Chapter 18

The police officer warned Dale’s wife to watch her words. Willow wasn’t the type to tolerate such insults and slander. In fact, she wouldn’t rest until she resolved the matter. “Not only do I have physical evidence, but I have a witness too.” Willow glared at Dale’s wife with resolute eyes. She then said to the police, “Please wait for a moment. I’ll call forward my witness to prove that Dale White harassed me.” The police officer nodded, and allowed Willow to leave the vicinity. She wanted to find Tyson, who had seen how Dale pestered her yesterday. He had intervened and protected her from his continued harassment. Willow felt that he was a man of justice, so she decided to pick him as her witness. The weather today was gloomy. The clouds were so dark, it looked like it was going to rain any minute. It couldn’t have been a more accurate representation of Willow’s mood right now. - Edith soon returned to her office. She was about to call the person in charge of the janitorial department to have Willow fired from her job. Before she could do that, she received a call from the receptionist, who explained that Jasper’s relatives had come to visit him. A puzzled look flashed across her face. “Mr. Hughes’s relatives?” “Yeah, four cute children,” replied the receptionist. Unsure of the situation, she told the receptionist to hold on while she called Jasper to confirm if he was expecting these kids. At that moment, the receptionist told her, “They went into the elevator. Now they’re heading up to the top floor.” At first, the receptionist stopped them from going into the elevator. One of the children was an adorable little boy named Julian. He started sobbing like a lost child who had been separated from his parents. He explained to the receptionist softly, “Our parents have left us. Mr. Hughes is our uncle, and we want him to help us find our daddy and mommy. Please let us see our uncle, ma’am.” The receptionist’s heart melted at the sight of the sobbing boy. What’s more, the other children bore some resemblance with Jasper. And so, there wasn’t any reason for her to doubt the truth in the boy’s explanation. After letting them through, she called the company secretary to inform her they had gone in. Edith hung up and stormed over to the CEO’s office. In the CEO’s office, the four children exchanged glances. They had come here to find Jasper, yet he was nowhere to be seen. After their discussion yesterday, they had agreed to come here to ask if he really was their father. If the jade pendant really was the heirloom of the Hughes family and Jasper was the head of their family, then he was likely their father. Just then, Edith entered the room. She was met with the four young children. Visibly confused, she asked them, “Are you Mr. Hughes’s relatives?” Julian nodded his head. “Mm-hm, yeah.” “What are your parent’s names?” Edith was skeptical, since she had never heard of Mr. Hughes having such young nephews. “My mom’s name is Willow,” replied Julian. “But we don’t know who our father is yet, so we came to ask if Mr. Jasper is our father.” The boy’s voice was soft, but it stirred up chaos in Edith’s heart. Hold on—their mother was Willow, and they came to ask Jasper if he was their father. Edith felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Willow gave birth to four children?! If what they were saying was true, did she have all of them with Jasper? It wasn’t long before Edith got her answer. One of them bore a striking resemblance to Jasper, whether it was his eyebrows or his overall charm. Even if they weren’t all his children, she was almost certain that this one was his! Willow’s children were all here! No, she couldn’t possibly let Jasper see them. Her expression darkened immediately. She snapped at them angrily, “I’ve never heard of that name! Don’t you kids know that it’s bad to lie to adults? Leave! This isn’t a place for you to fool around!” Edith stormed forward, prepared to grab them in order to take them outside. To avoid being caught, the children all ran in different directions. Edith panicked. Fearful of being caught, one child dove under the table. Another climbed onto Jasper’s seat and knocked over a bottle of ink, staining everything around it. One of the children climbed on an expensive down sofa with dirty shoes, soiling the spotless off-white fabric. The last one opened a book cabinet and anxiously squeezed inside, sending the trophies on top of the shelf toppling down. Edith initially gasped in shock, and then started trembling in fear. Dear god! The world was ending for her. Outside the CEO’s office, Willow approached the door. She had no idea where Tyson’s office was, so she went to the CEO’s office in hopes she would find him there. After knocking on the door, she realized that it was slightly ajar. She pushed it open, and stole a peek inside. Immediately, she was greeted with a young boy crawling on the CEO’s desk. Wait a minute… Wasn’t that her son, Julian? Scattered across the marble floor were all sorts of documents that had been stained black with ink. Willow took a deep breath. Was this all her boy’s doing? If Jasper found out about this, she’d be dead! She swung open the door. She was about to take Julian away, when she noticed a tall figure moving towards the office. Jasper was back! With trembling hands, Willow shut the door and walked towards Jasper. With a forced smile, she greeted him. “Mr. Hughes, I’ve come to shine your shoes. Let’s head over to the lounge.” “Go away!” Jasper pushed her hands away in disgust. He thought she had come to seduce him after she had grown bored with playing with another man. He glared at her disdainfully. Then, he marched to his office. He was about to reach the entrance when Willow blocked his path once more. “Sir…” Boom! An earth-shattering boom shook the walls as a bolt of lightning lit up the entire corridor. “Ah!” Willow’s heart was seized with fright, causing her to subconsciously leap towards Jasper. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her head in his chest. “I’m scared of thunder…” The delicate and smooth skin of her neck brushed against Jasper’s own. He could hear her erratic breathing. The fragrance of magnolia flowers immediately filled his nose. In a split-second, he was reminded of that woman from five years ago. The feeling of her skin, coupled with the lighting outside, instantly brought him back to the abandoned house from all those years ago. Anger, excitement, compulsion, and arousal. In mere seconds, those emotions flooded his mind. Was she really the woman from five years ago? Excited and angered, Jasper lifted her chin and forced her to look straight at him. Her dark eyes were wet with tears. Like the lightning outside, it tore a hole in his heart, from which his suppressed desires poured out. Feeling his throat go tight, his heart fluttered. In the heat of the moment, he kissed her lips passionately. “Ah! I wanna go home!” Their intimate moment was interrupted when the door swung open abruptly. A boy came running out from inside. Willow’s heart trembled when she realized what was happening. She knew that if Jasper saw the kids, everything would be over. She noticed his eyes slowly turning to investigate the ruckus, and her heart almost leaped out of her mouth.