Chapter 376 For a Bite to Eat
After Seraphina and Stefan finished their meal, they went back to Stefan's place to rest.
She hadn't really looked around carefully during her previous visits, so today with some free time, she decided to check the place out.
The living room was decorated with dolls she liked.
Stefan went to make some fruit juice and told Seraphina to take her time looking around.
"Can I go into the bedroom?" Seraphina called out toward the kitchen.
"Sure," Stefan answered with a smile.
Seraphina's lips curved into a sweet smile as she opened the bedroom door.
Clean and tidy.
There weren't many decorations in the bedroom.
Nothing much to see.
Seraphina closed the door and went to check out the balcony. Looking up, she spotted men's underwear hanging there.
A moment of silence.
Seraphina quietly looked away, her face slightly flushed.
She quickly left the balcony and went to look at the guest room.
The guest room had nothing but a bed. Just as she was about to close the door, she suddenly heard something fall to the floor.
There seemed to be something behind the door.
Seraphina walked into the room and looked behind the door - it was a hiking stick that had fallen over.
She bent down to pick up the hiking stick, brought it out of the guest room, walked to the kitchen, and curiously asked Stefan, "Stefan, where do you go hiking? Why do you need a stick?"
Stefan had been wearing a gentle smile, but when he saw the hiking stick in Seraphina's hand, his smile faded.
He took the hiking stick from Seraphina's hand and replied gently, "I don't like hiking. That stick belongs to someone else. Let me put it away. The juice is ready - why don't you try it and see how it tastes?"
Seraphina looked at the glass of freshly made juice and nodded, "What fruits did you use? The color is really pretty."
"Several kinds of fruit." After saying this, Stefan took the hiking stick and walked out of the kitchen into the guest room.
He looked down at the hiking stick in his hand. After a few seconds, he put it in the empty closet.
"Stefan, hold onto it."
Stefan rubbed his temples, trying to push away the voice that kept echoing in his mind.
He'd throw it away tomorrow.
Seraphina stayed at Stefan's place until after three in the afternoon before asking him to take her home.
"Please give this birthday gift to your dad tomorrow for me," Stefan handed the gift to Seraphina.
"Thanks," Seraphina leaned over and quickly kissed his cheek. "I'm going now."
Stefan touched his cheek, lowered his eyes, and smiled silently.
By the time Seraphina made her way back home via Port City Garden, it was almost five o'clock.
"I'm home," Seraphina announced as she walked in.
"You're back. Did everything go smoothly?" Elizabeth was sitting in the living room and turned to look at her when she heard Seraphina's voice.
"Pretty smoothly. Where are Dad and Brandon?" Seraphina didn't hear Brandon's voice and put the gift on the table first.
"Your dad was called in by Brandon's teacher." Elizabeth recalled Timothy's expression when he received the call from teacher Xanthe and couldn't help but laugh with schadenfreude.
Seeing Elizabeth sitting leisurely on the sofa laughing at someone else's misfortune, Seraphina couldn't help but laugh too. "What did Brandon do?"
Elizabeth's lips curved into a smile. "No idea. We'll find out when the father and son get back."
At that moment, at the kindergarten.
Timothy stood in the kindergarten teacher's office, his face stern. Brandon stood beside him, blinking innocently and touching his troublemaking little bald head.
Teacher Xanthe patiently explained while trying to ease the tension.
The atmosphere between Timothy and Dashiell was tense.
"Mr. Robinson, Mr. Blackwell, Brandon teaching Matilda to shave her head was unintentional. The two children aren't mature enough yet, so please, both parents, communicate properly."
Xanthe didn't dare say "don't fight."
The thing was, both Timothy and Dashiell's presence was intimidating.
Timothy looked at Matilda's messy hair across from him, took a deep breath, then looked down at his own Brandon, who had no idea he'd almost caused a disaster.
Who would have thought that Brandon would suggest Matilda shave her head, and Matilda would actually take him seriously?
When Matilda went home and told her dad Dashiell she wanted to shave her head, of course Dashiell wouldn't agree.
But Matilda actually took scissors and secretly cut her own hair.
When Dashiell saw his precious daughter Matilda cutting her hair with scissors, he nearly died of fright. After finding out the reason, he came to the school.
Dashiell said angrily, "Mr. Robinson, thank goodness nothing happened to Matilda. I know we can't blame children for their innocent ideas, but as parents, we're responsible for guiding them and teaching them right from wrong."
Timothy scoffed, "Mr. Blackwell, you left scissors where a child could reach them - that's your failure. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself."
Dashiell was momentarily speechless at Timothy's words, his face flushing red, but he couldn't argue back.
Timothy lazily smiled, "Mr. Blackwell, children do say innocent things, and sometimes their ideas might surprise adults, but in this case, I don't think my son did anything wrong. He just suggested shaving her head, and your daughter believed him."
After saying this, Timothy crouched down and gently patted Brandon's head. "Brandon, are you hungry? Let's go home and eat."
Brandon nodded. Brandon was very protective of Timothy too.
Brandon had a pretty good idea that Matilda's dad Dashiell was here to bully them.
Brandon declared fiercely in his childish way, "I'm never playing with Matilda again!"
When Matilda heard that Brandon wouldn't play with her anymore, her eyes reddened and tears fell.
Brandon proudly took Timothy's hand. "Dad, let's go."
Timothy left the teacher's office with the cocky Brandon.
In the office, Dashiell quickly picked up the crying Matilda to comfort her. "Baby, don't cry. If he won't play with you, you can play with other kids."
Xanthe thought for a moment, then told Dashiell tactfully, "Matilda cries a lot, and Brandon is the only one in class who plays with her."
Because Brandon wanted Matilda's candy, so he played with her.
Xanthe knew about the things Brandon did for food, but she didn't interfere too much with how the children interacted with each other.
Thinking about the things Brandon did for food made Xanthe want to laugh.
Dashiell fell silent.