Chapter 39
When Joshua returned to Tranquil Villa, it was seven in the evening.
As soon as he pushed the door open, he saw that Ella had already brought the two children over.
The mother and her two kids, along with Karen and the children's nanny, were all in the living room.
With the children around, the whole house was much livelier, filled with laughter and cheerful voices.
Before, Joshua would be noticed as soon as he walked in, and Ella would come over right away to attend to him.
But now he'd been standing at the door for quite a while, and nobody had even noticed him.
Joshua felt a bit frustrated and had to change his shoes and hang up his coat himself.
"Mr. Thomas is back."
Karen exclaimed.
Everyone in the living room turned their heads at the same time.
Aurora was overjoyed and rushed over to hug Joshua's leg.
She looked up at him with her little face, her big eyes blinking as she said sweetly, "We can call you daddy now, right? Daddy, why are you just getting home? Have you had dinner?"
Joshua's body stiffened at Aurora's sudden gesture.
It wasn't that he hadn't tried to convince himself to accept these two children.
But when they actually rushed toward him, calling him daddy, Joshua still felt disgusted inside.
He coldly pulled Aurora away, said nothing, and turned to go upstairs.
Aurora didn't understand what was wrong with Joshua.
Didn't Ella say that she and Dorian could call Joshua daddy now?
Why didn't Joshua seem happy at all to see them?
And he wouldn't let her hug him.
Watching Joshua's retreating back, Aurora turned and ran to Ella, feeling a bit hurt.
"Mommy, daddy still doesn't seem to like us calling him daddy."
Ella didn't know what was going on with Joshua either.
He'd clearly agreed to let her bring the children over and said they were adopting them together, so why was he still unwilling to interact with the kids?
Thinking that Joshua might just need some time to accept them, Ella picked up Aurora and sat her on her lap, telling her, "It's okay, we'll take it slow. He'll grow to like us over time."
"Okay!"
Aurora didn't think too much about it and went back to playing with Dorian.
Ella really wanted to know what Joshua was thinking, and since he was home at this hour, she didn't know if he'd eaten.
She asked Karen and Patricia to watch the children and followed him upstairs.
When she got to the room, she saw Joshua taking off his vest and shirt, apparently about to take a shower.
Ella went over to prepare his bath towel and loungewear, asking casually, "Have you had dinner? Should I have something prepared for you?"
She'd actually thought Joshua would really stay at Scarlett's place.
She hadn't expected him to come home.
"No."
Joshua gestured toward the living room, where there was a document on the table.
"Put that adoption agreement away. If grandpa asks about it later, you can show him the agreement."
To adopt children, they naturally needed an adoption agreement.
Otherwise, once the children were brought over, it would definitely get back to Aiden in just a few days.
Ella walked over and picked up the agreement.
She hadn't expected Joshua to be so thorough - the agreement looked completely real, with stamps from all the right agencies and everything.
She carefully put it away, and seeing that Joshua was about to go into the bathroom, she said, "I'll go prepare dinner for you. Come down and eat after your shower."
Joshua responded with a "okay," his attitude much better than before.
Ella was quite grateful to him.
So during the time before their divorce, she would work hard to do her part properly.
She didn't stay upstairs long. When Ella came downstairs, she was shocked to see that Samuel had come over.
And he was holding her Dorian and kissing him again.
Her whole body trembled nervously. She rushed over and grabbed Dorian, instructing the child, "Dorian, can you take Aurora and go play over there?"
Dorian seemed reluctant, his little face scrunching up. "But I want to learn things from Mr. Harris."
"Be good, just take Aurora over there to play first."
Ella had Patricia take them over.
Dorian was the most obedient and didn't dare disobey Ella, so he had to go with Aurora and Patricia.
Ella looked at Karen and told her to go prepare dinner for Joshua.
After only she and Samuel were left in the living room, Ella had no pleasant expression. She asked coldly, "Didn't I tell you to stay away from my children? What are you trying to do?"
Samuel sat there in casual clothes, young and handsome, with a gentle smile.
"I just don't get it - what's your problem? I can't be around those two kids? Are you afraid I'll eat them or something?"
This Ella seemed to have such hostility toward him out of nowhere.
It was really baffling.
Ella's attitude remained the same. "If I say you can't be around them, you can't. Now leave right now."
Samuel stopped joking around with her.
He could tell that Ella really disliked him.
Although Samuel didn't know what he'd done wrong, he still patiently explained, "Joshua asked me to come over tonight. I heard you weren't feeling well, so he wanted me to check on you."
Ella immediately denied it. "I'm perfectly fine, I don't need you to examine me. Just leave."
If Samuel wasn't Aurora and Dorian's father, why would he try every way possible to be around them?
Every time he got close to the kids, he held them in his arms like he couldn't bear to let go.
If he didn't know the children were his, how could he possibly be so devoted to them and like them so much?
Thinking about what happened four years ago, Ella gritted her teeth.
Samuel really didn't know what to do.
He didn't want to explain so much. He sat there and said calmly, "I can leave, but I'll wait until Joshua comes down and agrees to it first."
"I'm in charge of this house, and I'm telling you to leave now."
Ella didn't want to look at him for even one more second and directly used her authority as the lady of the house to kick him out.
Samuel still sat there without moving, not angry but actually smiling.
He looked at Ella with a smile and asked her, "Have I done something to make you dislike me? Why do you suddenly hate me so much?"
"Or is your infertility fake? Maybe you just don't want to have children for Joshua at all, and you're so hostile toward me because you're afraid I'll expose you?"
That had to be it.
Otherwise Samuel really couldn't figure out why Ella hated him.
Ella was a bit dazed.
Samuel came over to check if she could get pregnant?
A man like him knew about gynecology?
So Joshua still didn't believe what she said and specifically had Samuel come over to examine her.
Ella didn't want Samuel to touch her again. Her eyes grew even colder as she looked at him.
"I told you to leave. Can't you hear me?"
Samuel saw that Ella was getting angry and felt he must have hit the mark.
He didn't want to get involved in their marital affairs. He stood up and said, "Fine, I'll go. But it's a shame about Dorian's talent. If you really care about him, you should cultivate it properly."
If others wouldn't let him recognize talent, why should he insist?
Samuel didn't want to stay where he wasn't welcome and strode away.
Only after watching him leave did Ella breathe a sigh of relief.
When Joshua came downstairs for his meal, she sat with him in the dining room and said proactively, "If you don't believe I can't have children, we can go to the hospital for tests. But why did you have Samuel come check on me? I don't like this person, and don't let him come to Tranquil Villa anymore."