Chapter 80: She Shouldn’t Have Bothered Running
Caroline Whitman was embarrassed. "Did I fall asleep again?"
"The movie wasn’t even on for ten minutes before you dozed off." Adrian Grant straightened up, looking down at her.
Hearing this, she sat up, thinking the movie was still playing. "I was just too tired from the day. I can still watch."
"It just ended."
Caroline Whitman had just woken up. Her mind was a little sluggish, but she was alert.
She quickly put it together. "You mean I slept on the sofa until the movie was over?"
"Then why didn’t you put me to bed earlier?" Caroline discovered Apex.
Adrian Grant said, "Since we were supposed to be watching the movie with the child together, you couldn’t be absent, naturally."
Caroline Whitman: "..."
’Alright, I was overthinking it again.’
’I actually thought he wanted to spend more time with me.’
’So this is what it’s like when you like someone. You can’t help but fall for one of the three great illusions of life.’
"I’ll sleep with the child tonight," Adrian Grant said out of the blue as he was leaving the room.
Caroline Whitman just "oh"-ed in response as he shut the door and turned off the light on his way out.
She was left alone in the dark room.
Seeing this, she slowly lay back down, pulled the covers up, and closed her eyes, ready to sleep.
The next second, her eyes shot open.
"Why did he suddenly tell me he’s sleeping with the child tonight?"
"Wasn’t that what we agreed on the first day?"
"Don’t tell me it’s my turn to sleep with the child again tomorrow night?"
Caroline Whitman couldn’t figure it out and decided to wait and see what happened in the morning.
---
The third day was another jam-packed day of hitting all the tourist spots.
It was summer vacation, so it was crowded everywhere. Whenever Caroline Whitman went out, besides using physical sun protection, she still remembered to protect her privacy.
Although things were out in the open on Adrian Grant’s side, she hadn’t yet dared to tell Franklin Whitman and her mother the whole story.
Most importantly...
Caroline Whitman walked slowly behind, pursing her lips as she watched the tall figure of the man ahead carrying the child.
In all the days they’d been on this trip, they’d made no progress at all.
The "Thirty-Six Stratagems for Pursuing a Man" that Franklin Whitman had shared with her were completely useless, not to mention the various coincidences like "accidental" encounters her parallel-universe self had engineered.
’Now she was living under the same roof as Adrian Grant every day. Forget coincidences; it was impossible to make a move.’
’Not to mention the huge, embarrassing mistake she’d made on the first night of the trip.’
After returning from their packed tour of scenic spots, Adrian Grant booked a table at a restaurant in the resort.
They ate and drank their fill. Just as Caroline Whitman put down her chopsticks, she suddenly thought she heard the voices of Franklin Whitman and Yolanda Young.
"This place really isn’t bad. It’s not hot at all. No wonder everyone loves coming here for summer vacation."
"I think we could stay a few more days. Anyway, this place has all the sights to see and fun things to do, and the food is good, too. I don’t want to run off to the next place in this scorching heat. Let’s just stay here for a few days before heading back to Kingsport," Yolanda Young said.
Franklin Whitman said with a chuckle, "I was thinking the same thing. If we run around to a few more places in this heat, I’ll lose a ton of weight."
Following the voices, Caroline Whitman hesitantly turned her head. When she saw the middle-aged man and woman who had just been seated at the next table, her pupils contracted sharply.
’Dad? Mom?’
’What are they doing here?’
The father and son at the opposite table noticed Caroline Whitman’s strange reaction and followed her gaze, only to see Franklin Whitman and Yolanda Young at the table next to them.
"Grandpa! Grandma!"
Seeing familiar faces, Ryan Grant got excited and shouted to Franklin Whitman and Yolanda before either of the adults could react.
Franklin Whitman was taken aback and drew in a sharp breath. "Why do I feel like I just heard Ryan’s voice?"
Yolanda Young: "Hey, I think I heard Ryan’s voice, too."
The two of them looked around blankly for a good while before finally spotting a man and a woman near the restaurant’s entrance. The woman seemed to be holding a child, and the man was paying at the front desk.
Franklin Whitman squinted. He couldn’t see clearly, but that didn’t stop him from having a flash of inspiration and snapping a picture of the scene with his phone.
In this technological age, a phone camera can take a crystal-clear picture even if you’re a mile away.
Franklin Whitman quickly snapped a few shots, not stopping until the man and woman had left the restaurant.
Finally, he sat down, slowly tapped open the photos one by one, and zoomed in.
Yolanda Young had also taken quite a few pictures. The food arrived, but neither of them touched it. They were both engrossed in analyzing the photos on their phones.
"This really looks like our daughter," Franklin Whitman said, looking at the back of the woman in the hat in the photo.
But Yolanda Young said, "Whether that’s our daughter or not is another question, but that man is Adrian Grant, isn’t he? The photo you showed me last time looked a lot like this. Look, isn’t that his side profile?"
Hearing this, Franklin Whitman shifted his focus to the man in the photo.
He had met Adrian Grant a few times, so he was naturally a bit more familiar with him than Yolanda Young was.
Franklin Whitman zoomed in several times before finally confirming, "It really does look like that kid, Adrian Grant."
"Wait, Jonathan Grant called the other day and said his son was on annual leave."
"Hiss... Don’t tell me they came here, too?"
Franklin Whitman stroked his chin, looking again at the back of the woman in the photo and the little head peeking out from her arms.
In the end, it was Yolanda Young who spoke first. "That’s our daughter, no doubt about it."
"Then the one she’s holding must be Ryan, right? Why are the two of them out playing with someone else’s child?"
Yolanda Young couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Franklin Whitman, who was well-versed in such matters, suddenly chuckled. "This is where you don’t get it."
Yolanda Young: "Spit it out."
"Our daughter is chasing that boy from the Grant Family. Now the two of them have shown up here with a child. Doesn’t that tell you something?"
It dawned on Yolanda Young. "Are you saying Caroline used the child to get Adrian Grant to come out with her?"
"How else are they supposed to deepen their relationship? Besides, they’re both the child’s godparents. Taking the kid out together is the perfect excuse."
Franklin Whitman had an expression that said, "I’ve already seen through it all," tinged with a bit of smugness.
’As expected of my daughter. Her mind is sharp enough. This is how you get closer, bit by bit.’
Yolanda Young fell silent. She felt something was off, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
---
"Then why are they hiding from us?" Yolanda Young asked, confused.
Franklin Whitman: "You know our daughter doesn’t want us interfering in her business. They’re out on a date and run into two third wheels. You tell me, would they hide or not?"
He huffed twice, then selected two photos to send to Caroline Whitman.
Franklin Whitman: [Image] [Image]
Franklin Whitman: [Stop hiding. I saw you two.]
Franklin Whitman: [Daughter, you get a big thumbs-up for this.]
Franklin Whitman: [Using a kid to get Adrian Grant out on a date with you... to think you could come up with such a devious move. Looks like you’ve learned those tricks well.]
Franklin Whitman: [But since you brought someone else’s kid out, you better watch him closely. Don’t let anything happen to him, okay?]
Sitting in the car, Caroline Whitman fell silent as she stared at the series of messages from Franklin Whitman on her phone.
’I shouldn’t have bothered running.’