As soon as Nora spoke, Ian and Joel looked at each other. Joel was about to reply when a young and tender voice piped up. “Is there any for Cherry?”
The three children entered one after another, all of them looking at Ian and Joel eagerly.
Ian: “…”
Joel: “…”
There was only one account in the family, but there were three of them. How were they going to split it?
Joel didn’t think that much, though. He was about to speak when Ian coughed and said, “Of course there is. I was saying that I plan to give your mother a villa. If you want one, then you kids can have one each!” In front of the children, Ian didn’t want to seem like he didn’t have enough to spare, so he decided to have a private chat with Nora alone later instead. He wasn’t going to tell the children about the account.
Besides, if possible, Ian wanted Nora to eventually give Pete the account.
It wasn’t that he was partial to Pete-his personal favorite was most definitely Cherry. After all, he was still watching her live-streams every day!
He was the number one patron of Cherry’s live-streams!
However, he didn’t want Cherry to be a businesswoman. It was too tiring. As a girl, she should just relax and make money without doing anything. It would do as long as she was happy.
Hard and tiring tasks like running a business should just be left to Pete. After all, Pete was brought up by Justin, so he definitely had the talent to do business.
As for Xander… Ian didn’t have much of an impression of him yet, so he didn’t know what he liked or disliked, or what he was good at. They still had a lot of years to come, though, so he would just wait and see.
When Ian interrupted Joel, after a moment’s thought, the young man immediately understood that Ian didn’t want his image of an almighty grandfather to be ruined in front of the children, so he simply changed the subject altogether. He said, “You’re finally here, Nora. Why don’t you spend some time chatting with Dad? I’ll go to the kitchen and make you guys my signature beef steak. Nora, how do you like your steak?”
Nora was silent for a moment before she said, “I prefer Hamburgs.”
“Then I’ll make you Salisbury steak.”
After saying that, Joel really went into the kitchen.
Nora stared at him from the back. When she thought of what Celine told her in the company, the corners of her lips rose a little, seemingly having realized something.
While she was thinking about this, over at the other side, Cherry was already sitting on Ian’s lap and was in the midst of another crazy bout of flattery. She said, “Grandpa, why do you look so young? If you go out with us, people would easily believe me even if I say that you’re my daddy!!”
The corners of Xander’s lips spasmed a little. He couldn’t stand Cherry being a bootlicker at all, so he said dryly, “Why don’t you just call him your elder brother?”
Cherry pouted. “No way, how old would Mommy have to be for her to give birth to someone who’s Grandpa’s age?!”
Cherry loved her mom the most, so she absolutely must not make Mommy look old just to make her grandfather look young!
Xander: “?”
Pete couldn’t help but hold his forehead, feeling like his sister was quite an unbearable sight to behold.
Ian, however, laughed out loud and patted Cherry’s head. He said, “I don’t need to look as young as your father, either. I’m alright with just being the youngest-looking grandfather! My little Cherry is so adorable, she will definitely be the belle of the ball when she grows up!”
Cherry nodded. “Of course! I look a lot like Mommy. Since Mommy is so pretty, I definitely won’t look bad, either!”
Nora, who had never participated in their chat but was constantly a part of it: “…”
That little bootlicker.
Nora made a dry remark inwardly. Then, she got up and entered the kitchen.
Joel was slicing the beef. When he saw her, he smiled at her. In those usually-smiley eyes behind the glasses was a smile a little more sincere than usual.
Nora said, “Joel…”
Before she could finish, Joel said gracefully, “Nora, nice timing. I happen to have something that I wanted to apologize to you for.”
He straightened his back and said, “Mindy, my executive assistant, has probably created some trouble for you. How much damage did she do? I’ll compensate you for it. Has Mindy’s mistake reached the point of no return, though? If it hasn’t, then on my account, can you forgive her this once?”
Nora was a little dumbfounded.
She had been planning to cautiously and indirectly warn Joel about his subordinatesafter all, since the day she had first met him, there had always been a sense of distance between her and her elder brother.
Moreover, Joel kept his thoughts so deeply hidden that sometimes even she couldn’t tell what her elder brother was thinking.
Unexpectedly, he was being so direct and straightforward with her today?
The surprise rendered her speechless for a while. This wasn’t quite what she had been expecting!
It felt as if Joel had been hiding behind a plastic film the whole time, but he had now stepped out and was truly standing in front of her.
Joel misunderstood Nora’s hesitation. He asked, “Are the losses very heavy? Or did you lose some talented people? If it is very serious, then I definitely won’t cover up for her…”
Nora hurriedly replied, “No, it’s nothing.”
Mindy’s actions hadn’t actually done her any harm. On the contrary, it had made Celine develop a sense of guilt and loyalty to her. For Nora, this was just a trivial matter.
When she briefly recounted the incident with Celine, Joel sighed and said, “Mindy likes to engage in psychological warfare. Don’t worry, if she ever dares to do it again, I definitely won’t let her off easily. This time, let me make amends with this steak instead!”
Nora found Joel rather strange today.
However, she liked this feeling very much, so her almond-shaped eyes curved a little and she said, “Then you’d better make it delicious, Joel.”
Joel looked up at her. As the two of them looked at each other, they both started laughing After that, when Tanya and Mia returned home from school, the family enjoyed a pleasant dinner together.
While eating, Xander kept looking at Mia.
The small and frail Mia, who was dainty even when she ate, asked in a small voice, “Xander, why do you keep looking at me? Is there something on my face?”
“No,” Xander answered seriously, “It’s just that Pete keeps talking about you, so I wanted to see what you look like. It’s not like you’re cuter than Cherry!”
Mia: “…”
Thwack!
Nora gave Xander a light pat on the head. “Watch what you say, young man. It’s not very gentlemanly telling a girl she isn’t cute!” Xander stuck out his tongue. “She looks okay, it’s just that she’s not quick-witted enough and she looks very listless. Of course she’s not as cute as Cherry!”
The shrewd and clever Cherry stuck out her tongue. “Stop talking, Xander. Mia is just more modest than me! Isn’t that right, Pete?”
Pete was eating calmly. He glanced at Miaas she was not used to being in the spotlight, she was staring at them timidly with her doe-like eyes. He immediately changed the subject and said, “Yeah, you’re too lively. Cut down on dissing people when you play games tonight.”
At the mention of her games, Cherry immediately looked at Ian and said, “Grandpa, I’m having a live-stream tonight! Come and watch!”