Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The phone he had set on the desk suddenly lit up. I looked over and spotted a photo of two people together, then said in surprise, “Wow, you have an old photo of Mom!”
Mom looked so young in it. It even seemed like she was wearing a school uniform.
Before Dad could say anything, I showed him the wallpaper on my kids’ smartwatch. “Look, I have a photo with Mom too.”
On that tiny wallpaper was Mom and me when I was two years old.
She was holding me on her lap, looking gently at the camera.
Dad stared at that photo for a long time. Then he suddenly asked, “Why do you think I’m your dad and not someone else?”
“Mom looks at your photo and cries,” I said, staring at him.
That wasn’t from the bullet comments. I saw it myself.
There was someone in Mom’s heart who made her sad. When I was even younger, she would look at the photos on her phone late at night and cry.
“CEO Qin,” the uncle beside us reminded him, “it’s almost time for the meeting.”
He stood up and looked down at me for a moment, then turned and instructed, “Have Secretary Su come take care of her. Until the meeting is over, don’t let anyone take her away.”
So the huge office was left with just me and a pretty older sister.
She brought over a lot of snacks and looked at me with a smile. “Sweetie, want big sis to play with you?”
“Okay!”
Secretary Su touched my cheek. Maybe she liked how it felt, because she rubbed it again before gossiping, “Sweetie, what exactly is the relationship between you and our CEO Qin?”
“He’s my dad.”
The hand on my face froze. She cupped my cheeks with both hands, her tone full of resentment and jealousy toward the capitalist class. “Him? He could have a daughter this adorable?”
It was obvious Sister Su suffered a lot under her boss on a daily basis.
Mom’s work this time took longer than I expected. When I got bored, I sent her messages on my kids’ smartwatch, so she wouldn’t worry about me.
About an hour later, Dad came back to the office with a cold expression.
When she saw him, Sister Su stood up. “CEO Qin.”
My mouth was still full of potato chips as I mumbled, “Dad!”
Dad looked at Sister Su. “You can go out now.”
“Okay.”
As the office door closed, he walked over to me and sat down. “Your mom still hasn’t contacted you? Don’t tell me she doesn’t want you anymore and deliberately dumped you on me.”
?
I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. “Qin Yan, you’re not allowed to talk about my mom like that!”
“Such bad manners. Weren’t you calling me Dad just now?” He reached over and wiped the potato chip crumbs from my mouth.
“Mom likes you, so you’re my dad. If Mom liked someone else, then that person could be my dad too,” I said with complete confidence.
“Mama’s girl,” he sneered.
Mom’s precious daughter?
I kept my hands on my hips and nodded. “That’s right, I am a mama’s girl!”
“…”
Seeing that it was almost dinnertime, I rubbed my belly and tugged on the sleeve of the person beside me. “Dad, I’m hungry.”
“Didn’t you just eat a pile of snacks? You’re hungry already?” He reached out and poked my belly, like he was checking whether I was telling the truth.
“Snacks are snacks. A meal is a meal,” I said seriously.
“Smart mouth for someone so little.” Even as he said that, Dad took out his phone and made a call, telling someone to bring food up.
This was the first meal Dad and I ate together.
For some reason, his gaze kept falling on my face. At first, he even wanted to feed me.
But I was a big girl now. Big girls could eat by themselves.
After dinner, Mom still hadn’t come. She must have run into something difficult at work.
I got a little sleepy and didn’t see the message Mom sent me. Leaning against Dad, I fell asleep.
I don’t know how much time passed before my smartwatch rang. In my daze, someone answered it, and I vaguely heard Mom’s voice on the other end, but my eyelids were too heavy.
Someone shook me. “An’an, your mom is coming to pick you up.”
Half-asleep, I instinctively nuzzled closer. “Dad, I’m sleepy.”
So that voice fell silent. Then, after that, it felt like someone picked me up into a broad, sturdy embrace.