Chapter 15: Are You Guys Taking Turns on Business Trips on Purpose?
After eating and drinking their fill, the couple settled onto the sofa to watch TV.
Caroline, who had been working in the study for a while, came out to see them.
’Looks like they’re not leaving anytime soon.’
She asked uncertainly, "Are you guys sleeping here tonight?"
Yolanda replied, "Didn’t you always say we should come over to make your place more lively? What’s wrong, are we not welcome?"
Caroline said, "You don’t visit without a reason. You’ve never been this enthusiastic before. I’ll say this once: no blind dates, no arranged marriages. Anything related to that is off the table."
With that, Caroline went into her room. After she took a shower and came out, she saw her phone was full of missed calls from Ryan.
「Brocade Bay.」
"Daddy, Mommy’s not going to be like you and use the ’business trip and overtime’ excuse to not come home today, is she?"
Ryan clutched a small phone, blinking his eyes as he looked up pitifully at Adrian.
Adrian: "..."
He was now starting to understand what Caroline must have felt raising their child.
’It must have taken a great deal of courage for her to message me that night and tell me we had a three-and-a-half-year-old child.’
"Mommy’s company is in a growth phase right now, so it’s normal for her to be busy. The past few days, she’s been working late every night before coming home, right?"
Adrian sat on the sofa, his legs crossed casually, a stack of documents waiting for his review piled beside him. He offered the comforting words without even looking up.
He just didn’t directly answer the question of whether Caroline was coming home tonight.
"Yeah. Sometimes Mommy doesn’t get back until ten at night."
"See, that proves it. Daddy has to start going to work tomorrow, so I can’t be home with you during the day. Miss King will come over to take care of you then. If you need anything, just call me."
"Daddy, you’re not going to ignore my calls like before, are you?"
Adrian: "....."
The next second, a call came in from Caroline.
Ryan, who had been waiting expectantly for his mom’s call, was instantly re-energized. He turned his head to look at Adrian. "See, Daddy? No matter how busy Mommy is, she always calls me back."
His little finger tapped the answer button. "Mommy, when are you coming home? Daddy and I can come pick you up."
"It’s going to be a little late today. You don’t need to come get me. Go to bed early, sweetie."
"Oh, okay. Bye-bye, Mommy. Get off work soon."
"Okay."
The call ended.
Adrian’s phone chimed. A text message had arrived.
He glanced over, saw it was from Caroline, and put down his work to read the message.
Caroline: [My parents are staying at my place at Azure Heights tonight, so I won’t be coming over. The kid is in your hands.]
Adrian: [Okay.]
As Ryan craned his neck over curiously, Adrian discreetly blanked the phone’s screen.
’This kid recognizes too many words. If he finds out his beloved mommy isn’t coming home tonight, he’s bound to let his wild, childish imagination run rampant again.’
Adrian put down his phone, stood up, and patted the boy’s back. "Go take a bath. We’re sleeping early tonight. It’s not good for little kids to stay up late."
"Oh."
—
After hanging up, Caroline sent Adrian a text saying she wouldn’t be back, then put her phone down and lay on her bed.
She waited until eleven, went out to get a glass of water, and found Yolanda still watching TV.
She told her to get some sleep and not stay up too late before heading back to her room.
’Well, looks like I’m not going to Brocade Bay tonight.’
She decided to send Adrian a text.
Caroline: [Is the kid asleep?]
Five minutes later, she finally received a reply.
Adrian: [Just got him to sleep.]
Caroline: [Thanks for handling him. I’m going to bed now.]
After sending the text, Caroline turned off her phone and went to sleep.
Early the next morning, Franklin Whitman left the house with Caroline.
In the evening, they would get off work together, too.
The couple ended up staying at her place for four consecutive nights.
’If I weren’t so sure I hadn’t let anything slip about my child with Adrian, I’d suspect they’d found me out.’
As for her son...
She had to fall back on the tried-and-true excuse: a business trip.
As a result, Ryan video-called her every night, and she couldn’t even take the call inside her apartment.
Otherwise, the moment she answered, her cover would be blown.
This led to her having to sneak downstairs to take the call every time her WhatsApp rang.
Because of this, whenever she came back inside after a video call with Ryan, she would be met with Franklin Whitman and Yolanda wearing expressions that screamed they were dying to gossip but afraid to ask.
Perhaps because this behavior of Caroline’s became too frequent, the couple finally took the hint and said they were going back to their own villa.
And so, Caroline’s "business trip" officially came to an end.
On Friday, after getting off work, Caroline returned to Brocade Bay. The moment she opened the door, she saw an unfamiliar middle-aged woman.
Caroline froze for a moment.
Then, it belatedly dawned on her that this must be the nanny Adrian had mentioned.
"Mommy, you’re finally back!"
Whenever Ryan heard the door open, he would look toward the entrance. When he saw it was Caroline, his eyes lit up.
He happily ran over and hugged her legs.
Miss King had just come out of the kitchen. When she saw a woman with a cool and elegant demeanor enter and heard the young master call her "Mommy," she immediately understood and hurried forward to greet her.
"Hello, Ma’am. I’m the nanny Mr. Grant hired. You can just call me Miss King. Perfect timing, dinner is ready. Let’s eat."
’Ma’am...’
Caroline was taken aback by this form of address.
’What the heck?’
At that moment, the door, which had just closed, opened again.
Adrian was back.
When he saw Caroline, he paused for a second, then asked casually, "You’re back."
"Mhm."
"Let’s eat."
After they ate their fill, Miss King cleared the dishes and returned to the main residence.
Caroline was in the living room watching cartoons with Ryan, while Adrian was in his room. Suddenly, he came out dragging a suitcase.
"Where are you going?" Caroline asked instinctively.
"I have to go to Marinus for a few days on a business trip starting tomorrow."
Caroline: ...
Her gaze instinctively shifted to Ryan.
Sure enough, he had a pained expression on his face. "Daddy, Mommy, are you guys taking turns going on business trips on purpose?"
Adrian walked over and ruffled his hair. "No, it’s just a coincidence."
Caroline, however, asked, "For how many days?"
"About three days."
"Actually, I have to go to Marinus on Monday to discuss a partnership," Caroline said hesitantly.
This time, it really was a coincidence.
This meant their business trips would overlap perfectly.
The two of them looked at Ryan at the same time.
His small, almond-shaped eyes were already welling up with tears. "Mommy, Daddy, are you both abandoning me?"
Adrian thought for a moment, then finally took out his phone to look up tickets. "Then let’s take Ryan with us. When you go to your meeting on Monday, I’ll make time to watch him at the hotel."
"Forget tickets. Let’s drive instead."
He suddenly remembered that Ryan didn’t have any official registration; he was effectively undocumented.
’Ryan was a unique case. He might just disappear one day, so there was no point in going through the trouble of registering him.’
"If we drive, we’ll have to leave tonight." Adrian glanced at the time—it was eight in the evening. "We’d probably get to Marinus around one in the morning."
"Alright, little crybaby, we’re taking you with us this time, okay?" Caroline said, showing she had no problem with it, and turned to pinch Ryan’s cheek.
"Yay!" Ryan stopped sobbing.