His gaze stayed at the invitation card in Hazel's hand for a long time and it took him a few seconds to react. Neil finally put down the chopstick in his hand and asked, "For me?"
"Un," Hazel nodded adorably.
Neil finally moved to take the invitation card and the cookies.
His fingers traced the invitation card as he looked at it. Hazel's handwriting was pretty and there were drawings of flowers and her favorite bunny on it. There were cute stickers on it as well as some glitters.
At the center of it, Hazel had written his name. Uncle Neil Mo.
Neil had received a lot of invitation cards in his life, but he thought that this invitation card was the prettiest and the most elegant of them all.
He spent a long time staring at the card and finally realized that the little girl was still waiting for his reply. Neil turned to the little girl and smiled. "Alright. I will definitely come to this event."
The little girl's eyes sparkled. Earlier, she was still worried that her uncle was going to tell her that he would be too busy with work to come. Surprisingly, he had said that he will attend this event.
Since her uncle was going to show up, then she did not have to feel awkward being alone while her friends were surrounded by their parents.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Hazel lifted her pinkie. "Pinkie Promise."
Neil let out a chuckle and raised his hand. He locked his pinkie with Hazel's and spoke, "Pinkie Promise."
…
Neil Mo walked out of the bathroom with a dark blue bathrobe on his body and a small towel to dry his hair. His movement halted the moment he saw the invitation card and the cookie in the gift bag on the side table. Slowly, his lips curved into a smile as he picked up the invitation card.
His niece was the cutest. She had made him an invitation card just to ask him to come over to join her school activity.
Although Edith had mentioned this activity day not too long ago, Neil was happy that Hazel had asked him to come.
The invitation card and the cookie was Hazel's first gift for him. This was Hazel's handcrafted cards and it was enough to make him happy. The most important thing was that Hazel had invited him to come over to her kindergarten activity.
Since she had invited him, that should mean that she wanted him around, right?
Neil suddenly recalled that time when Hazel's father, Adam, had come over to his office to brag that his daughter had gifted him a small jar of origami stars.
Hazel was three years old and her craft was not that neat. However, Adam was so proud of his daughter and he had bragged at Neil for the whole day.
His gaze moved towards the cookie. Neil wanted to take a bite and tasted it, but he was a little reluctant and wanted to keep this as a treasure. After a while, Neil grabbed his phone and took a few pictures of the gift before he posted it in his moments.
Neil did not have a lot of friends in his circle of friends and had rarely posted any update. Therefore, the moment his post went online, the few people in his circle had left a few comments. A big grin appeared on his face when he read their praise at Hazel's handcrafted gift.
Once he was done looking at the comments, Neil slowly unwrapped the cookie and took a bite.
Just as he was about to savor the taste, a tone of music came from his phone. He looked at the screen and swiftly swiped his finger on the screen upon seeing Henry Wu's name.
"Open up, I'm at your door," Henry spoke the moment the phone was connected.
Neil hung up the phone and went to the entrance.
When he opened the door, Henry greeted him with a nod and walked into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.
"Why are you here?" Neil asked. He crossed his arms on his chest and watched his friend.
Henry let out a big sigh and wiped this mouth with the back of his hand. Then, he took out some documents that he had bought over and placed it on the kitchen counter.
"I came here as soon as I received this information," Henry spoke.
Neil took the documents and his expression gradually changed after a while. He had asked Henry to continue and investigate the matter regarding Edward Xiao's embezzlement and Henry had new information that one of the directors was involved in this case.
Henry had tracked down some clues that led them to this discovery.
"What are you going to do now?" Henry asked.
Neil continued to stare at the new information quietly. His mind whirled as he thought of what he should do with this new information.
"The evidence is not strong enough. It cannot be used to bring him to law," Neil said. His eyes flickered as he began to realize something. "Even though this director is involved in this matter, he is not working alone." Neil looked up from the documents and met Henry's gaze. "This director is a coward and he is not capable of doing something like this unless if he was working with someone else."
Henry opened his mouth to say something but paused when he heard a movement coming from the stairs.
The two men turned around and saw Edith walking into the kitchen in her big T-shirt and sweatpants. For a few seconds, the three of them froze, each with different expressions and thoughts.
Henry was the first to look away. His eyes widened as he looked at Neil.
A woman is living in his friend's place!
He had known Neil for years and knew that Neil had never brought a woman home. Back then when he was dating someone, Neil had never taken his girlfriend to his house!
He turned at his friend and nudged with his elbow.
"Teacher Qian, you're here to get a drink?" Neil asked, ignoring his friend.
Edith snapped out of her trance and nodded. "Sorry, I didn't know there's a guest."
Henry glanced at his friend and frowned when Neil did not initiate to introduce them. He stepped forward and stretched out his hand. "Hello, I'm Henry Wu, Neil's friend."
"Edith Qian." She shook her hand with Henry and quickly pulled away.
"Edith Qian," Henry repeated her name and recalled something. "You are little Hazel's caretaker." Previous, Neil had asked him to check on Edith before he decided to hire her as Hazel's caretaker. However, Henry was not expecting that Edith would be living together with Neil and Hazel.
"You know me."
Henry smiled. "I've heard of you."
Edith moved her gaze and caught the sight of documents in Neil's hand. "Sorry." She raised the empty water bottle in her hand. "I'll just go and get some water before I head upstairs."
The two men watched as Edith walked past them, poured the empty bottle with water, and head back upstairs.
Henry let out some cursing words once they heard the door shut. "I knew that you were going to hire her as Hazel's caretaker, but… living together?"
Neil decided to ignore his friend and continue to look at the documents. "There's nothing to be excited about. Teacher Qian is living here for her convenience. You know that I often get off work late. With her around, I can rest assure that someone is watching over Hazel." Neil shot his friend a warning look. "Let's not talk about that. We have important things to discuss about."