Entering the Nursery
918 Words
Nathan Scott’s dark brows furrowed slightly as he lifted his gaze to Isabella Reed. Isabella, glancing nervously out the window, worried about rejection from the man she deeply loved. After a while, Nathan nodded slightly but remained indifferent in his response, “Hmm.”
“Huh?!” Isabella’s face showed complete disbelief. Nathan had agreed so easily, an outcome she found almost unbelievable. Overwhelmed with excitement, her heart raced, and she felt a lightness in her being. She quickly stood up, her alluring figure swaying as she smiled at Nathan: “Great, then I’ll get back to work now. See you tomorrow, Mr. Scott!”
Finishing her words, Isabella sashayed out, her seductive smile lingering in the air. The door closed again, and the fading sound of her heels left Nathan to turn on the air purifier and dive back into the pile of documents on his desk.
"Hurry up! Time to wake up! Sophia, you can’t sleep any longer,” Lin Qianyu said as she walked into Sophia's bedroom, briskly pulling off the covers and hauling her out of bed like uprooting a carrot.
“Qianyu? Why so early? What brings you here?” Sophia yawned massively and leaned backward, almost falling back asleep. Lin Qianyu quickly propped open Sophia’s eyelids and playfully squeezed her beautifully sculpted cheeks to help her wake up.
''Sophia, get up, you've got a busy day! Aren’t you supposed to take Alex and Lily to the nursery?” Lin Qianyu kept pinching Sophia’s cheeks while speaking loudly, her eyes conveying a mix of amusement and disbelief at the situation.
It took a moment for Sophia to fully awaken and process Lin Qianyu’s words. “Oh no, the nursery! What’s the time now, Qianyu?” Sophia sat up quickly, glancing at her well-dressed friend in alarm.
Before Lin Qianyu could respond, Alex, very sensibly, presented his wristwatch to Sophia, his voice calm yet tinged with resignation: “Auntie Qianyu, it's already half-past eight. We’re going to be late.”
“Really? Where's my alarm clock? Why didn’t it wake me up?”Sophia, startled by the time displayed on the phone-watch, turned her head in search of her alarm clock, only to find it lying lifelessly on the windowsill cushion, sprawled out as if it had been thrown there, face down. Wondering who could have done it, she turned to face Alex and Lily, only to see the two little ones giving her a big eye roll, their plump fingers pointing accusingly in her direction. Sophia chuckled awkwardly, realizing she was the culprit, having a habit of turning off the alarm clock in her sleep.
Immediately, she sprang out of bed to get ready for the day. This whole interaction left Lin Qianyu utterly amazed and laughing uncontrollably.
Lin Qianyu, her eyes curved in mirth, sympathetically asked Alex and Lily, "Is this how your mommy usually takes care of you?" The two little ones helplessly shrugged and nodded their heads in resignation.
"Then, who made the breakfast on the table?" Lin Qianyu had noticed the two munching on their breakfast when she entered and had initially thought Sophia had started cooking. But, seeing Sophia just waking up, she realized that breakfast wasn’t Sophia’s doing.
"Of course, brother made it. His cooking skills are super awesome!" boasted Lily, proudly pointing at Alex.
Lin Qianyu was shocked, barely able to believe that such a young child could cook. But seeing Alex nod calmly, her world turned topsy-turvy.
As the sound of bustling came from the bathroom, Lin Qianyu couldn’t help but exclaim, "Oh my god, Sophia, are you mistreating your kids? Who lets their kids cook at such a young age? And you're okay with it?"
Alex shook his head solemnly and said, "Auntie Qianyu, if our big beauty Sophia cooked for us, that would be the real mistreatment!" Alex hinted at the dire consequences of Sophia's cooking, suggesting it was a matter of survival that had led him to take up cooking.
"You mean it's that bad? Dangerous, even?" Lin Qianyu's mouth hung open in disbelief. She knew Sophia wasn't a good cook, but was it really that hazardous?
Both kids nodded seriously, making it clear that life is much safer with Sophia away from the kitchen. "Alright, alright," conceded Lin Qianyu, understanding their plight and secretly relieved she wasn't the only one among friends with questionable culinary skills.
Upon arriving at the nursery, the headmistress was visibly impatient, constantly checking her phone. She would have left if it wasn't for the directive from her superiors about not offending the parents of these particular children.
Upon seeing Sophia and Lin Qianyu with the kids, the headmistress managed to mask her irritation with a professional smile, "Oh, you're already half an hour late for class. If you had been any later, school would have been over."
Sophia and Lin Qianyu, quick-witted as they were, sensed the hidden annoyance in the headmistress's words. But Sophia couldn’t be angry, knowing it was her own tardiness that caused the delay. “I'm really sorry for being late, headmistress. It won't happen again. Please take good care of my children,” she apologized profusely and handed over a bag of fruit pies as a peace offering.
The headmistress, mollified by Sophia's courtesy and remembering the instructions from her superiors, and charmed by the twins, let go of her displeasure and accepted the gift with a smile, "Alright, but remember, this should not happen again."
"Definitely, definitely," Sophia nodded earnestly.
- Writer
