Ch. 1401..1410
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1401 --"Mr.Russell has gone abroad, and there are some problems at the company, right?"
Anastasia started and continued in a hurry, " Lily, I didn’t know your family was going through such a hard time. Still, you were busy with my matters over the weeks. You must be upset. I’m sorry I wasn’t considerate enough of your feelings. I’ve even doubted you before! I’m really sorry!"
The more she spoke, the more horrible she felt.
She knew it was wrong of her to be skeptical of Lily when Lily tried so hard to help her.
"Is there anything I can help with?"For the first time, Anastasia wanted to use her family's influence and power to help someone.
"It’s all right," Lily said, smiling as she shook her head, finally understanding why Anastasia had been so emotional and why she rushed over.
"You don’t need to be so quick to reject me. Although I can only offer limited help, I’ll do my best for anything you need!" Anastasia said severely.
Lily raised a hand and patted Anastasia’s shoulder lightly.
With a solemn tone, she said, "Really, it’s fine."
"Really?"
Anastasia was still slightly doubtful and only managed to calm down after Lily gave her an affirmative nod.
"There are indeed some problems, and Alex had to check on them since he’s the company’s CEO. Everything is stable now, and the authorities are still investigating the case. I spoke to Alex a few days ago, and he told me it’! be fine."
Lily smiled lightly.She neither looked worried nor anxious.
Seeing her this way made Anastasia relax.
She trusted that Lily did not say those things just to comfort her, but perhaps the situation was not as bad as she had thought.
Anastasia let out a breath of relief.
"I knew Aunt Maria was just exaggerating! I was shocked to hear everything from her and thought your family was in major trouble."
"Your aunt told you about this?"
Lily asked, her brows raised.
‘That’s why she was so anxious.She probably heard gossip about this since the incident involved the Russell family.It attracted much attention, and Maria must’ve learned it from her husband.The company’s competitors probably think our family will have a difficult time, so they’re waiting to replace us in the industry"
"Yeah," Anastasia said, unaware of everything going through Lily’s head.
"Oh, right.I've removed all the plants from my house and sent them here.However..."
Anastasia looked around, finding it strange.
"Why don’t I see them around?"
"They’re in the garden at the back, and I moved some to my office.I grouped them according to their properties so they wouldn’t get too mixed up." Lily pointed toward the garden.
Ordinary medicinal herbs would not make someone sick or stimulate their central nervous system by just being in their presence.
However, if someone placed various herbs together, their properties and effects could get mixed up and produce toxins that harm the human body.
Anastasia did not know this field and did not understand the implications of doing so.
Hence, she placed them randomly at home, which caused harm to her health over time.
However, there was one thing Lily could not wrap her head around.
Why was Anastasia the only one affected under such circumstances? She wondered why the maids were okay despite living in the same house and breathing the same air.
Lily did not know the answer yet, but she was confident she could learn the truth soon.
"I see!"
Anastasia came to her realization and nodded.
"So, what are we having for lunch today?"
The change in their topic of conversation caught Lily off guard as she pinched Anastasia’s cheek.
"What a hungry little cat you are."
If anyone else besides Lily had said that, Anastasia would have gotten mad.
Since it was Lily, Anastasia simply grinned and looked up.
"You're right.I’m a hungry little cat.Meow!"
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1402--After Lily left the institute, the atmosphere in the laboratory became even more depressing.
Austin was a workaholic and practically lived in the lab, conducting experiments nonstop.He tried and repeatedly failed, causing his temper to worsen by the day.
The other personnel also became increasingly tense.
Austin did not understand one thing.
He wondered why the experiments became tougher when they had succeeded before and restored all the past data.
They had made tremendous progress, but why were they stuck here now? The extraction process of the herbs’ medicinal effects was simple to him.
It was the fusion with the fragrances that was a massive headache.
Before this, he tried to decrease the medicinal effects and increase the fragrance concentration.
That could help him achieve the scent he wanted.
The reduced medicinal effects were not within his consideration at all.
However, he could no longer reduce the dosage of medicinal herbs used.
If he continued to reduce it, it would not have any effects anymore.
Plus, the other staff could tell that something was off through his disproportionate ratio.
If Austin did not adjust the ratio, the herbs' smell would be so strong that the fragrances could do nothing to cover it up.
He became increasingly anxious and irritable by the day.
‘The most vital thing here is to extract the herbs' medicinal properties and ensure that the patients can absorb it into their blood vessels! Why must we use fragrances to cover the smell? The herbs are to save their lives! If they wish to die just because they dislike the smell, let them be!’ As much as he wanted to, he did not have the guts to tell Thompson these things.After their few arguments, he understood how persistent Thompson was about this research.
He was even starting to think that Thompson’s persistence stemmed from his will to prove that his hypothesis was correct and that his plan was plausible instead of it being a plan to create something unnoticeable and lethal to other people.
A string of data appeared, proving that Austin had failed again.
He was frustrated and had the urge to drop everything.
He did not want to continue the experiment or prove anything.
All he wanted was to leave this place and have a good rest.
With that in mind, he got to his feet.
He removed his gloves, washed his hands, removed his coat, and headed for fresh air.
There was someone on the balcony leaning against the railing.
The person was sitting on a chair with a cigarette between their fingers.
Upon hearing the footsteps, the person turned to look at Austin.
Her brow raised, and she used the same hand her cigarette was in to casually brush her hair, looking extremely seductive without trying.
Austin did not expect to meet her again and remembered her name was Rhea Moore.
"Wild" was his impression of her.
To him, she was different from the aloofness Lily had.
Lily made him feel like he should not disturb her unless necessary, while Rhea came off as strong and authoritative.
The last time they talked, Rhea was the one leading the conversation.
Austin followed her flow of thoughts without even realizing it, and it made him feel oppressed after he thought about it.Now that he saw her again, he did not say anything.
He just took two steps forward and leaned against the rail before taking a cigarette and tilting his head.
Then he lit his cigarette as he watched the scenery.
"Out for some fresh air too?"
Austin asked while looking forward, appearing to be talking to Rhea, but he could also be talking to himself.
Rhea just glanced at him, saying nothing.
Slowly, she put the cigarette to her lips and puffed it deeply.
Austin expected this; he knew he would not get a reply from her, so he was not bothered by it.
Then he turned to look at her this time and asked, "You failed your experiment too?"
A mocking smile hung on Austin’s lips as if to say Rhea was no better than him.
He implied they were the same since she came to take a breather after failing an experiment.
He was trying to tell her they were losers at this moment, and none was better than the other.
However, Rhea just stared at him silently.
Her upturned eyes narrowed slightly, and Austin could not tell what he was feeling.
Her stare made him uncomfortable, and he lost interest in talking to her.
There was no point in him arguing with a woman he was unfamiliar with.
He did not know what was wrong with him recently either because he seemed to always be in arguments with women.
At first, Austin was the one who looked down on them.
Forget about competing with them, but the fact that they were comparable did not appeal to him.
He believed he was a genius among the crowd.
Besides, he was even the miracle doctor, Dominic’s grandnephew.
Was it essential for him to compete with all these women? 1 But then, it seemed that everything in his life had gone astray since he met Lily.
He had been competing with women and himself nonstop.
This kind of life exhausted him, and it made him easily irritable.
He was about to leave the balcony and look for another place to clear his head when he saw Rhea leaning forward.
It felt like she was slightly closer to him now.
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1403 --Austin was confused.
Soon, he saw Rhea slightly pouting while looking in his direction.Her lips were full and red, and they were seductive as if inviting him to have a taste.His heart started to beat wildly, and his throat tightened.
Subconsciously, he looked at the door.
No one had passed by, but he felt like he was committing a sinful crime at this moment.
His face was flushed red for no reason.
‘What the hell is she doing? Although we’re on the balcony and there’s no one here, this is a public place! Anyone could just walk by"
Austin noticed Rhea getting closer and wanted to move away, but his body seemed frozen in its spot, unable to move.
With his eyes widened, he just stared at her getting closer to him by the second.
He was about to yell from his anxiety when he saw her opening her lips lightly, blowing the cigarette smoke into his face.
The smoke blew on his face directly, and as he was staring at her with his eyes wide open, it hit his senses and went into his nose.
"Cough! Cough!"
He choked on the smoke, unable to return to his senses as his mind was still confused by what had just happened.
"Pfft."
Rhea scoffed, her tone laced with mockery.
Then she leaned into her seat and casually took another puff of smoke, asking with narrowed eyes, "You went to visit my cousin for her illness?"
Austin finally returned to his senses, but he got riled up again when he heard her question.
‘Is she fooling with me? She has the guts to fool around with me! It’s the first time any woman dared to do that to me.The worst thing is that she even acted like nothing had happened and casually asked me a question after she teased me.How can this woman do that to me?!’
"Hmph!"
He hummed, not planning to answer her question.
He wanted to leave as he initially planned because he did not want Rhea to affect his emotions so easily again.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard her say, "Your medication won’t work."
He stopped in his tracks again as he turned to look at her.
She was pressing the cigarette into the ashtray, diminishing it.
Then she picked up her water bottle from the table and sipped it leisurely.
Austin suppressed his question repeatedly until he could not hold it in anymore.
Even though he knew she did it on purpose, he still had to ask, "How do you know that?"
‘Tt seems Maria has told Rhea everything.
She probably knows that Anastasia got poisoned now and even saw the list of medications I gave to her.
Still, how does Rhea know it’s useless? What does she know? Both Lily and Rhea had been provoking me nonstop! What the h*ll did I do to deserve this?’
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1404 -Austin scoffed and cast a sidelong glance at Rhea.
"Ms.Moore, you seem to know a lot about medicinal herbs.Why didn’t you treat your cousin’s illness instead?"
"That's none of your business." Rhea looked at Austin and said lightly, "However, the medications you prescribed her are useless!"
Once again, Rhea said that his treatment plan would not work, and it angered him now.
"You probably shouldn't be telling me that.You should let your mom know instead.Perhaps she would listen to you, and I hope she would because I don’t want to be involved in this."Austin was trying to tell her that if it were not for Maria, who pleaded with him to treat Anastasia’s illness, he would not do it either.
"Do you not want to, or do you not know how to?"
Rhea was smiling, but it gave him the feeling that she was mocking him.
"I told you that you shouldn’t be involved in this unless you want to ruin the reputation you finally earned after so long."
"Ms.Moore, it seems you don’t want your cousin to recover from her illness?"
Austin leaned down and stared into her mesmerizing eyes.
Her eyes were unique.
They were long and upturned, making her appear unknowingly seductive whenever she looked up at someone.
Even if she were smiling, it would give the other person the impression that she had a hidden meaning behind her smile.
At this moment, Rhea looked back at him with that same gaze.
"Her recovery from that sickness has nothing to do with me.I’m more interested in you, Mr.Dominic’s secret apprentice.I’m eager to find out how capable you really are."
"How much credit are you willing to give me, Ms.Moore?" Austin asked.
He was getting more intrigued by what Rhea was trying to pull off.
She looked at him and slowly raised her hands in the air with her palms open.
Then she slowly curled nine of her fingers, leaving only one index finger, which she was now waving before his face.
Scoffing, he asked, "One out of ten?"
However, she shook her head.
As she continued to wave that finger in front of his eyes, she said, "Not even one!"
That riled Austin up.
"You!"
"What? Are you mad at me?"
Rhea crossed her hands on the table and supported her chin with the back of her hand.She looked at him leisurely.
"The miracle doctor sure is a petty one.I didn’t even say much, and you’re all riled up already?"
"You don’t need to provoke me.None of your words matter when it comes to my capabilities!"
Austin looked around.
"We're working in the same lab now, but on different projects.What about we see who can achieve the most here first? Talk is useless after all."
"You're right."
Rhea nodded and smiled.
"However, you took over Lily’s research, didn’t you? I heard that she finished the project before giving it to you, and that the data she lost was also found.Isn't this too...shameless of you to use someone else’s results to compete with me?"
"who said I was going to use anything she did?"
Austin did not like hearing that.
"She only did the basics.I..."
After a pause, he decided to keep those words to himself.
"Whatever.There’s no point in telling you all this.You don’t understand anyway!"
Then he looked at her curiously.
"Oh, right.What research are you working on now?"
She threw him a glance and smiled mysteriously.
Suddenly, she picked up the cigarette box and lighter from the table as she stood up and walked toward him.
"I’m working on..."
Austin was waiting for her to complete her sentence, only to hear her say, "You don’t understand it anyway!"
With that, she left the balcony.
Austin was rendered speechless.
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1405 --Austin was bewildered, unable to believe that he had allowed Rhea to fool him twice during their short encounter.
He felt suffocated, not knowing where to vent his feelings.
Initially, he came here to clear his head, but he was left feeling even more stressed.
Over the past two days, Lily had been keeping herself updated with Burnwken’s news.
However, she could only receive limited information within the country, and things from the internet were insufficient to ease her anxiety, especially when she had not heard from Alexander for a few days.
She was aware that the signal there was poor, but was it really that bad? Compared to other places plagued by wars and pestilence, he was in a relatively safer area.
The situation over there was unimaginable to Lily.
She had even thought of persuading Alexander to come back home when he would give her a call again so they could plan how to deal with the situation at Burnwken once he was back.
After all, he had seen the situation and understood what was happening.
What was left for them to do was compensate the victims’ families and find out the truth about the incident.
As for investigating the matter and finding out the truth, Lily believed they could hand this over to the local authorities and that Alexander did not have to risk anything.
That was her thought, but until now, she had heard nothing from Alexander.
After talking to Olivia, she learned that Edward had not returned any calls either.
At this moment, Olivia and Lily were equally worried, but there seemed to be nothing they could do other than wait for their return.
Lily was frustrated.
Coincidentally, it had been a couple of days since she last brought Galen out, so she thought she might bring him to Dominic’s place.
Compared to other kids, Galen was unusual because he did not like amusement parks or malls but preferred Dominic’s garden.
Plants appeared to be something he liked, and Alexander had always joked that Galen would take over Lily’s legacy.
Before this, she was worried about what would happen to the company as Galen’s interest lay in plants.
Fortunately, she was pregnant again, and she felt comforted knowing that they could rely on their second child to take over the company if Galen was not interested in that.
Dominic was having fun at first, munching on cookies and drinking tea.
When he saw Galen, however, his eyes grew wide.
"Oh, dear! What brought you here?"
He was frowning at first, but a second later, he welcomed them.
"Hey! Bring out al] the snacks and toys! Lay out the carpet, put up the fence, and put all my precious plants away!"
Judging from how Dominic acted, one would have thought that his anxiety stemmed from a sudden robbery at his place.He instructed his servants nonstop while they worked on their tasks.
Some were working on moving things around, while some were hiding the plants.
They would bump into each other at times, and the whole place was chaotic, contrasting with its usual serenity.
At this sight, Lily did not know how to feel.
"Is it necessary to do all this?"
"Of course!"
Dominic asked, "Why do you have time to bring this punk—I mean, your dear baby—over here today?"
At this moment, Galen was grinning, revealing a bright smile.He was strutting with his short legs, staggering at times, but his steps were determined as he headed toward Dominic.
"Grandpa! Grandpa ..Goat!"
Dominic could not avoid him at this point, so he just dodged to the side.
However, that would mean that Galen would fall to the ground.
He could not bear to see that and quickly stretched his arm out to hold Galen, and while he held Galen in his arms, he also rolled to the ground.
"Oh! My bones!"
Dominic yelled.
On the other hand, Galen was in high spirits as he was not injured from the earlier fall.
He laid on Dominic’s body, with his head on Dominic’s chest.
Looking up, he grinned.
"Hehe..."
Following the sound of his chuckles, his hand moved swiftly.
"Hiss!"
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1406--"Hey, my beard!"
Dominic cried in pain because he failed to protect his beard from Galen’s hands.
On the other hand, Galen was lying on Dominic’s chest.
Between his fingers were the gray hairs that had formed part of Dominic’s beard just a moment ago.
That was Galen's favorite "toy."
"Where are the toys? Where are the snacks? Did you guys bring them here yet?!" Dominic exclaimed.
Even so, he could not bear to punish Galen for what he did and carefully got up.
Lily headed over to take Galen from Dominic's body and reprimanded him softly, "You can’t do that! It’s bad!"
"Bat?"
Galen flapped his arms, looking around for bats.
Confusion filled his eyes when he realized there were no bats in sight.His naive acts made Dominic chuckle and get up, saying, "It’s fine.He’s still a young boy.What would he know? It’s my people’s fault for being too slow to bring out the toys!"
The servants were speechless upon hearing that.
They were already moving as fast as possible and had created an area filled with snacks and toys for Galen.
On top of that, they had created a vast space.
This spot had always been for Galen to avoid him from going around the place.
Whenever he came over, the servants would quickly arrange the space, and once they placed Galen inside, he would drown in a sea of toys.
Lily had no words, but Dominic was another thing.
He called Galen punk and was afraid of the little boy, but he also spoiled Galen.
Lily reprimanded Galen whenever he caused chaos, but Dominic would immediately interrupt her, protecting Galen from being scolded.
Hence, Lily thought it was Dominic’s fault that Galen had pulled his beard.
After all, Dominic was the one who allowed Galen to play with it the first time.
Later, Galen formed a bad habit of pulling Dominic’s beard as he found it to be an interesting toy.
Lily shook her head and said, "I’ll need to go to your herb garden in the backyard.Can I do that?"
"Just go! You don’t have to be so polite to me about it,"
Dominic waved and said casually.He suddenly paused, appearing to remember something.
"Wait.If you head to the backyard, then he n Dominic pointed to Galen, who was having fun with the toys and hesitated momentarily.
"You're here, aren’t you?"
Lily nodded and said, "Thanks in advance!"
Without saying anything else, she headed toward the backyard.She also had a herb garden at home, but it was nothing compared to Dominic’s.
They called it the backyard, but it would take them an entire evening to walk through the area.
Dominic lived in a massive manor near the mountains, where the weather suited most plants.
Nonetheless, he planted the plants that needed extra care in the greenhouse.
There were various types of herbs here.
Lily was not confident to say that Dominic had every type of herb, but she believed she could find most of the herbs she would need here.
She had looked into the plants Anastasia had sent over and recorded their medicinal properties.
As of this moment, she had a rough idea of the toxin formed from those mixed properties.
However, the toxin was complicated as it formed from the properties of many herbs.
Lily could not gather enough ingredients from her herb garden to create the antidote, so she thought about visiting Dominic’s place to get everything she needed in the shortest time possible.
She had to settle Anastasia’s matters as soon as possible.
After all, she had promised Anastasia that she could do it and must not let her down.
Moreover, it pained her to see Anastasia suffer for many years due to the toxin.
Lily planned to visit Burnwken when she settled things with Anastasia.
Although she was pregnant now and Alexander told her to rest at home, she would not be able to take it anymore if she had no idea what was happening to Alexander in the foreign place.
"Hey!"
Dominic tried to stop Lily but to no avail.
Hence, he turned to look at the little boy sitting amidst the toys.
At this time, Galen looked up, and they met gazes.
Galen was chuckling as he happily stretched his arms out.
"Pull, pull..."
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1407--Dominic was speechless and subconsciously held his hand to his chin.
"Pull my *ss, you punk!"
"Hahaha!"
Dominic felt tired about an hour later, but Lily had yet to return from the backyard.He lay on his rattan chair by the pile of toys and looked at Galen while drowsiness was slowly taking over him.
However, he forced himself to stay awake, knowing he could not fall asleep this way.
If he did, all his precious plants and herbs might go missing when he opened his eyes again.
That would not be as simple as getting his beard pulled off.
When his eyes were almost closing, he heard one of his subordinates report, "Mr.Dominic, the young master is here!"
"Which young master? Isn't he here?"
Dominic turned to look at the toys area and was shocked to find that Galen was out of sight.
"No.It’s Mr.Austin!" the maid said.
However, Dominic was not in the mood to care about that now.
"I don’t care who came! Find that punk right now! No, find the kid!"
‘He’s still here now, and I didn’t fall asleep either.Or did I? I don’t think so.I'm so old that I'm starting to forget things!’ After getting all his servants to look for Galen, Dominic started searching for the little boy and called out, "Oh, Galen!" and "Oh, baby!" amidst his search.
At this time, everyone had forgotten that Austin was still waiting as they focused on looking for Galen.
Austin had been waiting for a long time and still did not receive permission to enter.
He thought Dominic was still mad over what had happened the last time he visited and started to ponder how he could ease Dominic’s anger later.
Then he would ask about the toxin in Anastasia’s body.
Austin found Anastasia’s case to be complicated.
It was not that the toxin was highly poisonous, but it was just too mixed up, which made the case as tough as it was.
If there was only one type of toxin in her body, he could just focus on creating one antidote, but there were a few types of toxins in her body, though none were lethal.
He wondered who was the person behind all that.
Anastasia came from an influential family and had a good family background.
How did she get such complicated toxins in her body? This question had been bothering Austin for a long time.
Plus, the stagnant process of his work at the lab also troubled him, so he thought of seeking advice from Dominic.
Sometime later, no one got back to him.
Seeing that the door was not locked, Austin pushed it open and entered the place cautiously.
To his surprise, there was no one in the yard at all.
Not even one servant was in sight.
Usually, at least the guard would be there.
The maids would clean while the gardeners would be tidying the plants.
It was rare to have no one in the yard at all.
Austin had a strange feeling about this but paid no mind to it and headed into the residence.
Once he reached the central area, he started to see people.
Many of them had their waists bent and appeared to be looking for something.
As they searched, they yelled something.
Austin did not hear them clearly and only did when he walked closer to them.
"Young master! Where are you?"
‘Young master? Me?’ I Austin was confused.
"Hey, I’m here!"
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1408--Upon hearing that, all the servants looked in Austin’s direction.
Two seconds later, they again lowered their heads and continued searching for someone, yelling, "Young master! Young master?"
Austin was utterly puzzled.
‘Is there another young master besides me? What?’ With a confused look, he continued walking toward the manor, not bothering to ask the servants what was happening.
When he was about to reach the residence, he could no longer move his feet.He looked down and saw a little boy hugging his calf and clinging to it like a koala.
Austin looked down while the little boy looked up with a grin.
"Teehee!"
The little boy did not have all his teeth yet, and on his face was an innocent smile.
However, his presence shocked Austin.
"Whose kid is this?"
Subconsciously, he wanted to shake the boy off his calf, but even though the little boy was still young, he had a tight grip on Austin’s calf.
Galen clung onto Austin's calf calmly and even sat on top of his shoe like it was a swing.
The more Austin shook his leg, the happier the little boy seemed.
"Hahaha..."
"Get down.Get down right now!"
Austin had never cared for a child before and did not know how to interact with kids.
Getting his calf hugged suddenly stopped him from entering the house and frustrated him.
"Whose kid is this?"
His yells immediately attracted everyone else’s attention, including Dominic, who was about to head outside the house to look for Galen.
When Dominic arrived at the door and saw the sight in front of him, he roared, "Don’t move!"
Although he was old, his roar was thunderous and powerful, shocking Austin to his core that he froze in his spot, not daring to move.
Austin was slowly losing stability because he had one leg on the ground while his other leg was mid-air, holding Galen.
"G-Granduncle..."
He threw Dominic a painful look, thinking the little boy would get into trouble for creating such chaos here.
‘Granduncle is mad.He’s even trembling from his anger"
"Oh, my dear grandson..."
Dominic opened his arms and ran toward Austin.
It stunned the latter, and he was so emotional that he was on the verge of tearing up.
It was the first time Dominic addressed him this way over the past twenty years.
No matter what happened, blood was still thicker than water.
"Grandpa..."
Due to Austin’s emotions, he immediately addressed Dominic as his grandfather.
However, before he finished his sentence, he saw Dominic squatting before him and carrying the little boy in his arms.
"Let’s not sit there, all right? It’s dirty!"
Austin was shocked to his core.
Galen’s grip on Austin’s calf was tight, so Dominic had difficulty picking him up.
"Let go.I have something fun for you to play with.Otherwise, you can play with my beard!"
Upon hearing that, Galen immediately let go of Austin’s calf and grabbed Dominic’s beard.
"Pull..."
"Yeah, you’re pulling it..."
Although there were tears in Dominic’s eyes, he still allowed Galen to hold on to his beard.
Austin had no words.
He was heartbroken, and his heart hurt as if a group of men had just stomped on it one after another.
He had never felt this hurt before.
‘It turns out that granduncle wasn’t calling me, and the servants weren't looking for me either.
The "young master" they called wasn't me, but that brat! Granduncle even allows him to play with his beard! ‘T can’t even pour him a cup of tea without suffering the looks he would give me, but this brat had granduncle’s beard in his hand, looking like he was about to pull it off soon.Yet, granduncle is saying nothing about it!’
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1409--‘what did he say earlier? Did he say I was dirty? Which part of me was dirty? I would wipe my shoes clean every time before leaving the house! I did not even say anything about this brat wrinkling my clothes!’ Austin was suffering from tremendous shock and stood in his spot, stupefied.
Seeing the older man and the little boy being friendly, he felt like an outsider.
Finally, he returned to his senses and asked in a hoarse voice, "Granduncle, this kid is..."
"What the h*ll are you guys doing?"
Dominic suddenly rebuked Austin, shocking him again.
"All of you can’t even take care of one little boy! You’ve taken so long to search for him in this small place! What's the point of me hiring you guys?"
The servants just stayed silent in the face of Dominic’s rebuke.
"What are you guys still standing here for? Get back to work! Oh, right.Get the chef to prepare something the little boy likes to eat.Move fast!"
Dominic nagged and was back to being the ill- tempered man he usually appeared to be.
Austin was used to this side of Dominic, but someone else was not.
Galen, who was in Dominic’s arms, had his lips curled downward instantly.
"Fierce..."
As he spoke, he pouted and pressed his hands on Dominic’s cheeks, trying to push the corner of his lips upward.
Austin widened his eyes at the sight as if he had seen a monster of some sort.
However, Dominic did not get mad and cooperated with Galen gladly.He even softened his voice to coax the little boy.
"All right, my bad.I shouldn’t have been so fierce.I’ll smile, okay? Hahaha..."
Following Dominic’s laugh, Galen chuckled happily as well.
"Hahaha..."
Austin did not know what he should feel at this moment.
"why the h*ll are you standing here like a fool?"
At this moment, Dominic finally realized that Austin was there.
Frowning, he asked impatiently, "Who allowed you to come in?"
Dominic vaguely remembered not giving Austin permission to enter his house.
‘This punk comes here too often! How annoying!’ "Granduncle, I have something important to ask you.I didn’t disturb your peace on purpose."
Austin was curious about Galen's family, seeing as Dominic adored the boy so much, but he was afraid to ask a leading question for fear of being expelled once again.
Hence, he decided to just keep those questions to himself.
"What important matters can it be? You said the same thing the last time you visited.You’re not doing anything serious with your life, are you? Don’t you have anything better to do these days? Should I ask your parents to send you abroad to further your studies or something?"
Dominic questioned impatiently, which was a total contrast to his kindness and patience when talking to Galen.
Austin had mixed feelings about it.
‘Why do we get such different treatments when we're both from the younger generation? Wait a minute, no. I’m related to him by blood, but where did this brat come from?’
"Granduncle, this kid..."
Austin hesitated and swallowed his words again as a terrifying thought formed in his head.
‘This kid can’t be his illegitimate child or something, can he?"
The thought left as fast as it came, as Austin denied that possibility.
‘No! That can’t be! Granduncle is so old now and hasn’t left this place for so many years.
Judging from this brat’s age, he should be about one to two years old.
How could he be his great- granduncle’s illegitimate son? Wait, or is he granduncle’s illegitimate grandson?’ While Austin was having all sorts of thoughts in his mind, Dominic had already brought Galen into the house.
After standing and pondering for a moment, Austin decided to be shameless and followed suit.
Spoiled by mr. russell chapter 1410---Dominic carried Galen into the house, and when he turned around, he noticed that Austin had followed behind them.
Suddenly, he glared at the young man.
"Why did you come..."
Before he could finish roaring, his cheeks were pushed upward, and he could only let out a funny smile.
Frowning, he pursed his lips at Austin, motioning for the latter to move aside as he sat down with Galen.
He loosened his grip and asked, "What about you go inside and play with your toys?"
Galen shook his head fervently at the sound of that, rendering Dominic speechless.
"Then you can’t hold onto my beard all the time.You pulled off so many, and you won’t have any to play with in the future anymore."
Dominic coaxed patiently, "Plus, your mommy will spank your butt if she knows about this!"
The last part of the sentence probably sounded scarier to Galen because a hint of hesitation flashed across his eyes upon hearing that.
Finally, he released his grip and went back to his playing area.
"Phew..."
Dominic breathed out a sigh of relief as if he had just come back from war.
He picked up the teacup before him and blew on it habitually, but he realized that his tea was already cold by now.
Then he poured it into the bucket at his side as he started to boil water to make himself a new pot of tea.
"Granduncle, let me do it!"
Austin tried to help, finally finding the chance to do something for the old man.
Perhaps because Dominic was already exhausted, he did not have the energy to get mad now and allowed Austin to be.
He released his grip on the kettle, and Austin quickly took over, washing the pot and boiling the water before he made a new pot of tea for Dominic.
He seemed to be happy while doing all that.
While at work, he glanced at Galen from time to time through his peripheral vision, finding him familiar.
He knew a few kids and did not have a close relationship with many people due to his personality.
As he did not even have a girlfriend now, there was no way he could have kids of his own.
To him, kids were a burden, and it was best to stay away from them.
Hence, he should have seen the kid somewhere to find him familiar, right? Or that all the kids looked the same, which was why he felt he had seen this kid before? Deep in thought, he suddenly heard Dominic roar, "What in the world are you doing?"
When he returned to his senses, he realized the cup was full because he had overfilled it.
He was so distracted that he did not realize it.
"Granduncle, I’m sorry! I got distracted!"
Austin quickly apologized and grabbed the tablecloth to clean up the mess.
Dominic snatched the teapot from his hand right away.
"Move aside! You can’t even do one thing right! You’re so dumb, ugh! You became distracted? Lord, tell me what you can do right in your life!"
After getting reprimanded, Austin felt aggrieved.
It was just a small matter, and he did not understand why Dominic had to overreact.
He glanced to the side and found Galen staring back at him.
It seemed that the little boy had witnessed his embarrassing moment from earlier.
He opened his mouth and grinned, revealing his two teeth.
Austin had a feeling that a little boy just mocked him.
The boy had a smile that he was familiar with, and Austin felt that he had been mocked by such a smile many times before.
A familiar face flashed across his mind.
Suddenly, he remembered that he had indeed seen this kid before.
It was during that time that he visited Lily’s place with Maria.
Back then, he did not pay too much attention to his surroundings as there was bad blood between him and Lily.
Plus, he was there to check on Anastasia’s illness.
At the time, a kid was there, but Austin had simply glanced at him.
In retrospect, this little boy looked like the kid he saw back then.