Chapter 332 I Hope You Can Be Happy

Of course, Hansel knew where Lyla was coming from. He stared at her. “But we would have found you and wouldn’t have been apart for so long had Shadow told us.”

“Aren’t I alright now?” Lyla comforted him with a smile.

“Mommy!” Hansel looked at her with seriousness in his eyes. “Maybe to you, everything is fine now but only we know what we went through this whole time.”

Hearing this, Lyla could already guess what he was about to say. She faced them with a solemn look on her face.

“Mommy, Daddy has been drinking excessively ever since you disappeared and has been in and out of the hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding. He simply muddled along life for a month. If it had not been for Lingo, I think Daddy would still be like that. No, I should say that god knows if Daddy would still be okay now.”

Lyla’s heart was aching, as if pricked by pins and needles.

How could her heartstrings not be tugged? How could she not be touched? She had a vague idea of what Mark had been through but imagining it and hearing about it were two separate things.

She was in shock.

Pursing her lips, Lyla lowered her head.

Hansel turned to her. “Mommy, Daddy loves you.”

Lyla lifted her head to gaze at them. “I know what you’re thinking but it’s between me and him...”

“Daddy never had a relationship with that woman.” Gretel blurted out of anger.

Taken aback by the statement, she stared at the girl in surprise.

Gretel nodded. “It’s a hoax. The engagement between Daddy and her is only a business transaction and to fulfill their personal goals. That’s all. Daddy doesn’t love her and nothing ever happened between them.

Lyla was dumbstruck.

Hansel gave a nod. “It’s as she says, Mommy.”

Lyla was lost for words. Was she mistaken?

She was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions.

“Mommy, did you get Daddy wrong? He never stopped loving you,” Gretel said.

Lyla looked back at them, pursing her thin lips without a word.

She should be blaming herself now.

Lyla was under the impression that she had always been great to Mark. However, she realized that she was actually very petty. The great person was in fact, Mark.

Amid the silence, Gretel spoke, “Mommy...”

Hansel stopped her from talking further.

“Mommy, it took quite an effort to find you. Although I have no clue what happened between you and Daddy, Gretel and I will respect both your wishes no matter what.”

Lyla let out a smile at them.

“To us, nothing trumps having you by our side.”

Feeling gratified, Lyla ran her fingers down their heads.

The mother and children combo chatted for a long time while Mark was still waiting downstairs in anxiousness. He would take a glance upstairs from time to time, feeling worried sick.

He wondered to himself if the air had been cleared. Why wasn’t he allowed up yet?

Mark got down the car and circled the vehicle a few rounds.

He was brought back to the time when he was young and had first met Lyla. Mark was such a goofball then.

His phone suddenly rang. Thinking it was from Hansel, Mark quickly picked up. However, the caller displayed left him frowning and accepting the call in a bad mood.

“Don’t call me if there’s nothing important!”

J was seeing stars from all the yelling. “Mr-Mr. Pattinson.”

“Speak.”

“Ms. Collins wishes to meet with you about the engagement. It’s a commotion out there due to things ending on a sour note.”

Speaking of this, Mark piped down.

With him running out of the engagement like that, it must have been quite a scene.

Pursing his thin lips, he uttered, “Tell her I don’t have the time now. I’ll personally explain things to her once I have the time.”

“But...”

“Just follow my instructions. Also, get the public relations team to handle this immediately to minimize Delilah’s loss.”

“... Got it.”

After hanging up, Mark dwelled in his thoughts before lifting his gaze towards the upstairs. His mind was drawn back up there.

The priority now was how to make Lyla not angry.

This was the most important thing right now. His eyes fixated upstairs as he continued to drift back and forth in turmoil.

......

“What? It-it’s a hoax?” Amanda approached them, holding a bucket of junk food. She appeared remorseful. “So I wrongly blamed him?”

Gretel bobbed her head. “Yes, the way Daddy saw it, it doesn't matter to him which woman it was since Mommy was no more. Only, it never occurred to him that things would come to this.”

Amanda was munching on chips as she delved deeper into self-blame. “It looks like he’s pretty faithful.” She really took up all the blame.

Kyle was observing from behind. It never crossed his mind that things would come to this. His bright handsome face reflected an air of gloom.

They chatted away the whole morning.

Hansel finally spoke up in the afternoon. “Mommy, Daddy is downstairs. Do you want to see him?”

Lyla went to the balcony and stared at the car downstairs. She frowned.

“Daddy has been waiting for you.”

Gazing at the figure downstairs, Lyla kept to herself.

“Mommy, should I call Daddy up?”

“No need for that,” Lyla uttered. “Give me some time. I will deal with it.”

Hearing this, Gretel turned to Hansel. The latter nodded without saying a word more.

“Okay, let’s not talk about this. Mommy, shall I make you lunch? It’s been a while.” Hansel said with a smile, lifting the tension in the air.

Lyla grinned. “Sure.”

“Wait for me.” Hansel helped himself to the kitchen.