Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Ah, he’s our evil Daddy!” Abby covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes widened with shock, looking as big and juicy as grapes. She had always known that their naughty daddy was very handsome, but she never expected him to be this handsome in real life! It was no wonder that she did not recognize him the moment she saw him!
“Now that you know who he is,” Adie asked, “do you still like him? Do you still think he’s a good guy?”
“No!” Abby shook her head vehemently and clenched her little fists. “Not even a little bit!” she angrily declared. “Any man who dared to hurt Mommy is a bad man, no matter how handsome he is! I don’t like him at all!”
“Good,” Adie stroked his chin and nodded with satisfaction. “I’m glad you haven’t lost your backbone and forgotten our motive of coming to Beach City… Let me ask you again, why did we come to Beach City?”
“To protect Mommy!” Abby answered loudly, her voice full of spirits. “To be by her side and to avenge her!”
“Shh!” Adie turned towards the door and added hushedly, “Naughty Daddy used to bully Mommy and treated her terribly. We should’ve taught him a harsh lesson long ago, but we never had the chance. Now he walked right through our door and straight into our hands, so we must seize this opportunity and make him suffer!”
“Do you have any plans, Adie? Evil Daddy looks like a smart guy. He won’t be an easy target to deal with. Would it be a little too hard for us to teach him a lesson?”
“Don’t worry about that. If we work together, he’s simply no match for us.”
Adie had long conspired countless nefarious plans to deal with Halston Guajardo in his brilliant little mind. He leaned in towards Abby and whispered into her ear, and the twins enthusiastically began to discuss their schemes.
Meanwhile, Halston sat in the living room, almost bored to tears. He looked around him and found that, although this “home” seemed a little shabby, it still felt quaintly comforting and warm. He thought that perhaps the happiness of the ordinary man: a complete family of four—with a son and a daughter, three square meals each day, and a spouse who was always by your side—sounded pretty enticing after all.
Halston picked up a magazine on the coffee table and browsed through it. Even the most ordinary and commonplace surroundings failed to suppress his haughty and reserved aura.
It was then that Margaret returned from grocery shopping, her hands full of shopping bags, and the second she saw the man on the couch, she let out a scream as if she had just seen the devil himself.
“Aaahh! You… you… you… Halston Guajardo! What are you doing here? What are you planning to do?”
She then picked up the big kitchen knife that she just bought and held it up as if she was about to fight the man to the death.
Halston remained calm and completely unruffled. He eyed Margaret up and down with a cold gaze that bathed him with an oppressive aura.
“Are you… Flossie’s nanny?”
He had an inkling of a memory of what Margaret was like. He remembered how Margaret used to like matching him up with Flossie in the past. He wondered why she would suddenly change so dramatically and become so hostile to him that she even wanted to chase him away with a knife.
Margaret’s eyes oozed with animosity towards Halston. She glared viciously at him, and with a kitchen knife in her hand, she sarcastically taunted, “I can’t believe the noble and haughty Mr. Halston Guajardo would remember an old woman like me! Well, in that case, you must know full well that there is a mortal grudge between us. What gave you the audacity to step into this house yourself? Are you plotting something evil?”
“I’ll give you three seconds,” she continued. “Get out of this house, or I’ll give you a taste of my kitchen knife!”
Margaret feared that Halston had come with sinister intentions to hurt Flossie again, or perhaps he was scheming to do something to the twins, so she made up her mind: she’d chase the man away or die trying!
Halston put his hands in his pockets, perfectly calm and composed, but a cold sneer cropped up on his lips as he commented, “What a loyal servant. Did Flossie teach you how to do this?”
“I’m old enough to have one foot in death’s door,” she replied. “I don’t need anyone to teach me anything. You know full well about the horrible things you’ve done to Miss Flossie. You’re lucky that she never sought revenge due to her high moral standards, but I’m not like her. I’m just a lowly servant with no proper upbringing, so if you force my hand, I will not hesitate to attack you because I’ve got nothing to lose!”
“Didn’t you hear me?!” she repeated. “I said, get out of this house!”
Margaret was brandishing the kitchen knife like a hysterical woman, and the situation was getting more and more dramatic.
But Halston was unaffected by it at all. His gaze shifted toward the basket of tomatoes, and he calmly said, “I’m here because my grandfather ordered me to send this to you. Now that the thing’s been delivered, I’ll leave right away.”
“We don’t want it!” said Margaret. Although she was just a humble servant, she was still full of pride. She looked at the basket of tomatoes and was reminded of all the hardship and misfortune Flossie had to endure. To her, it seemed that these tomatoes were what the Guajardo family sent as an insult to Flossie.
“Take this garbage back with you!” Margaret told Halston. “After all you’ve put Miss Flossie through, and all you could think of was to send her these rotten tomatoes?! What do you take Miss Flossie for? What does your family take Miss Flossie for? What an abominable family!”
“Flossie picked these tomatoes herself,” replied Halston. “If you don’t want it, then let her throw them away herself.”
Once he finished his sentence, he got up and was ready to leave.
Just then, Adie and Abby, who had been eavesdropping at the door, rushed out of the study.
“You can’t let Uncle Handsome leave, Aunt Margaret! Adie and I still want to play with him!”
Abby clung onto one of Halston’s long legs and raised her sweet and adorable little face towards him, charmingly cooing, “You promised you’d stay and play with us, Uncle Handsome! Why are you leaving now? Don’t you know that your nose will grow very long when you lie?”
Margaret panicked and hastily pulled Abby away from Halston and put her down behind her before sternly warning the girl, “That man is an evil demon, Abby! We must stay away from him, or else he will turn into a big gray wolf and eat you up, and you’ll never get to see Mommy again!”
All this time, Margaret would do anything not to let Halston Guajardo discover the existence of the twins, but in the end, it seemed that he had already found out about it. Still, judging from the Guajardo family’s power and capabilities to obtain information, she surmised that perhaps they had found out about the twins and concocted a silly excuse to visit them.
In that case, it probably did not matter how hard they tried to conceal the existence of the twins from the world because, in the end, they would still end up learning the truth anyway. Now that it was pointless to hide the truth, all Margaret could do was urge the twins to be wary of Halston Guajardo.
“That’s impossible, Aunt Margaret! Uncle Handsome is a good guy! He gave us these tomatoes. I tasted them, and they were very sweet! I ate so many just now! Try them yourself, Aunt Margaret! Once you’ve tried them, you’ll know that Uncle Handsome can’t be a bad guy!”
Then, like a nimble little cat, Abby slipped through Margaret’s fingers and ran from behind her towards the basket of tomatoes, picking one up and offering it to Margaret with bright innocent eyes.
“You’re such a silly girl, Abby! Bad guys don’t have the words “bad guy” written on their faces so you could tell them apart from the others! Don’t you remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood that I told you about? The big gray wolf pretended to be her grandma and tricked her into trusting him; that’s how she ended up getting eaten by the wolf… That man is just like the big gray wolf! You must always keep your eyes open and use reason to distinguish the bad from the good, and you must stay away from him, understood?”
Margaret earnestly and patiently lectured Abby, but the only reply she got from the girl was, “I know, I know. You’re right, Aunt Margaret. I’ll be very careful from now on. Still… This tomato is really yummy! You should try it!”
Abby then ate another tomato, then, with her pink little fingers, gently stuffed one into Margaret’s mouth.
Adie, who had been standing on the side, also picked up a tomato and popped it into his mouth, and slowly chewed it. He made appreciative grunts and said, “It’s true. The tomatoes are indeed very fresh and very sweet. I’m sure this man had come to visit us with full sincerity. Don’t worry too much, Aunt Margaret. Mommy taught us to be courteous and polite with our guests, so we must make him feel welcome!”
“Adie!” Margaret stared at the boy in disbelief. “Not you too! What’s the matter with you? Why are you acting just like Abby?”
Abby had always been easily tricked by looks and appearances. She was also a very sweet and amiable girl, so it did not surprise Margaret one bit that she would be “bought over” by Halston’s handsome looks. Adie, however, was a clever and quick-witted boy. He was an even better judge of character, apart from being extremely protective of his mother. He could not possibly be serious about welcoming Halston Guajardo as their guest, right?
“You must be tired from working all day, Aunt Margaret. Why don’t you go and take a rest? Leave this guest to us! We’ll entertain him!”
Adie then took Margaret’s hand and led her into her room. A few minutes later, he returned with a smile on his face and told Halston, who was getting ready to leave, “I’ve told Aunt Margaret to rest for the day, so you can stay and play in our house in peace. Soon, Mommy will be home from work. You can play with her too when she comes back.”
Halston raised his eyebrows. He was impressed by the boy’s boldness because it reminded him of his own demeanor when he was young. He walked up towards Adie with an enigmatic smile on his face, then tousled Adie’s hair.
“What did you say?” he chuckled. “Were you hoping that I would stay and play with your mommy?”
Adie had always been a proud kid, and he would never let Halston Guajardo touch his head. With a stony expression, he told Halston, “Mommy told me not to let anyone touch my head. The next time you touch it, I’ll lose my temper!”
“Hahaha… What kind of rule is that?”
Halston did not know whether to laugh or cry. He was fascinated by the way Flossie had brought up these two children. Abby was an extremely sweet and adorable little girl, while Adie was even smarter and more rebellious than he was when he was a child. He began to genuinely adore them from the bottom of his heart.
“Mommy taught us to be polite and courteous,” said Adie, “so we decided to treat you by making the best cake we’ve ever made for you!”
Adie subsequently took Abby’s hand, and they both skipped into the kitchen, ready to bake Halston a cake.
“Great!” chirped Halston cheerfully. “I can’t wait to taste your masterpiece!”
The twins ran happily towards the kitchen, and from then on, Halston could hear the clanging of kitchen utensils emerging from the kitchen mixed with the sound of children laughing.
Halston walked around the house as if he was back in his own home. After a while, he headed towards the kitchen and asked the twins, who were mixing a batter. “Do you need any help?”
Abby gazed at Halston sweetly, her eyes sparkling as brightly as stars in the sky. “Do you know how to cook, Uncle Handsome?”
The sight of Abby made Halston feel as if his heart was soaked in sugary syrup. He smiled without realizing it, then shook his head and replied, “I never knew how to cook. It’s too trivial and such a waste of time. It’s the kind of thing best left to the servants.”
“But it won’t be the same!” argued Abby. “The servants are not your family members, so the food they make won’t taste as good…”