"Auntie Edith!"
The little boy's voice was heard as soon as Edith and Hazel arrived at the kindergarten. Turning around, Edith saw that Alex He was running towards her with his mother trailing behind him.
A chuckle escaped her as Lily watched her son running happily towards her best friend. This was her son, but he was happily running towards her friend. Lily silently scold her son in her heart and paused upon noticing a displeased look on Hazel's face.
The little girl was holding on to Edith's hand and as Alex reached their side, her hand tightened and Hazel inched closer to her teacher as if claiming her possession.
Lily's lips tilted up into an amused smile.
This was not the first time that she had seen Hazel's stance towards Edith. That little girl would pull a displeased look whenever Alex called Edith her aunt. Lily knew the expression on Hazel's face well. The little girl was jealous.
After Edith had taken the job as Hazel's caretaker, the two of them had grown very close and Hazel relied on Edith a lot.
Deep inside, Hazel had wanted to be closer to Edith, but right now, she could only address Edith as Teacher Qian. Hearing the intimate way Alex was calling her, of course, Hazel was longing to be closer.
"Auntie Edith," Alex called again as he latched closer to her. "When will you come to my house? My dad brought a new model for me. Help me to assemble them, alright?"
Edith felt the corner of her lips twitched. This boy would always act sweet to her whenever he wanted to request her help with his Gundam model. "What about your father? Why don't you ask your father and build them together."
"His father brought home a few models," Lily spoke as she approached them. A helpless sigh escaped her and she continued, "They have already begun a project together. Alex has been keeping another model and wanted to assemble them with you."
Edith laughed upon hearing her friend's words. "Really?" She patted at the boy's head.
"Un. Un." Alex nodded enthusiastically. "Auntie Edith, I think you can build them better than my dad."
Or rather, his Auntie Edith had more patience while teaching him how to build the Gundam model. Although his father was very good at it, he did not have as much patience as Edith. In the end, instead of teaching his son how to build them together, Alex's father would end up doing everything himself to avoid explaining too much.
"I'll try and come over during the weekend after my class, alright?" Edith gave in.
The smile on the little boy's face stretched up and it reached his eyes. The smile however disappeared seconds later when Alex seemed to notice a hostile air beside him. He shifted his gaze and for the first time noticed Hazel's appearance beside their teacher.
"Hazel, next time you should come over with Teacher Qian," Alex said, ignoring the envious look the girl has been giving him. "I still have a lot of things to show you."
"Alright, the two of you should go into the class," Lily said after a while. "Alex, I'll leave after chatting with Auntie Edith for a while, alright? Come on. Kiss me."
"Mommy!" Alex's eyes widened as he glanced at his mother. Hazel was still around and as a grown-up boy, he did not want to be seen as a clingy boy to his friend.
"Alright. I know. I know." Lily sighed in defeat. "Go in and study hard. Listen to your teacher, alright?"
Alex nodded. "Mommy, I'll go in first, alright?" He turned around towards his class and paused. "Hazel, come on. Let's play together before the others come."
Hazel trailed after Alex once Edith nodded at her.
The two adults stood to watch the two young children entered the classroom and Lily turned to look at her friend. "Hazel grew attached to you."
"I know," Edith let out a soft sigh. "Hazel is such a sweet girl. It was hard to resist her charm."
These past few days, Edith had spent her time with Hazel to coax the girl who has been missing her parents. Hazel's parents had passed away for months, and the little girl was worried that she did not know much about her parents' preferences.
Because of that, the two of them would spend time talking about Hazel's parents whenever they can.
Hazel was worried that as time passed by, she would soon forget about her parents and made her parents sad. Therefore, she would always think about them a lot, but the memories would always make her sad.
Edith had to coax the little girl and share with her what she would do whenever she was missing her mother. The living had to continue on living. They had to show that they were able to live very well and that their parents should not worry too much about living them too early. The only thing they can do was to remember them in their prayers and hope that they will soon meet again in another world.
"How are you going to survive once the two months period as Hazel's caretaker ended?" Lily asked, intending to tease her friend.
Edith turned to look at her friend with a serious look on her face. "Should I kidnap Hazel and bring her home with me?"
Lily rolled her eyes, knowing that her friend was trying to play dumb with her.
Anyway, it was not as if Edith was not aware of what Lily was trying to do. Her best friend would often tease her after she had teamed up with Neil Mo during the Parent and Child Event.
As her best friend, how could Lily miss their little exchange?
Since she had seen those exchanges with her pair of eyes, of course, she had to tease her friend. What kind of friend would she be if she did not take this chance?
However, Edith did not want to entertain this thought.
She had spent days trying to rearrange her thoughts after President Mo turned her heart a little bit chaotic after that little intimate action during the game.
To this day, Edith was scolding herself for being weak against Neil's gaze. But then, whenever the three of them were sharing a meal, she could not help but steal a few glances at him.
What was good about an iceblock? He can only give out cold air around him, no matter how warm his gaze can be. How can he made her heart flutter just by looking at with his warm gaze? It was not logical.
But then again, there was nothing logical when heart matters were concerned.
People fall in love in mysterious ways. Sometimes, a person would find that they had taken a liking for someone just after seeing the other person once and knew right away that the person was the one for him or her.
Edith took a deep breath and told her brain to shut up.
He was her employer and she was only going to live with him for a brief while. She had to extinguish whatever thoughts that the devil tried to imprint in her mind before she liked him even more.
Neil Mo was someone that she can fancy from a distance, but she should never try to get close to him lest she would get heartbroken.
Anyway, she could not share these thoughts with Lily, or she would have to suffer her endless teasing.
Lily stepped closer to her friend. "What about kidnapping both uncle and niece?"
"I'm too lazy to talk to you," Edith turned around to leave.
"Hey, hey, don't go," Lily immediately pulled at her arms. "I was going to discuss with you about the school holiday."