Chapter 88 My Name is Naomi Powell
Arabella and Philip spent half a day at the orphanage. When they left in the afternoon, the orphanage children looked both longing and reluctant to see them go.
Even after driving quite far, Arabella could still see Ella with the children, watching in the direction they'd left.
Her heart felt heavy. "I wish I had a lot of money."
With lots of money, she could adopt more children.
The orphanage kids had such hard lives. Without sponsors, they couldn't even go to school.
Philip comforted her. "At least we've already worked to change many children's life trajectories. We've done our best. The world is broken and tattered—doing what we can is enough."
Arabella nodded. She understood the logic.
When turning at an intersection, she inadvertently spotted a familiar Porsche. She instinctively sat up straight and saw the car window roll down, revealing Cassidy's gentle profile.
This Porsche used to be Anthony's—he'd given it to Cassidy to drive even before their divorce.
What was Cassidy doing here?
The car had already passed, but Arabella watched it with a frown, an ominous feeling flashing through her mind. She immediately said to Philip, "Philip, let's go back to the orphanage."
Philip was puzzled. "We've already driven so far. Go back now? Did you leave something behind?"
"I saw Cassidy, and she was heading toward the orphanage," Arabella said worriedly. "She always targets me for no reason. I'm afraid she's going to the orphanage to cause trouble."
Actually, she didn't know what Cassidy could do at the orphanage. Cassidy was already pregnant—she surely wouldn't compete for an adopted child. Besides, with a biological child coming, the Watson family would never accept an adopted one.
But she just felt uneasy and had to go confirm. If she was overthinking, that would be better. But if Cassidy really had ulterior motives, she could discover it in time.
Hearing this, Philip immediately turned around without hesitation.
They quickly arrived back at the orphanage. Ella was surprised to see them return. "Why are you back?"
Arabella asked, "Ms. Ramsey, did anyone else come by just now?"
Ella shook her head. "You know how remote and far our orphanage is. Besides you two, who else would come here?"
Arabella finally relaxed. It seemed Cassidy wasn't targeting the orphanage—seeing her earlier really was just a coincidence.
Ella asked with some concern, "Arabella, did something happen?"
Arabella quickly smiled. "Nothing, I was just asking casually."
Ella didn't believe such an explanation—asking casually was worth driving all the way back? But since Arabella didn't want to explain, she didn't press further.
Shortly after Arabella and Philip drove away, a Porsche stopped on the other side of the road. Cassidy rolled down her window and instructed someone in the back seat, "Go ask which clinic that girl is at."
"Yes."
A man in black clothes got out of the car and walked toward the orphanage gate.
When Arabella got home, it was already 8 PM. As the car turned into the building's front area, Arabella spotted Alexander.
He wore light gray casual clothes, his tall frame making ordinary clothing look exceptionally striking. He just stood there, a cigarette between his fingers glowing crimson in the darkness.
Philip couldn't help but exclaim, "Damn, he's handsome."
So handsome.
So tempting.
He glanced at Arabella and sighed with regret.
Such a waste of natural resources.
He wondered if she liked this type. If not, maybe she could pass him along after everything was over.
Arabella completely missed Philip's meaningful look—she was also drowning in Alexander's beauty.
Imagine: under dim lighting, a tall, handsome man standing alone, occasionally taking a drag from his cigarette, radiating an aura of cool aloofness—
This was exactly the scene Arabella faced.
She secretly swallowed, reminding herself that being attracted to someone's beauty had nothing to do with romance. Alexander was just too handsome—it wasn't her lack of self-control.
Arabella got out of the car. Alexander looked over and curved his lips slightly. This smile was like spring wind dispersing winter snow—his cold aura immediately disappeared, becoming warm and gentle. He asked, "You're back?"
Arabella responded, then asked with some surprise, "You weren't... waiting for me, were you?"
Alexander's expression didn't change as he looked at her. "No, I just came down to take a phone call."
And happened to stand here for over an hour.
He wasn't waiting for her. Really.
Arabella said "Oh" and nodded. Alexander continued, "You haven't eaten yet, right? I saved some food for you. Let's go upstairs."
After a pause, he looked at Philip in the car and nodded. "Would Mr. Reed like to join us?"
Philip felt a chill run from his tailbone straight to his neck and quickly waved his hands. "No, no! My parents are waiting for me to come home for dinner!"
Arabella was surprised. "You made up with your parents?"
Philip nearly bit his tongue, mumbling, "Not yet, but I occasionally go back to eat with them."
Arabella was somewhat surprised. She really didn't know Philip's family situation was like this—he hadn't mentioned it before.
If that was the case, how had he ended up penniless?
Clearly Philip couldn't explain this either. Afraid Arabella would ask more questions, he quickly said, "Well, I'll be going now!"
Alexander smiled and nodded. "Alright."
Arabella also waved at him. "Drive safely."
Philip hit the gas and drove far away before wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, muttering, "His presence is too strong. Just one look scared me into a cold sweat."
Then he felt relieved, saying happily, "Good thing I was smart and found an excuse to run. Otherwise, the boss would definitely have taught me a lesson."
Just kidding—that guy's face practically had "don't bother us" written on it. He wouldn't dare push his luck.
So pitiful—after a whole day of running around, he was still hungry.
Philip drove while planning what to eat later.
A burger? Or pasta? Maybe he'd splurge and get a steak at a restaurant.
Meanwhile, Arabella and Alexander went upstairs. Seeing the four dishes and soup on the table, she asked with surprise, "Did you make all this?"
Though Alexander occasionally cooked, it was usually simple, casual meals. This was Arabella's first time seeing him prepare such an elaborate spread.
Alexander smiled. "Try it and see how it tastes."
Arabella first gave him a thumbs up. "You've been hiding your talents."
She sat down, picked up a fork, and tasted some food, praising repeatedly, "The taste is great too."
Alexander quickly pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. "If you think it's good, why don't we eat dinner at home from now on?"
Arabella didn't react immediately. After a few seconds, she said, "You mean we'll eat dinner together from now on?"
Alexander coughed, seeming a bit uncomfortable. "I was thinking that making money isn't easy these days, and society is so competitive. We might as well save some money. Cooking at home saves a lot, and cooking for two saves even more."
Arabella laughed. "Sure! You can cook Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'll cook Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and we'll rest on Sundays."
Alexander's eyes were gentle as he looked at her smiling face, slowly smiling too. "It's settled then."
His grandmother had said he'd made no progress in eight hundred years—but wasn't this pretty good progress?
Over the next few days, Arabella worked hard while waiting for news from the orphanage.
Unexpectedly, instead of news from the orphanage, trouble came from home first.
Marilyn called with an urgent tone. "Arabella, come over tonight."
Arabella asked, "What happened?"
She'd just visited her father on Saturday—it had only been two days.
Marilyn paused before saying, "Daniel got into some trouble. Come back and we'll talk. You must come back tonight, understand?"
After Arabella agreed, she hung up.
Faye was browsing social news and looked up to comment to Arabella, "Looks like our Ms. Gomez might have a chance to come back."
Arabella was confused. "Mandy? Wasn't she arrested?"
The embezzlement amount was huge—people had estimated Mandy would be in prison for at least twenty years.
Faye leaned over and whispered, "I heard Mr. Powell took most of the blame for her. Her charges aren't that serious—she'll be out in two years at most."
Arabella was amazed. "Mr. Powell is that kind-hearted?"
Faye shrugged. "Who knows what kind of deal they made?"
Arabella didn't take this matter to heart. That evening after work, she went to her father's place.
As soon as she entered, she saw her father sitting on the sofa with a furrowed brow, Marilyn beside him with equally low spirits, while Daniel sat askew at the dining table playing games. Looking closely, she could tell he wasn't really focused on the game—he kept refreshing, seemingly paying attention to something else.
What surprised Arabella was that across from Daniel sat a well-behaved little girl. The girl was very pretty, about seven or eight years old, with two pigtails and delicate features, wearing a tender yellow dress.
Daniel kept stealing glances at her, his eyes full of smiles, though no one knew what he was so happy about.
The sound of Arabella closing the door startled everyone in the room. Percy saw her, froze for a moment, then looked at Marilyn with displeasure. "You called Arabella here?"
Marilyn felt a bit guilty, mumbling, "What's wrong with calling her? This is such a big deal, and she's part of this family too. She needs to handle this."
"You're being completely unreasonable!" Percy scolded angrily. "Arabella is so busy with work and has already spent enormous energy on us. Why are you troubling her more?"
Hearing this, Marilyn got upset and stood up to argue back, but Arabella quickly intervened. "Dad, it's okay. I was just free after work anyway—consider it a visit to see you."
Then she looked at Marilyn and asked, "Marilyn, what exactly happened?"
Marilyn glared at Daniel irritably. "Ask that troublemaker!"
Arabella looked at Daniel and frowned. "Daniel, did you cause trouble at school again?"
Daniel immediately threw down his phone, unhappy. "What do you mean 'again'? This time I didn't start anything—someone else came after me!"
Hearing this, Marilyn got furious and grabbed a broom from the floor to throw at him. "Who came after you? If you hadn't been meddling in other people's business, would you have gotten into all this trouble? You still have the nerve to talk!"
Arabella quickly went over to stop her. "Marilyn, don't get upset. Let's talk calmly. What exactly happened?"
Marilyn glared at Daniel. "You tell your sister yourself!"
Daniel still seemed defiant. Marilyn stared at him. "I'm telling you, the only one who can help you now is your sister. Talk to her properly and let her figure out a solution!"
Daniel glanced at Arabella, pursing his lips uncomfortably. After a while, he said, "I'm being targeted at school."
As he explained, Arabella finally understood what had happened.
It turned out that when Daniel was leaving school at noon today, he encountered a group of delinquents outside school bullying a little girl. They were trying to drag the girl away while she cried and begged. Daniel stepped in and scared them off.
Since he had some reputation at school, most troublemakers didn't dare confront him directly, so they didn't persist. Daniel let the little girl go.
Unexpectedly, in the afternoon, he saw another group of people bullying the same little girl. Several seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys had even torn the little girl's clothes. Naturally, he couldn't stand by and got into a fight with them. But this group was from the streets and didn't care about his school reputation. However, Daniel relied on his unbeaten fighting record at school to intimidate them into leaving.
This time, he didn't just let the little girl go—he asked about the specific situation. Only then did he learn that the little girl was a student at the elementary division attached to their high school. For some reason, people had been bullying her every day recently, even trying to kidnap her.
Today's group had come in a car. If Daniel hadn't intervened, the little girl would have been taken away.
Daniel didn't feel safe letting her go home alone, so he brought her to his house.
Unexpectedly, right after bringing the little girl home, he received many threatening texts and calls telling him not to meddle in other people's business, or they'd make it impossible for him to stay at school.
After hearing the whole story, Arabella's opinion of her stepbrother changed somewhat. In her impression, Daniel was a troublemaker who constantly caused problems at school—she never expected him to have a heroic moment.
She looked at Daniel and asked, "What do you think?"
Daniel uncomfortably avoided her gaze, saying, "Something happened to her family, and now she's all alone. If I put her back out there, I'm basically pushing her toward a dead end."
The implication was that he still wanted to help this little girl.
Marilyn was about to explode again when Arabella quickly said, "Marilyn, don't get upset yet."
She walked over to the little girl, crouched down, and asked, "What's your name, little girl?"
The little girl looked at her with big, frightened eyes, seeming to sense that this woman could decide her fate.
She answered quietly, "My name is Naomi Powell."
Naomi Powell? Arabella frowned—she felt like she'd heard this name somewhere before.
But she couldn't remember where.
She asked again, "What happened to your family?"