CHAPTER 245: CHAPTER 245: JOY’S PECULIARITY

Just as Caden was contemplating, there was a knock at the door behind him. The door was pushed open, and Tanya poked her head in.

"Mom!" Caden’s eyes lit up.

Tanya walked in with a smile, seeing that Caden had mostly packed his small suitcase, while Joy quickly picked up the sachet that had fallen on the floor and ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

A loud bang echoed.

The smile that Tanya tried to maintain on her face was now about to give way to heartbreak.

She had actually heard her daughter’s resistant screams at the door and was suppressing her emotions, pretending that nothing happened.

As long as Joy was willing to stay with her, she was confident she could win back her daughter’s heart. But now... Joy resisted her to such an extent...

"Joy, stop it." Caden noticed his mom’s sadness and ran over to knock on the bathroom door.

He pressed the door handle, which was already locked.

Tanya stepped forward and gently pulled her son’s hand.

She explained to Joy through the door, "Joy, Mommy’s not trying to take you away. I just want to bring you and your brother to stay with me for a few days."

"Try living with Mommy, okay? I’ve decorated your room beautifully. You might like it if you take a look."

Inside the bathroom, Joy curled up in a corner, with two voices echoing in her ears: one was Tanya’s gentle whisper outside the door, and the other was Cindy Lynn’s voice, haunting her like a nightmare, over and over again.

Joy covered her ears, shouting painfully, "I don’t want to hear it... go away!"

Outside the door, Tanya thought Joy was yelling at her.

She closed her eyes coldly.

"Alright, Mommy won’t say anymore..."

Aunt Tawny, who was coming upstairs, looked at this scene at the door. She felt bad for Tanya, who was just a mother like her. Joy’s words to Tanya must have hurt as much as stabbing her in the heart.

Tanya wiped away the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

Caden pursed his lips and held Tanya’s hand with his small one.

"Mom, I’m willing to go with you."

Tanya smiled at her son and patted his head, "Okay, let’s go."

Caden had mostly packed his small suitcase. He thought for a moment and ran to his sister’s little wardrobe to pack two of her favorite dresses.

This way, if Joy missed them suddenly and ran over, she would have dresses to change into.

Originally, Aunt Tawny would have gone to Tanya’s place with the two children, but now that Joy wasn’t going, and Vincent wasn’t around, an adult had to stay at home.

There was also a nanny and two servants who only came during the day. Aunt Tawny, who was someone the old lady trusted, lived in the villa and took care of the two kids up close.

Now Aunt Tawny couldn’t leave.

She was disappointed, but she couldn’t trust leaving Joy with Cindy Lynn, that wicked woman.

"Ma’am, don’t worry about the house with me taking care of Joy. If there’s anything, I’ll contact you right away!"

"Thank you so much, Aunt Tawny," Tanya gently reminded, "Aunt Tawny, I’m not anyone’s wife anymore."

"I’m just so used to calling you that," Aunt Tawny said a bit sheepishly.

Tanya smiled and couldn’t help but glance upstairs before leaving, hoping to see Joy running down. But it was just wishful thinking.

In the end, Tanya left the villa with Caden.

Just after they drove away, at the window of the second-floor bedroom, Joy lay against the glass, her big eyes watching the car drive off into the distance...

Tanya took Caden back home and showed him the bedroom she prepared for him. Although it wasn’t as spacious as the one in the villa, Tanya had decorated it warmly and even put in a high-spec computer.

"Thank you, Mom, I really like it."

Tanya smiled, "As long as you like it. Once I buy back the old Sinclair property and have it renovated, we’ll move in. How about you arrange your own room then?"

"Okay~" Caden, after all, was a child and began to look forward to it, "Then I want to set up a big chessboard in the middle and even have a life-size astronaut model!"

He had a wide range of interests and excelled at everything he liked to do.

But Vincent, because Caden’s intelligence far exceeded that of ordinary children, treated him like a little adult. To some extent, Caden took on the absent role of Vincent to take care of Joy.

In fact, Caden was as young as Joy, only five years old.

Seeing Tanya looking at him silent, Caden fell silent too, becoming sensible again as if by instinct. "Mom, actually, I don’t need those things..."

Tanya felt a pang in her nose.

She stepped forward, hugging Caden with heartache, "Of course, you do, why wouldn’t you? That’s your room, it’s yours alone, you can decorate it however you like."

Tanya held her son’s handsome little face and said solemnly, "Don’t wrong yourself to take care of others, even if that person is your sister, or Mommy or Daddy. Understand?"

Caden lowered his long eyelashes, "Dad said I need to take care of my sister. Grandpa said I have to inherit the company and be sensible, be number one in everything to make them proud... If I can’t do it, they’ll be very disappointed."

He slowly looked at Tanya, a trace of apprehension in his eyes.

"I can’t let them be disappointed..."

"Of course, you can!" Tanya’s eyes moistened, her heartache unbearable. She spoke softly, "Sweetheart, you just need to be satisfied with yourself. I didn’t bring you into this world to meet anyone’s expectations. Your life is yours to decide. Mommy will always have your back."

"I talked to your dad. You just need to continue with your studies as usual. As for whether you want to become Hawthorne’s heir, you can decide when you’re an adult." Tanya said gently, "No matter what decision you make, Mommy will support you."

"..." Nobody had ever said these things to him.

Caden hugged his mom’s neck and whispered in her ear, "Mom, I’m so glad you woke up."

Tanya shivered all over, feeling as if her son had healed the part of her heart that had shattered the most.

The mother and son spent some more time playing together. Tanya checked the time, realizing it was getting late, and went to run a bath for Caden since she would take him to school in the morning.

Caden, a bit shy, pushed Tanya out and bathed himself.

But he left his pajamas on the bed in the bedroom.

"Mom, can you get my pajamas? Don’t peek when you hand them to me because I’m all bare."

Tanya was amused by her son’s serious tone.

Cooperatively, she covered her eyes and handed the pajamas inside.

Caden had a good routine, insisting on reading for half an hour before bed.

Tanya didn’t disturb him.

She poured a glass of milk for Caden and left it on the bedside before leaving.

Caden flipped through his book, mumbling softly, "I don’t get sleepy so early at Mom’s."

Tanya didn’t hear him; she was already on the balcony, phoning Aunt Tawny to ask about Joy’s situation.

Upon learning that Joy had fallen asleep, Tanya didn’t say much more.

"Don’t take Joy’s words to heart," Aunt Tawny kindly comforted. "Children at that age don’t mean what they say. Besides, Joy has been too deeply influenced by that hag, and Mr. Hawthorne just keeps indulging it..."

By "hag," Aunt Tawny was naturally referring to Cindy Lynn.

"Just don’t worry, I’ll talk to Joy. After all, you are her biological mother. Blood is thicker than water. Joy will surely accept you!"

Tanya recalled Joy repeatedly pushing her away and closed her eyes exhaustedly, whispering, "I hope so."

Aunt Tawny muttered, "Joy was clearly starting to accept you as her mom before. Who knows what that vixen Cindy Lynn brainwashed her with to suddenly make her so resistant to you!"

Tanya couldn’t help but sense something odd in Aunt Tawny’s unintentional grumbling, leading her to think of her own mother, Charlotte.

Today, Sean Lynn’s reaction had already confirmed that he wasn’t the one her mother truly loved. Tanya recalled her mother was always formally polite to her father.

Her obsessive love for Sean Lynn started during her mother’s terminal illness.

Sean Lynn, who had been a fatherly figure during Tanya’s childhood, suddenly turned indifferent and even became violently abusive...

And considering Joy’s recent changes.

Tanya couldn’t shake the feeling that this sudden anomaly was more than it seemed.

"Aunt Tawny, has Joy shown any unusual behavior lately?"