Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
Abby was in the distance. She waved in excitement at her mother, as if she had discovered a new plot of land.
Abby’s voice interrupted Flossie’s thoughts.
Curious, she walked to where Abby and Halston were standing.
At the moment, the father and the daughter were standing under the garden arch where the vanilla plant grew in front of the main gate.
Sitting on Halston’s shoulders, Abby pointed at a bird nest with her tiny finger and cheered, “Mommy, look at this. There is a bird nest here, and there are four babies inside. They are so cute!”
“Um. so your surprise is these birds…”
Flossie smiled weakly and looked at Abby with loving eyes.
This dramatic girl was capable enough to make anything petty sound very serious.
But it was because of her character that Abby became Flossie’s angel that brought her endless happiness and surprise.
Abby explained to Flossie with a very serious face. “This is not an ordinary bird, Mommy. This is a special gift Handsome Daddy prepared for you!”
“For me?”
Flossie turned her eyes to Halston. Her gaze changed so quickly, as if the warm sun in the spring had suddenly turned into a knife in the piercing cold winter.
There was not much expression on Halston’s face when he said nonchalantly with his thin lips, “That’s right. They belong to you now. You should take care of them until their wings are strong enough to take flight. When they can fly, you can leave.”
Flossie was speechless.
‘Is this man trying to pull a trick? The doctor clearly said that he only needed one week to recuperate, and he’d be back to normal. Now that he is bringing some birds in to delay my departure, I’m almost certain that he is blackmailing me.’
Flossie rolled her sleeves up and gathered all her strength, ready to have a good fight with this cunning man.
“Halston, you…”
“Mommy!” Abby interrupted Flossie innocently and excitedly, “Abby has come up with four names for the four baby birds. This will be Fluffy, and this is Feathers, that will be Flute, and the tiniest one will be Flamingo. I want to take good care of Fluffy, Feathers, Flute, and Flamingo with Mommy, Handsome Daddy, and Adie. From now on, they will be our younger siblings and Mommy and Handsome Daddy’s children.”
The three were speechless.
‘Wow Abby.. you sure are good at getting yourself new family members!’
“Abby, look, it is totally fine that you want to keep pet birds, but you do not necessarily have to take care of them here. After a week…”
“How strange, Mommy!” Abby interrupted Flossie again. She took a deep breath and smiled brightly. “I like it here very much. Did it rain just now? The air is damp, and it smells fresh and comfortable.”
Flossie was reminded of Abby’s asthma and let out another long sigh.
In the whole of Beach City, the only areas with good air quality were where Guajardo Villa and Ellsworth Residence were located.
She still needed some time to rebuild her residence. So, it did not seem to be a bad thing to let Abby stay longer in Guajardo Villa.
“In that case, I shall, gratefully, accept your gift.” After deep consideration, Flossie said to Halston as light-heartedly as she could.
Halston smiled. “So you will take care of them until they can fly?”
“Sure, no problem. I will take care of them until their wings are fully developed!” answered the woman with alacrity.
She fished out her mobile at the same time and googled when birds can fly after hatching.
And the answer: about a month.
She rubbed her chin and nodded. One month should be sufficient to rebuild the Ellsworth Residence.
The remaining three, however, reacted differently.
Abby was excited and waved at the four chicks happily. “Wonderful! We have new family members. Welcome to our family, birdies!”
Adie was as cold as ever and commented briefly, “That was childish!”
As for Halston, his thin lips curled into a vague smile. It was obvious that his “wicked” plan had worked.
There were, in this world, flightless birds, such as the four he placed on the vines. They were kākāpō, the world’s only flightless parrot found in Nouveauland. They were also known for their longest lifespan and low intelligence among the bird species, as well as their peculiar appearance.
Flossie was just like them. She was adorably dumb to be thinking of flying out of his hands. He would never let it happen!
The twins liked Guajardo Villa very much and adapted to the environment in no time. The sea of sunflowers was especially familiar to them. They felt as if they had returned to Sun Island, the place they grew up in.
They were chasing each other happily in the garden.
“Adie, Abby, don’t run or you will fall.” Flossie reminded them while sitting in the gazebo near the flowers.
She had not seen the children being so happy for a long time. It made her happy as well, and she smiled without realizing it.
Halston was sitting beside her and watching her silently. Then, he said, “I just realized now that you look beautiful when you smile.”
The smile on Flossie’s face froze, and she replied sharply, “Of course. I am a natural beauty. It’s just that you were blind and did not know how to appreciate it.”
He did not feel angry but unprecedentedly started self-reflecting instead. “You are right. I must’ve been blind back then. How else could I not see that such beauty that awaits my return every day?”
“Blech!”
She had never heard him saying such mushy words, and it gave her goosebumps. “Halston, I haven’t had dinner yet. Can you not make me throw up?”
He lowered his head, somewhat hurt, and looked despondent. “You really hate me, don’t you?”
Flossie recalled the doctor’s advice that Halston was still a patient who should not be provoked and needed to recuperate. It suddenly made her feel that her words seemed a bit excessive.
“Um, it’s getting late. What do you want for dinner? I’ll go and make it for you.” She softened her attitude. This rarely happened.
She was thinking that she should be taking good care of this patient since it was fundamentally why she came. It would be a problem if he suffered some long-term effects and threatened her and the children to stay with him forever.
Halston accepted the offer unhesitatingly and named a list of dishes. “Lemon chicken feet, how I have been wanting to eat that for a long time. And steamed mussels with white wine, oh, and the wine must be Bordeaux’ 82. And crispy fried oysters. The oysters must the fresh. Don’t forget to remove the fishy taste with some cooking wine. And one more…”
“That’s enough!” Flossie was reaching the limit of her patience and said bitterly, “I will make those first. If I make too much, it will be wasted!”
‘What is wrong with this guy? Why does he make so many requests for just a meal? Is he trying to pull my leg?’
Anyway, she was surprised that he actually knew so much about food.
The only other man that she knew was very knowledgeable about food was, in fact, his nemesis, Mr. Q!
But there was one glaring difference: Mr. Q was the one who made all sorts of delicacies for her and the twins, but Halston was the one who wanted to be served.
Thus, it was needless to say who she should choose!
Flossie made her way to the kitchen and started cooking dinner.