Chapter 47 Why Would I Fall In Love
“Let’s go, Mommy.”
Courtney came to her senses and watched the rear end of the car disappear from the entrance of the neighborhood and coughed awkwardly.
On the way back, Tina took Courtney’s hand and looked at her knowingly.
“Mommy, did you just fall in love?”
“Who’s fallen in love?” Courtney denied. “Why would I fall in love?”
“You kept staring at Mr. Alexander and wouldn’t leave! Even I felt embarrassed for you, Mommy!”
Courtney blushed scarlet and was speechless.
When they exited the elevator, her expression changed as she remembered what Tina did earlier and grabbed her by the collar. “I haven’t settled the score with you. Who allowed you to casually invite others to our house? Did you ask for my permission?”
Tina struggled and protested. “Let me go, Mommy! My teacher taught us to return the courtesy from others.”
Courtney was speechless.
She didn’t really care if Tina’s teacher had taught them about courtesy. The following Monday, Courtney met Alexander at the entrance when kindergarten had ended; he was also there to pick his kid up.
“I’ll drop you guys off—it’s along the way.”
The black car was parked under the inconspicuous old locust tree. As Courtney saw the busy crowd on the street, she realized that it would be hard to get a cab; the subway would be difficult to squeeze in at this time too, so she agreed.
After arriving at their doorstep, she said politely, “Thanks a lot, President Duncan. If you hadn’t been so busy, I would have invited you to come up for dinner.”
She was obviously being courteous, but she was afraid that Alexander wouldn’t understand.
After all, some people pretended to be oblivious to such courteous words when they wanted to.
“I’m not busy.” Alexander’s voice echoed in her ears. “Since Jordan wants to eat your cooking and has refused to eat properly at home, let’s go.”
With that, he got out of his car.
Courtney wanted to slap herself. Why did I run my mouth off?
Why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?
Filled with regret, she brought Alexander and Jordan into the house and prepared a table full of food. Although she only used the ingredients she had in the fridge, her cooking skills won them over.
“Our house is quite small, so I hope you don’t mind.”
“It’s better than what I imagined. Stop fussing about—sit down and eat.” Alexander was passing the food to the children like he was in his own house.
Surprised, Courtney listened to him and took off her apron before sitting across from him.
The atmosphere was a little awkward, so she tried to find a topic to talk about as she asked, “Earlier this afternoon, I heard from Josh that you usually have dinner parties at night.”
“Yeah.”
“What about today?”
“There’s none today.”
“Oh.”
After a brief and awkward conversation, Courtney decided to shut her mouth and stopped talking—Alexander was not one to make small talk.
I’d better not look for a topic to talk about since it’s even more awkward to try.
Then, it was quiet for a while as Tina ate and started to chatter about what happened in school. Alexander actually seemed interested and asked questions from time to time while Jordan would nod or shake his head.
Soon enough, the atmosphere gradually warmed up.
After they finished their meal, Alexander chatted with the two kids in the living room while Courtney washed the dishes in the kitchen. It was almost 9.00PM by the time she came out of the kitchen.
“It’s late; I shall take my leave with Jordan.” Alexander got up from the sofa and bid them goodbye.
Courtney was slightly taken aback; the perfect excuse she had prepared to get them to leave the house was now useless, and she suddenly felt embarrassed about the whole ordeal. As she walked them to the door, she suggested politely, “Well, I couldn’t do anything special since today was kind of a last-minute thing, so you guys should visit us more often.”
Alexander held Jordan’s hand and nodded at her. “Okay.”
Courtney’s heart skipped a beat. Why do I think that he hasn’t taken the hint? Don’t tell me that he’s taking it seriously again?
The next day, the black car was parked in front of the kindergarten under the old locust tree again. Once again, it was on the way and back to Courtney’s house for a meal.
Over the next few days, Alexander would bring his son to Courtney’s house for dinner. She felt more uncomfortable as the days went by and finally took Tina to the subway train to avoid passing the old locust tree.
Naturally, Alexander was not there when they were having dinner.
They were having two dishes and a soup; Courtney passed a plate to Tina. “This one is nice.”
Tina seemed the same as usual without Alexander and Jordan’s company. On the other hand, Courtney suddenly felt a sense of emptiness in her heart.
Why do I suddenly feel like the house has become so much quieter without the two equally silent people sitting at the opposite end of the table? There wasn’t even much going on when they were around.
The next day, it was time for school to end.
After picking Tina up, Courtney was hesitant about walking under the locust tree when her phone suddenly rang; it was a call from Alexander.
“President Duncan?”
“Are you picking Tina up?” The voice on the other end was deep and strong.
“Yes.”
“Can you pick Jordan up along the way? Something came up at work and I can’t leave right away.”
“Huh?” Courtney froze as she subconsciously looked back toward the crowd of children and saw Jordan frantically waving at her from the middle of the line—he was covered in sweat from waving for so long.
“Oh, all right. I got it, don’t worry.”
“Thanks, I’ll pick him up later.”
“Okay.”
After she explained the situation to the teacher and picked Jordan up, they got into the car under the locust tree as Alexander’s butler drove them back to the apartment.
On the road, the butler looked in the rearview mirror with a smile.
“Miss Hunter, you have no idea how much the maids in the manor admire you.”
“Why is that so?” Courtney was puzzled.
“The Little Master always refused to eat back then, and the Young Master was always mad at the servants. But now that the Young Master has been sending the Little Master to your place for meals, even the manor’s cook asked me yesterday if you could teach her some cooking skills.”
Courtney was slightly taken aback. “He’s been bringing Jordan to my house because of Jordan’s eating problem?”
“That’s right.” The butler looked confused. “What did you think it was for, Miss Hunter?”
“Oh, that’s what I thought.”
Courtney quickly agreed even though she had mixed feelings about it.
Connecting the incident from last Saturday—where Alexander had offered her a job as Jordan’s nanny—together with their frequent visits to Courtney’s house for their meals, it all made sense.
He’s just here to get his son to eat, yet I’ve been thinking too much about it! Fortunately, I wasn’t too obvious; otherwise, it would have been too embarrassing.
When Alexander came to pick Jordan up in the evening, Courtney walked him to the door and said, “President Duncan, you’re welcome to visit any time with Jordan for dinner.”
Alexander had a calm and composed expression as he nodded in response. “Okay.”
Meanwhile, Jordan had drifted off to sleep in his safety seat.
The butler held the steering wheel and glanced at the rearview mirror, looking like a thief as he lowered his voice. “Young Master, I said everything just as you instructed me to.”
