h4Chapter 149: Chapter 147: Honest Man/h4

    "Alright,e up."

    Elliana Lyle, still searching through the creek, felt a bit unwilling upon hearing the man’s words.

    She hadn’t caught a single crab yet.

    But since she had promised the man an hour ago, she could only straighten up, wipe the water from her hands on her skirt.

    Upon reaching the shore, the man lifted her onto arge rock to sit, then took out a paper towel to dry off the droplets on her feet.

    The gentle and meticulous action tickled her feet, making her burst into giggles.

    "Norman Bet, the sun feels pretty warm now, it’ll dry soon."

    "Hmm."

    Though the man responded, his hands didn’t stop their work.

    After drying them, the man put on her thin white cotton socks, and then the white canvas shoes with a cat print.

    Such a noble man really shouldn’t be doing these things, yet he had learned to do them from a young age.

    She still remembered how Norman first put shoes on her, the young boy appeared troubled and flustered, one hand holding her ankle, the other holding the shoe, afraid to use force for fear of hurting her, yet unable to put the shoe on.

    In the end, she had suggested untying the shoce so the shoe could be worn.

    Thinking of this, the smile on her face became even brighter, the man’s serious expression as he looked down was an eversting bright color reflected in her pupils.

    When Norman Bet looked up, their eyes met, and upon seeing the young girl’s beaming face, warmth filled his heart.

    "Norman Bet, I remember you used to smile quite a lot when you were a kid, why do you act like an ice block now?" This was something Elliana was curious about; in her memory, the boy she called Brother Bet always had a gentle smile.

    But he gradually stopped smiling, eventually bing like this.

    The man’s eyes paused, and his expression showed a hint of surprise.

    Speaking of it...

    The Bet family always knew he was solemn from a young age, conversing nicely with those he liked, but showing no emotion to others.

    Yet this little girl here was always different; his mother first brought him to see this little girl when he was twelve, while the little girl was just half his age.

    The small figure hid behind Mrs. Lyle, unwilling toe out.

    When the adults left, he was told to take the little girl to y in the backyard; initially, neither of them spoke, just sitting and staring at each other.

    Until a colorful butterfly flew into the little girl’s sight, the girl in the white dress was immediately drawn in and ran to chase the butterfly.

    He watched as the little girl clumsily chased the butterfly, until she fell face-first onto the ground!

    The wailing cry of the girl left him both annoyed and worried then, as he had no idea how to console a little girl, he could only take her out to buy candy.

    It was also the first time he made the little girl cry.

    Just because the little girl said, "Brother Bet, you’re so nice to Elliana, Mommy doesn’t let Elliana eat candy, says it’ll ruin her teeth." He immediately grabbed the candy and tossed it into the trash without a second thought.

    ...

    This was the scene of their first meeting.

    As their mothers were good friends, he often came to see this little crybaby, perhaps due to being together for so long, he also treated this little girl as someone close.

    Later, his mother told him that he and the little girl were given a betrothal from childhood, at first he had no feelings about it, but over time, he began to cherish this little girl, treating her as his future wife.

    As for when he stopped smiling, it must have been when this little girl started avoiding him.

    "Norman Bet? What’s wrong..." Elliana swallowed nervously.

    At this moment, the man quietly stared at her, eyes showing no emotion, appearing a bit stern and cold.

    "If I smile at you, will you avoid me again?" the man asked seriously, his tone verging on cold.

    This question seemingly came out of nowhere, leaving Elliana stunned, wondering when she had ever avoided him...

    Alright, there was a period of time.

    But during that time, even she felt she was acting out of sorts, and didn’t know how to exin it to the man now.

    "Norman Bet... How could I avoid you? I can’t wait to tie myself to you, never parting for even a moment."

    "Smooth talker." The man’s expression gradually softened, though it still didn’t show much kindness.

    Elliana giggled, extending her arms to wrap around the man’s neck, asking, "What’s so smooth about it? It’s called sweet, it’s like spreading honey."

    "Mm~"

    The kiss came unexpectedly, yet was somehow predictable.

    ...

    Gurgle gurgle~

    A slightly awkward sound was heard, making Elliana shyly pull away, holding her rumbling stomach, saying, "Norman Bet, I’m hungry~"

    The man raised his hand, gently stroking her cheek with his fingertip, then lifted her off the rock.

    "What do you want to eat?" the man asked, holding her hand as they started walking back.

    She really didn’t know what to eat. Since she was hungry, she could eat anything, though she needed to consider what he might not allow her to eat.

    After thinking it over, she replied, "Anything."

    "There is no ’anything’ on the menu, choose something else."

    Of course, she knew there was no such thing as "anything" on the menu, so she tried another way, "I don’t know, whatever you eat is fine for me."

    "What do you really want to eat?" The man stopped, seriously looking down at her.

    Elliana: "(●—●)"

    He spoke as if she would actually get it just because she said so.

    "Can I really eat whatever I want?"

    "Yes," the man replied, surprisingly "generous": "Today, you can."

    Since Norman Bet had given the word, what’s there to think about, it must be the KFC at the park!

    "Fried chicken, burgers, c, fries..."

    ...

    ―――KFC.

    "Delicious~" Elliana’s mouth was stuffed full, savoring the taste of chewing the fried chicken.

    The man, meanwhile, wore gloves, tearing the meat apart and cing it on a small te for her, so all she needed to do was eat.

    Although gnawing by herself would taste better, the meat prepped by him tasted even better!

    While eating, she took out her phone from her purse.

    She pressed to unlock it, only to find no response.

    "Huh? Why is my phone off? Wasn’t it fully charged? I didn’t even y with it."

    Just as she was trying to power it on, the man removed one of his gloves, took her phone away, and said, "No phones during meals."

    With that, he put the phone back into her bag.

    He didn’t want anything to disturb the little girl’s good mood now, not even Shawn Lyle, the girl’s father.

    "Oh~" Elliana continued eating the meat, saying, "There’s a power bank in the bag, can you charge it for me?"

    "Hmm."

    When they were full, it was already 4 PM, and the two strolled in the park until 6 PM before getting ready to leave.

    The journey back was about three hours, quite a long ride.

    Lucky for her, Raymond Wood was driving, so she could snuggle up to Norman, saving her from boredom.

    She powered on her long-shut phone, and was startled by the notification sounds right after unlocking!

    The red missed call count disyed 78, one from Luna, and the rest from Shawn Lyle.

    She didn’t need to think to know the reason for Shawn Lyle’s calls, but she needed to return Luna’s call as soon as possible.