Chapter 199



“Yes, that’s it!” Mia anxiously pulled out her cell phone and looked at Pete. He said, “Cherry, what’s your dad’s phone number? I’ll call him for you.”

Pete, “?”

She didn’t want to. After all, his parents still hadn’t recognized each other. It probably wasn’t a good idea to call Justin just like that.

For a moment, he was silent.

Terence immediately burst out laughing and said, “Hah, did you see that, don’t you dare call him! Cherry, you’re just showing off! There’s no way your father is Justin Hunt.”

“It’s true!” Mia’s eyes were red. Her father had told her that. There was no way there could be any mistake about it.

Besides, she was the one who had said Justin was Cherry’s father. It had nothing to do with Cherry. Even if there really was a mistake, it wasn’t because Cherry was bragging, but because she had made a mistake.

However, she didn’t know how to explain it and ended up panicking.

Terence looked at her. “Why are you so anxious? It’s like you’re his wife – how are you going to know who his father is?”

“I just know!” Mia had always been a pushover. This was the first time she had been so aggressive. She insisted, “Cherry wasn’t bragging! He wasn’t lying either.”

Terence scoffed and said, “You little liar. You lie even in your own affairs. Your mother was rejected by your father, and yet you insist it’s not true? You little illegitimate daughter, if you’re so awesome, why don’t you get Cherry to give us the phone number!”

Mia was about to cry. Just as she was about to say something, Pete stepped forward and coldly said, “212XXXXXXXXX.”

“…”

The place went silent for a moment.

Terence looked at Pete. “Cherry, what do you mean by that?”.

Pete looked not at him, but at Mia. “It’s my father’s phone number. You weren’t lying.”

Mia finally came to her senses. She hurried to dial the number on her cell phone.

“Toot… toot… toot…”

Mia and Brandon held their breath at the dial tone.

Even Terence was silent. For a while, the atmosphere around them became very quiet.

However, after the phone rang three times, the recipient did not answer but rejected the call.

“Beep… beep… beep…”

“…”

Mia gasped.

Brandon was also stunned.

Terence, however, burst out laughing and said, “You saw that, didn’t you? You were giving us a random number! The recipient didn’t even answer! Cherry, you’re a fatherless wild child! You have no father at all!”.

Mia, in a panic, redialed the number.

However, after it rang several times, a message rang instead: “The number you have dialed does not exist…”.

Mia’s phone number had been blocked.

Mia, “…”

Brandon’s jaw dropped as well. He asked, “Cherry, what’s wrong with your father?”

Pete replied very calmly, “My dad doesn’t answer calls from strangers.”

Brandon immediately believed him. “I see, so that’s how it is!”.

Mia nodded as well. “That’s right. My dad doesn’t answer calls from strangers either.”

The people in Justin and Joel’s class all had private phone numbers. It was standard protocol for them to reject calls from strangers to their private phone numbers.

Also, for people like them, other than their family and others in their class, rarely were others able to get hold of their private phone numbers.

As they talked, Terence scoffed, “Of course, my father doesn’t answer calls from strangers either. But why don’t you use your own cell phone to call him? Cherry, it’s because you know everyone has that habit you deliberately said, don’t you? The number you’ve given us is not Justin Hunt’s at all.”

“212XXXXXXXXX,” Pete suddenly said again. Then he asked, “Did you remember it?”

Terence curved his lip in disdain. “What?”

Pete said coolly, “Your father must have my father’s private phone number. You can go home and confirm it with your father after you remember it. Then you’ll see.”

Terence, “?”

He was puzzled for a moment, but right after that he scoffed, “Now I get it: you’re buying time! But even if you overlook it today, tomorrow you’ll still be a fatherless wild child. Hmph, I’ll go home and check the phone numbers right now!”

Terence turned around and took the group of children away after speaking.

To be honest, I was a little afraid that Justin Hunt would actually turn out to be Cherry’s father. If that happened, things would get difficult.

His father had warned him several times not to mess with the Smith’s two children in the garden. Besides, he wasn’t supposed to mess with the Hunts’ kids either. Only the Hunts didn’t send their kids to the garden, so she wasn’t that concerned.

When Terence left, Mia and Brandon looked at Pete. Mia asked sheepishly, “Cherry, have I caused you trouble…?”

If she hadn’t revealed Cherry’s father’s information in the garden, Terence and the others wouldn’t have found out anything.

Indeed, he was trouble.

Pete, who was a little worried, glanced at Mia, only to see that the little girl’s pointed, oval face as well as her large eyes were filled with a tentative look.

This caused Pete to calmly reply, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

After saying that, Tanya called out to him from a distance, “Cherry, come to your dance class! Stop wasting time. You’re about to be late.”

Pete, “…”

He massaged his temples and walked toward the dance studio with a headache.

When exactly was Cherry going to get back to him?

As he walked, he suddenly looked back – sure enough, he saw a look of envy on Mia’s face.

Tanya was also looking at Mia when Pete approached her.

The little girl looked at her shyly, unable to hide the longing in her eyes. That caused a feeling of indescribable acerbity to well up deep in her heart.

On second thought, this was rather strange.

She was evidently Hillary’s daughter, and yet he found her so adorable.

Was she really that cheap?

After all, she was technically Hillary’s half-sister. Mia should call her Aunt Tanya.

At the thought, Tanya forced herself to look away.

She led Pete into the dance studio decisively, leaving Mia behind with a longing look, disappointment and sadness in her eyes.

Beside her, Brandon said carelessly, “Cherry really is all-powerful. Not only is she great at solving Math Olympiad problems, but she can even dance. Mia, do you want to learn how to dance?”.

Mia lowered her head and looked at her toes as she replied, “Yes, I do.”

Brandon said nonchalantly, “Then let’s ask Miss Turner to teach you! She’s the best dance teacher there is! Tell your dad; I’m sure he’ll agree!”.

Mia let out a sigh, reluctantly turned around and went back to class.

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

After class.

Terence ran out of the garden and climbed into the car. As expected, his father, Paul Quinlan, had come to pick him up.

The six-year-old was stocky and muscular as a bull. Paul, on the other hand, seemed more refined. Only his eyes looked especially sinister.

Terence groaned, “Daddy, there’s a brat in the garden who’s actually pretending to be Justin Hunt’s daughter!”

Paul was taken aback. “What?”

Terence suddenly thought of something and recited a series of numbers. Then, he said, “Quick, Dad, can you check to see if this is Justin Hunt’s phone number.”

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