Filed to story: Leaving the Country After Divorce Novel (Lucian & Roxanne)
Larry trusted her, so he nodded and agreed to let her work her magic.
Roxanne ended up spending most of her time at the hospital over the next two days.
She discussed the matter with a few domestic experts who were renowned in that field. After that, she came up with a new medical proposal, but even then, the chances of success were only forty percent.
On the day of the surgery, Roxanne dropped her kids off at the kindergarten early in the morning. She hurried to the hospital immediately after to confirm the surgical procedure with the other experts. The preparation for the surgery was done following that.
The surgery would begin at one o’clock in the afternoon, and if everything went smoothly, the entire process would take about five or six hours. That
would give her just enough time to go pick up her kids.
Roxanne’s confidence caused her to dismiss the idea of asking Lysa to pick up the kids.
Soon, it was one o’clock, and the surgery began officially.
Roxanne and the other medical experts worked diligently as they operated on the patient.
Everyone was going all out to make this case one of the forty percent of cases that ended in success.
Unfortunately, their patient truly was too old, and an unexpected complication arose during the surgery.
The medical experts had never dealt with anything like that before, so they panicked for a minute there.
Roxanne was worried as well, but she forced herself to calm down and continued operating on her patient.
Before she even knew it, the surgery had already gone on for over seven hours.
By then, all the other kids in the kindergarten had already left, and only three kids remained.
Estella had moved out of their house, but Archie and Benny still treated her the same way they did when she was staying with them.
The boys noticed that no one was there to pick Estella up, so they took her to the sandbox. All three of them then built a sandcastle together and were having so much fun.
When Lucian showed up, he saw the three kids crouching in the sandbox. Their laughter filled the small playground in the kindergarten.
“Essie,” said Lucian, who waited until all three had finished playing before he called out to his daughter.
However, Estella was reluctant to leave as she stared at her two friends, even though her dad had already called out to her.
Lucian frowned and turned his attention to Archie and Benny. “Where‘s your mom?”
The boys didn‘t like him, but they still stood up politely.
Reluctant to answer Lucian‘s questions, Archie pouted and turned his head to the side to stare at the tiny sandcastle they had built earlier.
Benny, on the other hand, had an innocent look on his face. He answered, “Mommy has an important surgery to perform today. She is probably dealing with something troublesome, and that is why she‘s not here yet.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and saw the look on Archie‘s face. That prompted Benny to quickly add, “But, uh, she should be here soon. Bye, Mr. Farwell. Bye, Essie.”
Nodding, Lucian reached out to hold Estella‘s hand and leave but to no
avail,
Estella had tilted her head down and backed away a few steps. At that moment, she was standing behind Archie and Benny, shaking her head at her father.
The boys realized that Estella refused to leave, so they turned around to coo her.
But no matter how hard they tried to convince her to go home, Estella stubbornly shook her head. She even clutched onto their bags and insisted, “Stay together.”
Estella had been rather harsh to Lucian ever since he took her away from Roxanne‘s place. The kid would cry endlessly at every trivial matter, and that made Lucian raise his white flag. At that point, he no longer dared to force her to do things she didn‘t want to. Hence, he had no choice but to give in by nodding and saying, “I‘ll wait here with you boys.”
With Lucian around, the kids couldn‘t play as freely as they did before. All they did was sit quietly on the bench.
After they waited for about an hour, the sky was turning dark. Yet, Roxanne was nowhere to be seen.
Lucian frowned a little as he fished his phone out of his pocket to call Roxanne.
He made several consecutive calls, but no one picked up.
I guess she is still in the operating room.
Lucian checked the time before shifting his attention to the kids. “Are you hungry? I‘ll get everyone some food.”
Hearing that, Estella turned to look at both Archie and Benny with anticipation gleaming in her eyes.
Archie, however, grabbed the strap of his backpack and shook his head with a scowl on his face. “We‘re going to wait for Mommy. Mr. Farwell, please go ahead and take Essie home.”
When Benny heard what Archie said, he forced himself to ignore his hunger and nodded in agreement. “I‘m sure Essie is hungry, so please take her home quickly, Mr. Farwell.”
The glint in Estella‘s eyes dimmed instantly. She stubbornly shook her head at her father and said, “Not hungry.”
I will stay with Archie and Benny if they‘re not leaving. I want to keep them company.
Lucian couldn‘t help feeling a headache coming.
Even after he tried to talk some sense into the kids, all three of them remained adamant about staying put.
..
Left with no choice, Lucian ordered Cayden, who was waiting right outside, to buy them some food and deliver it over.
“Thank you, Mr. Farwell, but we‘re not hungry,” lied Archie as he stubbornly turned Lucian‘s offer down.
Meanwhile, Benny caressed his tummy pitifully and echoed his elder brother‘s words.
At that point, Lucian could more or less guess the reason behind that hostility. The incident from before must‘ve left a bad impression on the kids and made them hate me. Ah, they are so frustrating.
“I specially bought these for the two of you. If neither of you will eat it, then I have no choice but to throw it away,” said Lucian, pretending to look for a trash can after that.
The boys hesitated for a moment, but at the end of the day, they didn‘t want the food to go to waste, so they accepted it.
The sky had already turned dark when Roxanne left the operating room.
She saw the night sky and suddenly realized that she was late to pick her kids up, so she quickly changed her clothes and rushed to the kindergarten.
At the entrance of the kindergarten, she saw from a distance that a guy with a hand in his pocket was standing beside a bench. The kids were sitting together and eating their burgers with their heads down.
Roxanne couldn‘t help stopping short when she saw that.
It seemed like Lucian could sense her gaze because he looked up and took a glance at her. After that, he shifted his attention to the kids and told them something
All three of them then simultaneously turned to her. Each of them had a half–eaten burger in their hands when they ran to her.
Feeling apologetic, Roxanne crouched down and stroked the kids‘ heads. “I am so sorry for being late.”
Ugh am I the only one annoyed by Estella? I know she’s a child but it’s kind of annoying how she is so stubborn and so determined to attach herself to the boys and Roxanne.