Chapter 369: A Piece of Bad News
Timothy sat cross-legged next to Brandon. "Brandon, you're a boy, and boys don't cry."
"Daddy." Brandon hiccupped softly through his tears.
Timothy looked at the teardrops hanging on his eyelashes and his pitiful little face, and chuckled softly.
"Brandon specially brought an egg back for me to eat, right?"
Timothy pulled out the books and toys from Brandon's backpack.
"Yes, Daddy was sick and needed to eat it, but the egg got squashed," Brandon stopped crying and hung his head. "Daddy, I'm sorry."
Timothy felt quite pleased. After raising Brandon for several years, the boy had finally learned to care about others.
Timothy took out a small piece of egg yolk that hadn't been crushed from the backpack, put it in his mouth and tasted it carefully. "This egg is really delicious. Next time, bring another one back for me, okay?"
There's a next time?
Brandon looked completely reluctant.
Timothy could tell from Brandon's expression that his food-hoarding habit was showing up again.
Timothy snorted inwardly, "I'm sick."
"Okay," Brandon blinked his bright eyes and patted his little chest. "Next time I'll protect the egg!"
After comforting Brandon, Timothy took him to wash his hands and then brought him straight to class.
They had already hired a tutor to come to their home.
Brandon had already forgotten about crying earlier. His biggest worry now was having to attend class.
Seraphina secretly took a photo of Timothy and Brandon with her phone, then turned to Elizabeth. "Mommy, I think it's completely reasonable for me not to give up profit margins to Demetrius for the pharmaceutical distribution rights."
Elizabeth saw that Seraphina wasn't wavering or changing her mind because of her objection.
Elizabeth smiled with relief. "It's good that you have your own ideas. I'm waiting to see what results you deliver."
Seraphina nodded and said seriously, "Mommy, I understand. I believe our company's strengths are enough to attract Demetrius. We don't need to trade profit margins for cooperation."
Meanwhile, Demetrius came out of the shower, carefully buttoning up his pajamas as he walked to the table.
He picked up two proposals from the table—one from the Robinson Group and one from Seraphina Enterprises.
He had already reviewed both.
He placed Seraphina Enterprises' proposal on the table.
His eyes showed a kind of calm calculation.
After thinking for a while, Demetrius picked up his phone and called Gavin. When the call connected, he said coldly, "Contact Ms. Johnson from the Robinson Group and arrange a meeting."
Demetrius looked down at the Robinson Group's proposal in his hand. At that moment, no one knew what he was thinking.
Gavin on the other end of the line said yes.
After they hung up, Gavin felt somewhat surprised.
He hadn't expected that Seraphina Enterprises would fail to secure the pharmaceutical distribution rights.
He picked up the business card from the gift box Stefan had sent as an apology and dialed Stefan's mobile number.
Stefan was in a hospital room waiting for Sloane to handle two urgent documents.
His phone suddenly rang. Seeing it was an unknown caller, he answered, "Hello."
Gavin smiled lightly. "Mr. Hensley, this is Gavin. Mr. Kramer has just decided to arrange a meeting with Ms. Johnson."
Stefan replied politely, "Please wait a moment."
He lowered his voice and told Sloane about Demetrius wanting to meet.
Hearing this good news, Sloane's face lit up with a smile. Her new strategy had taken a small step forward. "Tomorrow at nine o'clock, I'll be waiting for Mr. Kramer at the company."
Stefan nodded and replied to Gavin on the phone, "Mr. Dixon, tomorrow at nine o'clock, Ms. Johnson will be waiting for Mr. Kramer at the company."
After setting the time, they hung up.
Sloane was delighted, her eyes full of confidence. "Mr. Hensley, arrange everything for receiving Mr. Kramer tomorrow and prepare all the relevant materials."
Stefan nodded. "Understood, I'll have everything ready."
He left the hospital with the two urgent documents Sloane had processed and returned to the company to finish his work.
Looking at the time, it was already eight in the evening.
Stefan left the company and bought bread at a convenience store to fill his stomach.
He didn't drive home right away but instead drove to Port City Garden.
When Seraphina received Stefan's call, she was still buried in reviewing various departments' situations at the company. "Stefan?"
Hearing Seraphina's soft voice, Stefan's eyes warmed. "I'm downstairs at your place. Can you come down?"
Seraphina and her whole family weren't at Port City Garden, so she could only make an excuse to refuse. "I'm still busy with company matters."
Stefan got out of the car and leaned against the door, puzzled, looking up at the Port City Garden building. "Is the assistant at Seraphina Enterprises really that busy?"
"Yes, very busy," Seraphina felt conflicted. She couldn't keep hiding her true identity from Stefan forever. She had already decided to come clean the day she met Stefan's family. "Stefan, the day we go to meet your parents, there's something I want to tell you."
Stefan smiled, his voice low. "Okay, I also have something to tell you that day."
They both had surprises to share with each other.
Seraphina said "okay," then added in a muffled voice, "There's one more very important thing. My dad is sick, and I want him to see me get married."
When talking about this, Seraphina's mood became very low.
From these words, Stefan also guessed the reason why Seraphina had been acting a bit off these past few days.
Timothy might not have a minor illness.
"Dione, can you tell me what illness your father has? Is there really no way to treat it? If money is the issue, I can help you."
After a few seconds, Stefan heard Seraphina say softly, "Stefan, thank you, but I don't need your money."
Stefan frowned slightly, not knowing how to comfort her. He said gently, "I'll take you to meet my parents this Saturday. After we return to Border Ridge City from Majestic City, it'll be my turn to meet your parents."
When Seraphina got up this morning, she was about to go wake Brandon up for school.
But she unexpectedly saw Timothy, fully dressed, at Brandon's bedroom door.
Timothy smiled fondly. "Seraphina, you go have breakfast first. I'll wake Brandon up. I'm taking him to school today."
Seraphina's lips moved. She wanted to persuade Timothy to continue resting at home, but when she saw Timothy's fond smile, she knew she couldn't talk him out of it.
She nodded and went to the dining room first.
"Mommy, good morning."
"Morning." Elizabeth smiled.
Elizabeth and Seraphina waited for Timothy and Brandon to come downstairs.
"Daddy, are you taking me to school today?" Brandon asked, holding Timothy's big hand as they went downstairs.
"Yes." Timothy replied lazily.
"Is Daddy all better?" Brandon asked, tilting his head.
"All better."
Hearing that Timothy was well again, Brandon's face broke into a happy smile.
Brandon's smile was very healing.
The next second.
"I can eat eggs now!"
Brandon was still thinking about the hard-boiled eggs at school.
Timothy was speechless.
Timothy and Brandon came downstairs and went to the dining room.
The family had a warm breakfast together. After breakfast, Seraphina went to work, Timothy took Brandon to school, and Elizabeth stayed home to watch TV shows while waiting for Timothy to return.
As soon as Seraphina arrived at the company, before she could even sit down, she received an internal call from Robbie asking her to come to his office.
She knocked on Robbie's office door and walked in. "Mr. Ellis."
Robbie looked at Seraphina and asked her to sit down first, then said steadily, "I just heard some bad news."
Seraphina listened carefully. "Please go ahead."
Robbie got straight to the point. "Mr. Kramer is meeting with Sloane from the Robinson Group today. You can probably guess what they're going to discuss, right?"