Listening to the cheerful voices of the two little ones, Lance's expression became very gentle.
At this moment, Xavier drove up and stopped in front of the group.
Lance smiled and said, "Let me take you all back."
Deanna couldn't refuse, so she nodded and got into the car with the two children.
On the way back, the two little ones seemed to have endless things to talk about with Lance.
Of course, most of the time it was the children talking while Lance listened and responded occasionally, creating an indescribably warm atmosphere.
It didn't take long before they arrived home.
Deanna got out of the car with the two little ones.
Just as she was preparing to bid farewell, the two little ones extended an invitation.
"Uncle, aren't you coming back with us?"
"Uncle, come back with us and have a meal together. We want to thank you for playing with us this afternoon."
Faced with the enthusiastic invitation from the two little ones, Lance's mood visibly improved.
Or rather, he had initially intended to find an excuse to stay, but now he didn't need one.
His lips curved upwards, his dark eyes looked at Deanna, and he spoke gently, "Then I won't refuse."
Deanna rolled her eyes at the two children, but in the end, she didn't say anything.
Thus, the four of them returned to the apartment.
After locking the car, Xavier followed them upstairs.
Inside the apartment, Old Ashley saw Lance return with her granddaughter, and a look of surprise flashed in her eyes, but she didn't say much and instead greeted them with a smile.
"Mr. Mercer is here."
"Good afternoon, Grandma," Lance responded politely.
Xavier also respectfully greeted her from the side.
Upon seeing this, Deanna instructed the two little ones, "Mommy is going to cook now. Since you invited Mr. Mercer and Mr. Nelson home, you two need to take responsibility for entertaining the guests, okay?"
"We understand, Mommy. You go cook," the two little ones answered in unison and then earnestly started to entertain Lance.
Amused, Deanna turned and went to the kitchen.
During this time, Gregory took advantage of a bathroom break to secretly send a message to Julia using his smartwatch.
"Godmother, today's plan worked perfectly. I posted the photo on Facebook, and Uncle Lance showed up shortly after."
He briefly recounted the events of the day.
It didn't take long for Julia to reply with a "Nice" emoji.
Gregory then asked, "What should I do next?"
"Next, you should do this. Find an opportunity to casually mention in front of Lance that it's a shame you couldn't go out and have fun with Uncle Landon today, and suggest doing it next time, okay?"
Julia gave the little guy another tip.
Gregory immediately understood and confirmed that he got it.
He put away his smartwatch and returned to the living room, looking for an opportunity.
It wasn't until after dinner that he found a chance, feigning concern.
Deanna noticed and asked, "What's wrong, Gregory?"
"Mommy, do you think Uncle Landon meets trouble? We didn't get to have fun with him today. Can we ask Uncle Landon to join us next time?"
Gregory began to act, not forgetting to give a signal to his sister.
The smart little girl immediately understood her brother's hint and cooperated, "Yes, Uncle Landon had to leave because of work today. It's such a shame. I wanted him to take me to the amusement park."
Deanna found it puzzling. 'Since when did my two kids get so close to Landon? They used to be kind of distant from him.'
As she pondered, she felt a tug on her arm and saw Chloe approaching, pulling on her sleeve and acting cute.
"Mommy, since we didn't get to play with Uncle Landon this time, can we ask him again next time?"
"That's OK with me," Deanna replied without much thought.
Little did she know that her words had caused Lance's expression to darken.
Lance's eyes briefly glanced at the two little ones, his voice deepening, "If you need to go out, you can call me."
His words surprised both Deanna and the two little ones.
Deanna hesitated, "Wouldn't that be inconvenient?"
"Yes, Uncle Lance has work and is probably very busy. It's better not to trouble him," the two little ones chimed in, playing along with their mommy's polite rejection.
Upon hearing this, Lance's expression immediately darkened, his mood souring further.
To him, it felt as though the two little ones were rejecting him.
After all, if he was busy, wasn't Landon, the heir to the Sherman Group, busy as well?
However, he didn't voice this thought, instead calmly stating, "It's no trouble. I'm not very busy recently, quite free actually."
Upon hearing this, Xavier couldn't help but twitch his mouth, his mind full of complaints.
'Not very busy, quite free? Mr. Mercer, your skill at lying has really improved. There's still a ton of work waiting for you back at the office. Especially today's documents that you pushed aside-they're still piled up on your desk waiting to be approved. Can you finish those first before making such claims?'