"Joyce! Over here, my little princess!" Rain saw Joyce too. She indeed looked like a princess in the crowd when she came out with other kids. She was no doubt Rain's daughter. Judging by the number of girls surrounding her as she walked out the gate, she had become so popular at such a young age.
"Daddy." Joyce was also very happy to see Rain. She left her friends behind and ran towards her father excitedly, forgetting completely what she had said yesterday.
"Oh, oh, oh, slowly. Don't fall down." Rain put Huey down and held out his hand to the little girl who had jumped to cling to him.
"Where's Mommy? I don't see her anywhere. Didn't she come with you?" The girl soon noticed it. She tilted her head and asked in a confused tone.
"Mommy is still at work. So Daddy will play with you today, okay? Don't you two want that? Just us three hanging out?" Rain lulled Joyce carefully. Somehow he felt that Joyce was more difficult to get along with than her brother Huey.
"But, if we stay with you, won't Mommy get mad and disappear forever? She won't abandon us?" A child's words sometimes hurt the most, because they were readily blunt and didn't really know how to sugarcoat words. There was a moment when Rain paled. But soon he adjusted himself.
"No, of course not. What are you talking about? I'll drive you back to Mommy's place after dinner. So no, there is no way that Mommy will abandon you. I promise!" Rain thought that his baby girl might have said it subconsciously to hurt him, and he thought he was ready for that. But when he heard it in reality, he still couldn't help feeling a pinch in his heart.
"Really? That's great! Huey, did you hear? We are having dinner with Daddy. Isn't it great?" Joyce forgot things quickly. As soon as she heard Rain's words of reassurance, she became relaxed and delighted.
"Yes! So, where are we going, Daddy?" No matter where Rain took them, Huey was happy as long as he could spend time with his father.
"Let's go to my place, okay? Would you like that?" In order to accommodate them in his house and make sure that they were comfortable there, Rain had hired some servants such as a chef and a steward to look after Joyce and Huey even though he did not like it very much when there were strangers in his house. Although Annie refused his offer that they all moved in with him, he still kept them around, hoping that someday Annie would change her mind and eventually come with the kids to live with him.
"Hmmm! I don't think Mommy would be happy about it." Joyce was struggling. She still remembered that her mother had plainly refused to move to her father's place.
"Don't worry! I've already informed Mommy of it. So, I am allowed to take you anywhere I'd like during this time," Rain explained helplessly. He placed them one after another on the child seats in the car.
"Yeah! Huey, Mommy will not be angry with us, right?" Joyce clapped her hands to express her happiness.
"No, I'm sure she won't." Huey was a bit worried when he remembered that Mommy was visibly sad yesterday. But he still wanted to spend some time with Daddy.
Rain smiled and shook his head helplessly. Then he placed himself in the driver's seat and got ready to leave. Huey and Joyce talking about their mommy all the time made him realize that even though they were staying with him, the most important person in their lives was still their mother.
"Are you guys ready? Let's go!" He had prepared the child seats a while back in case they might be useful someday. That was smart of him.
"Okay, watch out! Watch out!" Huey had already started before he could put down Joyce. Putting her aside quickly, Rain reached out and caught the flying little figure in time.
"Wow! That's fun! I want to do it again!" Once again, Joyce climbed to the top of the slide. Her worry for her mother was completely gone now. They might have even forgotten about her at that moment. Rain was right. If he wanted them to accept him as their father from the bottom of their hearts, he had to try hard to wholeheartedly love them first.
They played happily in the garden before they could even enter the house. Hanging out with his children, Rain felt like he had returned to the good old days when he was young and innocent. Although he and his mother had not lived a wealthy life, he felt that every day was full of hopes and dreams. He knew that there was going to be sunshine as long as he stayed with his mother. Those were the good old days.
Finally, they stopped after quite some time, feeling a bit tired. A big boy, a little boy and a little girl lay on the grass, looking at the faint glow of the sky as the sun had set somewhere far away. It just looked so beautiful, just like a painting.
"Daddy, can we come here again later? And again, and again, and again?" Joyce had completely forgotten that she had once said Fred was her favorite but not her Daddy, Rain.
"Of course you can. You can come here anytime you want." He had everything built for them and what he wanted the most was for them to visit all the time. If only they could already live here.
"Really? Wow! Daddy, I like you so much," the little girl said happily. She sat up and kissed Rain at his face loudly. Then the garden echoed with a lovely peal of laughter.
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