My Darling, My Dearest
Chapter 271 Mendes Came

Rachel opened her arms immediately to welcome Mendes, but she was surprised that the boy slowed down as he got closer to her. He slowly threw himself into her arms and wrapped his arms around her waist tightly in return.

"Rachel!" he exclaimed affectionately as he embraced her tightly and pressed his chubby cheek into her waist.

Rachel was both surprised and happy to see Mendes. But she never noticed that Jonathan was not as happy as he used to whenever he saw Mendes.

Instead, he glanced at the kid's father briefly. When their gaze met, Dylan Xu immediately tried to avoid it.

At least he seemed to be restraining himself. Despite the years, he was getting cheeky now.

Rachel crouched to level her face with the boy and talked to him.

At the same time, Dylan Xu walked to Jonathan and greeted him. "I'm sorry that we were unable to inform you in advance of our coming."

Jonathan smiled faintly and ushered them towards a seat with his arm. "Please, have a seat." But he then thought to himself, 'But you did anyway.' If Dylan didn't arrive with Mendes in tow, Jonathan would have driven him out of the house at the first chance he'd get.

Jonathan felt sick of Dylan. Even though his feeling towards Dylan had nothing to do with the child, he didn't feel the same fondness towards Mendes that he had before.

"Why don't we go upstairs?" Jonathan suddenly suggested.

Dylan's eyes lit up. "Okay," he replied while nodding.

He turned around and took a few steps forward. His son suddenly called out to him from behind, "Dad, where are you going?" The boy left Rachel and ran to his father.

Dylan frowned and said in a scolding tone of voice, "I have something to deal with. You just stay here for a while. And don't make trouble."

Mendes' face saddened as he paused. Nevertheless, he nodded to his father and pouted.

Dylan initially thought to tell Mendes to play with Rachel, but changed his mind when he felt that it was not appropriate to say that.

He worried that Jonathan might suspect that he deliberately brought Mendes with him for that visit.

"He shouted that he wanted to see Dr. Shen when he heard that I was coming over," he explained in order to conceal the true reason why he brought Mendes with him. "He made quite a ruckus when I was about to leave unless I agreed to take him with me."

Jonathan stared at him with a strangely faint smile on his face. Dylan lowered his voice to almost a whisper because of the guilt that he felt.

Ever since he was transferred back, he began working behind the scenes for some TV programs. He recently took over a project that developed a story that focused on the Fu family.

Dylan never intended to use his own son for the situation, but he wasn't able to replace Jack after he begged him for help several times.

It was then that he understood that Jack refused the help that he requested.

And since Dylan was not about to let this chance slip by, he decided to turn to Jonathan instead for help.

He felt that Jack was more difficult to deal with than his father.

Even though Jonathan never said anything, he looked at Dylan that seemed to see right through what he had in mind all along.

Nothing was more important that success. But he was not sure if was a good idea to see Jonathan for his purpose. In the meantime, it had been a long time since Rachel last saw Mendes. She immediately noticed that he lost a lot of weight, and his face no longer look chubby like before.

She also noticed that the boy was a chatterbox now. He was just so happy to be here that he kept talking.

Tracy always had very little patience for children, but the presence of Mendes triggered some unexpected thoughts in her mind.

She started to wonder how great it would be if she could have a grandson!

She wondered to herself for a while and then suddenly turned to one of the servants. She asked the maid to prepare snacks and fruits that children liked to eat.

And because of her inexperience with children, she had no idea how to get along with them.

Mendes stared long at Rachel because she had lost her beautiful hair. Her haircut was as short as that of a boy's. He became confused and curious about it.

"Why do you want to be a boy? Why did you get your hair cut off?"

Tracy frowned slightly when she heard his words about Rachel's hair.

Rachel raised a hand and touched her short hair in a carefree way. "Does it look good?" she asked with narrowed eyes and slightly pouting lips.

Mendes stuck out her tongue at Rachel and whispered, "I like girls with long hair."

Rachel laughed and slightly rubbed his nose with a finger.

Mendes suddenly noticed Tracy, and he greeted her sweetly.

There was a pleasant feeling that gently touched Tracy's heart when she heard Mendes' voice call her.

It made her imagine how it would've been if only Mendes were her grandson.

She waved at him with a sweet smile. "Come here, Mendes," Tracy said.

Mendes immediately ran to Tracy and she touched his face as soon as he was within arm's length. "You look much slimmer now!"

The boy smiled at her and replied, "I'm losing weight!"

Tracy felt amused with the boy's response. She turned to Rachel with a smile and said, "Look at him! What a wonderful boy!"

"Tell me, have you been a good boy?" Rachel asked Mendes in a teasing voice.

"Of course I am!" The boy sounded more optimistic and cheerful than before.

The Fu family's maid approached them with a tray filled with snacks and fruits. Tracy was in a good mood that day, and she kept teasing Mendes.

When Rachel saw how easy it was for Mendes to make Tracy happy, she thought that when the boy finally grew up, he would definitely become a playboy who would be good at chasing girls.

Dylan had a pale face when he went downstairs. He barely smiled to them and hurried to leave with the cheerful Mendes.

Tracy and Rachel watched them leave as Mendes looked reluctant to wave his hand to bid them both farewell.

Tracy sighed as she watched their car drive away from their house. "Kids are so cute, aren't they?"

Rachel was surprised to hear her words. She started to wonder when Tracy began to like children and found them to be cute.

But Rachel was clever enough to be careful not to show any expression on her face as she turned to Tracy. "Yes, they are so cute," she agreed.

There was a short pause as Tracy thought about Mendes' visit. "I'm already old. I think it will be nice if I have a grandchild of my own." Rachel was at a loss to answer her. Tracy's statement left her speechless. Tracy then turned to her and then said in a gentle tone of voice, "I'm not forcing you, of course."

Rachel smiled awkwardly at her.

Tracy didn't know if she would have her own grandchild one day. After all, Jack had done a ligation operation.

Jonathan stayed upstairs after they had left. The maid silently cleaned up the snacks and fruits on the table and then turned to Tracy and asked her, "Mrs. Fu, how would you like to deal with these leftover snacks and fruits?"

"There is no kid left here at home. So, just clean them up." Tracy then turned to Rachel. "Why didn't Jonathan come downstairs? Would you go upstairs and check on him?"

Rachel went upstairs and found the door to the study half-open. She immediately knocked on the door.

"Come in. There's no need to knock," Jonathan said from inside the study.

The window of the study was wide open, and the morning sunlight poured into the room from the windows. There was a spider plant near the windowsill.

Jonathan squatted patiently with tweezers in his hand. He trimmed the withered leaves on the spider plant. "Please hand me the trash can, Rachel," he said as Rachel entered the room.

Rachel did as he asked. Jonathan cleaned up the pile of dried leaves and dumped them into the trash can. He stared at the spider plant and sighed. "It's not too delicate, but it will look better if you prune it carefully, isn't it?"

His words had the weight of a hidden meaning. "Why do you want to prune it?" she asked with a smile.

The spider plant had been there for years. Jonathan had never paid attention to it before. Only the maid would take care of it from time to time.

"In truth, I only noticed the spider plant when I chatted with Dylan just now. I was thinking that if it didn't get pruned, people would think that it was grass."

'He noticed the spider plant while he was talking with Dylan?' Rachel wondered to herself. She immediately guessed that he might not like Dylan. And this would be the reason why he didn't focus on their conversation at all.

"I initially planned to visit my friend, but it's a little late now," Jonathan complained with a sigh.

After Dylan left, Jonathan changed into a formal suit. Tracy saw that he was going out and walked towards him. "Where are you going?" she asked. "To the company."

In the meantime, Lea's situation was a little more complicated than expected.

No one expected such a dramatic thing to happen to her. That day, the two families had a meal together. They were talking about the date for the wedding.

At this moment, Henry's aunt arrived, and she had her boyfriend with her.

Surprisingly, Lea suddenly recognized Henry's aunt and her boyfriend as they approached.

When Lea was at the age of seventeen or eighteen, there was a time when she decided to play truant. She was at a rebellious age and she drank a lot and went to bars.

Lea's father was away at that time and had to travel back a long distance after he learned what his daughter had done.

He scolded her severely and cut her allowance.

He spoiled his daughter, but had no choice to be strict with her after what happened.

Lea had no choice but to admit her mistakes and ask for her father's forgiveness.

Her father decided to give her another chance. He moved her to another school and prepared some extra-curricular classes for her that she needed to complete during her spare time. One of the extra- curricular classes was oil painting.

The oil painting teacher was young and handsome. His eyes become more beautiful when he smiled.

He was only a few years older than Lea. She immediately fell in love with him.

And since she was a girl of action, she did every method to seduce him.

Unfortunately, because he was a young man with a reserved and gentle personality, he found it hard to push back her advances.

It was not long when Lea's charms became too much for him and he fell down helpless at her feet.

Author's note

Goose BBSS

Translator: Scarlett5555