Chapter 55
"It's not convenient to talk on the phone. I'll explain everything in detail when we meet up someday. I promise I'll clear up all your questions then."
"Talk when we meet?" Emily almost laughed in frustration. "I just want an answer. It's just one sentence. Why do you have to keep putting it off?"
"It can't be explained in one sentence."
Afraid Emily would keep asking, he quickly said, "I'll wrap things up here as soon as I can and come find you. But for now, I hope you can help me take good care of Aiden."
"Are you sure Aiden really needs me to take care of him?" Emily's brows furrowed tightly.
At first, she really thought that once William left, there'd be no one to look after Aiden, which was why she agreed to take him in.
But Oscar had just said that Aiden had a grandfather who loved him and such a beautiful, big house to live in, which meant he was living quite well.
If that was the case, why not let him go home instead of sending him to stay with her?
"Emily, I told you, the situation isn't as simple as you think." William sounded rather helpless. "Just let Aiden stay with you for now, okay? You really like him too, don't you?"
Emily opened her mouth. She had so much more to say, but in the end, nothing came out.
"When are you coming back?"
"I'm not sure."
"Not sure?"
William made a sound of agreement. "But I'll definitely come back to find you as soon as possible. That's my promise. It won't be long before we see each other again."
'Will there really be another chance to meet?' Emily asked herself.
She didn't know much about William, and he wasn't willing to say much about his situation.
Emily had felt more than once that she and William were clearly from two different worlds.
Would people like them really cross paths again?
William didn't want to continue this topic. "By the way, how have you been these past few days? Are you okay? Is work keeping you busy?"
"I'm fine..." Emily's heart stirred, her eyelashes trembling twice.
No matter how slow she was, she could tell William was showing concern for her - even his tone had changed.
"I should go to sleep."
Before William could say anything else, Emily pretended to yawn. "I have so many things to do tomorrow. You must be busy too, so I'll wait for you to come find me and explain everything clearly. I'm going to sleep now, good night."
She was afraid that if they kept talking, with the night so deep and emotions so vulnerable, she might say something inappropriate and lose her composure.
Since William had said this much, Emily could only temporarily suppress her questions and wait for him to return.
But before going to bed, she decided to announce something.
Emily called the three children out. "Kids, we might be moving."
"Moving?" Oscar frowned slightly. "Mommy, we've been living here just fine. Why do we suddenly need to move?"
Aiden and Nina also looked at Emily with confusion, not understanding.
Emily hadn't wanted to discuss this topic, but there was no choice. Sooner or later, the kids would find out, so she might as well tell them now and let them prepare mentally.
"Mommy, we've been living here for so long. Why do we suddenly need to move?"
Emily didn't know how to explain and could only say vaguely, "Wouldn't it be nice to live in a different environment? We've lived here for so long, I'm tired of it."
She really didn't know what to say. The adult world was too complicated. Children's hearts were so pure and clean - it was better not to let them know.
Aiden suddenly spoke up. "Is it because of my dad?"
He stopped halfway through, a flash of panic and helplessness in his eyes.
Emily's heart tightened, and she quickly shook her head. "How could that be? You've misunderstood. This has nothing to do with your dad. It's my own idea. I've never blamed your dad."
At the mention of William, Emily felt even worse.
She didn't know if there would be another chance to see him.
She seriously suspected William was lying to her.
Oscar thought for a moment, then said softly, "Mommy, you can decide this kind of thing yourself. You don't need to ask us."
"No matter what you think, we'll respect every decision you make. We also know that whatever you do, it's for our own good."
The more he said this, the worse Emily felt.
But things had come to this point. Since she'd already made the decision, there wasn't much more to say.
Soon, the children went to bed, and Emily returned to her room.
But this was destined to be a sleepless night.
Before going to bed, Nina asked Emily a question. "Mommy, after we move, will we have a bigger yard?"
He was the youngest of the children and spoke the most innocently.
Emily could only promise him the new home would definitely be better.
But she needed to hurry up and find a new place.
The next morning, Emily woke up after only three hours of sleep. When she opened her phone, she saw dozens of missed calls, all from Rodolfo.
Emily held her phone, her finger hovering over the call-back button for a long time before finally putting it down.
She couldn't answer or return the call. Otherwise, once she heard Rodolfo's voice, she probably wouldn't be able to harden her heart to leave.
After waking the three children, washing up, and eating breakfast, Emily went out to look for a place.
Renting wasn't easy. Emily looked at many places but wasn't satisfied with any of them. Renting with three children was much harder than renting alone.
Some people simply weren't willing to rent to Emily. As soon as they heard she had three kids, their first reaction was that it would be troublesome, and they couldn't wait to shake their heads. Some even hung up before Emily could finish speaking.
This made Emily feel quite humiliated and left her rather worn out.
Unable to find a suitable rental right away, she had no choice but to take the three children to stay at a budget hotel for three days - there was no other option.
Staying at a hotel was much more expensive than renting. Originally, Emily thought it would take at most two or three days to find a place, but it wasn't until the fourth afternoon that she barely found a suitable house, located in an old residential area in the north part of the city. Although the environment was average, at least it was a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout, enough for the four of them.
Most importantly, it was quite far from the city center - even by taxi it took over half an hour.
The rent was within Emily's budget. After signing the rental contract, the weight on Emily's heart finally lifted.
Staying at the hotel for several nights had made her already tight finances even worse, but now it was better. The housing matter was settled, and next, she needed to find work.
After settling the children, Emily was just about to go out when the police station called to notify her that there was progress in Rodolfo's case.
Emily rushed to the police station. The officer who received her was the same older policeman from last time, who looked to be in his forties. However, this time his expression was even more serious than before.