The CEO’s little ones

Chapter 22:.

All that had pointed to Noah suffering from autism.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask.” Hayden apologized sincerely, “How about this, to show my apology, why don’t I invite you to lunch today?”

Joseph’s mind was pulled from his thoughts and seeing her anxious look, he realized that her attitude a moment ago was a bit rude. Having remembered that she saved Noah, he softened his voice and explained, “Noah can talk, he just doesn’t like to.”

Hayden nodded and asked no more.

Meanwhile, Noah was sitting in the middle of a sea of colored balls.

Having lost track of Stella’s whereabouts, he frowned and looked apprehensive. Suddenly, something exploded in front of him and all the balls scattered everywhere. Stella shot out from under the balls and stared at him as she laughed. “I’m here!”noveldrama

Noah was obviously shocked. He was dumbfounded, as if this was the first time anyone had ever played with him like this.

Feeling slightly startled, Stella asked, “What’s the matter, Noah?”

Noah shook his head and suddenly grabbed her hand. He pointed in the direction of the dining room table, implying that he wanted to go back.

Although Stella still hadn’t been amused enough, seeing Noah’s startled look, Stella nodded understandingly. “Are you hungry? Let’s go back.”

Noah insisted on sitting next to Stella during their meal no matter how Joseph warned him. Luckily Stella was carefree enough to go directly to the spot next to Joseph and said in a childish voice. “Since Noah likes my mommy so much, I’ll let him sit next to mommy. I can sit here.”

Seeing that Hayden showed no aversion, Joseph let him be.

Examining the adorable little girl next to him, he inexplicably thought her appearance was appealing. “His name is Noah Beckham.” Joseph introduced him.

Stella nodded obediently and a doubt arose in her mind. Then she asked, “Oh, yes, how old is Noah? What if he’s younger than me?”

“He’s five years old. His birthday falls just one day before the Moonlight Festival.”

Hearing that, Hayden’s gaze froze. Just before the Moonlight Festival? What a coincidence that he actually had the same birthday as Stella.

“And you?” Seeing Joseph ask her, Stella scratched her head and looked to Hayden for help. She couldn’t remember her birthday since she was only a five year old.

Without knowing why, Hayden deliberately lied that Stella’s birthday was a month before her actual birthday. “Stella’s birthday is September 14.”

Joseph no longer asked anything about it, as if he had asked for no purpose.

During the meal, Stella and Noah realized that they had the same preferences: they both liked sweet foods. When the last dessert was served, Stella ate hers with great delight while Noah ate his in silence. But from his clean plate of dessert as he finished eating, he seemed to enjoy it very much.

The children always had immense energy and spirit. They both ran to play in the children’s corner again after finishing their meal. Hayden and Joseph waited for them for a while keeping each other company.

Hayden was quiet at first, but as the wait got longer and longer, she began to look at the time frequently.

Then he reminded Stella for the umpteenth time, “Stella, it’s time to go home.”

Stella looked up from the sea of balls and looked at her, “No, I still want to play with Noah for a while.”

“Stella Downey.” Whenever Hayden called Stella by her full name, it meant she was about to explode. That worked fine during normal days, but Stella today was being sassy and ignored her to continue playing battle with Noah in the sea of balls. Hayden finally went to her and dragged her outside, “Do you know what time it is? You should go home with me now, Stella.”

One of Stella’s arms was grabbed by her mother, but she immediately used her other arm to grab Joseph’s pant leg. “Help me sir.”

Joseph had already planned to keep his son company while he played and didn’t care how long it took, not to mention that he found the girl particularly attractive. So he took her in his arms and said loosely, “Children like to play, why don’t we let them play a little longer?”

Stella threw her arms around his neck and grimaced at Hayden. “Mommy, since you have nothing to do at home, why don’t you have more conversation with the mister to improve your relationship!”.

Hayden almost coughed up blood at her words. “What nonsense are you talking, Stella Downey? Come down here…I’m sorry about this, Mr. Beckham, but take it easy I’m not going to hit you….”.

Stella was clinging to Joseph like a koala bear and refusing to come down.

Hayden would spank her to threaten her, but his trick wasn’t working now that he had Joseph’s enormous support. After causing a ruckus over their bickering in the restaurant, Hayden gave up and stood angrily, looking aggrieved. “Mr. Beckham, I think you’d better put it down. She disrespected me and I’ll lecture her when we get back.”

“All right.” Joseph let out a rare smile, “Stella is actually quite adorable, she’s just active. It’s rare that she can play so well with Noah.”

Stella was smart enough to hear his words; then she immediately crawled into the pool by the ladder. “So, could Mommy take me to Noah’s next time?”.

With a livid look on her face, Hayden gritted her teeth and spoke, “Stella, Downey!” How could an intern like her visit Joseph’s home so easily?

“Mommy, I’ll come home with you if that’s okay with you.”

As Hayden was about to use the hard way to take Stella home, Noah standing next to her quickly pulled a stack of sticky notes out of her purse and picked it up after writing something on it.

He let Joseph see what he had written and it turned out to be, [Let Stella come to my house].

Joseph was startled, as Noah had rarely asked him for anything, let alone anything related to making friends. Remembering that the psychiatrist had mentioned the need for an autistic child to bond more with people, he felt hesitant. After a moment’s reflection, he said with a serious countenance, “Why don’t I send someone to pick you up next Saturday? You can come to my house with Stella.”

Hayden’s eyes bugged out and he exclaimed, thinking he had heard something wrong. However, Stella had already begun to perk up and was as happy as a lark. She landed on the ground after escaping Joseph’s arms and grabbed Noah’s hand, forcibly high-fiving him. “Hooray…I can come to your house now Noah.”

Since Joseph had given his invitation, it was inappropriate for Hayden to refuse the offer and so she consented. The only thing to be happy about was that the boys finally agreed to leave the Japanese restaurant. Hayden had a feeling that all the restaurant employees would never forget her if she stayed there any longer.

After leaving the mall, Joseph’s chauffeur drove the car. But it was unusual for Joseph to be such a gentleman: “I’ll take them back.”

Without waiting for Hayden to turn him down, Stella went ahead and climbed into the back seat of the car, sat inside and greeted Hayden. “Mommy, get in! It’s comfy in here.”

Hayden put his hand to his forehead and was speechless. Her instincts told her that, after today, Joseph would think she was an irresponsible mother and very inept at raising her daughter.

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