Chapter 254



Nora was about to hang up when Iris suggested, “Why don’t you bring your daughter?”.

Nora thought about it for a moment. Then she nodded and said, “Okay.”

She went upstairs, put Pete down, and got in the car with him. She said, “I’ll take you to meet a friend of mine.”

Pete was very excited. “Okay!”

Although he had known Mommy for a long time, he only knew a few of her friends. Pete wanted to know what his mommy usually did as she was quite an enigma.

Even though Mommy was always sleeping, she was so rich!

There was no way anyone could make that much money just for being a medical genius!

She eagerly climbed into the car and sat in the back seat.

As Nora made her way to the driver’s seat, she looked at Melissa, who was still in a daze, and said slowly, “Please keep this…a secret for now, Aunt Melissa.”

“… Okay,” Melissa said.

When Nora left, Melissa finally entered the living room. Mrs. Anderson, who had been waiting all afternoon, stepped forward nervously at once. She took her hand and asked, “How do you do, Melissa, has Mrs. Hunt said anything?”

Melissa was stunned. “No, she hasn’t.”

Mrs. Anderson breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Gosh, it’s just that I’m afraid she’ll bring up some kind of request or condition. If they want to treat Pete’s birth mother as family, will Justin side with Nora or the other woman?”

Melissa: “…”

She looked at Mrs. Anderson hesitantly before finally saying, “Actually, it doesn’t matter.”

Mrs. Anderson looked at her, “You don’t get it, do you? It’s not the same thing. If that happens, Pete’s birth mother is sure to cause problems for Nora. Besides, what if Pete resents Nora even after she has raised him as an adult? All of these things need to be made clear beforehand. Gosh, it’s so problematic when other people’s children are involved.”

“…”

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

In a villa on the outskirts of New York.

Mrs. Landis and Iris were cheerfully preparing dinner.

Iris was in a very good mood. The woman, who looked as spry as a teenager, was humming a little tune as she went back and forth cheerfully from the dining room table to the kitchen.

Seeing her in such a good mood, Mrs. Landis burst out laughing and said, “Ma’am, you must be calm by now, right? You’ve already asked around and found out that Mr. Hunt’s girlfriend is from the Andersons. The other Miss Smith only has one daughter, while her Sworn Sister has a son. It turns out that the two only share the same name! You don’t have to worry anymore.”

Iris nodded. “Yes, that’s fine, as long as they’re not the same person. I was so afraid that I had accidentally elevated Justin’s girlfriend’s position to one of higher status than his, Which would have made them both uncomfortable!”

Mrs. Landis laughed again, “The fish and chips fried especially well tonight, so I’m sure they taste wonderful. The kids are going to love it.”

“Yes.”

Iris smiled and said, “I wonder how old Miss Smith’s son will be, plus how far apart his age is from Pete’s? I don’t know if the two of them can get along or not.”

Mrs. Landis scoffed at her and said, “You worry too much!”.

Only then did Iris suddenly realize that she was indeed worrying too much.

For many years, many people had tried to please her. There were even some who tried to pander to her interests and spoke to her knowledgeably about orchids.

They were all trying to ingratiate themselves with Justin.

To reduce Justin’s unnecessary trouble, she had turned them all down. Because of this, all the rumors from the outside claimed that she was difficult to deal with and had a strange temper.

Come to think of it, Nora was really the only friend she had made in all these years. Therefore, it hadn’t stopped Mrs. Landis when she also told Justin to come over after Nora was invited to dinner.

It was only her selfish wish, but she wanted her son to help Nora a little if he could.

After all, it wasn’t easy for a woman to raise a child alone. It reminded her of herself when she took care of Justin back then.

Maybe because she had repressed her feelings for too long, it led her to want to give the other party as much good as she could after making a friend.

Also, what Nora had said the day before had made Iris suddenly realize that she did indeed not understand Justin.

She was Justin’s mother. In situations that wouldn’t cause her any trouble, helping her friend was something she should do, wasn’t it?

… Although Iris didn’t know what kind of help Nora might need from her.

While driving to the villa on the outskirts, Nora received another call from Justin.

After uttering a “hello”, Justin asked her, “Are you free tonight, am I taking you somewhere to eat?”.

Nora, who was looking straight ahead, replied, “I’m not free.”

Justin, who seemed to have heard some kind of sound, immediately asked, “Do you have a date? Who are you meeting that made you ditch me? That’s not something someone who is in love with me should do.”

He feared she had a date with Caleb.

The corners of Nora’s lips twitched a little. She couldn’t be bothered to explain that she was going to visit her newly-minted Sworn Sister, lest the guy say something like, “What’s more important: meeting me or your Sworn Sister?”

So he just said, “I’m sleepy. I’m going home to sleep.”

“… Okay then,” Justin said.

In a rare moment, Nora asked, “How about you?”

Justin let out a low chuckle and replied, “I’ll sleep with you.”

Nora: “?”

His voice turned cold. “Speak properly!”

Justin said, “‘We’ll sleep together after you go back to your place and I go back to mine.’ Is there something wrong with this sentence, or did you get the wrong idea?”

Nora: “!!!!”

The corners of her lips tightened, and she said, “I’m hanging up!”

On the other end of the call, Justin couldn’t help but laugh after Nora hung up so fiercely.

At that moment he was in the car. The chauffeur was driving to the outskirts.

Cherry, who was sitting next to him, asked, “Dad are you planning on taking Mom to Grandma’s for dinner?”

Justin nodded. “Yes. Your grandmother has some misunderstandings with her. I think she’ll be able to understand what it’s like after we sit down to eat together, but unfortunately…”

“Mom definitely won’t go!” Cherry said, “She wants to sleep!”

Justin: “…”

Half an hour later.

Nora arrived on the outskirts.

It was already dark, so Pete didn’t realize where they were when they entered the residential area. Besides, he rarely approached in the first place. In the daytime, he could still tell that his grandmother lived there, but since it was too dark now, he didn’t manage to make out his surroundings until the car pulled into the driveway of the villa.

It was only when Nora pulled him out of the car and they entered the villa that Pete finally realized something. Unfortunately, it was too late.

“Miss Smith!” Iris greeted her at the house with enthusiasm. “Let’s have dinner together tonight!”

Nora nodded. Then, she pushed Pete – who was hiding behind her and trying to say something all this time but had no chance – towards Iris. She said, “This is my son, Pete.”

Then, she said to Pete, “Say hello to your Sworn Aunt, Pete.”

Mrs. Landis, who had sent the two into the living room, hurried out the door when she heard another car at the door. When she saw Justin approaching with Cherry, she smiled and said, “He’s here Mr. Hunt!”.

Justin saw a car around the corner. Since the place was in semi-darkness, he couldn’t make out what kind of car it was. He asked nonchalantly, “Do you have guests?”.

“Yes!” Mrs. Landis explained, “It’s the new Mrs. Sworn Sister! It’s good that you’re here, so you can meet her too!”

.

.

.