When Yolanda went to pick up Little Ella, she noticed that Little Gabriel wasn’t waiting with the other kids for their parents.
She curiously asked Teacher Adams, "Teacher Adams, where’s Gabriel? Was he picked up early?"
"He’s in the classroom," Little Ella pointed toward the classroom. "He’s waiting for his dad. His dad always cos a little late."
Teacher Adams smiled and nodded, "Ella’s right."
Yolanda glanced toward the classroom, recalling the vivid yet lonely painting Little Gabriel had drawn. Imagining the boy sitting there all by himself made her inexplicably heartache.
She asked again, "What ti does Gabriel’s dad usually arrive?"
"Is sothing the matter?" Teacher Adams imdiately beca alert.
Yolanda sensed Teacher Adams’s wariness. Though she didn’t quite understand it, she quickly smiled and explained, "Nothing, really. If his dad arrives a bit later, could I perhaps take Gabriel out for sothing to eat?"
"Absolutely not," Teacher Adams refused instantly. "Miss Greenwood, we can’t just hand over soone else’s child to you casually. If anything were to happen, we couldn’t bear the responsibility."
Little Ella pouted and said, "Mom isn’t a bad person. Mom just feels sorry for Brother waiting alone in there."
Yolanda smiled, "I oversimplified it. Don’t worry, Teacher Adams, you’re being thoughtful, and I was too presumptuous."
She nodded apologetically and then took Little Ella to catch a taxi.
On the taxi, Little Ella sweetly asked, "Mom, do you like Brother a lot too?"
Yolanda couldn’t quite explain it. After all, she’d only seen the boy once, but perhaps it was the way he protected Ella that had moved her—she genuinely felt a special connection to him.
She smiled and patted Little Ella’s head, "Brother? How do you know he’s older than you? He might be your little brother."
"Nope, he must be my brother!" Little Ella said confidently. "Tomorrow at kindergarten, I’ll ask him when his birthday is."
"Alright," Yolanda shook her head helplessly.
When the two returned ho, they once again found Caleb locked outside the door.
Yolanda furrowed her brows.
This ti, however, Caleb didn’t say anything; he simply stepped aside obediently.
Inside, Little Ella whispered to Yolanda, "Did Uncle Sullivan ss up again?"
"Probably," Yolanda replied as she put Little Ella down to let her go play. Then she went to find Lola Gold.
"You’re back?" Lola forced a smile. She clearly wasn’t in a good mood.
"Fighting again?" Yolanda put down her things. "When I got back, I saw Caleb waiting outside the door again."
"Did you?" Lola seed furious. "What right does he have to wait outside? I already told him this wedding’s off. I’m going to kick him out now."
Yolanda tried to intervene, but Lola had already stord out.
When Lola opened the door, there was no one outside. "Yolanda, are you sure you saw Caleb at the door?"
"What? Is he not there?" Yolanda walked over.
Little Ella chid in as a witness, "He was there! I saw him too. Is he gone?"
She toddled along with her short legs, following Yolanda to check.
Their three heads peeked out of the door only to find that Caleb was indeed gone.
"That’s odd. Could he have gone downstairs to eat?" Yolanda said with a half-smile. "Didn’t he stay outside all night last ti?"
"This ti, even if he stays until he dies, I won’t forgive him," Lola said as she slamd the door shut.
Yolanda realized that Caleb must have truly crossed a line with Lola this ti. Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, "What exactly happened?"
"He...he borrowed a hundred thousand through online loans!" Lola’s eyes reddened as she spoke. "For the so-called pomp of the wedding. Isn’t he insane?"
Yolanda found it equally absurd, "He didn’t tell you? He used his own na?"
"Yeah, the man’s brain isn’t working," Lola said, growing angrier by the minute. "A hundred thousand isn’t a small sum. He borrowed it secretly. How does he plan to pay it back? Did he think he could hide it from forever?"
Yolanda sat down beside Lola and patted her back. "So, what do you plan to do? Cancel the wedding for real?"
"Cancel it. Marrying soone like him would an living in fear for the rest of my life. Who knows what trouble he’d cause in the future?" Lola shuddered at the thought. "Thankfully, I found out in ti. He’s nothing but a ticking bomb."
Yolanda nodded in agreent. "It’s better to figure this out now. Caleb doesn’t seem like a bad person, and he probably does care about you. But... I think you two aren’t ant for each other. Discovering this early is good; it’s better than divorcing after marriage."
"Yeah, if this happened after marriage, I’d be stuck with his debts too." Lola felt her head was about to explode.
"By the way, I ran into soone familiar today," Yolanda suddenly ntioned.
"Who?" Lola imdiately looked at her wide-eyed.
Yolanda frowned. "Why are you reacting like this? Are you afraid of encountering soone?"
"Of course not. Who did you et?" Lola calculated the tiline and felt it was about right.
"Sophie Taylor—she said she was my forr colleague," Yolanda noted that Lola visibly relaxed and continued, "She was pretty odd. She seed very surprised to hear that I’m married, but then she asked how Ella was doing."
"Oh?" Lola let out a couple of forced laughs. "You two had a secret marriage back then. Most people didn’t know about it."
Yolanda nodded, finding it strange but deciding not to dig further.
Since waking up, Lola had always been there for her. Despite losing her mory, Yolanda trusted this best friend of hers deeply.
"Such a headache. I’m going to cook," Lola said as she got up. She went to her room first and sent a text: [Yolanda ran into an old colleague today—Sophie Taylor. She seems to be getting suspicious.]
The recipient was only a phone number, not a saved contact na. The ssage was received, but there was no reply.
After pondering for a mont, Lola sent another text: [Coldson will likely hear about this soon!]
Without waiting for a response, she deleted the ssage record and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
After dinner, Yolanda opened her computer, navigated to Baruy’s official website, and quickly found Sophie Taylor, the director.
She discovered that Sophie Taylor’s most influential project every year was an annual exhibition, which Coldson Group always collaborated on, enjoying massive success.
The man nad Cooper Coldson had only attended the exhibition in its first year—after that, he didn’t appear again.
Lying in bed at night, Yolanda found it hard to fall asleep. For so unknown reason, she secretly hoped Cooper Coldson would attend this year’s exhibition.
In a flash, she realized why—perhaps deep down, she wanted to thank Cooper for creating that safe, fairy-tale-like haven.
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