Chapter 189
Ella finally adjusted and went back to work at the company.
Because of Megan's incident, she was short an assistant.
Considering that Mason had flown to Eldoria to bring them back, she called him into her office and told him directly, "If you really want to make up for the hurt you caused Vida and be a good father, then come back to work at the company. There's too much going on lately, and I can't handle it all by myself."
Actually, Mason had wanted for a long time to help Ella share some of the burden.
He just hadn't found the right moment to bring it up because of his pride.
Now that Ella took the initiative to ask him, he nodded without hesitation, "Okay, I'll do whatever you arrange."
Ella handed him several proposals. "These all need to be handled right away. Take a look, and if there are no problems, get them done as soon as possible."
Mason took them, glanced at them, agreed, and left.
Before long, Joshua came over.
Many of the projects the two companies were working on together required both of them to discuss and sign off.
Walking into the office and seeing Ella back to her old self with renewed energy for work, he felt relieved.
Standing in front of Ella's desk, Joshua handed her the documents that needed signing.
"Sign this." Ella glanced at it and picked up her pen to sign first.
After Joshua signed, he handed the documents back.
Seeing that Joshua wasn't leaving, she looked at him with some suspicion. "What's wrong?"
Joshua smiled at her. "Nothing, you look much better. I wanted to ask if you have any plans tonight?"
Ella picked up the tablet next to her and checked - indeed, she had no scheduled appointments.
Looking back at Joshua, she said, "I haven't been in a good state lately and have been neglecting Aurora and Dorian's feelings. After work, I want to pick them up from school and take them out."
Joshua nodded and asked, "Can I come along?"
Ella's attitude toward him had improved a lot.
During their half-month together in the mountains, they had gotten along well.
They had done everything they should have-and plenty they shouldn't.
If she deliberately pushed him away now, it would seem rather cold.
Since she no longer had any reservations about him in her heart, she might as well follow her feelings.
At least this way, it could fill some of the emptiness and loneliness deep inside her.
Looking at Joshua, Ella agreed, "Sure, it's Friday today. They get out early, so we need to get to the school before three."
"Okay, then I'll go finish my work quickly." Seeing that Ella didn't refuse him, Joshua's mood lifted. He took the documents and quickly left to go back to his company to handle business.
At two-thirty in the afternoon, he drove over on time to pick up Ella to go to the school.
But he didn't expect that Ella already had a driver.
It was that pretty boy from before, Chris, if he remembered correctly.
As soon as Ella came out of the company, Chris hurried forward to open the car door for her.
Joshua quickly went over and called out, "Ella."
Hearing this, Ella looked up.
Seeing Joshua coming over, she didn't get in the car right away but waited for him to come over to see what was up.
Joshua ran over and stood beside her, glanced at Chris, then fixed his gaze on Ella.
"Didn't we say we'd go pick up Aurora and Dorian together? Get in my car."
Only then did Ella remember that she had agreed to bring Joshua along.
She then looked at Chris. "You can go off duty. You don't need to drive me today."
Chris had no choice but to nod in agreement.
There was nothing he could do - he was just a driver.
Joshua was such an accomplished person. Although he was older, he wasn't bad-looking.
As a fresh college graduate, he simply couldn't compare.
Besides, Ella's children were Joshua's.
Chris knew clearly that all he could do was work hard at this job. Other opportunities would have to wait.
As Joshua drove Ella to pick up the kids, there was a hint of sourness in his tone, "Fire that Chris guy. If you need a driver, I'll send you one."
Ella didn't take it seriously. "He does a good job and drives steadily. Why would I fire him for no reason?"
"Don't you think he's trying to climb above his station with you?"
Didn't he know what kind of mindset these college kids had?
Relying on being young and good-looking, trying to find opportunities to latch onto wealthy women.
When he was young, he didn't know how many streets ahead he was of people like that.
Joshua didn't deny it - he was older now and couldn't compete with young people.
If he didn't feel threatened, he wouldn't even bother paying attention to a young college student.
Ella chuckled softly. "What do I have that's worth others trying to climb up to?"
Joshua looked at her.
Watching Ella sitting in the car, still focused on company documents.
The way she worked was focused and charming.
A woman like this, not yet thirty, was already the CEO of a publicly traded company worth billions.
Beautiful too, dressed elegantly, radiating an attractive maturity and allure.
How was she not worth others trying to reach?
Joshua reminded her, "Do you have no awareness of yourself?"
Ella didn't look up, still holding her tablet and working. "What awareness?"
Joshua patiently explained, "You're young, beautiful, rich and powerful. Your net worth is higher than 99% of the men in this city - which man wouldn't try to get close to you if he had the chance?"
Anyway, he only had one life goal, and that was to win Ella back.
In this lifetime, it had to be her.
Hearing Joshua's high praise of herself, Ella finally stopped what she was doing and looked up at him.
"Is that what you think?"
Joshua nodded with certainty.
"So you're the same as them, getting close to me whenever you have the chance?"
Joshua felt there was something odd about this statement.
But he didn't deny it, admitting, "I'm still a bit different from them. After all, I'm Aurora and Dorian's father, and I truly love you - I'm not after your money."
Is that so?
She stared at Joshua, her eyes showing deeper meaning.
Actually, in her heart, he was pretty amazing too.
He was her youthful crush.
Although they had unpleasant times between them, those had slowly faded in the river of time.
During those days abroad, in the process of being with Joshua, Ella still felt ripples of emotion stirring in her heart.
At that time, she knew that perhaps she would never be able to draw a clear line with Joshua in this lifetime.
She wanted to follow her heart and let things develop naturally.
Seeing Ella silent, Joshua looked at her, afraid he had said something to upset her.
He added, "Everything I have is yours. I'm just managing it for now. If you're willing, I'd even be willing to be a stay-at-home dad while you work outside."
He knew that since Ella entered the company, nothing was more important to her than her work.
That's why she had always kept her distance from men.
All these years, she hadn't had a relationship.
He didn't want to change her situation after getting together with her.
So he was willing to give up his work to build their little family.
"Let's talk about the future later. Let's just focus on the present." Ella brushed him off casually.
Since she still didn't know how to get along with Joshua, she wanted to think about it for a while longer.
If Joshua didn't make her uncomfortable during this time, she would compromise for the children's sake.
Joshua respected her decision.
As they talked, they soon arrived at the school gate.
Although school had let out, the gates weren't open yet.
Joshua had specifically notified the school that he was coming to pick up the children.
The school had just received a large investment from Joshua, so they held back other parents' cars.
They let Joshua's car drive straight to the school gate to wait.
Before long, Aurora and Dorian were led out by their teacher, released from school first.
Aurora and Dorian saw that it was Mom and Dad.
And at this moment, their parents stood in front of a luxury car, well-dressed. Mom was young and beautiful, and Dad was handsome and refined.
Aurora was overjoyed and couldn't help shouting to her classmates behind her, "See? I have a mom and dad. I'm not from a single-parent family! My dad loves me so much."
"That's my mom and dad. They're richer than your parents and way better looking. If anyone dares say I don't have a dad again, I won't let them off."
The classmates listened, but no one dared speak up.
Dorian shook his head helplessly and pulled Aurora along. "Let's go."
Only then did Aurora turn around, running toward her parents with a smile. "Mom, Dad, you finally came to pick us up together!"
Joshua stepped forward with open arms to greet the child and lifted her right up.
To avoid delaying other parents, they held their daughter in her pretty British-style school uniform and quickly got in the car.
Ella took her son's hand, thanked the teacher, and hurried to get in the car.
The two children sat in the back seat, while Ella still sat in the passenger seat.
As the car drove away, Aurora pressed against the window, unable to resist showing off to her classmates.
Seeing her behavior, Ella lectured, "Aurora, you can't do that, or no classmates will want to play with you."
Aurora immediately sat back down and closed the window. "Mom, you don't know - the kids in our class are so snobbish, always comparing themselves to each other."
"Ask Dorian. I used to ignore them, but they deliberately provoked us, saying we're from single-parent families."
"They also said kids from single-parent families are all mentally unhealthy and told others not to play with us. They even said our family must be really poor and our parents scrimp and save just to send us to this elite school."
Aurora felt wronged. There was a lot more she hadn't told Ella.
This was the first time Ella learned that her children were being bullied by classmates at school.
She suddenly felt very sorry for Aurora. She turned to look at her and comforted her, "I'm sorry, it's Mom's fault. From now on, if you want, Mom and Dad will definitely come to school more often and join you in school activities."
"Okay." Aurora added, "Luckily Dorian gets good grades and is smart, always bringing honor to the school. The teachers like him and have been protecting us."
"Otherwise, we would have been ostracized long ago."
Hearing this, Joshua felt terrible too. He looked at Aurora through the rearview mirror.
"I'm sorry, it's Dad's fault. Dad promises you, as long as I'm not busy, I'll come pick you up from school."
Aurora immediately smiled, lunging forward to hug the back of the driver's seat, her voice sweet as she said to Joshua, "Great! Mom, Dad, you don't know how happy I was seeing you come pick us up together for the first time. If you both come pick us up from now on, I'll definitely study hard and try to beat Dorian for first place in the whole school."
Dorian said calmly from the side, "I ranked first in the whole city."
Aurora's expression suddenly changed, and she pushed Dorian. "Can't you be a little modest? You compete with me on everything."
Dorian felt helpless and stopped talking.
Ella looked at the two children in the back, seeing them both trying their best to do well. Her heart felt warm.
If they really felt they'd be happier with both parents around,
then she would give them what they wanted.
"So tell me, Dorian, Aurora, what do you want to eat? Dad's treating today." Joshua asked with a smile.
Looking at his son and daughter sitting in the back seat, and the woman he loved sitting in the passenger seat.
At this moment, Joshua felt very happy.
This was the simple life he wanted.
Although Ella hadn't agreed to be with him yet
and they weren't officially living together,
he believed that day wouldn't come too late.
"Does Dad mean we're eating out? Great, I want Italian food."
Dorian casually said, "Mexican food has more flavor."
Aurora got a bit angry again and raised her hand to hit Dorian. "I want Italian food. Didn't you say you don't like Dad? Today Dad's treating, and he's definitely treating me, not you."
Dorian lowered his head and stopped talking.
He really didn't like Joshua.
But Ella and Aurora liked him, so he was willing to try to accept him!
Of course, it also depended on his performance.
Joshua noticed Dorian's slight change in reaction and quickly said, "I know a restaurant that makes both Italian and Mexican food really well. How about we get both?"
Aurora clapped in agreement. "Yay, let's get both then."
Joshua couldn't help glancing at Dorian again.
Joshua saw that Dorian still had a cold attitude toward him.
He encouraged himself - it's okay, with time, Dorian should gradually accept him.
The car stopped in the parking lot of the city's largest mall.
The two adults each held a child's hand as the kids bounced along into the mall, browsing while heading to the restaurant.
Along the way, Aurora wanted to buy everything she saw.
Joshua indulged her in everything.
Ella didn't stop them.
After all, it was rare for him to do something for the children.
When they passed a tech products store, Dorian was particularly interested in a high-tech robot.
But when he saw the price - over a million dollars.
He had recently been using Chris's identity to start an online company and needed funds. He didn't have that much money.
But Joshua understood what he was thinking and directly swiped his card to buy it for him.
Dorian felt a bit embarrassed and refused, "You don't need to buy it for me. I'm just looking."
"If you like it, take it. Dad can afford it."
Joshua patted his head and still had someone pack up the robot to be sent to the Lewis family.
Dorian gratefully said, "Thank you. I'll pay you back when I earn money later."
Hearing Dorian say thank you and that he would pay him back.
Joshua felt a bit sad, but the fact that the child was willing to accept something from him was already a good start.
He wasn't in a hurry. He'd take it slow.
Carrying several large bags of things bought for the children, the family of four chatted and laughed, heading warmly and happily toward the restaurant.