Chapter 191: Take Mommy Home
By March, the cold weather had passed in France. It was gradually getting warmer each day. With her laptop cradled in her arms, Scarlett rushed out of the classroom after a long lecture on the phonetics of Native American languages, like Dakota. It had been a fascinating lesson, but now Scarlett had to make haste and get to the restaurant. She had to design a couple of new vegans and gluten-free entrees along with Eve.
She rushed down the staircase and took the tree-lined path. Flowers were in bloom already, although not in their full range of color just yet.
All of a sudden, a little figure turned up not far away. He seemed to be wearing a white shirt and grey waistcoat and had a tall man standing next to him. They were looking at the fresh spring flowers along the pathway. As Scarlett walked closer to them, she burst into tears and screamed out in surprise, “Carlos!”
Meanwhile, Carlos smilingly turned his head and saw the woman in a blue coat– Scarlett, his mother. After a couple of seconds, he turned around and looked at his father expectantly.
Francis picked Carlos up and pointed at Scarlett and asked, “Who is she? Hmm? Who’s that, Carlos?”
Carlos looked at her in doubt and bit his finger, “Mommy?”
Before Francis nodded his head, Carlos’s eyes lit up and he turned around to look at Scarlett some more, who had, by this time, dropped her laptop and ran towards them.
“Don’t you recognize me?” Scarlett said.
Carlos pouted. Not only did he recognize Scarlett, but he also felt sad because Scarlett had abandoned him. Carlos turned away and placed his head on his father’s shoulder quietly. Upon seeing that, Scarlett felt panicked and left her outstretched hand in the air, turning to Francis desperately.
“Come on, sweetheart, it’s mommy. You don’t want to see mommy? If you don’t want to spend time with mommy, daddy can take you back home. Hmm? What do you think about that?” Francis said as he walked towards the car with Carlos in his arms.
All of a sudden, Carlos grabbed his father’s clothes tightly and struggled to push him away.
“What are you doing?” Francis asked.
And then Carlos pointed at Scarlett, who was still sad, and said, “Mommy! Take mommy home!”
“You want mommy back home?”
Carlos nodded decidedly and then pushed Francis away. Francis finally let him go and placed him on the ground.
When Scarlett heard that, she squatted down and cried loudly with her head buried between her knees.
As Carlos trotted up to her, Scarlett pulled her son into her arms and cried loudly before he talked.
Carlos didn’t know why Scarlett was crying, so he turned to look at his father in doubt.
When Francis saw them like that, he felt exhausted. He walked over and pulled Scarlett up and picked up his son with one hand and said, “You silly boy, you took so long even to recognize your mommy!” Though Carlos was just a little kid, he still understood that Francis was chiding him. Carlos looked at his dad angrily and turned around to ask for Scarlett.
Scarlett felt flattered. She took Carlos from Francis and gave him several kisses in succession. The tears kept flowing down her face.
‘Don’t cry, mommy!” Carlos comforted her as he used his hand to wipe away her tears gently.
Scarlett felt embarrassed about crying in front of her son. She buried her face in his chest and whispered, “My sweetheart, I miss you very much.”
Francis stroked his son’s golden hair and said, “Don’t you miss mommy at home? Now she is crying, why don’t you comfort her?”
Carlos gently patted Scarlett’s shoulder, trying to comfort her.
Scarlett wiped her tears away and looked at her son with red eyes, and said, “My sweetheart, you’ve grown so tall. You are a little man now, aren’t you?”
After that, Carlos put his arms around her neck and buried his head in her chest. He had missed his mommy, too.
Scarlett made eye contact with Francis and asked, “Why did you bring him here? Aren’t you busy?”
“Well, I’m here on a business trip, so I decided to bring him along and let him see you. It’s been a while.” Francis said with his hands in his pockets.
Scarlett suddenly remembered that she was running late. She had to be at the restaurant twenty minutes ago. She said apologetically, “I’m actually running late for something, so, I gotta go… you two could….”
“We have a suite at the Sky Hotel. You can come and see us there in the evening.” Francis said, “If you would like to.”
However, Carlos didn’t want to let go of Scarlett because he hadn’t seen his mother for a long time. He didn’t want to part with his mother so soon.
“Be good, my sweetheart. I’ll come to see you later, okay? I’ll buy a lot of delicious snacks for you.” Scarlett said as she kissed his cheek.
Carlos looked at his father angrily.
“Don’t be naughty!” Francis said.
After that, Scarlett ran off, and Francis and Carlos got in the car. Francis sat in the car and looked at his son, who had his head down. He looked forlorn.
Carlos was wondering why he had had to travel so far to see his mother and why she didn’t spend time with daddy like she used to.
***
Meanwhile, at the restaurant, Scarlett could hardly focus on her work. After a couple of hours of brainstorming, she still had no idea what entries to add to the menu. In addition, Scarlett realized that she had scheduled to meet with her professor about one of her papers. In a rush again, she headed to her professor’s office.
Although she was in front of her professor, Scarlett’s mind was elsewhere. She felt wracked with guilt and couldn’t get the image of her forlorn child out of her mind.
“What’s wrong? You seem a little… out of it.” The professor said.NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.
“I’m so sorry.” Scarlett instantly apologized.
“Well, about the paper, you did a great job! Considering it’s the first draft, I would definitely encourage you to go over a couple of your arguments and refine them. You get a little wordy sometimes, and your core argument can get a bit lost.” the professor said.