As Deanna walked out of the community gate, she saw Kade standing by the car, holding a bouquet of roses.
She walked over with a bit of a headache, pretending not to see the flowers, and greeted him politely, "Kade."
Kade smiled and nodded, then handed her the roses. "A beautiful woman deserves beautiful flowers. They suit you."
"Thank you..." Deanna replied, somewhat awkwardly, wondering if she should clarify things right then. It seemed Kade had misunderstood something.
Before she could speak, Kade's urgent voice interrupted her thoughts. "It's fifteen minutes to eight. We need to leave now, or we won't make it in time."
With that, Kade opened the car door like a gentleman and invited Deanna to get in.
Seeing his polite smile, Deanna swallowed her words. After all, Kade had helped her a lot during their university days. She decided to repay the favor and talk about it after the opera.
They set off for the opera house, unaware that this scene was captured by two little ones on the balcony with a phone.
Chloe frowned as she looked at the photo on the phone. "Come to think of it, Uncle has never given Mommy flowers."
"That's true," Gregory agreed, nodding.
He then sent all the photos to Lance with a message: "Uncle, if you don't come back soon, someone else will take Mommy away."
Almost immediately after sending the message, Lance saw it. He hadn't slept for two days because of the gold mine issue.
Seeing the photos on his phone, although a bit blurry, he quickly recognized Deanna. When his eyes fell on the bouquet in her hands, his already cold gaze turned even colder.
He instinctively called Deanna, but no one answered. With no other option, he contacted the two little ones.
"Uncle," Gregory's clear voice came through the phone.
Lance didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "Who did your mommy go out with and what are they doing?"
"Mommy went out with Uncle Kade to watch an opera," Gregory answered honestly. He then asked, "Uncle, when will you come back?"
"I can't come back right now, but I promise to see you first thing when I return," Lance reassured him, though his mind was preoccupied with Deanna's situation, feeling inexplicably irritable.
Deanna was unaware of all this. She had put her phone on silent mode to watch the opera.
Two hours later, as the opera ended and she left with Kade, she took out her phone to turn off silent mode and saw several missed calls from Lance.
Just as she was about to call back, her phone rang again. It was Lance.
Deanna hesitated for a moment, feeling inexplicably guilty. But why should she feel guilty?
Seeing her phone ring for a while without answering, Kade looked over curiously. "Aren't you going to answer?"
"I will," Deanna said, putting the phone to her ear. "What's up?"
Lance's cold voice came through immediately. "Where are you now?"
"I'm at Chanburg Opera House, about to head back," Deanna replied honestly. She knew she couldn't hide this from Lance anyway, given that there were two little spies at home who would report everything.
Hearing Deanna's straightforwardness made Lance feel slightly better. Her openness indicated she had no ulterior motives.
"It's late; you should head back. I'll arrange for someone to pick you up and take you home."
"That's not necessary; I can take a cab," Deanna suggested, thinking it would be troublesome for Lance to arrange a car from abroad.
Lance insisted, "It's not safe to take a cab this late. It's no trouble at all."
"Alright, thank you," Deanna accepted. Then she couldn't help but ask about his company after seeing recent news online. "How's your company doing?"
"It's getting sorted out. It won't be long before it's resolved. You don't need to worry," Lance said gently.
Deanna blushed inexplicably at his words and retorted, "I'm not worried."
Despite her words, she couldn't help but ask if Lance was taking his medication on time. "I know you're busy, but no matter how busy you are, you need to rest. Remember how much effort it took me to nurse you back to health. If you don't take care of yourself, you'll face the consequences."
"I know. I'll take care of myself and take my medication on time. I'll let you check when I get back."