CHAPTER 228: THEY WILL SOON LEAVE

Unlike the passionate kisses between men and women, Emily’s kiss left some grape juice on his face. It felt wet and cool.

At that moment, Horton did not know whether it was the grape juice or Emily’s saliva.

He saw her giggle after kissing him.

Her laughter of joy and triumph echoed in the courtyard.

Horton looked at Emily in his arms. Her black eyes were clear. He felt that his heart had melted.

After Hilla went to Pinecastle, he had no reason to come here. At first, he had sneaked in twice, but later he didn’t come because he didn’t want to disturb their lives.

After Hilla returned, he had seen Emily from afar.

Stella was surprised. She had taken care of Emily for so long. Except for Halle and Hilla, Emily hadn’t been close to anyone. Was Emily changed recently?

Margaret came over and said to Horton, "She seems to like you a lot."

Just now, when Margaret was holding Emily, Emily had pushed her with her little hands, though was ignored by Margaret. After all, Emily’s strength was small and her resistance was not fierce.

Horton smiled happily. "Well, Emily likes me, and I like Emily." Holding the soft little Emily in his arms, he had made up his mind.

Horton excitedly raised her high. She was stunned and then waved her little arms excitedly and laughed.

Seeing this, Margaret was a little upset. Wasn’t she beautiful? Wasn’t she better than him?

She pursed her lips unhappily and said, "What a face obsession you are! What’s so good about him?"

After she finished speaking, she pulled up her sleeve and smelled it. She said unhappily, "Is it because of the fragrance?"

She had worn perfume that had a pleasant fragrance. Emily must have had no taste.

The laughter spread to the entire courtyard. Halle was standing in front of the studio.

The faint smile on her face gradually vanished.

She looked aggressive in the warm light from the room. The happier Emily and Horton were, the more worried she became.

She and Horton were from different worlds and shouldn’t have met each other. Now that the mistake had been made, they shouldn’t make the same mistake again.

Halle pressed her lips together and slowly walked over.

Margaret was standing next to Horton and complained, "I was the one who came first. How could she like you more than me? You are so cold-blooded!"

In Margaret’s eyes, Horton was heartless because he could open up a person’s skull, examine the brain and perform an operation calmly.

He must have a heart of stone, but Emily seemed to like him very much, asking him to hug her.

"Halle, your daughter is leaving with Horton!"

Margaret turned around and saw Halle approaching. She immediately snitched on him to Halle in dissatisfaction.

Halle paused, then sped up to Horton and grabbed Emily from his arms.

Emily had wanted to struggle, but when she saw that it was her mother, she immediately became obedient. She held Halle’s neck cheek to cheek.

Seeming to know that Halle was angry, Emily acted like a spoiled child and said, "Mommy, hug me."

Halle looked at the innocent Emily in her arms, sighed with relief, and held her tightly.

"Halle!"

Horton opened his mouth but bit his tongue when he met Halle’s cold gaze.

Margaret walked to Halle, smiling. Looking at the little girl in Halle’s arms, Margaret said triumphantly to her, "I thought you have forgotten your mother. Sure, Halle could handle you."

"Bad!"

Emily stared at Margaret and muttered, hugging Halle tightly.

Halle pursed her lips. She had been distressed hearing Margaret’s words.

What if one day, Emily abandoned her?

"Emily, you are quite aggressive, unlike Halle. She’s such a gentle lady. How could she give birth to a girl like you? Where did you get that?"

The more Margaret spoke, the more unhappy Halle became. She couldn’t help but coldly glance at Horton beside her. She then turned to Margaret and said, "Your room is ready. Come with me and take a look. If there is anything you want to eat tonight, you can tell Maritza."

Halle carried Emily and walked into the studio. They had lived here. There were rooms on the second and the third floors. On both sides of the yard were the kitchen and a small warehouse for storing cloth.

Margaret bounced beside Halle. She was excited to travel to the countryside.

Before she came, she had informed Halle in advance, but she had forgotten to tell Halle that Horton was coming too.

"Halle, may I have the room farthest away from Horton’s room? He is so cold-blooded. I don’t want to be too close to him in case that I will have nightmares."

Horton thought that Margaret had said something different when she begged him to bring her to the countryside.

Halle turned her head slightly and said with a frown to him, "Aren’t you going back later, Dr. Hutt? I heard that the hospital is very busy."

"He’s not busy at all. He’s not an ordinary doctor now. He’s the associate director of the hospital. He has few operations now. He’s here to be my driver."

Margaret wasn’t nice to him, but she spoke up for Horton.

Horton pressed his lips together and said, "I’ve asked for a few days off."

Halle thought, "So, they are going to stay here for a few days."

Halle furrowed her brows. It didn’t matter how long Margaret stayed here, but Horton ... She didn’t want him to stay at all!

"Halle, which floor is it?"

Margaret looked curiously at the studio. There were cloth and gauze of various colors everywhere, silk that she had never seen before, and some prototypes.

Women loved these things. Even if many of them were only semi-finished products, it was amazing enough for Margaret.

Halle collected herself and replied, "On the third floor."

Then she looked at Horton with a troubled expression. "I thought that Margaret was the only one who came, so I’ve asked Maritza to clean one room."

"It doesn’t matter. He can sleep in a room with a little dust."

Margaret patted Horton on the shoulder carelessly and gave him a wink.

For the first time, Horton thought Margaret’s wink pleasant. He nodded in agreement and said, "I can clean it myself."

Stella beside them said happily, "I can help. The rooms on the third floor are regularly cleaned by Maritza and me. They are clean and we just need to change the sheets."

Halle’s face fell when she heard this. She bit her bottom lip but did not say anything.

Since he was already here, she couldn’t kick him out without a plausible reason.

Even if she was unwilling to let him stay, Halle could only hold Emily tightly in her arms and stay keep Emily away from him in the coming days.

It would be best if they never got any closer to each other!

...

Margaret enjoyed her stay in the countryside, but Orlenna in the Lakeshore Center was worried.

Hilla didn’t seem to be in a good mood recently, and she rarely went downstairs.

She only came downstairs for meals. She didn’t eat much and went back to her room as soon as she finished her meals.

Orlenna was anxious about Hilla’s health. Hilla was pregnant, which had been Orlenna’s hope for a long time. Last time, Hilla had nearly suffered a miscarriage because of Bruce. Orlenna was afraid that she would lose her grandchild this time.

The more Orlenna thought about it, the more worried she became. When Margaret had been sneezing, Orlenna asked her to leave the house temporarily just in case that she had caught a cold and had been carrying the virus.

Was Margaret here, she could talk with Hilla.

Hilla had been very uncomfortable these days. She had thought that people would just sleep more and eat more when they were pregnant. She hadn’t expected that she would vomit up her meals.

She was afraid that Orlenna would be worried, so she ate less, thinking that if she had not eaten too much, she would not have had such a severe antenatal sickness.

It turned out that she was too optimistic. Every time she finished eating, she went upstairs to vomit and ate something later. She looked even worse than before and had lost weight in the past few days.

Hilla felt uneasy. There was news about the design competition on the Internet, which was a trending topic of the River City in recent days.

Held by River City, it was the largest and most prestigious design competition in the past hundred years. Its sponsors, the Richards Group and the Hutt Group became famous because of it.

The Hutt Group had sponsored the cloth of the competition, some of which were precious and rare. It was attractive to those designers who were addicted to designing.

Except for a large number of designers who were participants, many young talents were coming to the River City.

They were fashion lovers and wealthy women who wanted to buy some beautiful clothes in the competition.

Apart from them, the company leaders, who aimed to select design talents for the company in the competition, were also invited. These people had occupied all the hotels in the River City. As a result, the hotel rates rose.

Hilla calmed down when she saw Queeney holding such a grand competition.

Hilla was sure that Queeney was doing this to attract her attention and to put

pressure on her.

Even if she participated in the competition, she might lose because there were so many talents.

She could only get back what she wanted when she became the champion. However, Hilla was still waiting. She was waiting for Queeney to announce in advance that she would use the design paintings of the Holt Corporation as a reward for the champion.

In addition to the bonus and the fame, what the champion learned from these design paintings would be his handed-down expertise.

If he was smart enough, he could easily come up with new embroidery patterns from it.

As expected, Queeney made a move. To be precise, seeing that the deadline for applications was approaching but Hilla hadn’t applied for the competition, Queeney decided to force Hilla to make a decision.

Hilla looked at her phone, frowning from time to time. Seeing that, Orlenna, who was sitting on the opposite, was worried.

"What’s wrong? Is this soup not to your liking today?"

Hilla came back from her thoughts and shook her head with a smile as she looked at Orlenna. "Mother, it’s very delicious. I was thinking. I haven’t worked for a long time. I want to draw some pictures today."

She had confirmed the patterns and the cloth with many customers. Most of the work was left to Halle.

She only had a few orders on hand. They were not urgent, but she felt bored and wanted to do something.

"Don’t worry, I won’t tire myself out. I’m just staying in the room and drawing. If I’m tired, I’ll sleep for a while."

Hearing this, Orlenna sighed with relief.

She could see that Hilla had been uncomfortable staying here and doing nothing, but she didn’t want Hilla to go out alone.

Orlenna preferred Hilla to stay at home so that she could take care of her.

Seeing that Orlenna had no objection, Hilla finished the soup and returned to her room.

Halle sent her a video just now. Halle must have seen the announcement of the prize for the design competition.

She was in the same mood as Hilla did. They were both hesitant and perturbed. "Halle, anything happened to the studio?"

Sitting in front of the drawing board, Hilla looked at Halle during the video call and suddenly felt much better.

However, she remembered that after she was pregnant, Halle rarely made a video call. Halle just asked how she was on Line every day.

"Don’t worry about the studio. I have arranged it. It won’t delay the delivery." Halle said softly, her eyes slightly lowered. She was hesitant.

She had done most of the work in the studio. Most of the orders and designs that were given by Hilla had been cut out.

She only needed to embroider the particular patterns. "That’s good. Halle, do you have any guests in the studio?"

Through the video, Hilla heard the voices of men and women talking and children laughing.

It sounded familiar, but she wasn’t sure for a moment. It might be their clients.

Halle pressed her lips together and kept the camera of her phone on the sofa in the hall. In front of the sofa was a colorful child fence. Emily used to sit there and play.

And now, there were two adults inside!

"Margaret and Mr. Hutt were here and playing with Emily."

Knowing that Horton was the associate director of the hospital, Halle addressed him differently, but it sounded as distant and cold as before.

Hilla could see a trace of panic on Halle’s face as she said this.

Through the video, she saw Emily sitting in Horton’s arms. Margaret, who was opposite her, was holding something to lure her. As a result, Emily ignored it and only held his big hand tightly.

Hilla was also stunned by this scene.

Since when did Emily become so close to Horton?

Margaret pretended to be angry, but they were having a great time.

Seeing Halle’s embarrassed face, Hilla knew what she was thinking. She couldn’t help but think, "Halle, why is Horton in the countryside? Has he come with Margaret?"

She and Halle both knew that Horton was Emily’s biological father, but in the current situation, Halle would keep it a secret from them.

Hilla knew Halle’s worries. After a while, Hilla said, "I will ask Margaret to come back with Horton in the recent days."

Margaret and Horton would soon leave!