hapter 16 Stay
Mars replied coolly, “I didn’t feel like talking.”
“What a stubborn boy,” Gladys thought.
“Promise me that you’ll speak from today on, OK? Your voice is incredibly
beautiful. It’ll be a waste if you don’t let people hear it. If immortals hear you pray, they’ll grant your wish.”
Mars rolled his eyes. “Childish.”
Fine.
Even a three–year–old was too smart to coax nowadays.
Gladys played more games with Mars so he could speak more.
The day went by. Before Gladys knew it, it was 5:30 p.m. time to pick up Vicky from kindergarten.
Gladys checked the time. Zachary hadn’t come back. She couldn’t leave Mars alone.
She called Jacob. “Mr. Rossi, when will Mr. Bradshaw come home? I have something to attend to. I have to go.”
Mars was playing with sand when he heard this. He scowled and became sulky.
He grabbed sand and spilled it everywhere.
Seeing what he was doing, Gladys put her phone aside hurriedly. “Hey, Mars, what’s wrong? Stop it. It hurts if you get sand in your eyes.”
Mars wouldn’t listen. “I’ll spill sand if you leave. I will!”
Gladys understood.
It turned out Mars didn’t want her to go.
She comforted the boy patiently, “Something came up. I must go home tonight. I’ll
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come over tomorrow morning. I promise. Be good.”
“No! I won’t listen!” Mars kept spilling sand. He had sand in his hair and all over his clothes. His emotion was about to lose control.
Gladys knew children needed discipline. But Mars had a condition. Gladys must do something to calm him down in case the situation worsened.
Left with no option, she could only say, “All right. I won’t go home tonight. I’ll stay to keep you company. So, calm down.”
Mars finally dropped the sand.
He ran into Gladys‘ arms and held her like a koala as if afraid she was lying.
The boy’s embrace tugged at Gladys‘ heartstrings. It was beyond her imagination that her son, whom she had never met in the past three years, was so clingy to her.
Her heart softened. She picked Mars up and called Daisy, asking her to get Vicky from kindergarten.
The conversation was heard clearly in Zachary’s recreational vehicle.
Jacob said, “She knew Mars was reluctant to let her go, but she called in his presence deliberately so she could stay. How manipulative.”
There was an unreadable expression on Zachary’s face and an icy aura around him.
He didn’t comment and only asked Jacob to keep his eyes on the road. Then, he called Julie.
In Zachary’s eyes, Julie was tender and tactful. And she was Mars‘ birth mother. If she spent more time with Mars, Mars would be distant from Gladys eventually.
But he didn’t get through.
Was Julie so busy?
Zachary turned his phone off gloomily.
He arrived at the villa 30 minutes later.
Gladys had just bathed Mars and had dinner with him. She was clearing the table when Zachary got home.
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“Mars is upstairs. Everything was fine today,” she said.
Zachary took off his suit jacket and tossed it aside with a long face.
Gladys snorted inwardly. If it weren’t for Mars, she wouldn’t have spoken to Zachary in the first place.
But now, she had to compromise.
She continued, “Well, I want to tell you two things. I’m taking Mars to the mall tomorrow. He’s just a child. He should dress like one. And black isn’t good for his recovery.
In addition, I’m staying tonight. Mars threw a tantrum when I told him I was going home. Worried that the same thing from last night would happen, I agreed to stay.”
She explained cautiously, afraid that Zachary would think she had a purpose.
However, he already misunderstood.
Looking at Gladys coldly, he warned, “Remember the terms I named last night. Don’t play tricks.”
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