Chapter 307
“Do you think all stepmothers are evil?” Molly asked as she walked out of the restaurant with a dejected look.
Just now, as she was leaving the restroom on the first floor, she saw a woman dragging a little boy around Andy’s age. 1 Molly clearly saw the little boy’s eyes reddened, and he was trying not to cry. His left arm was severely burned, and the wound was as large as an adult’s palm, with blood seeping from the second–degree burn.
Molly’s heart ached for the boy, but she was even more horrified when the woman irritably picked up the child and roughly placed his burned hand under the faucet before turning on the water at full blast. The harsh treatment made the little boy cry out in pain.
The more the little boy struggled, the angrier the woman became. She then scolded him, “Why are you crying? You embarrassed me in front of everyone. It was just a little burn from the hot grill, and you’re acting like this. How useless can you be?
“Stop crying, stop it right now! No wonder your real mom abandoned you…
Molly then gathered her courage and confronted the woman. “Hey, the kid’s burn is really severe. You need to take him to the hospital.
But the woman, looking fierce and confrontational, snapped back. “He’s not your kid. Even if he dies, it’s none of your business/
Molly was then angered. Watch your mouth. But she wasn’t very good at arguing. Just as Molly was considering getting a restaurant employee to intervene, Scott saw her and came over.
“I believe there are surveillance cameras here, ma’am. What you’re doing to the kid now is against the law,” he said calmly. but it was effective.
The woman’s expression then shifted at his words. She lifted her head and furiously yelled at them, “Against the law? You better not spout nonsense like this. He may not be my biological son, but he is my son. I saw his hand was burned, so 1 rinsed it with cold water. That’s the basic first aid.”
Molly asked, “With such a severe burn, aren’t you going to take him to the hospital?”
“Who said I’m not taking him to the hospital?” The woman then angrily dragged the boy away.
Molly stood rooted to the spot for a long time, feeling heavy–hearted. “So it’s true that stepmothers are often evil.” Scott, with his head lowered, had been observing her expressions shifting all along.
Someone as simple–minded as her was easily influenced by her surroundings. Seeing that Molly had been in the restroom for 20 minutes and hadn’t come upstairs, Scott thought she might have gotten lost, but it turned out she was just meddling in other people’s business.
He reached out, ruffled Molly’s fluffy short hair, and said with art enigmatic tone. “Not every stepmother is evil.
She looked up at Scott and saw that his face still wore that gentle smile, but his tone was quite serious as he continued, “A foolish stepmother won’t be evil.”
They then left the restaurant together, walking side by side on the spacious commercial street. Molly’s brief sorrow was quickly replaced by anger as she thought irritably. This pretentious jerk! Nothing good ever comes out of his mouth!
Actually, Caclorium had a pretty comfortable pace of life, at least not as bustling and hectic as Havencrest. But going to the hospital to see a psychologist on Christmas? Stephanie really had to hand it to herself.
After leaving the hospital, she felt somewhat down. The taxi driver asked Stephanie several times where she wanted to go. and she couldn’t help but feel a bit ironic since she didn’t know herself. While gazing out at the view through the car
window, an address sinhdenly came to mind.
Stephanie then went to Diana’s place. Today was Christmas, and she used to spend holidays with Diana. It had been a long time since they last met, and although there was some estrangerment, they were still family after all.
Diana’s new place was arranged by Oscar, and it was located in the city center, right behind Eastwall Plaza. Since the rent was quite high, she insisted on paying, and Oscar had to give in.
After Stephanie got out of the car at the entrance of the neighborhood, she looked thoughtfully at the massive Eastwall Plaza ahead and muttered to herself, “I’ll look for that little girl that sells flowers at the plaza later…”
After calling Diana and speaking to the security at the entrance, she walked in slowly.
The area was filled with rows of foreign–style villas. Diana chose to live here partly because she wanted Stephanie to live with her, but she couldn’t convince her.
Stephanie had been here once before, so she roughly knew the way. However, as she walked ahead, she noticed a suspicious figure lingering in front of Diana’s house.
Stephanie stopped in her tracks, and her expression turned somewhat surprised when she saw a short, plump, middle–aged man who turned out to be Oscar’s uncle, Mason.
Mason usually wore a gold chain and spoke in a coarse voice like a nouveau riche. Today, however, he was surprisingly dressed in a proper suit, without his flashy gold chain, and on closer inspection, his big belly seemed a bit slimmer.
He was holding a large fruit basket and several boxes of supplements while peering into Diana’s window. It looked like he wanted to go in but didn’t dare to. The sight was somewhat comical.
Stephanie hurried over and asked directly, “What are you doing?
Mason seemed startled by her, and when he turned around and saw her, he looked a bit embarrassed for some reason and hastily explained, “I was..just passing by,”
Stephanie’s face remained expressionless as she nodded toward the fruit basket and supplements in his hands. “Just passing by?” She felt his lie was terribly unconvincing.
If it weren’t for Mason’s tanned skin and coarse complexion, his face would have been beet red by now.
Diana probably heard some noise outside and thought it must be Stephanie, so she quickly opened the door and came out,
As soon as Mason heard the door open, he was startled and hurriedly shoved the fruit and supplements into Stephanie’s hands, saying, “Oscar gave these to you. You and your aunt can share them. With that, he dashed off and vanished.
Stephanie was a bit taken aback, watching Mason’s short, plump figure run away, finding it somewhat amusing.
“Who was that?” Diana wasn’t foolish. She had clearly heard a man’s voice just now.
Stephanie looked down at the gifts in her hands and remained silent for a moment. She knew Oscar wouldn’t have others deliver gifts for him. Still, Stephanie felt it would be a waste to throw them away.
“Just someone asking for directions,” she replied nonchalantly. Lately, her lying skills had improved. With that, Stephanie handed the fruit basket and gift boxes to Diana.
“Why go through the trouble of buying these things?” Diana asked as she took the gifts. Although she wasn’t interested in the gifts, her face still lit up with a smile because her niece had brought them. Stephanie looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and then chose not to say anything.
Stephanie used to be very headstrong, always directly pointing out the truth, thinking right was right and wrong was wrong. But now, she could pretend not to know and choose to go along with some white lies.