Ch. 811..820

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 811-Lucas nearly called Corinne 'Luna' again but quickly stopped since he did not want to anger Corinne any further. "Ahem! I'll get you when it's dinner time, Corinne.” Corinne decided to take him up on his offer. "Very well, then. Thank you. Now, if you don't mind. I'm going to rest. Can you please go out?"

Lucas stared at her before he turned and walked out of the door, closing the door with the broken music box still in his hand. As soon as he was outside, he instantly noticed Anya acting suspiciously not far off.

Frowning, he walked over and asked, "Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be taking care of Joey?"

Anya started to panic when she saw Lucas walking over to her. Unable to hide, she had no choice but to explain, "Lucas, I was worried you'd blow up at Corinne for breaking the music box, so I decided to stay and-’ Lucas' face darkened. "I won't blow up at her, so stop worrying about other people and go look after Joey!"

Anya frowned. "Why did you come out alone? Where's Corinne?’ "She's tired, so she's resting inside the room for a while. Don't you dare bother her, okay?"

Anya's eyes widened in shock, and she could not keep the emotion out of her voice. "You're letting her rest in Luna's room? I thought you hated nothing more than for other people to touch her stuff!"

Lucas frowned, and after two seconds of silence, he said, "She's Grandpa's savior, so she deserves to get the best hospitality from us. She has the right to rest in any of the rooms."

Lucas' explanation did not seem to convince Anya. There's something off about the two of them…' she thought.

Not bothering to explain more to Anya, Lucas then took out his phone and called Edmund. "Edmund, I'm on the second floor. Come up now."

After a minute of hanging up the phone, Edmund arrived.

"Edmund, keep watch over this room; Miss Corinne is resting inside. Don't let anyone bother her, okay?" ordered Lucas sternly.

"Yes, Mister Lucas!"

Lucas then handed him the broken music box. ’Get someone to fix this, and ask the servants to clean up the broken glasses in the room. Make sure they sweep up every last piece so our guest won't get cut by them."

Edmund accepted the music box and nodded. "Yes, I understand, Mister Lucas."

After that, Lucas went back to his room with a frown. He was not in a good mood and needed sometime alone.

Anya stayed rooted in shock as she watched Lucas leave dubiously. 'What the heck is going on? What could've happened for Lucas to have such a drastic change in attitude toward Corinne in just a few days?' After thinking about it, Anya decided to interrogate Corinne. However, Edmund stopped her.

"Miss Anya, Miss Corinne is resting inside, so you're not allowed to go in."

Anya pulled out her signature move. "Edmund, I just wanted to make sure she's alright. I promise I won't bother her…" she said in a soft, cutesy manner.

"You've heard what Mister Lucas said just now, so please don't make my job any harder than it already is," said Edmund objectively.

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 812-However, Anya did not give up.

"I promise it won't take long. I just want to ask Corinne a few questions. Lucas won't know if we don't tell him! And even if he did know, he won't blame you.’ Edmund was unmoved. "Sorry, Miss Anya, but I can't go against Mister Lucas' order. You should also go take care of Joey like he asked you to.’ 'He's only a lowly employee. In fact, he's nothing but Lucas' b*tch! How dare he stop me from doing what I want?' thought Anya angrily.

Anya was already in a bad mood from having her previous plan foiled, so she lost all patience in dealing with Edmund. She glared vehemently at him and hissed, "P*ss off, Edmund! I’m going in, no matter what!” Edmund was shocked. He had always thought Anya to be sweet and caring, and this was the first time he had seen this side of her. It stood to reason he found the whole thing hard to believe.

At that moment, Corinne opened the door and stepped out. Seeing this, Anya faked a grin. "Oh hey, Corinne! You're opening the door to let me in, right? Can you believe Edmund wouldn't let me in just now?"

Corinne threw a bored glance at Anya before turning to look at Edmund indifferently. "Mister Edmund," she called him respectfully.

Edmund continued to block Anya from going in. He turned his head back slightly and asked, "Yes, Miss Corinne?"

Corinne yawned lazily. "I'm a little thirsty."

"Please wait a moment. I'll have the servant bring you some water immediately,"

said Edmund respectfully.

Corinne nodded. ’Make it warm water, please. And put in a slice of lemon, too."

"Yes, Miss Corinne. Someone will be in to clean up the broken glass soon, so please make sure you stay away from them in the meantime."

"Got it," replied Corinne. She then languidly closed the door after stepping back into the room.

Seeing this, Anya's eyes widened in anger while she tried to squeeze past Edmund. "Corinne-!"

Alas, she did not manage to get past Edmund. Her words were cut short by a crisp thud of the closing door, which left her irked.

'What the heck? Isn't this my home? And doesn't Edmund work for my family?

Why is he stopping me from going into that room? What's more, not only did that shameless b*tch steal Jeremy away from me, but she's now trying to take over my home too?!' she thought while clenching her fists.

Edmund stayed where he was and called Benson, asking him to arrange for the servants to clean up the broken glasses and fetch Corinne a glass of warm lemon water.

Anya was not having any of this. She would not allow Corinne to rest comfortably in Luna's room if it was the last thing she did.

"Edmund, let me go in. Poor thing must be bored sitting in the room all alone."

Edmund shook his head. "Miss Anya, you saw how it was too. Miss Corinne doesn’t need any company right now. Please just let her rest."

Anya frowned unhappily. "Edmund, why do you only listen to Corinne and not me?"

"That's because Mister Lucas said she's Mister Cedric's savior, so we should treat her with the utmost respect and hospitality."

"Huh! Fine, take her side then. Mark my words, I'm going to get Lucas to fire you one day for this insubordination."

Anya could not hold back her anger anymore. She threw one last angry look at Edmund before striding away in a huff

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 813-Edmund looked at Anya's retreating figure in confusion. 'What's the matter with Miss Anya today? Where did the usual soft, caring, and kind girl go?' Anya was beyond furious. Not only did Corinne steal the man she loved but also her brother who had always seen her as the apple of his eye! She could not, for the life of her, figure out why Lucas would respect Corinne so much.

'I thought Lucas would always take my side since he hates Corinne so much…' Joey had just woken up and the nanny was feeding him some oatmeal when Anya reached his room. He immediately hid in the nanny's arms when he saw Anya come in.

Anya was already in a bad mood, but seeing the trembling Joey in the nanny’s arm worsened it. 'Why, that brat! What's the use of keeping him now?' She walked over and extended her hand to the nanny. "Give that bowl to me. I'll feed him. You can leave the room now."

The nanny hesitated before placing the bowl in Anya's hand. She then plucked Joey from her arms and put him in the crib before she walked out of the room.

Joey watched anxiously as the nanny left the room. He reached out his chubby hands to her, but it was useless. Only he and Anya were in the room afterward.

Anya smiled sweetly at Joey. "Come, Joey. Your mom will feed you now."

Looking at Anya, Joey started to tremble out of fear she would hit him again.

However, the happy memories of when Anya first brought him back from the orphanage flashed through his mind when he saw how lovingly Anya smiled at him.

He blinked and decided to let his guard down, allowing Anya to get close to him again.

Anya shoved a big spoonful of oatmeal into Joey's mouth. 'Here you go. Eat more! Eat!"

Joey nearly choked when the oatmeal suddenly filled his mouth. It was just too much. Moreover, the oatmeal was still piping hot, so he immediately spat out everything.

Anya's mood soured. "Hey, don't spit out your food! That's so wasteful of you.

You should eat whatever is given to you!"

She tried to shove another spoonful of oatmeal into Joey's mouth, but not wanting to be burned again, he refused to open his mouth.

Seeing this, Anya grabbed Joey’s cheeks to force open his mouth, and the harder Joey resisted her effort, the harder Anya would squeeze his face. In the end, out of frustration, she poured the whole bowl of oatmeal into his throat.

Joey started crying out of fright and through his struggle, he accidentally knocked over the bowl. After that, he started coughing and puking.

Seeing the bowl break sent Anya into a flying rage. 'Is that all you know how to do? Cry? I'm your mother, so why do you always cry when you see me?! Don't you know that you'll still be suffering in the orphanage if I didn't bring you home?

You useless child! You should be thanking me instead of crying your head off!"

Joey's lips had become swollen by then. After puking out the oatmeal, he burst into a louder sob, so loud that his cries could be heard from a few doors away.

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 814-The nanny heard Joey's cries from outside and rushed into his room to check on him.

"Miss Anya, what's going on? Did Mister Joey make you angry again? He's just a kid… He doesn't know any better. Won't you please forgive him?"

Anya was raging. "What are you doing back in here? Didn't I ask you to go outside? How dare a lowly servant like you tell me what to do!” The nanny immediately hung her head low and said respectfully, "I'm sorry, Miss Anya. I didn't mean to…’

In a fit of blind rage, Anya slapped her. "What didn't you mean to do? Barge in here? I put Joey in your care, and look at how he turned out now! The moment he sees me, he'll start crying as if I'm a monster. You must've taught him to do that."

Covering her cheek with her hand, the nanny tried to explain, "No, Miss Anya. I didn't teach Mister Joey to do that. You're a first-time mother, so it's normal to lose patience sometimes… I'm sure he'll stop being afraid of you if you just show him a little more patience…"

Anya gave her another backhand slap. "How dare you call me impatient! I don't need you to teach me how to be a good mother, you useless piece of sh*t!"

This time, the force of the impact was so great that it caused the nanny to fall to the floor, sobbing. Seeing the person who had been taking care of him getting hurt made Joey cry even louder.

At that moment, Lucas-who had just changed out of his suit and was on his way downstairs—saw Anya slap the nanny through the opened door.

"What are you doing?!" He walked in with a stern expression and saw the nanny and Joey crying. "Anya, what happened here?” Anya started to panic at Lucas' sudden appearance. She quickly put on her damsel in distress act before throwing herself crying into Lucas' arms.

"You came just in time, Lucas. This nanny is no good. She was feeding Joey, but she didn't blow on the oatmeal before giving it to Joey. Look at how red his lips look! I told her to make sure the oatmeal is warm before giving it to Joey, and she actually talked back to me…so I hit her in a fit of rage. I mean, this is Joey's safety we're talking about after all."

Lucas looked down at the crying Anya emotionlessly and did not hug her back.

Instead, he looked at Joey's swollen mouth. Then, he narrowed his eyes and asked the nanny, "Is what she said true?"

Anya's eyes started to falter. 'Why would Lucas ask the nanny to confirm what she said? He always believed me unconditionally in the past! What happened to him to make him change so much?' The nanny stood up fearfully and was about to explain herself when Anya turned around and threw her a threatening look. This immediately struck fear into her heart, and after thinking of all the times Lucas had sided with Anya, she knew there was a high chance Lucas would not believe her words.

Not wanting to cross Anya further, she finally lied, "Mister Lucas, I didn't mean to…"

Lucas frowned. "You should pack up your things and leave if you don't have the patience to care for a child!"

The nanny nodded helplessly. She took one last look at the child she had bonded over with before leaving the room quietly.

Anya heaved a sigh of relief. She then snuggled against Lucas and said," That nanny has gone overboard this time! Joey could've ended up even more hurt if I didn't stop her in time."

Lucas put both of his hands on Anya's shoulders and pushed her away." You look after Joey by yourself if you think you can do a better job than the nanny.

Joey is your kid, so it'll be better if you, as his mother, take care of him."

Anya was stunned. For some reason, she had the sinking feeling that there was an impenetrable wall between her and Lucas, causing them to be not as close as before.

"Okay, Lucas. I'll try to take care of Joey as best as I can from now on."

"Good."

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 815-Lucas looked up, and his pupils shrank when he realized Joey was missing from his crib. ’Where's Joey?"

Anya looked at the crib, too. "Hey, you're right. Where is he? Did he run off with the nanny?"

Lucas strode out of the room quickly and asked the servants stationed in the area whether they had seen Joey, but none of them did. He looked around the room once more and saw the balcony door was open. The balcony in that room was linked to all the other balconies on the same floor.

"He must've gone into the other rooms through the balcony. He shouldn't have gotten far. All of you, split up and look for him."

"Yes, Mister Lucas!" said the servants.

After that, he went down the stairs.

Anya immediately chased after him. "Lucas, where are you going? Aren’t you going to look for Joey with me?"

"I'm sure he's still in the house somewhere, so he should be fine. I need to go to the kitchen now."

"Why?"

"We have an important guest in our house today, and to show our gratitude, I'm going to ask the kitchen to cook up a few more dishes."

Anya frowned in confusion. "Why don't you just ask one of the servants to pass on the message? Why do you have to go into the kitchen yourself? It's so smelly and hot there. Don't tell me you're going to cook something for her?"

Lucas did not want to waste his time explaining to Anya, so he said coldly," Stop following me. The important thing for you to do now is to look for Joey."

Anya had no choice but to do as he said. However, she could not help but feel resentful since Lucas had never cooked for her before. 'What could've happened to compel Lucas to cook for that shameless woman?’ she wondered.

Phoebe was alarmed by the servants searching for Joey. She went to find Anya and asked, "Anya, did Joey go missing again?"

Anya did not care whether Joey was found or not. In fact, she actually wished he would go forever missing since he was of no use to her.

She quickly explained to her mother that Corinne was the one who saved Cedric's life and that the two of them should come up with a plan to get rid of her.

"What a small world it is! Who'd have guessed the girl who stole Jeremy from you was your grandpa’s savior?"

"It was no coincidence at all! She must've planned this so she could get closer to Grandpa and the whole family."

The wheels inside Phoebe's head started to turn. "Anya, do you still have those precious saffron you brought back from overseas last time?"

"Yeah, I still have a lot. Why the sudden question?" asked Anya in confusion.

Phoebe smiled confidently. "Saffron is good for the skin when consumed, but it can cause miscarriage if consumed in large quantities. What's more, it'll be harder for a woman to conceive after that. Anya, Corinne coming to visit us is a blessing in disguise 'cause we finally have an opportunity to get rid of that baby in her womb."

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 816-Anya's eyes lit up when her mother mentioned miscarriages.

'She's right. We'll just have to sneak the saffron into Corinne's food at tonight's dinner and, boom! Her baby will be gone!' However, since all of her previous plans came to a fruitless end, she did not feel as confident as she did last time. "But what if someone finds out it's the saffron that caused her miscarriage?" she asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. I'll just say I did it should anyone find out about it. I can just pretend I didn't know Corinne was pregnant, and that's why I gave her some saffron to try," said Phoebe smugly.

Knowing her mother had her back, Anya finally felt at ease.

"Okay, wait here, Mommy. I'll go get the saffron now. Try to put as much as you can in Corinne's food… I want to see her bleed out all the blood she has."

Meanwhile, in Luna's room.

Corinne was resting on the small bed with her head against the headboard. She scanned every corner of the room to see if her memory could be jogged.

However, nothing called up a strong sense of familiarity to her except for the broken music box.

Suddenly, her phone rang. As expected, it was Jeremy video-calling in to check in on her.

"What are you doing now?" he asked in his deep, strong voice.

Jeremy was flipping through his documents while occasionally looking up at the screen. It was obvious he was busy, yet he still made time to check in on her.

That was how worried he was about her.

"I'm about to take a nap right now," said Corinne sleepily.

Jeremy frowned and looked up from his document to give her a stern stare.

"Have you forgotten what I said to you?"

"No, I haven't! You said I'm not allowed to simply eat the food outside, not allowed to sleep outside, and not allowed to drink, especially now that I'm pregnant."

Jeremy scoffed. "Then why are you about to take a nap at someone else's house?"

Corinne pouted. "I was just a bit sleepy… Look, I'm still awake, aren't I? Hey, Mister… Lucas told me that this used to be my old room."

A pained look immediately flashed across Jeremy's eyes whenever Jeremy thought of the hardship Corinne endured when she was a child. "So what if it is?

Are you planning to move back there?"

Corinne shook her head. "Nope. I just wanted to see if I can remember anything about my childhood if I stay here for a bit."

"You don't have to force yourself to remember anything. It's best if those unhappy memories are forgotten. Besides, you have me now, and your future will only get better from now on."

It was rare to hear such romantic words from Jeremy's lips, so Corinne was understandably stunned, yet she could feel a sense of warmth washing over her too.

"Aren't you worried your staff are going to think you have a split personality if they hear you speaking to me like that?" she asked cheekily.

Jeremy glared at her. "Is that all you have to say to my romantic words? You do know I only ever speak to you like that, right?"

Corinne laughed happily and blew him a kiss. "I love you. Mister."

Jeremy's cold heart instantly melted, which showed on his face. "You cheeky little rascal. Remember to call me if you need help. I'll go there immediately."

Corinne nodded. "Yes, sir! I'm going to hang up now. Bye."

After that, she immediately hung up.

Jeremy was speechless. 'Why that little rascal! Why doesn't she ever wait for me to say goodbye before hanging up?!'

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 817-However, Corinne had her reason for ending the call so quickly. She heard a noise outside her window, and she did not tell Jeremy because she did not want to worry him.

After hanging up, she went to the window and peeked outside. 'Is anyone there?"

No one replied, which bewildered her as she was certain she heard something.

She then looked down, and her pupils dilated when she saw a child hanging precariously from the balcony railing of the next room. He could have fallen!

Although they were only on the second floor, it would still be dangerous for such a small child to fall from there.

"Don't move! It's dangerous!"

Without thinking twice, Corinne immediately stepped over the balcony railing to save the child. After grabbing him, she stepped over the balcony railing again and brought him into the room.

The child was, of course, none other than Joey-who Anya emotionally blackmailed Jeremy into adopting with her. His head was still thickly wrapped with bandages due to the injury he suffered two days ago.

Corinne put Joey down and got down to his eye level. "Why were you all alone on the balcony? Where's your nanny?" she asked sternly.

Joey backed away from her fearfully and fearfully stared at her. "Bad… Bad guy…’ Corinne was none too happy about being called a 'bad guy' after saving him.

"Who told you to call me that?"

"Mama…" answered Joey shakily.

Corinne chuckled wryly. "Then is your mama a good guy?"

Joey fell silent. The thought of Anya made him shake his head fearfully.

Corinne was stunned. 'That means he knows Anya's true colors… He must've suffered a lot under her hand.' "Why did you run off all alone? Don't you know how dangerous that is?

Don't you ever do that again, okay? You could've fallen if I didn't save you in time."

Joey was still unable to form a complete sentence, so he just said the keywords, "Scare… Run… Oopsie fall…"

Corinne frowned. "What were you scared of?"

Joey's eyes started to redden. He looked around to make sure Anya was not around before crying and answering, "Scare mama… Scare…’ Corinne knew Anya only saw Joey as a tool to keep Jeremy around, and with her plan having backfired, keeping him around was pointless. It did not take a genius to guess how Anya would treat Joey from there on.

"What happened? Did she hit you?"

"Hot…" Joey pointed to his mouth. "Eat… Hot… Angry…"

Corinne looked at his lips. 'It looks like it was burned not too long ago. How can she bear to do something like this to a child so young?' As she was going to be a mother herself, she could not help but feel sadness and rage at seeing a child being treated like this.

"Let's go and tell your uncle who did this to you." Corinne scooped up Joey and took him to find Lucas. She might not like him, but she had to admit he was fair, unlike the despicable Anya.

Besides, he was the only one in the entire family who Anya was scared of. He would definitely be able to bring justice to Joey.

However, Joey immediately broke out in sobs when he heard what Corinne was going to do.

"No! No… no go out… No!" he kept crying while struggling to free himself from Corinne's arms.

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 818-Joey was struggling too much, so Corinne had to put him down again." Okay, then. We'll stay here for a bit longer."

As soon as Joey's feet touched the floor, he immediately backed into the corner, squatted, and curled like a scared animal with his arms hugging his knees.

Corinne frowned at how pitiful he looked. "You do know I'm going to have to leave this room sooner or later, right? How long do you think you can hide in here then? What if you got hungry or thirsty? The people in this house will find you eventually."

Joey started trembling violently when he heard he was going to be found eventually. Seeing this, Corinne could not help but feel sorry for him. She was once like him, too-all alone and helpless.

Even though her mother entrusted her to Marvin, that good-for-nothing man was quick to send her off to live with his relative in the countryside as soon as the opportunity presented itself. She was a bona fide outsider in that house, and the only reason Marvin's relatives would take her in was because he promised he would send them money every month as payment for taking care of her.

However, he only sent them money twice, and ever since then, his relatives treated her even worse. They would not even allow her to eat at the same table as them. Word soon spread that she was a child nobody wanted, and the kids there started to bully her for fun.

The bullying happened so frequently that she got used to it. It was not like anyone would do anything if the bullies beat her to death. This one time, the son of Marvin's relatives pushed her into the well as a prank, and for three days and three nights, no one came to save her, no matter how much she screamed for help.

The fear, the despair, and the sense of powerlessness were not something she would ever forget. She would still breakout in a cold sweat whenever she thought back to that time. No one came to look for her, even though she went missing for three days and three nights. It was as if they wanted nothing more than for her to die so that they would have one less person to feed.

In the end, it was a photographer who had an interest in collecting folktales that saved her. He was passing by the well and even took photos of her stuck in the well so he could turn them over to the media for an expository article on current social problems.

After that, Marvin's relatives were slammed by their neighbors and social media users alike, and that only made them hate Corinne even more.

However, they could not do anything at that time since it would only attract more criticism, so they simply waited until the scandal died down before sending Corinne off to live in a convent.

The convent was a quiet and serene place. Although the food there was bland, it was far better than the spoiled leftovers Marvin's relatives gave her to eat. Plus, no one bullied her there.

Mother Cathrina, especially, was very good to her. She taught her some self - defense skills and even borrowed money from the convent to send her off to school. It was only because of her that Corinne managed to grow up well.

After high school, she secretly started her business with the scholarship money she got. When her business became successful, she gave Mother Cathrina back all the money she had given her for education, renovated the convent, and taught her old bullies a lesson, i As she looked back on this, she thought herself lucky for coming out of her unlucky life a winner. Not only was she saved by a photographer with a strong sense of justice, but she also got to meet Mother Cathrina who took her in and borrowed money to send her off to school.

Joey, however, was much younger than her when she was shipped off to live with Marvin's relatives. Not only was he powerless, but he was stuck living in a golden cage. No media would ever dare to write a story about him no matter how badly he was treated.

What was even more pitiful about him was that he could not express himself fully yet. The only words the others had to go on were what Anya told them. He had nowhere to run to or hide. After all, how could a toddler escape from the Riveras, or even Anya forthat matter?

That was why Corinne took it upon herself to be the one who saved him from this hellhole. She would be to Joey what Mother Cathrina was to he

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 820-Corinne led Joey out of the room.

Edmund was leaning against the wall and scrolling through his phone. As soon as he heard the door opening, he straightened himself respectfully. However, his dutiful expression changed to confusion when he saw Corinne with Joey.

'What's going on? I've been standing guard here the whole time, so how did Miss Anya's kid go in without me noticing?' he wondered.

"Miss Corinne, how did Joey get into your room?"

"I'm not sure either. I just happened to see him come running in from the balcony."

'Oh, so that's what happened! I'm so glad it wasn't my mistake,' thought Edmund.

"Forgive me, Miss Corinne," he said respectfully. ’I shouldn't have let Joey bother you. You can leave him with me and head down to have your dinner. N Corinne nodded and pulled Joey toward Edmund. However, the kid just grabbed her hand harder as if not wanting to let go.

Joey had a particularly peaceful rest, and it had been such a long time since he had slept so soundly with none of the frequent nightmares plaguing him. He especially liked how Corinne sang and patted him to sleep as if letting him know he was in a safe space.

'This lady is a good guy…not the bad guy Mommy says she is! I want to be with her always…' thought Joey.

Edmund was worried Joey would annoy Corinne, so he quickly said, "Come here, Mister Joey. I'll bring you to your mother."

This only made him grab Corinne's hand even tighter.

Corinne patted his head and said softly, "Do you remember what I told you just now?"

Joey did a double-take before nodding docilely. He then let go of her hand and walked over to where Edmund was standing.

'This kid listens to Miss Corinne but not Miss Anya? Why, this is unbelievable…' he thought with shock.

Edmund scooped up Joey and carried him over to where Anya was.

Corinne watched with worry as the two of them left. She prayed Joey would be able to keep his feelings inside of him.

Once she was in the dining room, she was greeted with a whole table of food. It was a feast fit for a king!

However, Cedric and the rest of the family were not there yet.

Corinne pulled out a chair, sat down, and decided to play her phone while waiting forthem.

However, it had not even been a hot minute before someone shrilly spoke,"

What are you doing here? Who says you can sit here?"

Corinne looked up and saw Phoebe, dressed very luxuriously, looking down her nose at her. The other woman had just come out from the back kitchen and she immediately took a dislike to Corinne, who she thought was Sunny's tutor, when she saw her sitting down at the table.

’How dare a mere tutor sit down at the table with us?' she thought.

Corinne raised her eyebrow. "What's the matter, Miss Phoebe? Can't I sit here?"

"You can't seriously think you have the right to sit here. Why, you're just a lowly tutor! No no, you're not allowed to sit at the same table as us. You must've forgotten your place. Get up now! The food on this table is for our special guest…and not for the likes of you

The Day I Kissed An Older Man Chapter 819-"Do you want to leave this place?" Corinne asked Joey.

Joey nodded anxiously.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Orph…age," stammered Joey.

'Does he mean the orphanage? Heh. He'd rather go back to the orphanage than live with the Riveras, huh,' thought Corinne.

She patted his head gently to calm him and to make him trust her.

"I really want to help, but I'm only a guest here while Anya is your legal guardian. I can't help you to leave this place if we don't have proof that she's abusing you."

Joey only blinked and looked at her in a daze. He did not know how to express himself nor did he understand what she was talking about, despite him taking every word seriously.

Corinne thought what she said was above Joey's comprehension ability too, so she sighed and said, "What I mean is… Bear with this for a while. I promise I'll get you out of here once I get the chance to, okay?"

Joey was stunned for a while, but the look of wariness in his eyes lessened.

Hethen nodded docilely.

"If you don't want to get hurt anymore, you'll need to learn how to hide your feelings. Don't show that you're scared 'cause this will only make them bully you more. You must pretend you find the whole thing fun, okay?" said Corinne sincerely.

Joey looked at her in a daze again. It was obvious he did not understand what she was saying.

That did not deter Corinne. She simply took off the red braided necklace and put it on Joey. While adjusting the necklace to fit his neck, she said," This necklace contains magical power. It'll protect you from getting hurt, but you can't cry in the face of your bullies to make it work.” Joey understood her this time, and being at a gullible age, he believed her. He touched the necklace as if it was the most precious thing in the world and nodded.

"Okay, I know you can do it! When you see your Mommy later, you can't cry no matter how scared you are, okay? You have to smile and call her Mommy. I promise she won't hurt you then," said Corinne encouragingly.

Joey started trembling again at the thought of seeing Anya.

"I know you're scared, but remember you have the magical necklace to protect you now. There's no need to be scared, okay?" Corinne kept encouraging him patiently.

Joey looked into Corinne's eyes, and the fear in his eyes immediately disappeared. In its place was renewed courage. "Okay… Joey…no scare…"

Corinne patted his head again before scooping him up and putting him in the crib to let him take a nap so he would have the energy to face Anya later.

As much as it pained her to ask a little kid like Joey to hide his emotions, she had no other choice. It was a case of losing the battle to win the war. Thus, the only way to save him for good then was to get solid evidence of Anya abusing him.

Soon, it was time for dinner.

Benson was sent to ask Corinne to come down for dinner.

"Miss Corinne, dinner is ready. Mister Cedric has asked me to tell you to come down to the dining room whenever you're ready," he said outside of the room.

"Okay," said Corinne from inside the room. "You can leave now. I'll go down in a bit."

"Certainly, Miss Corinne