Nicole suddenly materialized next to them.
Evan had seen right through her intentions. With nothing left to defend herself, Maya bowed her head and started slurping up the noodles.
Nicole said, âMr. Seet, thank you for making spaghetti for Maya. If thereâs anything you want for dinner, Iâll be happy to make it for you as a gesture of my appreciation.â
Evan thought for a while before asking Juan and Kyle for their opinions.
âMommy, I want to have beef stew.â
âMe too, Mommy.â
After thinking it through for a while, Nicole decided to indulge the childrenâs requests. She announced that they would be having beef stew for dinner.
Turning to Evan, she said, âThere are no more ingredients in the house. Weâll have to run down to the grocery store for them.â
Evan stood up. âIâll go. I think I saw some vegetables in the fridge. You can wash them up first.â
âAlright.â Nicole approved of his suggestion very much.
Overjoyed, Juan and Kyle applauded loudly.
âMommy, weâll help you!â
Nicole refused gently. âItâs okay. Run along and play now, Mommy will finish washing these vegetables very soon.â
âOkay! If you need help, just holler for us! Weâll go and play now.â
âAlright.â
The two boys ran happily to the toy room.
As Evan put on his shoes, Maya quickly put down her chopsticks and hopped off the chair. Toddling towards him on her stubby legs, she exclaimed, âUncle Evan, can you bring me along with you?â
Evan paused and looked at her. âWhy do you want to come?â
Maya bit her lip and whispered something into his ear. Evan looked at her in shock. âIs that true?â
Maya nodded her head furiously. âYes. Uncle Evan, if you buy me one of those huge cartoon lollipops, Iâll tell you an even bigger secret.â
âOkay, letâs go!â
Thinking that Maya was merely having the munchies, Evan decided to bring her along. It was quite unlikely that she really had a big secret to tell him.
When they exited the grocery store, Maya gazed at the huge cartoon lollipop that Evan had bought her, her eyes shining with happiness.
At her kindergarten, one of the girls had bragged about how her father had bought her lots of lollipops. Hearing this, Maya had felt so hungry that she started to salivate.
For one, she was hungry for a lollipop.
More importantly, however, she was hungry for a father.
Now, she had a lollipop in her hands, and it had been given to her by her Daddy.
Her eyes shone like stars as she wrapped her fat fingers tightly around the lollipop.
In the car, she suddenly turned to Evan with a mysterious look on her face. âUncle Evan, Iâll tell you a secret, but you canât tell Juan, Kyle or Nina that I told you this.â
Evan smiled lightly. This secret seemed to have something to do with the other three children.
He nodded solemnly. âAlright, tell me. I promise not to tell them.â
Hearing this, Maya finally let her guard down and told Evan the secret she had been keeping for so long.
âUncle Evan, Juan, Kyle, and Nina stole some money from your bank account a while ago.â
âWhat?â Evan turned to look at Maya with an incredulous look on his face.
âItâs true! They stole a huge sum from youâenough to buy a villa for Mommy. Mommy had no clue about it, so they lied and told her that they borrowed the money from someone.â
Hearing this, Evan felt even more astonished.
He had been so sure that Nicole was the one who stole that five hundred million from his bank account. How else would it have disappeared all of a sudden?
In the end, it had turned out to be his two sons!
Those kids were getting out of hand. How could they scheme against their own father?
No wonder Nicole had asked him in a drunken stupor the other night if he had actually seen her steal the money from his account!
He had accused her falsely, after all.
As he thought back on his attitude towards her that day, Evan suddenly felt ashamed of himself. He had gone overboard.
Should he apologize to her, or make it up to her somehow?
âUncle Evan, you canât tell them that I told you. Otherwise, they will never play with me again. Even with my Maya Punch, I canât defeat all three of them.â
Evan nodded. âYes, I promise you I wonât tell them.â
Maya breathed a sigh of relief at his words.
Daddy had been so nice to her. She couldnât bring herself to deceive him like that.
Besides, Ms. Patty told her often that little children shouldnât lie. Maya wanted to be a good girl.
They finally arrived back at home.
As Evan carried the bags of ingredients into the house, Maya danced around the room, waving her lollipop in glee.
Hearing the commotion in the living room, Juan and Kyle ran out from the toy room.