Chapter 307 - Window Shopping

[This chapter is dedicated to pavs. Thank you for all the power stones you vote for our story. I appreciate all the support. Cheers!] 

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Just as Noah predicted, Jin ended up just following the three girls for Jess, Soraya and Lucille piled up in Jess's car. Jin was closely following them behind. 

"Aunt Jessie, can we please drop by at the bookstore before we go home?" 

Jess knew something was up with Lucille's seemingly innocent request for she twisted her small body to look at Soraya who was quietly sitting in the backseat to wink. Soraya nodded at Lucille and stole a look at the rearview mirror to meet her eyes. 

She smiled inwardly and kept a straight face, acting the part of someone who has no idea of what seemed to be a secret agreement between Lucille and Soraya. 

"Yes, we can go to the bookstore first. Which bookstore do you want to go to?" 

A wide smile tore Lucille's angelic face. She slightly bounced on the passenger seat with excitement. It appeared that Jess asked the correct questions because she can't contain her giddiness. 

"The big one near the promenade!" 

Jess caught the hint of a smile from Soraya when their eyes met in the rearview mirror again. She understood that Lucille was using the dropping at the bookstore as an excuse to get to the shopping strip in the downtown area. 

She could not help but smile at how Lucille tried to get her way. She imagined the headache Noah would go through when his daughter becomes a teenager and enters the so-called rebellious stage. Lucille is a good kid but it's clear as early as now that she's imaginative when it comes to getting things that she wants. Not to mention, she's stubborn as her father or probably her parents. She has no idea of how Nicole was but it seemed that she's a very assertive woman. That's why it's not unexpected for Lucille to also have the same character since both of her parents are the same. 

"The big bookstore it is!" She laughed softly when Lucille bounced lightly on the passenger seat. "Is there anything that you wanted to go to other than the bookstore?" Lucille gasped as if she got caught with her secret motive. "I mean, it's still early. If you don't have a lot of things to buy at the bookstore, I'm sure your dad won't mind if we stroll around the area since we're already there," she added casually, her eyes were on the road but she would glance at the rearview mirror every now and then, watching Soraya's expression to see if she got things right.

"Is it fine to do that?" She asked in a small voice. 

When Jess looked over her shoulder, gone was the playfulness in Lucille's eyes. They were replaced with doubts and Jess's heart tightened a little inside her chest. "Of course!" She answered too soon. 

Lucille beamed. "You aren't too busy, Aunt Jessie?" 

Jess realized her mistake. The little girl got her on the palm of her little hand. She sighed. "I'm not too busy. Let's go walk around a bit after dropping at the bookstore."

Lucille shrieked with excitement. She looked back at the backseat again as if to tell Soraya that she was successful with her little devious plan of getting Jess to agree to take her out on the shopping strip. 

The drive didn't take long because it was still early and didn't have much traffic. They headed straight to the bookstore to buy the books Lucille needed. Right after they finished, Lucille was excited to go for a walk along the street full of famous stores. 

There is a bookstore near their apartment building but Lucille chose the bookstore they just came from for the reason that it was along these shopping districts. The little girl loves shopping, although today, she promised that they will only window shop since her father only gave her a budget and a day in a month for shopping. 

Jess chuckled to herself, hearing that Noah had put a restriction on Lucille's shopping. But she was surprised that the girl really just did window shopping. She thought she would try to get her to buy something for her, but Lucille didn't. She simply enjoyed walking between her and Soraya. Stopping every now and then, when she saw something interesting. After checking whatever caught her eyes, they would continue walking. 

They passed by a lot of stores until they saw a pet shop. Lucille jumped in excitement and requested for them to get in. 

"Please, let's look at the puppies," she put her hands together, begging as she fluttered her long lashes. 

Jess laughed and nodded. She watched Lucille run to the store and Soraya quickly followed.  While she took her time entering the store as she watched Jin who was following behind her, and so she didn't notice the man who was coming out of the store and bumped into him. 

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized without much thought. 

"No worries." A grumpy voice replied but didn't stop for Jess to see his face clearly. She didn't give the man much thought and followed Soraya and Lucille inside the store. She found the two, hunkering in front of a cage with a black dog. 

"Aunt Jessie, the man said this doggo was the last of its litter because nobody wants him." Lucille straightened her back and looked up at her with tears in her eyes. 

"Why nobody likes it?" 

"His tail is crooked." Lucille turned her gaze back to the dog with a silky black coat. "I want to bring him home," she sobbed. "But mommy does not like dogs." 

"But you are staying at your dad's place now." Jess gently reminded Lucille. "Do you want to ask permission from your dad to bring home the dog?" 

"But I can buy anything now. I have to wait until next week." Her shoulders slumped as she stifled her cries. 

"Let's ask you, daddy," she lowered herself on the floor so she could meet Lucille within eye level. "If your daddy does not want the dog at your place, we can get the dog and let it stay in my place.." She decided too soon for her heart hurt with how Lucille cried with the thought of the dog being unwanted just because its tail was crooked.