"Sweetheart!" Smiling, Florence pinched Andrew's cheek before she said, "Surprise! I'm back again!"
The atmosphere fell back to dead silence.
In fact, no one had responded to her enthusiasm.
Andrew was rubbing his cheek which she had just pinched...
Patrick was staring at Ashley's homework...
As for Amelia, she was keeping her head buried as she tried to figure a way out from the chessboard...
Florence was bashed with embarrassment. However, she shrugged it off by clearing her throat. She then exclaimed, "Nora had sent me here to tell you guys that my big brother is back and that dinner is ready on the table."
Andrew unconsciously moved his hand away from his face and ended up having it on his belly. He replied, "Aunt Florence, please excuse me for a moment. I'll return inside and let them know."
"Go ahead." Florence always found Andrew adorable, especially when he spoke like an adult despite looking no different from any other kids.
There was no need for Andrew to remind Patrick since he already overheard the conversation between him and Florence. Hethen said, "Ashley, we will take a break here."
She immediately threw away the pencil that she had just sharpened. In fact, she had been waiting for the arrival of this moment ever since she was forced to solve the mathematic questions.
The pencil rolled to the edge of the table and soon fell off from it. It was at the right time that Amelia managed to catch the pencil from falling down onto the floor.
At the sight of this, Ashley stuck her tongue out playfully at Amelia. Feeling grateful, Ashley knew that had her uncle seen that she threw away the pencil, he would have scolded her again.
The truth was that Patrick had been observing the secret interaction between Ashley and Amelia. It was for Amelia that Patrick had chosen to remain silence and bear with Ashley.
"Let's go. Time for dinner." Patrick said.
"Time for dinner! Time for dinner!"
Repeating after Patrick's words merrily, Ashley came down from her chair and threw herself on Patrick's thigh again. Apparently, she had forgotten the painful incident earlier.
On the first floor.
"What's so special today? Why are you all here?"
Owen could feel his jaw dropping as soon as he saw the crowd descending the staircase.
Upon reaching home, he had been rushed by Nora to the bathroom. Alongside, she complained of his oily skin and insisted him to wash his face before having dinner with the special guest that they were having in house.
Only on very rare occasions that Nora would complain about his look. Although he smiled without a word in front of his wife, the truth was that he felt triggered.
Upon washing his face, Owen could not help wondering the identity of the guest. After all, it was not usual for Nora to take the dinner so importantly. He wondered if it was a man that was going to be their guest tonight. If that was the case, he could not guarantee that he would be approachable and friendly towards a male guest that his wife valued so much.
In order to outstand the mysterious special guest from the aspect of outlook, not only had Owen washed his face, he even clean-shaved his face. Also, he styled his hair with hair wax which he rarely did so!
Perhaps the last thing he had not done was to put on the suits that he had been wearing during his wedding.
It was only then he realized the special guests that he was having tonight were no one but his own family members.
It turned out that it was a complete waste for him to go extra miles in creating such a refreshing look for himself.
Anyhow, upon realizing that Nora did not mean to subject him to comparison with the look of other men, Owen soon found himself relieved at such realization.
Meanwhile.
As soon as Patrick and the remaining fellows came downstairs, they immediately bumped into Owen who looked different apart from his usual look.
Rubbing her eyes, Florence murmured, "Am I the only one who feel like Owen looks different today?"
"I don't see any difference though. He is still Owen." Patrick remarked indifferently.
"That's not what I mean!" Florence shot Patrick with a glare.
It was then Florence found Patrick's expression perplexing.
She wondered what was going on.
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