Chapter 366: Dependence (2)
The reason she had brought Joy along was because she wanted to verify the guess in her heart.
Last time, when they were at Su Qing’s son’s full moon banquet, Zhao Youlin had already found that Joy behaved unusually whenever he was beside Mu Tingfeng.
Zhao Youlin also did not know the specific reason with full certainty. She instinctively realized that when Joy suddenly burst out at the banquet that day, the way he felt about this man was obviously different from the others.
Perhaps… This was the supernatural bond that transcended logic between a father and his son.
In order to reaffirm the thought in her heart, Zhao Youlin seized the opportunity by taking Joy along with her. One, of course, she also wanted to ease her awkwardness and confusion on her first date. Two, she deliberately wanted him to come into contact with Mu Tingfeng to confirm her suspicions.
Reality showed that her guess was correct.
Joy felt a sense of security from this man. This was different from how he had usually been heavily dependent on his mother. In fact, this kind of security allowed him to feel at ease with his true thoughts and reveal his true nature. This was because he knew he had someone behind his back who would always protect him.
When Zhao Youlin thought of this, she could not help but feel jealous of Mu Tingfeng. Before this happened, she had tried various means but still had not been able to get Joy to truly let himself go with her.
However, the person in front of him, who had only approached Joy several times, had silently entered Joy’s heart. Joy had unwittingly relied on him. As Zhao Youlin thought of this, she grew annoyed.
After she cast a glance at the father-son pair who were hugging each other, Zhao Youlin smirked unhappily and reminded them, “Let’s go.”
The adult and the child locked gazes with each other. Both of them were equally bewildered upon hearing Zhao Youlin’s abrupt snort. They hurriedly paced up and followed behind her.
Unbeknownst to the two, the moment Zhao Yolin turned around, her expression instantly softened up. She did not look like she was angry at all.
Under Mu Tingfeng’s escort, they basically did not encounter any particularly scary ghosts in the remainder of their journey. Even if there were, only one or two of them appeared. They were soon forced back upon contacting Mu Tingfeng’s chilly presence that was like a sharp blade.
As such, after they came out of the haunted house, Joy did not look like he had been terrorized. Instead, he looked very happy. He wrapped his arms around Mu Tingfeng’s neck. An obvious hint of admiration flashed across his sparkling eyes.
Under Joy’s stare, Mu Tingfeng unknowingly felt a sense of achievement. Pride sprouted in his heart like never before. This feeling overshadowed his sense of accomplishment that he had achieved by earning numerous successful negotiations of contracts.
After Mu Tingfeng learned this, he started to feel remorseful. He wondered why he had not realized that raising a child was actually not a bad experience after all and that he had missed out on it for so many years. Now, his son was already such a grown-up, what a mistake he had made!
Zhao Youlin grew increasingly jealous as she watched the adult and the child interact so intimately ever since they came out of the haunted house.
“You two, we have already left the haunted house, how long do you guys still plan to hold on to each other?” Zhao Youlin did not realize how much jealousy her words actually implied. However, this time, her jealousy was different from Mu Tingfeng’s.
Just now, Mu Tingfeng was jealous of the child because of Zhao Youlin. Now, Zhao Youlin was jealous of Mu Tingfeng because of Joy.
The moment Joy heard Zhao Youlin’s words, he finally realized he had not been hugging his mother. As such, he quickly struggled to move out of Mu Tingfeng’s arms.
Mu Tingfeng was also stunned upon hearing Zhao Youlin’s words. He quickly snapped out of his daze and slowly put down the “fragile item” in his arms on the ground.
Once Joy touched the ground, he immediately dashed over to Zhao Youlin. He raised his head and played up with his mother while saying cutely, “Mommy, hug me.”
His dimples sank into his round, small face and he was looking at her expectantly with his sparkling large eyes. It was simply an unpardonable sin if one was so cruel as to refuse him!
Zhao Youlin thought to herself, ‘Son, even though I know you have always been that cute, it’s very shameful of you to bring out your cuteness at this moment…’
Zhao Youlin was bewitched and finally, she succ.u.mbed to her son’s attractive gaze. She stretched out her hand in resignation and rubbed Joy’s small head. She caressed the pity kid’s head until his hair grew messy and stuck out. Zhao Youlin reluctantly complained through her teary eyes, “Hmph! You ungrateful brat, you forgot your mommy once you’ve got Daddy.”
Joy widened his large eyes innocently. He looked at Zhao Youlin helplessly. He defended himself in an aggrieved tone, “I’m not an ungrateful brat.”
“Pfff…” Looking at the child who nearly wanted to cry after being teased by her, Zhao Youlin finally spared him with mercy. She bent over and planted a peck on Joy’s cheek. She smiled faintly, “Alright, alright, alright. You’re not an ungrateful brat. You’re a cute bunny, okay?”
Joy froze before he recovered his senses and understood that Zhao Youlin had been teasing him. He gathered the tears that had been welling up in his eyes and smirked before he wrapped his arms around Zhao Youlin’s neck sulkily. He truly looked like Mu Tingfeng who occasionally had his sulky moments as well.
Indeed, the saying like father, like son was very true. Zhao Youlin recalled the saying in tears and laughter. She stretched out her hands and hugged Joy, who had learned to throw tantrums at others, tightly.
As Mu Tingfeng watched the interaction between the mother-son pair, his gaze softened up once again.
The next moment, he seemed to have thought of something. Again, he tried to curl his cold and hard lips upward slightly. Unfortunately, the effect did not seem to turn out well.
Joy was lying on top of Zhao Youlin’s shoulder. His face puffed up and he mumbled a few words. Then, he casually surveyed the surroundings with his bright and large eyes. Soon, he rested his gaze on Mu Tingfeng who was behind them.
Little did he know that he was greeted by the sight of Mu Tingfeng with the corners of his lips twitching and looking very horrendous and scary. Joy’s pupils shrank and soon, his eyes were filled up with tears.
“Ahh…! Mommy, there’s a ghost! A ghost… A ghost has run out of the haunted house! So scary! Sob…” Joy buried his head inside Zhao Youlin’s arms. He s.h.i.+vered as he screamed.
Joy’s abrupt scream had caught the two adults by surprise and they were stupefied on spot. They locked gazes with each other. Zhao Youlin looked like she understood something and she let out a bark of laughter.
“Hahaha! Joy, you’re so adorable!” As she was speaking this, she hugged Joy and kissed him fiercely.
Tears were still staying at the corners of Joy’s eyes as he looked at his mother bursting out in laughter in puzzlement. His large eyes were filled with puzzlement.
Right before Zhao Youlin burst out, Mu Tingfeng had already known who Joy had actually referred to as the ghost. His face instantly turned black. He was trying to… grin…
Zhao Youlin had despised him because he was stoic-faced. She said his face could easily scare a child away. As such, he had been working so hard to practice how to smile and to smile in a way so that he would not scare the timid but lovely child away.
Could anyone explain to him why everything was fine before he attempted smiling, but when he actually tried to smile, he had instead made the child cry?!
“I was… smiling!” Mu Tingfeng ground his molars as he repeated himself.