Filed to story: Leaving the Country After Divorce Novel (Lucian & Roxanne)
However, when he didn’t hear Archie’s response, he, too, fell silent and waited for his brother to express his thoughts.
When it came to Estella, she had no objections, for she was used to eating with Lucian. In spite of that, she remained seated when she didn’t see any movement from the boys.
Noticing the expectant look in Benny’s eyes, Archie paused for a moment before indicating his agreement by getting off the bench.
Behaving just like his lackeys, Benny and Estella followed suit.
Even though no words were exchanged, Lucian recognized their tacit agreement to have dinner with him.
After the four of them got into the car, Lucian drove, while the children sat in a uniform row behind.
“Since I don’t know what you like, I’ll just bring you to one of Estella’s favorite restaurants.” Lucian decided on the spot.
Benny answered without another thought. “I’m fine with that!”
Just as he spoke, he felt a tug from Archie and proceeded to keep his mouth shut sheepishly.
Without another word, Lucian drove them straight to the restaurant.
The high-end restaurant they were brought to had a historical look to it. Since Archie and Benny grew up overseas, they had never seen such a design before. Hence, they looked around curiously once they took their seats.
Lucian felt a warm sensation in his heart when he saw how their interest was piqued. “What would you like to eat?”
Feeling famished, Benny recovered his gaze from the decorations the moment he heard Lucian mention food. He counted with his fingers. “I would like pork ribs, fried fish, drumsticks… All these are our favorite food!”
Lucian subsequently turned his attention toward Archie, who wasn’t keen on answering initially.
However, since Benny had replied on his behalf, Archie had no choice but to quietly nod.
After ordering the food based on the children’s taste, Lucian didn’t know what to talk to them about, causing an awkward silence to fall upon the table.
Once the dishes arrived, Lucian instructed the waiter to place them in front of the boys.
It was only then that Archie uttered in a cordial yet distant tone, “Thank you, Mr. Farwell.”
“Don’t mention it.” Lucian nodded in acknowledgment. His tone sounded awkward as he had seldom spent time interacting with them.
During dinner, he would serve them food even though he didn’t feed them as Roxanne did.
Nonetheless, the children wolfed down their food.
“Is the food right to your taste?” Finally, Lucian thought of what to ask after struggling to find a topic.
Raising his head, Benny rubbed his stomach before giving the question some thought. In the end, he responded in an earnest tone, “It’s delicious but not as good as Mommy’s cooking.”
Lucian cocked his brow in surprise. “Does your mommy cook often?”
Without thinking twice, Benny replied candidly, “Mmm-hmm. She’ll cook for us when she’s not busy. But when she’s overwhelmed by work, she won’t even have time to eat.”
At that moment, a concerned expression emerged on his face, for he was sure that she had yet to eat.
Meanwhile, Estella’s eyes lit up in envy. She, too, wanted to have Roxanne’s cooking every day.
Oblivious to what was going through their minds, Lucian remained curious about Archie and Benny’s daily lives. “In that case, how do you cope when your mommy is busy?”
The moment the words left his mouth, Lucian regretted it at once.
If Roxanne is busy, their father would naturally be the one to take care of them. There’s no way the three of them lived overseas alone.
With that thought in mind, Lucian couldn’t help but think about Roxanne.
Compared to six years ago, she looked sterner now. He figured that her losing weight might be one of the reasons behind it.
Unaware of what was going through Lucian’s mind, Benny answered naively, “When Mommy is busy, her professor or assistant will help to babysit us. Sometimes, she’ll even bring us to the research institute, where her colleagues adore us.”
Rattled back to his senses, Lucian was baffled and a little displeased. “What about your daddy? Why doesn’t he take care of you?”
His words stunned the brothers.
Daddy? Our daddy is sitting right in front of us. He just doesn’t know it.
Putting his cutlery down, Archie furrowed his brows and stopped Benny from speaking. He stared at Lucian and demanded, “What do you want to know?”
Lucian was slightly shocked. A brief moment later, he pursed his lips as if nothing had happened and replied, “Nothing, I was just showing some concern.”
After staring at Lucian for quite a while, Archie recovered his exasperated gaze before asserting in a firm tone, “Ever since we were born, we have not seen our daddy. He’s a villain for abandoning Mommy and us. Therefore, I don’t like him!”
When he finished, Archie raised his head to give Lucian another glance before going back to his food.
Meanwhile, Benny, who had something to say, swallowed his words after his brother’s tirade.
I have almost forgotten that Daddy is a villain, and we were supposed to ignore him!
Lucian frowned when he sensed the unhappiness in the boys. Realizing that he had asked an inappropriate question, he apologized, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up your painful past.”
Despite opening his mouth, no words came out after that, for he didn’t know how else to comfort them.
Archie lowered his head and pretended to focus on his food. “It’s all right. We have gotten used to it, anyway,” he said.
At that moment, the atmosphere at the table grew tense.
Unable to restrain himself after eating in silence, Benny raised a teary-eyed gaze at Lucian. “Mr. Farwell, do you like children?”
Lucian was dumbstruck by the look on Benny’s face.
Benny continued with his soliloquy. “I suppose you do, as I can see that you treat Essie very well. Since you don’t hate children, why do you dislike us then?”
While speaking, Benny looked at Lucian with puppy eyes.
It’s clear that you don’t hate kids, so why did you abandon us, Daddy?
He was on the brink of vocalizing the question in his mind.
Startled by his brother’s words, Archie was well aware of what the former wanted to ask. Hence, he preempted the question by serving him some food. “Didn’t you say that you were hungry? Here, eat up.”
Despite the sadness within him, he didn’t want to show it in front of Lucian.
Furthermore, he knew that Roxanne didn’t want Lucian to know their identity.
Having been reminded by his brother, Benny pouted and continued to eat the food on his plate. However, he no longer took any extras.