lucas stood up while he was still holding Mendes in his arms. He felt the weight of the boy, but he didn't mind. He looked at Mendes and smiled. "It's time to lose some weight, little buddy!" Mendes rested his head on Lucas' shoulder, smirking like a little fox while he waved his hand at his sister as if to mock her.

Celia stomped her feet. 'That little bastard!' she muttered under her breath.

Lucas returned to his office to freshen up. Then he took the two to dinner.

Lucas noticed that Rachel's car had no children's seat. He offered to drive so that Rachel and Mendes could sit comfortably in the back seat.

On the way, Mendes looked like he was in a better mood. He decided to take off his shoes so he could put up his feet on the seat. He looked out the window and saw the other cars passing by. Fortunately, Mendes was not as noisy as he was back at the hospital. He was quietly watching everything through the car window. His curiosity ■3

was more powerful than his playfulness.

When they arrived, Lucas parked the car and carried Mendes towards the restaurant. Rachel followed behind him. When they entered, they resembled a happy little family. Then a waiter guided them to their table.

Lucas asked Rachel to order ahead of him. He then ordered a kiddie meal for the boy.

Mendes was a good boy. He was careful not to spread the rice on the table with a spoon. Sometimes when grains of rice fell on the floor, he would pick them up and put them on a tissue. Rachel could tell that Mendes was a well-educated child, except for the fact that he enjoyed making Celia mad.

While they ate, Lucas told Rachel about all the things he found interesting in his stay in America. From the Statue of Liberty down to the silliest little details. They were both laughing while Mendes concentrated on eating, but every now and then, he would look at them.

When Rachel noticed that Mendes1 lips were covered in sauce, she wiped it away with a tissue. Seeing that Lucas was also looking at him, Mendes got a piece of chicken from his plate with a spoon and offered it to him.

Despite not being related by blood, they were the splitting image of a happy family. Anyone that saw them would not be able to hold back their lips from smiling.

"Isn't that Mrs. Fu?" said a curious voice.

People around the man turned to look at the ■3

direction.

Then they turned their heads back and looked at Marcus and Henry.

They were not really close to Rachel, but they could easily recognize her. They saw Rachel with a man and a kid at the table. The three of them looked very intimate.

Henry and Marcus looked at each other. "Mr. Qin, why don't you go and say hello?" said the person beside them in a low voice.

Henry glanced at him. "Stay out of it. It's none of your business. Let's go"

That man realized that he had said something stupid. "I shouldn't have said that. Mr. Qin, Mr. Ji, let's go," he said.

Most of the people in this business circle knew the story between Jack and his wife. However, Rachel seldom appeared in this circle.

They were not too familiar with her. They only knew that Jack was deeply in love with another woman, and his wife didn't mind it at all. But what they had seen today made them think things were not that simple.

They thought the reason why Rachel didn't mind Jack's affairs was that she herself had a lover.

Rachel was unaware of what was happening around her because she was focused on Mendes. It was also because of Mendes that they took a while to finish dinner.

At first he was eating heartily like anyone would expect from a boy his age. But when he was almost ■3

full, Mendes slowed down. He took his time eating a chicken leg.

"I guess this little boy wants to lose weight, huh?" Lucas bantered.

Mendes heard Lucas while he was savoring the chicken leg. He looked up at Lucas, puzzled by what he meant.

Rachel wiped the oil away from his mouth. "You need to lose weight. Otherwise, I won't be able to carry you in my arms," she said in agreement with Lucas.

Mendes blushed and looked down. "But I like meat," he said under his breath.

"It's not that I don't want you to eat meat. I'm just hoping you could eat a little less, okay?"

Mendes nodded, looking at the drumstick in his hand with reluctance.

Seeing her coaxing the child, Lucas couldn't help but laugh. "You're going to make a great mom," he said.

Rachel blushed at his words.

The three of them got out of the restaurant and went back to the car. Mendes didn't want to be carried around. Instead he walked between Rachel and Lucas, holding each of their hands as he happily sang. Seeing Mendes happy warmed up Rachel's heart. The boy's enthusiasm was satisfying to watch.

Being a troublemaker and always picking a fight with his sister, Mendes deliberately ignored ■3 Celia's words to make her angry.

He was an insecure child. Other children's parents were around them. Mendes, on the other hand, was alone. He had broken his arm and been sent to hospital. His father didn't care about him and only hired a nanny to take care of him. The only family around him was his only sister who was not very fond of him.

When they were about to reach the parking lot, Mendes suddenly loosened his grip on their hands. "Ball!" he shouted and chased after the ball, unaware of his surroundings.

A flashing yellow and white light could be seen from the distance.

Rachel called out to Mendes as loud as she could. "No, Mendes, come back!"

They tried to run after him, but they were not fast enough.

A black car rushed from behind. Mendes ran ahead of it. Without any choice left, the driver stepped on the brakes and swerved into the bushes beside the road to avoid an accident.

Mendes was rattled. The thought of almost being hit by a car had made him burst into tears. He could not even bring himself to stand up.

Rachel and Lucas rushed to the boy's side. Lucas held him up and strode two steps away from the edge to check if the child had been injured.

Fortunately, Mendes just fell down and his palms were a little grazed, but he was relatively fine. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, her hands and feet cold. ■3

Everything happened so fast. If the black car had driven a little faster or the driver had stepped on the brakes a second later, she would not have forgiven herself for what could have happened to Mendes. Mendes was sobbing uncontrollably. It was not surprising. He had just experienced something traumatizing.

The car behind him turned off. The driver got out of his car and hurried towards them. "Is the child safe? Rachel?" It was Henry. His voice was still jittery. He was obviously out of his wits.

Following Henry out of the car, Marcus recognized that the child they had almost hit was the one he saw with Rachel in the restaurant.

'What a coincidence!1 he thought to himself.

Rachel turned around and saw the two of them in a daze. She didn't recognize them right away.

At the sight of her slightly puzzled eyes, Henry knew that she didn't recognize them. He stepped forward, squatted down and checked if the kid was injured. Then he introduced himself. "I'm Henry Qin, and the one behind me is Marcus Ji. Don't you remember us?"

Rachel was surprised to see them, she remembered that they were good friends of Jack.

Marcus squatted down as well to check on Mendes. The boy was buried into Lucas' arms, shivering in fear.

Lucas rolled up the boy's left trouser to check for wounds. As expected, there was a bruise on Mendes' knee, a red mark and exposed skin.