Chapter 19: I Heard You Have a Child Out There.
As they spoke, the elevator arrived.
After heading downstairs, Caroline Whitman spotted a black car parked in the distance. Recognizing it as Adrian Grant’s vehicle at a glance, she turned to Chase Ford with a smile. "Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Ford. My ride is here, so I won’t trouble you to see me off."
"Alright. Let’s get together again next time I’m back in Kingsport," Chase replied with a frank smile.
"If there’s a chance."
Suppressing the lingering sense of oddity in her heart, Caroline exchanged a polite smile with him before getting into the car.
Chase casually glanced at the rear of the car as it drove off, kicking up dust. When he caught sight of the license plate, he suddenly looked surprised.
"That license plate..."
He hurriedly took out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to their group chat.
[St. Hector’s F4]
Chase Ford: "Anyone recognize this Kingsport license plate?"
Aiden Lockwood: "?"
Lynch: "?"
Vincent Fuller: "Isn’t that Adrian Grant’s car? I saw it last time I went to the Grant Group. He’s in Marinus?"
"You guys ate here too?" Caroline asked in surprise the moment she got in.
Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Adrian said calmly, "I sent you a message before we came, but you didn’t reply."
Sitting in the back, Ryan Grant chimed in with his soft, sweet voice, "Yeah! We messaged Mommy while we were eating and even called you, but you never answered me."
Hearing this, Caroline awkwardly pulled out her phone. Since she was discussing business, she had her usual habit of keeping her phone on silent. Sure enough, there were two text messages and a few missed calls displayed on the screen.
All from the father and son.
"I’m sorry. Mommy put her phone on silent while talking about the partnership and didn’t check it."
After hearing her explanation, Ryan didn’t complain. Instead, he giggled with optimistic innocence. "Then we must be really destined to be with Mommy! Even without getting in touch, we still ran into Mommy at the exact same restaurant."
Adrian, however, suddenly asked out of the blue, "The person you came to negotiate the partnership with this time was Chase Ford?"
"Yes," Caroline replied. "I only found out it was his company after I arrived. My dad asked me to come over. He had already negotiated everything and was just waiting for the signatures, so he sent me to make the trip."
"By the way, do you and Chase know each other?" she asked.
"We know of each other, but we aren’t close."
"Oh."
Hearing this, Caroline didn’t pry any further.
She planned to wait until they got back to tell Adrian about how Chase had figured out that Ryan was his son.
It was already past six in the evening by the time they returned to Kingsport.
Too many people in Kingsport recognized the two of them. For the sake of safety, neither of them suggested eating out after getting back.
He must have instructed Miss King in advance, as dinner was ready the moment they arrived.
`「That night.」`
The two adults still slept in the same bed with Adrian.
Just like in the beginning.
It was only after Ryan fell asleep that Adrian got up and went to the guest bedroom.
This routine continued for a week.
The two adults didn’t cross any forbidden lines again.
Life returned to its usual peacefulness.
`「That evening, Adrian was called back to the old family estate for dinner.」`
"I hear you have a child out there."
Meals at the old estate were usually eaten in silence. But ever since Adrian returned, he had remained completely mute. Jonathan Grant, who had caught wind of the rumors from the outside world, finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and couldn’t help but ask.
Adrian frowned slightly. Even though he knew from Caroline about Chase’s speculations, he hadn’t expected the news to actually reach Jonathan’s ears.
His expression remained unchanged. "Who did you hear that from?"
"Someone saw it, naturally."
"Are there photos?" Adrian’s demeanor didn’t waver.
The very reason Jonathan had lost his patience was precisely because he had no photos in his possession. He had asked Adrian back for dinner tonight to test the waters.
Rumor had it that the child was three or four years old.
His son had always spent a lot of time abroad, so it wasn’t entirely impossible for him to have produced a kid.
Adrian put down his bowl and chopsticks, picked up a napkin to lightly dab the corners of his lips, and looked up at Jonathan.
"Father, I assume you know how many rumors have been spread about me over the years. Why are you suddenly believing this one about me having a child?"
Grace Lawson also set her bowl down. "Your father is just eager for a grandchild. Plus, with you having Miss King go over to cook all three meals for you recently, your father put two and two together and assumed you brought her over to take care of a child."
The aforementioned Miss King was no longer working at the old estate.
A child couldn’t stay cooped up at home all the time. For the sake of Ryan’s physical and mental health, Caroline and Adrian had discussed the matter and enrolled him in a private, one-on-one early childhood education class.
Miss King was responsible for keeping him company throughout the day.
For the sake of convenience, they had simply rented an apartment for her in the same residential complex.
Jonathan and Grace hadn’t thought much of it at first. It was only after hearing the rumors of Adrian having a child a few days ago that they began to think deeply about it.
Jonathan sighed. "Fine. Your grandfather has been pushing hard lately. I thought you actually had a kid a few days ago, so I helped you fend off a few blind dates. Since the child is just a rumor, I won’t run interference anymore. You can deal with your grandfather yourself."
Adrian was speechless.
"I have no plans to get married recently. With the Group’s power transitioning over to me, there are always some voices of dissatisfaction. Getting married now would only mean neglecting someone and wasting their time, and the relationship wouldn’t be stable."
Grace didn’t agree. "When your father and I got together, our careers were also on the rise, but we still got married. We even had you around that time."
Adrian felt there was no need to argue with them on this issue. As he stood up, Jonathan shot him a glance and said unhurriedly, "The old man’s birthday is at the end of the month. Don’t be absent."
"I know. I’ll be heading back now."
"It’s rare for you to come home. You’re not staying the night?" Jonathan asked, puzzled.
In the past, Adrian would always stay over for a night whenever he returned.
Adrian replied, "It’s too far from the company. I’d have to wake up an hour earlier, and I can’t get up."
Jonathan stared in silence.
Only after Adrian had left did Jonathan turn his head to look at Grace. "Hah, I told you there was something fishy going on with that boy. When did he ever not stay here for a few days in the past? Look at him—if I hadn’t called him back, he probably would have forgotten this family even existed."
Grace sighed. "Let it be. The child has his own ideas, and it’s not our place to interfere too much."
`「Back at Brocade Bay.」`
Adrian pushed the door open and entered. Just as he finished changing his shoes, he saw a figure walking out of the bathroom.
Caroline had just finished showering. Her hair was tied up, revealing the slender lines of her neck and the shallow dips of her collarbones.
Her lightweight, form-fitting blue loungewear traced her slim yet softly curved figure, and her whole person carried the damp, misty vapor of someone fresh from the bath.
Hearing footsteps, she looked up, her tone calm and natural. "You’re back?"
Adrian’s gaze swept lightly over her. He gave a slight nod, his voice deep. "Yeah."
After a pause, he asked out of habit, "Is the kid asleep?"
"He’s asleep."
Hearing this, Adrian didn’t ask anything else, nor did his expression shift. He merely nodded slightly, turned around to grab his things, and walked straight into the guest bedroom.
Caroline, meanwhile, returned to the master bedroom and went to sleep as well.
These past few days, they had tacitly acted as "good housemates" who lived together without overstepping any boundaries.
They would occasionally bump into each other when getting up in the morning. But after a few days of adjusting, they both knew each other’s schedules and would deliberately avoid each other’s morning routines.
As for the evenings, it was even more of an unspoken agreement to get the child to sleep as early as possible.
Fortunately, since both of them came home almost every night these days, the child no longer fussed about wanting to sleep in the same bed with his parents.
Caroline and Adrian were no longer strangers, but they hadn’t reached the level of familiarity that friends shared either.
Now, they were just waiting for the day Ryan would suddenly return to his own world, waiting for everything to get back on track.
「In the blink of an eye, the end of the month arrived.」