Chapter 228: Normal life
The day after Xavier Galverra’s banquet, word spread like wildfire about Neil being the mysterious CEO and Mia Harrison being his woman.
The dia and people who had taken it upon themselves to ruin Mia’s image to impress Owen Sullivan were now the sa people trying too hard to please Xavier Galverra by praising Mia in various magazines and entertainnt newspapers. Pictures of them taken on the yacht by the noisy paparazzi, who’d made sure to be on their trail on the night of the event had gone viral, with many netizens shipping the couple after Neil’s words in the banquet about their relationship.
Furthermore, many fashion houses that had been sending gifts to Mia when she was in a relationship with Owen, but stopped when she broke their engagent, resud sending gifts in large amounts.
All the gifts and product samples that arrived at their house were so nurous that Mia had to make room in one of the guest rooms to keep them. There were so many that she didn’t even have ti to open them. Nurous invitations from influential families who wanted a chance to speak with Xavier were sent to Mia, inviting her to their events.
Mia’s social dia accounts were now unbanned, and TalkWave Productions, where she had worked before, had been sold to new managent who were determined to have her back. She received their emails and their apologies for everything, and they were even willing to double her pay with weekly bonuses if she would return as the face of their company.
As much as Mia would love to resu her work and be productive again, her doctor had warned her against it for now. She had been advised to stay away from stress or work until she had given birth, which was months away. She showed Neil the email this morning when she received it, and he had also suggested the sa thing she was thinking: she could accept the proposal now and start her work after she had given birth.
Though it had been three days since Neil’s banquet and their romantic night on the yacht, where Mia had thought Neil would propose but had not, she didn’t mind too much. However, waking up alone in the guest room made her feel gloomy all the ti.
To make matters worse, it seed Neil was doing it on purpose now. Every night, he escorted her to the guest room and bid her goodnight with a kiss on the forehead. Last night, she purposely went to their room and pretended to be asleep after hearing his car stop at the entrance so he’d know she had decided to return to their room. However, to her utter disbelief, Neil had walked up to her on the bed, looked down at her for a few minutes, then bent down and carried her back to the guest room.
Mia had been upset when she woke up this morning yet again in the guest room. But because Neil was still pretending he didn’t know why she was upset when she ignored his greetings, she couldn’t keep giving him the cold shoulder when he was trying his hardest to please her at the dining table.
Today was Saturday, and among all the invitations they had received, one had co from the orphanage Mia used to visit to take the children out. Before she could say anything, Neil proposed they accept the invitation and take the children to the new amusent park in Mirage sa this weekend.
"Really?" Mia exclaid, her excitent evident in her shimring brown eyes.
"Really," Neil replied, taking a sip of his coffee as he looked at his woman, who was grinning from ear to ear at the ntion of an amusent park. He had found out from Rayne that Mia had always wanted to go there but hadn’t gotten the chance before. He had been trying to find a unique way to propose to Mia for the past three days, and the invitation from the orphanage had given him so inspiration to take her to the place she had always wanted to go.
"I thought you had to work on weekends. How are you going to take us and the children out today?" Mia asked, rembering his busy work schedule lately and not wanting to interfere with his work just because she wanted to go to the amusent park. Though she’d never been to one that she rembered in the past, she wouldn’t want to be a bother to his work.
"Don’t worry, Jas will take care of everything in my absence," he said, stroking her hair as she sat beside him at the dining table. "But I’ll drop by the office to skim through so important docunts, my driver will take you to the orphanage ahead of , I’ll co et you there."
"It’s fine if you can’t go with us, I’ll be fine with the children." Mia said, not wanting to make him leave his work for her sake.
"I also want to see this amusent park with you guys, I’ve never been there before." Neil chuckled softly, patting her head, he said, "Now go get ready, I’ll et you at the orphanage."
****
After Mia walked Neil to the door and watched his car leave, she moved quickly to get ready in her room, slipping into her casual blue mom jeans and a crisp white t-shirt, topping it off with a jean jacket. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and laced up her white sneakers. A quick swipe of lip gloss completed her look. She grabbed her crossbody bag and sunglasses and headed out, finding Neil’s driver waiting at the entrance.
"Ready, Miss Mia?" the driver asked with a warm smile as she walked down the steps.
"Yes, let’s go," Mia replied, feeling a mix of excitent and nerves fluttering in her stomach. After all of the scandal about her, this was the first ti she was going out alone and unguarded. She’d been confined in the house for so long she couldn’t help but take a deep breath as the car drove down the road to calm her nerves.
The drive to the orphanage was smooth, the city waking up slowly to a bright, promising Saturday. As they pulled up to the orphanage, Mia’s heart swelled with joy. All the children were gathered at the entrance, their faces lighting up as they saw her car approach.
"Mia! Mia!" they shouted in unison, their voices a joyful chorus. As she stepped out, they ran toward her, arms open wide.
"Mia, we missed you so much!" one of the children cried out, squeezing her tightly.
"I missed you too," Mia said, her heart full. She rembered the days when visiting the orphanage had been a regular part of her life before the scandal, and she was glad her days were getting back to normal now.
The caretaker, Ms. Lawson, called out, "Children, go easy on Miss Mia! Rember, you might hurt her unborn child."
The news of her relationship and pregnancy had reached the orphanage, Mia realized at Ms. Lawson words.
The children stepped back quickly, eyes wide with wonder.
"Miss Mia, are you really going to have a baby?" Alissa, the most brilliant and talkative of the group, asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.
Mia nodded, a soft smile on her face.
"Is Owen the father?" Alissa blurted out, causing Ms. Lawson to scold, "Alissa, mind your manners!"
But Mia laughed softly, "It’s okay. She’s just curious." She knelt down to Alissa’s level. "No, Alissa, the father of my child is the most wonderful man on earth."
Alissa’s brow furrowed, "If he’s so wonderful, why isn’t he here with you? Owen was always with you when you visited us."
Mia smiled, touched by the child’s concern. "He has sothing important to attend to, but he’ll join us soon."
Another boy with red hair piped up. He was a teenager and the oldest of the children. "I read in a book that n who don’t put their girlfriends first aren’t good n. Don’t get fooled by your new boyfriend if he doesn’t put you first, Miss Mia."
Mia ruffled his hair affectionately, rembering that the boy had seed fond of Owen every ti they visited the orphanage. "Not Neil, Mitchell. He always puts
first, even if he can’t be here right now."
"Whatever. He can’t be as cool as Owen. Owen is the coolest man on earth. He even promised to teach
how to drive and shoot a gun. He also said I could swear as long as there are no adults around." Mitchell grumbled under his breath, already hating Miss Mia’s new boyfriend before seeing him. Whoever he was, he could never be as cool as his favorite idol!
Alissa, who stood beside the boy, heard him and also agreed. "Yeah, I think Miss Mia is making the worst mistake of her life by changing her boyfriend. I bet her new boyfriend isn’t good looking and doesn’t know how to play with kids."
Mia heard the kids and only smiled. She couldn’t bla them when Owen had made sure to make himself loved by the children. However, before she could say anything, a little girl jumped forward and hugged her tightly. "I missed you so much, Mia."
"I missed you too, sweetheart," Mia replied, holding her close.
"Is it true we’re going to the new amusent park?" another child asked, his eyes wide with excitent.
Mia nodded, and the children erupted in cheers, jumping up and down in sheer joy.
"Yes, we’re going to the amusent park!" Mia confird, her own excitent matching theirs. As the children chattered and laughed around her, she felt a deep sense of happiness and peace. For the first ti in a long while, she felt like everything was falling into place, and she couldn’t wait to share this special day with them and Neil and forget about all the bad days and experiences of the past.
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