Chapter 74 - Single Parent

When Jaquan accompanied Sydnee back to the Tea Manor, the hosts were having dinner. Therefore, Sydnee insisted to have Jaquan for having dinner together. Jaquan glanced at the dishes. Although they did not look as good as the dishes in restaurants, the smell was extremely appetizing even from a long distance.

"Alright."

A boy ran in and hit his leg when he went to wash his hands. Jaquan lifted him into the air and saw his face, "It's you?"

The boy looked surprisingly elegant and was like a master from big cities although he dressed plainly. He was not afraid, although he was lifted. He looked at Jaquan and the ground with surprise in his flashing eyes.

Jaquan wanted to laugh when he saw the boy's reaction, "What the matter is? Nobody hugged you before?"

Sydnee smiled when she came out and saw this scene, "Stony, tell your mother to come and have dinner!"

"OK. Sydnee!" The child struggled in Jaquan's hands, and his face turned red. "Sir, put me down."

Jaquan put him in his arms and walked in, "Little boy, what's your name?"

The boy's legs were swinging, "I'm not a little boy. My name is Stony Stone."

"Your name is Stony Stone?" Jaquan teased him, "Is that your real name?"

The boy blushed, "It is. My last name is Stone. My first name is Stony."

Jaquan laughed, "What a weird name! Were your parents too lazy to think of a normal name for you?"

"You're not allowed to say anything bad about them!" Stony suddenly became angry and bit Jaquan's arm fiercely. Jaquan endured the pain and put Stony down gently.

Stony ran away as soon as he reached the ground.

Jaquan rolled up his sleeves and saw a neat mark of Stony's bite.

He rubbed his arm and immediately felt the pain.

Sydnee had prepared chopsticks and bowls for Jaquan. But there was a chair beside him.

Jaquan asked, "Who is coming?"

"Stony and his mother." Sydnee pointed at the dishes on the table, "She made these dishes. She should be cleaning up the kitchen right now."

A moment later, Stony ran back and said in a tender but clear tone, "Sydnee, my mother said that you could have dinner with the guest first."

Sydnee thought for a moment and handed a bowl of rice to Stony. "Can you hold it?"

Stony nodded, "Yes."

Then, he held the bowls and walked back to the kitchen carefully step by step.

Sydnee asked Jaquan and Howard to eat first. She picked a few from each dish into a bowl, held a bowl of rice, and walked after Stony.

Jaquan did not resist and started eating. He gave a compliment while eating, "They taste good."

Howard was not intended to speak with the young generation, but he started speaking since Jaquan started the conversation, "Marissa went back to her hometown because of her health condition, thus Emma took over the kitchen. Oh, Emma is a resident here. She is Stony's mother. It is not easy for her to raise a child by herself, so she found a part-time job planting tea tree. We did not expect her to be so endurable at such a young age..."

Jaquan was surprised and raised his head, "A single-parent family? Where the father is?"

He recalled the surprise and joy in Stony's eyes when he lifted him.

"People said that he went abroad." Howard sighed. "Stony told us that he has never met his father."

No wonder the boy suddenly bit his arm angrily when he mentioned his parents.

Howard shook his head. "What a tragedy. It was most likely that the man did not want to take responsibility, yet Emma did not want to abandon the baby. Therefore, she chose to bring Stony to the world."

"What a hateful man!" Jaquan said with disdain, "Stony is such a good boy!"

Howard nodded, "It is true. If I ever have a chance to meet that man, I will beat him fiercely with all my strength."

"I will take care of this if we see him. You can just stand aside and watch him being beat." Jaquan answered.

Sydnee smiled at them when she came back and saw them chatting, "What were you talking about?"

Ever since she saw Vincent and Emily together, she was no longer excited about anything she saw. To her, Jaquan was just one of Vincent's brothers, and he was not worth her nervousness or excitement. Moreover, this man was not as indifferent as Vincent and was easy to get along with.

Jaquan was about to speak when his phone rang. It was a call from the police station. He had left a business card for the captain to contact him directly if anything happened.

He left the table and answered the phone. The captain on the other side said, "This guy wants to settle the case privately. He just offered 500 thousand to withdraw the lawsuit. I refused. I want to ask you how much compensation you want."

"Directly go for the maximum compensation. Besides, send the real tea seeds to the tea plantation." Jaquan continued, "But the shop needs to be closed. Do you understand what I mean?"

When Jaquan hung up, he found himself at the door of where Stony lived. There were some sunflowers in rea in front of the door, and they were blooming in cool autumn. He did not move his eyes. Then, he heard Stony laughing, following by a woman's voice. It was so soft that made people think of a cloud in a glass of water, which added sweetness to the drink, "I will get angry if you continue messing around!"

It should be in an angry tone, but it was so peaceful when coming out from that woman's mouth. Jaquan tilted his head and saw the half-opened door. Stony took a chair and sat down obediently. Then he saw a pearl-white hand of that single mother.

His phone rang again. Jaquan answered the phone while glancing at the door. He wanted to see who gave Stony, such a beautiful boy, a birth. But what the person on the other side of the phone said drew his attention.

"Can you come and drink with me?" It was Arabella's depressed voice, "I want to drink."

"Where are you?" Jaquan immediately turned around and made a gesture to Sydnee. Then, he picked up the coat on the chair and walked out.

Arabella laughed. It sounded like she was already drunk, "I knew you would come."

After hanging up the phone, Jaquan sat in the car and stared at himself in the rear-view mirror. He laughed at himself sarcastically. He knew that he was hers. He would do whatever Arabella asked him to do, even it was death.

**

Harold went straight to KFC and bought a hamburger. He thought for a while and ordered another hot drink. Some young girls laughed and looked at him. Some of them even came forward and chat him up, "Hey, handsome, can we touch your muscles?"

Harold looked at them. They were about the same age as Miss Emily, some might be a bit older. However, their behaviors were too casual, as if their youth would never die. Their nails, their accessories, their clothes, and their makeups. Everything looked energetic.

Harold remained silent. He grabbed the food and turned around to leave.. But the girls stopped him, "Handsome, can we have your phone numbers? We can hang out next time."