Chapter 58
Eliana and Isaac nived at McDonald’s. The cashier greeted them with a polite sind “Hi there, slut ca
Eliana glanced at isaac and then responded smoothly, as if she’d done this a hundred times. “One Happy Meal, one hamburger, and a Coke, please!
The cashier looked at the strikingly good looking pair in front of her and asked instinctively, “Oh, Happy Meal for you, huh? Interesting”
Isaac raised his hand and replied, “That’s for me
The cashier blinked, thinking, ‘Are you kidding me?
Once the order was placed, Eliana took Isaac by the hand and led him to a table, Watching him dive into his food with urgency, she gently reminded him. “Slow down. If it’s not enough, we can always onder more”
A few minutes later, Isase slurped up the last of his Coke
oke and turned to look at the mini playground behind Eliana. “Ellie, I wanna go play on the slide”
Eliana didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was far too big for those toddler–sized slides. But seeing the anticipation on his face, she simply nodded “Alright then. Just come back when you’re tired, okay?”
“Okay,” replied Isaac.
While Eliana sat alone, lost in thought, her phone, resting on the table, suddenly rang,
Seeing an unfamiliar number on the screen, she picked up and asked, “Hello? Eliana speaking”
There was a brief pause before a cold voice replied, “This is Barbara.”
Ellana immediately remembered the favor she’d asked Barbara before leaving and asked, “Is Theodore alright?”
“Under my care, how could anything happen to him?” Barbara answered.
Relieved, Eliana looked up and turned toward the mini playground, only to realize Isaac was nowhere to be seen.
Alarmed, she set down her phone and jumped to her feet to search for the play area.
She didn’t pay attention to the second half of Barbara’s sentence. “You definitely upset him. The moment you left, he threw a full–blown tantrum. I don’t care where you are, but get back here right now and apologize to him”
“Isaac? Isaac,” Eliana yelled as she searched anxiously.
Just then, Isaac popped his head out of the ball pit nearby and gave her a wide grin. “Ellie, wanna come in and play with me?”
Realizing he hadn’t gone far at all, Eliana patted her chest, feeling her heart pounding. She shook her head, more in relief than refusal.
Meanwhile, back at Russell Manor
Having received no response from Eliana, Barbara hung up in frustration
She glanced at her hands, now filthy from digging through the trash, then looked again at the crumpled note with Eliana’s number she’d fish mood was falling apart fast.
What pushed her over the edge, though, was not the dirt or the trash. It was the fact that if Eliana didn’t come back, Theadore wouldn’t eat anything.
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Chapter 58
Elsewhere, seeing that Isaac hadn’t had enough fun, Eliana took him to the aquarium next. Only when he was truly exhausted did she bring him back to
Burke Manor,
Outside the gates, she stuffed all the souvenirs they picked up at the aquarium into Isaac’s backpack. “Alright, Isaac, I’m not coming in with you.”
banc grabbed her hand, his full of longing. “When are you coming to see me again?”
Eliana couldn’t give him an exact answer, so she said like she usually did, “Very soon
But this time, Isaac a
asked again, “How soon?”
Eliana hesitated, caught off guard. “Just… really soon. Very, very soon.
After parting with Isaac, Eliana didn’t return to Russell Manor right away. After all, Barbara had said Theodore was doing just fine under her care. That gave her a bit of peace of mind.
Instead, she hailed a cab and headed for Covenhill Hospital
Inside a ward, a kind–faced middle–aged woman was speaking on the phone, “Yes, I understand the lease expires next month
“But some of the children in the Therapy Center are orphans. We can’t find new placements for all of them on such short notice, so… could you please give us a little more time?”
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