Chapter 6

Charles pushed open the bedroom door, revealing a pitch-black room.

He flicked on the light and walked in, hearing a muffled voice from Patricia, who was hiding under the covers.

"Ellie... don't call me for dinner, I'm not hungry."

An iPad on the bedside table was playing something unknown. Charles set the honey water aside and poked the blanket.

"Come on, drink this honey water."

Hearing a voice that wasn't Ellie's, Patricia slowly emerged from the covers, revealing only her eyes to look at Charles.

Charles glanced at her and then at the cup on the bedside table. "Drink it, you'll feel better."

Patricia was in so much pain that she almost forgot the last time she felt this bad.

Her memory drifted back to when Charles had seen her in such pain after they got married and had a doctor treat her. It had been a long time since she felt this way.

Her thoughts pulled her back to the past, merging the thirty-year-old Charles with the thirty-five-year-old Charles in front of her.

"No." Patricia's stomach twisted in pain, her eyes unfocused.

Charles didn't hear clearly and leaned closer.

"What did you say?"

"I don't want... honey water, you know that." Patricia was in such pain that cold sweat formed on her forehead. Each pang made her feel like she was dying.

'I know?' Charles was puzzled. When did he know that?

"Do you always hurt this much?" Charles saw her pale, lifeless face and felt a pang of sympathy, his tone softer than usual.

"It hurts."

Patricia's ears buzzed from the pain, and she didn't have the strength to discern what he said.

Maybe she was too overwhelmed by the pain, but she pulled Charles's hand and placed it under the blanket.

Charles's palm was thick and naturally warm. When he touched her cold stomach, the warmth made Patricia feel slightly better. She held Charles's hand and rubbed it repeatedly on her stomach.

Charles froze, shocked by Patricia's actions, staring at her in a daze.

The room was silent for a long time until a deep voice broke the quiet, snapping Patricia back to reality.

"Patricia, are you feeling better?"

Patricia realized she had confused Charles with his past self and hurriedly let go of his hand, looking flustered.

Charles's Adam's apple bobbed as he looked at her with an unreadable expression.

Patricia felt embarrassed. "Why did you come back?"

Seeing that she didn't know what had happened downstairs, Charles didn't plan to explain.

He picked up the honey water and handed it to her. "Drink this first. If you're still not feeling well, I'll call the family doctor."

"No need, I'm much better." Patricia awkwardly scratched her face, thinking about her strange behavior earlier, her face burning with embarrassment.

"At the last dinner party, I checked. It was Irene's doing. I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Patricia's embarrassment faded as soon as she heard it was about Irene. She knew why Charles had suddenly come back; he wanted to plead for Irene.

"And then?" Patricia took a sip of the honey water, grimacing at the taste. She didn't like honey water.

"You posted the video."

Patricia's eyes darkened. "So what if I did? If you're here to plead for her, you can leave. No matter what you say, I won't let her off."

'Damn man!' Patricia cursed inwardly.

The night she came back, she had someone post the video online and bought a lot of traffic to push the incident to the top of the trending list.

She wanted Irene to experience what she had gone through in her past life.

Thinking about the arguments with Charles over Irene and other women in her past life made her exhausted.

"You were involved, so you have the right to do that," Charles explained.

Patricia had no patience to listen. Her discomfort from her period made her irritable, and seeing Charles talk about another woman made her even more annoyed.

"Mr. Anderson, if you're really bored enough to meddle in my affairs, why not spend more time with your daughter? Last time you left without saying goodbye to Emily, she was upset for days."

Charles was kicked out by Patricia, and since she wasn't feeling well, he didn't hold it against her.

Thinking about how he had been busy with work these days, Emily had indeed called him several times through Ellie. Charles felt guilty and went downstairs to have dinner with Emily.

Emily was well-behaved, already learning to use a fork at three years old.

"Daddy, will you sleep with me tonight?" Emily swallowed the last bite of pasta and looked at Charles with her big, round eyes.

Charles wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Isn't it nice to sleep with Mommy?"

At first, Emily wasn't very close to him. It was Patricia who pushed her to call him "Daddy".

Patricia had a knack for educating children. With just a few words, she made Emily warm up to her suddenly appearing father.

Emily was very obedient. While other children threw tantrums, she could understand adults and manage her emotions.

Charles was drawn to her well-behaved nature.

Emily gestured a few times and said in a sweet, childlike voice, "Daddy and Mommy should sleep together, right?"

Emily pointed to herself. "Emily wants to, too."

Charles thought for a moment and didn't agree directly. Instead, he said, "You have to ask Mommy."

Emily seemed to understand. She slid off the chair and looked at Charles seriously. "Emily will go ask Mommy!"

Charles was amused by her.

After dinner, Charles took Emily upstairs.

Patricia looked much better. Seeing Emily, she smiled and asked, "Emily, are you full?"

"Full." Emily nodded vigorously, her big, round eyes darting around.

"What's up?"

"Mommy, can Daddy sleep with us tonight?"

Patricia was stunned and refused without thinking. "No."

Emily's expression instantly turned sad, and she rolled on the bed.

"Mommy's mean. I want! I want! I want to sleep with Daddy and Mommy!"

"Emily, you can't throw a tantrum." Patricia became serious. "If you insist on being stubborn, you'll have to stand in the corner."

Charles interrupted her. "Be patient with the child."

Patricia glanced at him and threw a pillow at him, her face darkening. "Emily, go sleep with your dad!"

And so, father and daughter were kicked out of the master bedroom by Patricia.

Charles was baffled by Patricia's unpredictable behavior.

With no other option, he took Emily to the guest room to sleep. Emily quickly fell asleep.

Before sleeping, Charles kept thinking about Patricia's unusual behavior today. The phrase "you know that" kept replaying in his mind like a broken record.

That night, he had a dream.

He dreamt of Patricia looking at him tenderly, without the furrowed brows she had when she saw him these past few days.

She held his face, her beautiful eyes filled with deep emotion, calling his name over and over.

He felt like he had known Patricia for a long time, holding her in his arms and kissing her passionately.

Charles woke up, sweating, feeling a strange sense of familiarity.

Why had he been dreaming about her for several days in a row?

At the Church Group, Calvin looked at the design drafts displayed on the PPT. The slides showed creative submissions for the designer competition.

According to the competition requirements, the designs should be themed around this year's Christmas, creating fashion suitable for the holiday atmosphere.

When the slideshow reached one of the pages, Calvin called out.

"Wait a minute, this style is good."

After looking for so long, he finally saw something that met his requirements. Sarah Church and her assistant both breathed a sigh of relief.

Calvin, as a model agency preparing for the Christmas runway show, was known for his high standards and willingness to spend money.

Sarah didn't want to miss out on this big client. She pulled out the paper version of the design draft Calvin had just liked from a pile of materials.

"This is a submission from our designer competition. If Mr. Scott likes it, we can buy the rights and start production immediately."

Calvin carefully examined the design draft.

"Who is this designer?"