Just then, a child’s voice came from outside the door. “Daddy, hurry up and come play racing with me! Mommy’s so bad at this!”
Shawn instinctively shot to his feet and called out in response. He was already heading toward the door when he turned back to me and said, “I’m only going to play with Neil for a while. He’s a boy, so Jill—”
I cut him off. “There’s no need to explain. I trust you.”
He faltered. Then, he said, “Good. You should trust me.”
He opened the door and left.
Jill’s son, Neil Green, had started calling Shawn “Daddy” since his first day here. I’d expressed my dissatisfaction over this, but Shawn had merely snapped, “How can you be so unsympathetic, Jolene? Neil’s just a child! It’s sad enough that he’s lost his father!”
I used to get upset whenever I heard Neil calling Shawn “Daddy”, but it didn’t seem to bother me this time. I placed a hand over my heart and smiled. It turned out that I would no longer feel hurt once I decided not to love Shawn anymore.
…
I heard laughter coming from outside the bedroom. It mingled with Neil calling Shawn “Daddy” and Shawn’s gentle responses. As I listened to them, I thought about the things I had to do.
After a while, my phone rang. It was a call from my mother. She asked whether I’d had any cake since it was my birthday and whether I’d celebrated it. Her words reminded me that I’d yet to eat.
Before ending the call, Mom tentatively asked when I would return. I’d rarely gone back to Summeria after migrating. Initially, it had been due to the instability at my workplace. Later, it was because Shawn said it was too troublesome to fly back and forth.
As soon as I left the room, Neil threw a toy at me. “What are you doing in my house, you bad woman? Are you going to take Daddy away from me again?”
Before I could say anything, Jill apologized profusely. “I’m sorry about this, Jolene. Neil is just a child, so please don’t get mad at him.”
Shawn growled, “You don’t need to apologize! It’s not a big deal. Besides, Neil’s only being like this to her because she scared him in the past. It’s her own fault!”
He pulled Jill and Neil behind him protectively. “Don’t tell me you’re going to hold a grudge against a five-year-old, Jolene.”
