Maxine gave the father and son a puzzled look. “Wait, you two haven’t eaten yet?”

    “No, not yet!” Brian pleaded. “The driver took me straight to Dad’s office today. I was doing my homework in his lounge and didn’t even get a chance to

    eat.”

    Sebastian responded tersely, “Back–to–back meetings all day. Didn’t have time for food.”

    He hadn’t had time to return to the mansion, so naturally he didn’t nightmare, he rushed over right after work.

    As for Brian, he was simply terrified that his dad would ditch him to along.

    bring their lunch. Worried that if he got back toote Maxine might have another

    I his

    mom, so he stubbornly refused to leave the office and ended up tagging

    Sebastian had already pulled out his phone and started searching for recipes.

    Sebastian stared at the recipe on his phone, then nced back and forth between the screen and the condiments in the kitchen, desperately trying to distinguish between the nearly identical bottles. ‘Why do they have to look exactly the same?‘ he muttered to himself, looking a bit helpless.

    Maxine sighed and finally took pity on them. “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s just order takeout instead.”

    Truth be told, Sebastian was hopeless in the kitchen, and Maxine figured it was best to keep the ce intact until Cleo came back.

    They ordered some food. After they finished eating, Maxine hesitated for a moment before saying to them, “bOh/b, right. You two should move back to the house in a few days.”

    “What?” Brian eximed, shocked. “Why?”

    Realizing he might have sounded a bit rude, Brian quickly softened his tone and looked at Maxine with puppy–dog eyes. “We promise we won’t bother you at all, okay?”

    Maxine rubbed her temples wearily. “Let’s not dwell on this anymore. Just move back when the timees.”

    Ever since that car ident, Vivian always had a poor opinion of Maxine’s “ex-husband“, in fact, “disgust” would be putting it mildly.

    At Vivian’s insistence, Sebastian and Brian eventually moved back to the mansion two dayster.

    Maxine kept an eye on the flight updates and arrived early at the airport on Vivian’s arrival day. Spotting Vivian pulling her suitcase through the gates, she waved enthusiastically and called out, “Over here!”

    Vivian raised her hand, took off her sunsses, and beamed. “Max!”

    The very next moment, Vivian spotted the crutch resting beside Maxine. Her expression darkened as she walked over. “What happened to you? You’ve only been back in Hathnd for what, a few weeks? And you’re already like this?”

    Maxine felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of guilt and rubbed her nose awkwardly. “Well… maybe we should continue this in the car?

    Maxine pointed to the car parked nearby. Vivian rolled her eyes, gripping her suitcase with one hand while steadying Maxine with the other. “How do you always end up in such a mess?”

    She had barely taken two steps when something/struck her. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she turned to look at Maxine’s leg. Vivian eximed, b“/bBabe, are you seriously driving in this condition? Is this how things work in Hathnd?”

    Maxine gave her an exasperated look. “What are you talking about? I already booked a designated driver.”

    Vivian walked over to the car, gave it a light tap, and teased, “So now I’m your driver? Not bad, you’ve done well for yourself since byou /bbgot /bbback /bbto /bHathnd. This ride looks seriously fancy!”

    b08:32 /bbTue/bb, /bb1 /bbJul /b

    bMaxine /bpaused mid–motion as she got into the car, a pang of guilt hitting her, after all, she had taken this car from Sebastian’s garaga

    Maxine thought with a pang of guilt, ‘If Vivian finds out I’ve been in contact with my ex–husband, she’ll absolutely lose it!

    “Well… let’s get in first. I’ll call a driver,” Maxine said, pulling Vivian into the back seat. “Foreign licenses don’t work here in Hathndb, /bbunless /bwe want to risk a fine or even getting detained, we’d better just use a designated driver.”

    Vivian watched as Maxine tapped away on her phone. Momentster, a uniformed driver knocked on the car door and said, “Hello,dies. I’m the designated driver you called.”

    G