At the same time, at the Cody family villa, Jeffery sat on the sofa, reading a magazine. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked up and said, "Bella, Lance has returned from abroad. Tomorrow, take some supplements to visit him."
"I know," Bella nodded in agreement. She had already planned to do so.
The next day, Deanna woke up early. She freshened up quickly and went downstairs. She thought she was up early, but as soon as she reached the living room, she saw Lance sitting on the sofa.
Lance heard the noise behind him and turned his head to see Deanna. His stern features softened immediately. He smiled slightly and asked, "Why are you up so early? Why not sleep a bit more?"
"I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. But you should rest more; your body needs it," Deanna said as she sat down on the sofa next to Lance.
Lance chuckled, "I wanted to rest, but I was woken up by the people downstairs."
Hearing it was work-related, Deanna didn't say much more. She then remembered that Lance had invited her friend over yesterday and found it odd. Since the children were around then, she didn't ask much. Now that she recalled it, she couldn't help but inquire.
"Why did you invite my friend over yesterday?"
"Your friend is interesting. With her here, you and the kids won't be bored," Lance explained with a smile.
Deanna felt there was more to it but didn't press further. In fact, Lance invited Julia not only to keep Deanna company but also to see if he could find more opportunities to get closer to Deanna by having her and the kids together.
They chatted idly for a while in an awkward atmosphere until the two kids woke up and came downstairs happily. They saw their mommy and uncle in the living room and ran over to greet them.
"Mommy, Uncle, you're up so early!"
"Yes, unlike you little lazy pigs who sleep until now," Deanna joked as she hugged Gregory.
Chloe, who was snuggling in Lance's arms, protested immediately, "We're not lazy pigs! Mommy is bad! Uncle, let's ignore Mommy."
"I don't think that's possible. Besides, I don't think your mommy is wrong," Lance said as he gently patted Chloe's bottom. "Alright, go have breakfast or you'll be late for school."
"Uncle is really biased towards Mommy," Chloe pouted.
Lance found her reaction amusing but said nothing more and carried her to the dining room.
After breakfast, Lance arranged for Xavier to take the kids to kindergarten. Deanna went to Lance's room to change his bandages. While doing so, she casually asked, "When do you plan to tell the kids the truth?"
"Why?" Lance looked at her in confusion.
Due to the angle, he couldn't see Deanna's expression. She bit her lip and said softly, "Just asking."
Lance remained silent for a few seconds before saying, "Let's wait a bit longer; I'm afraid they won't be able to handle it."
Deanna nodded in response and continued bandaging his wound. Just as she finished, Sam knocked on the door.
"Mr. Mercer, Miss Cody is here."
"What does she want?" Lance frowned.
Sam explained, "She heard you returned home and came to see you."
Due to family ties, Lance said coldly, "Alright, let her wait."
Sam nodded and left. Deanna felt inexplicably upset watching this unfold. She lowered her eyes and continued wrapping the bandage.
Soon after finishing, Deanna stood up and said calmly, "It's done; you can go see Miss Cody now." She turned to leave but was stopped by Lance grabbing her hand.
"And where are you going?" he asked.
"I'm going to check on the herb field; I haven't been there for a while," Deanna replied honestly as she tried to free her wrist from his grip.
But his hand was like an iron clamp that wouldn't let go. Frowning in frustration, she was about to ask him to release her when he spoke in a low voice.
"If it's nothing urgent, come downstairs with me."
"Why should I? Miss Cody wants to see you," Deanna snapped in irritation.
Seeing her reaction made Lance smile even more. "You're upset, aren't you?"
"Who's upset?" Deanna retorted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.