Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Daniel stood there frozen. A gust of wind blew past and sent his messy wig flying off his head.

He quickly crouched down to pick up the wig and hurried to catch up.

I went downstairs, holding the headband, and opened my phone to check Ella's location.

She wasn't far from me—just at the bubble ball arena next door.

This girl was actually being obedient. She really didn't go play those dangerous activities.

I arrived at the bubble ball arena and saw Ella sitting inside, playing with a group of little kids, her face beaming with a bright smile.

The way her eyes curved when she smiled—I'd never seen her look like that in front of me.

In front of me, she always seemed scared and panicked.

Haven't I been good enough to her?

When she was in a bad mood, I brought her out to cheer her up. When she couldn't get used to the food here, I specifically had someone find a chef from Astoria to cook her hometown dishes.

When she wanted to study at that no-name university, I sent her there right away.

When she wanted to watch a car race, I took her to see it in person.

I even used these hands that usually hold guns to rub her belly when she had period cramps gently.

And those things she didn't like doing—I stopped forcing her to do them.

Last time that shooting happened at the university, and she briefly went off the grid, I was beside myself with worry, couldn't sit still.

I even gave her that pendant I'd specially had custom-made, the one with the world's most advanced tracking chip embedded in it.

That pendant was originally meant to send my location to David and Kai in emergencies.

Last time on the way back to Esmere City, when Owen's people stopped me, it was that pendant that let David and Kai arrive with backup in time to save me.

I've already done all this for her. Ella, what more does she want from me?

Thinking about this made me feel irritated.

I strode toward Ella.

Kai saw me and bowed his head respectfully. "Mr. Smith."

I ignored him and walked straight past him.

Ella, who had been having a great time playing with the kids, saw me walking quickly toward her with that aggressive energy, and her whole body seemed to bristle like she had thorns.

Her spine instantly went cold, her body tensed up, and the smile on her face disappeared in an instant.

I straightened up and stood outside the inflatable area, looking at her, speaking in a steady tone.

Ella carefully put on her shoes and walked over to me.

I tried hard to keep my tone under control as I asked, "Do you really like playing with these kids that much?"

Ella thought for a moment and answered, "Didn't you say I could go play whatever I wanted?"

You wouldn't let her play those thrilling activities, so playing with bubble balls should be okay, right?

"Do you like playing with kids?" I paused, my gaze locked on her. "Or do you like kids?"

In my life plan, as James, there's never been room for love or children.

I'm living in a world where there's a target on my back and tomorrow isn't guaranteed. How can I afford to get caught up in matters of the heart?

But Ella just barged into my boring life without warning.

At the casino, even though this girl was scared, she still bravely pole-danced in front of me. At first, I was just curious about her, wanted to have her, possess her.

Later, the more she resisted, the stronger my desire to conquer her became.

After that, I just wanted to keep her by my side forever.

Now, I can't even figure out what I feel for her anymore.

All I know is, I don't want her to leave me. I even want to see her every single moment.

Although my life plan doesn't include children, if she likes kids, then I'm willing to change for her and give her a child that belongs to us.

Ella looked up at me, staring blankly.

Did she like playing with kids? Or did she like kids?

These two questions seemed similar but were actually very different.

But she didn't seem to grasp the deeper meaning. Faced with my question, she looked confused, not knowing how to answer.

I stopped pressing her. No matter how she answered, my mind was made up anyway.

I shoved the box with the headband into her hands and said irritably, "Take it."

Ella stared at the thing in her hands for a while and asked, "What is this?"

I casually replied, "See for yourself."

She opened the lid. Inside were all kinds of hair ties decorated with cartoon characters.

Ella asked uncertainly, "Is this for me?"

I answered irritably, "Otherwise, who knows where some dummy will go looking for her hair tie next time."

I glanced at the box of hair ties. "There are dozens in there, enough for you to lose."

She seemed to have a bit of gratitude toward me at first, but after hearing me say that, that bit of gratitude was probably gone.

"Do you like them?" I tried to keep my voice steady.

Ella froze for a moment, then quickly nodded. "Yes, I like them."

"Then why aren't you smiling?" I don't know why I asked that.

Ella looked baffled, probably still trying to figure out what I meant.

"Ella," I called her.

She hummed in acknowledgement, looking straight at me, waiting for me to continue.

I looked at her. Her figure was clearly reflected in my eyes, but my gaze was mixed with emotions I couldn't name.

I said, "Smile."

Ella froze again. "What?"

I repeated, "I said, smile at me like you did when you were playing with those kids just now."

This request probably seemed strange to her, but I just wanted to see her genuinely smile at me.

Ella looked at my deep eyes, forcing a smile.

That smile couldn't have been uglier. I couldn't help but let out a light scoff. "Stop smiling."

Getting her to smile at me from the heart—why was it so hard?

The stiff smile on Ella's face instantly froze.

Just then, Daniel caught up to the bubble ball arena, straightened his wig, and walked toward us.

"James," he stood behind me, "since we're done talking business, how about we grab dinner together?"

I was in a terrible mood right now. I turned around and glared at him hard.

Daniel felt the murderous intent in my eyes and swallowed.

Thinking about last night, he probably still felt shaken.

Last night he'd found a few women to relax with, but anyway, the experience was terrible.

Seeing my dangerous look, he said tactfully, "If you don't want dinner, that's fine. Tonight there's a Valoria Premier League game—Marivelle United is playing. If you're interested, you could go watch."

I was about to tell him to get lost when Ella, who'd been standing beside me, suddenly spoke up: "There's a Marivelle United game tonight?" Her voice was full of excitement.

Daniel nodded at Ella.

Looking at Ella's excited expression, I really hadn't expected that this girl who usually seemed so gentle and weak would actually watch soccer games and be a Marivelle United fan at that.

"You want to go?" I asked in a flat tone.

Ella pressed her lips together and nodded hard.

Marivelle United wasn't what it used to be anymore. I didn't know why she was still so excited about them.