Chapter 145: Chance Encounter at the Orphanage

Chapter 145: Chance Encounter at the Orphanage

The next morning, Claire woke up at Thorne Manor.

When she came downstairs, Wesley, Evelyn, Vincent, and Philip were all in the living room.

"Philip, how are you feeling?"

The day before, she and Vincent had just arrived at the restaurant when they got a call — Philip's headache had flared up.

She rushed over to Thorne Manor, gave Philip an acupuncture treatment, and didn't finish until late, so she ended up staying the night.

Because she'd gone to bed late, she slept in.

"The pain's gone. Thank you, Claire." Philip looked apologetic. "Sorry for ruining your date with Vincent."

"No worries — as long as Claire's around, Vincent feels like he's on a date no matter where he is, right?" Evelyn teased, glancing over at Vincent.

Vincent was in casual home clothes, looking fresh and relaxed, like he'd already worked out.

At the teasing, his expression gave nothing away. He stood up and walked toward the stairs.

"Come on, let's eat." Vincent reached out and wrapped his hand around her wrist.

The gesture was completely natural, like he'd done it a thousand times before.

But Claire felt a little awkward about it.

Especially with people on the nearby sofa watching them.

She glanced down at the hand holding her wrist, but in the end she didn't pull away. She followed Vincent's lead into the dining room.

"Babe, if you're free today, do you want to come with me to the orphanage?" Vincent asked after breakfast.

The others heard the affectionate nickname and exchanged knowing smiles.

Claire felt her face go warm and shot Vincent a look.

"You're going to the orphanage yourself?"

Sarah had mentioned that Vincent donated to orphanages every year.

That wasn't surprising — Vincent had money.

Going in person was more unexpected. He was genuinely a very busy man.

"When I have time, I go once a month. When I don't, every three months."

He went that often?

"Okay, I'll come with you," Claire said.

She had grown up in an orphanage herself. After being adopted by the Blackwell family, she still went back from time to time with supplies.

"Should I bring anything?" Claire figured she should bring something for the kids.

"No need. York handles it on a regular basis."

So after breakfast, Vincent drove.

Their destination was Haven Light Orphanage.

Vincent supported several orphanages and rotated his visits. This time it was Haven Light's turn.

At that very moment, Daphne was just arriving at Haven Light Orphanage with a car full of supplies she'd bought — food, everyday essentials, a whole carload.

Barbara, the director of Haven Light Orphanage, had seen the news online. She knew Daphne was from the Montague family and assumed she was Vincent's girlfriend, so she was especially warm and attentive.

"Ms. Montague, you and Mr. Thorne are both such kind people. On behalf of the children, thank you."

Daphne froze for a moment before she understood what Barbara meant.

Then she smiled. "You're too kind. We're just doing our small part."

So Vincent was funding this orphanage. With a little maneuvering, she could use this to add more fuel to the relationship narrative.

Coming here today was absolutely the right call.

Barbara then took her on a tour of the orphanage.

It was Daphne's first time in a place like this. The orphanage wasn't run-down, but some of the children had disabilities, and seeing them made her deeply uncomfortable.

But for the sake of her image, she pushed through it — handing out items to the kids herself, playing games with them, and even picking up a child who was cute enough to hold for a photo.

Selene found the right angles and captured Daphne's "kind and caring" side on camera.

The first thing Claire did when she arrived at the orphanage was find the restroom.

She had a dull ache in her lower abdomen — her period had come.

After taking care of it, Claire unlocked the stall door and was about to step out when someone burst in and started dry heaving.

"Ms. Montague, are you okay?"

Hearing it was Daphne, Claire instinctively stepped back.

Given all the strange things Daphne had been pulling lately, Claire opened her phone's camera and angled it toward the sink area.

Daphne heaved a few more times before straightening up.

"That was disgusting. How can kids look that revolting."

She complained while turning on the faucet to wash her hands.

"Hand me the sanitizer — every single one of them was filthy. Who knows what kind of germs they're carrying."

Selene panicked and quickly warned her, "Ms. Montague, this is a public restroom."

Daphne waved it off. "Barbara said this bathroom is set aside for visitors, and today I'm the only visitor."

Selene wasn't convinced. She started checking the stalls to make sure no one was there.

Claire slowly pulled her phone back through the gap, and the stall door quietly swung shut.

So Daphne had come to the orphanage today just to stage a PR moment.

At a time like this, playing up her charitable image would probably gain her hundreds of thousands of new followers. She really knew how to work public opinion.

But it was all so fake.

Outside the stall, Selene did a quick scan and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, so she relaxed.

"Ms. Montague, no one's here."

"I told you there wouldn't be. Did you get all the photos?"

"Yes, lots of them." Selene quickly pulled up the photos on her phone for Daphne to look through.

Daphne seemed happy with them. "Pick a few blurry ones — the kind that look like they were taken secretly. Post them from the side account."

Daphne washed her hands, spritzed herself with sanitizer, and walked out of the restroom.

She was planning to say a quick goodbye to Barbara and leave, but from a distance she spotted Barbara gathered with a group of people, like some important guest had just arrived.

Daphne sent Selene to check it out.

Selene was back in no time. "Ms. Montague, it's Mr. Thorne. I heard he came with Claire, but I didn't see Claire anywhere."

"Vincent came in person?" Daphne's expression froze.

And Claire was there too.

Which meant the girlfriend image she'd been quietly letting people assume would be blown wide open.

"Let's go. Now."

She could not run into them.

They slipped out of the orphanage quickly. Only then did Daphne have Selene message their contact to let them know she'd had to leave early.

Once the message was sent, Daphne added, "Tell them to get over here right away and wait. There'll definitely be photos worth getting today."

When Claire came out of the restroom, she caught a glimpse of Daphne sneaking out, and she had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Stolen is stolen. It can never really stand in the light.

For a moment, she almost felt sorry for Daphne.

Just then, a burst of children's laughter came from a crowd nearby, and Claire spotted Vincent in the middle of it all.

He was holding a child of about three or four in both hands, lifting them high above his head.

By the time Claire walked over, he'd already moved on to the next kid.

"Mr. Thorne, I want to go up too!" one of the bolder children called out.

"Get in line. One at a time." Vincent set the child in his hands back down and lifted up the next one.

In Claire's mind, Vincent had always been someone who kept his distance — rarely showing emotion, rarely smiling, especially around people he didn't know well.

But right now, surrounded by this group of little kids, his face was relaxed. Those deep eyes that usually made people feel pressured were bright and full of warmth. He looked simple and easy, like a big kid himself.

One by one, every child got a turn — until only one boy was left, standing quietly in a corner with his head down.

His skin was rough, he had a cleft lip, and one of his eyes was red. Claire guessed he was probably too self-conscious to step forward.

"Tom, what's going on? Don't you want to play with me?" Vincent crouched down next to the boy.

Tom looked up at Vincent shyly but didn't say anything.

Vincent didn't push him. He just reached out and lifted him up.

"Airplane time." He held Tom up and spun him around twice.

Claire watched, and a smile crept onto her face without her realizing it.

One thought drifted into her mind: Vincent is going to make a wonderful father someday.

On the way home, Claire saw that Daphne's orphanage visit was trending.