Chapter 251: You Have No Manners At All
Joey endured for a long time before asking her this question.
He had wanted to ask her that question the moment Anna was born.
On the other end of the line, Sophie’s expression changed. "Why are you asking this out of the blue? Didn’t we agree before that Anna had nothing to do with you?"
"But Sophie, she is my flesh and blood. How could she have nothing to do with me?" "What do you mean by that? You want to go back on your word?" Sophie’s angry voice came from the phone.
Joey found himself ridiculous. He thought, "Why did I have to humiliate myself?" He closed his eyes in discomfort.
"I just want to know what you are thinking."
"What am I thinking? Joey, let me be straight up with you. Don’t even think about Anna recognizing you for the rest of your life."
After Sophie finished speaking, she hung up the phone.
Joey, who was on the other side of the phone, listened to the busy tone and suddenly felt very sad.
He had already known this would happen, yet he still asked her.
He stood there in a daze for a long time, then put away the phone in despair.
"Joey, what’s wrong?"
Rob came up to Joey. Rob asked when he saw something wrong with Joey’s expression.
Joey looked at Rob with a bleak expression.
"Rob, let’s return to Tomaville."
Rob paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I’ll have someone prepare it right away."
The next day, Rob brought Joey and Anna back to Tomaville.
Joey followed Sophie’s order and sent Anna back to the Bateman family’s old mansion.
Nathan knew that his granddaughter would arrive, so he especially waited for her at home.
When Joey brought Anna into the gate of the Bateman family’s house, Sophie and Nathan were already waiting there.
When Sophie saw the two of them step into the house, she didn’t wait for Nathan to
stand up before standing up to greet them. "Anna, come here. Mommy will take you home."
Sophie stepped forward and pulled Anna’s hand. When Sophie passed Joey, she didn’t even spare him a glance.
She took Anna in her hand and walked toward Nathan.
"Anna, this is your grandfather. Call him ’Grandpa’."
Seeing how unfamiliar Nathan was, Anna didn’t say a word timidly.
Sophie looked a little anxious.
"Anna, do as I say."
Seeing that Anna was still reluctant to address Nathan, Sophie felt embarrassed. She explained to Nathan with an awkward smile. "Dad, she is just young and shy around strangers."
Nathan didn’t say anything and only stretched out his hand towards Anna. "Come over. Anna, come to grandfather."
Seeing Nathan stretch out his hand, Anna was so scared that she broke away from Sophie and ran toward Joey.
She hugged Joey and did not let go of him.
Sophie’s face paled at the sight of that scene.
"Anna, your grandpa is calling you. Hurry up and go over to him."
Hearing Sophie harshly talk to her, Anna felt so aggrieved that she burst into tears.
Joey’s heart ached as he hurriedly consoled Anna.
Sophie found the scene to be extremely unpleasant to the eye. As she was afraid that Nathan would be suspicious, she hurried forward to pull Anna away from Joey’s arms and berated her. "Anna, you are supposed to be a polite child. How can you not respect your elders? Come on! Call him grandpa."
Anna pursed her lips, sobbed, and remained silent.
Sophie became anxious. "Why are you like this? You have no manners at all."
"Alright. Sophie, the child is still young. She’ll get used to it slowly." Nathan persuaded her.
Sophie couldn’t criticize Anna too much because it would damage her image of being a loving mother. She put away the fierce expression on her face and said, "Dad, I hope you don’t mind her acting like this. She’s scared of strangers."
She said as she was about to take Anna’s hand with a smile.
"Come over. Anna, mommy will show you to your room."
Perhaps it was the smile on her face that made Anna let go of the fear in her heart.
And then Anna timidly reached out her small hand.
...
Sophie took her upstairs.
Standing there downstairs, Joey was reluctant to see Anna taken away.
Yet he refrained from darting forward and snatching Anna from her grasp. He just stood by and watched.
"Joey, you deserve credit for those years of efforts you have spent on caring for Anna and Sophie. Now you’re back, why not just come to work at the Bateman Group? I’ve reserved a respectable job for you. You deserve it," Nathan said.
Little did he know that these words were, like a dagger pierced into his chest, quite hurtful to him.
It seemed to him he was trading his daughter who was everything to him for a good job. But the truth was, he’d prefer Anna’s company to anything else.
"Thank you, Mr. Bateman, but I’ve got other plans," Joey said.
Nathan, however, was rather surprised by this response, and turned to Uncle Charlie nearby.
Uncle Charlie stepped forward and tried to persuade him.
"Joey, it’s kind of Mr. Bateman to offer you such a generous position in his company. You should, in any event, just take it."
Those words from his own father’s mouth only filled Joey with disappointment.
A top-class graduate with a Ph.D. degree, Joey was not resigned to the position of a servant of the Batemans just because his father was one.
"Dad, as I said, I have my own plans."
Seeing his son unwilling to compromise, Mr. Charlie was about to say something.
But there suddenly came a burst of cry upstairs. Joey could immediately tell it was Anna crying.
He dashed forward without a second thought.
"What’s wrong, Anna?"
Anna was almost out of breath from sobbing when Joey arrived, but Sophie just looked on with a long face.
Anna leaped into Joey’s arms the moment she saw him.
Joey dreaded to see Anna crying. He held her in his embrace, comforted her, and wiped her tears "little did he say an extra word.
Anna soon stopped crying.
Sophie, however, was rather irritated at this display.
"You’ve spoiled her until now, and that’s why she never learns to behave herself."
Joey didn’t turn to Sophie’s until Anna was soothed.
He now realized what a ruthless woman she was.
In front of her was her own flesh and blood a three -year-old kid who had been suffering the torture of illnesses ever since she was born, who had just been discharged from the hospital not long ago.
Yet Sophie, as a mother, never showed a shred of concern for her. All she knew was how to demand and complain.
Joey couldn’t fathom out what Anna was to her.
He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to ask her about it.
Yet he managed to resist the urge, afraid lest Anna would see them fighting.
He struggled to control his anger and said.
"Just leave Anna to me."
With that, he walked out with Anna in his arms.
Sophie was stunned for a moment, yet she soon recovered herself and tried to catch up with him, "Stop! Anna is now a member of the Batemans; she has nothing to do with you anymore. You can’t take her away."
These words dumbfounded Joey.
It turned out that he had always been considered a mere babysitter in Sophie’s eyes.
It seemed to him he was rather ridiculous.
He had thought about giving her one more chance on the way back: she was Anna’s mother, after all, and it is said that no one knows and loves a girl than her own mother.
Now he realized he was wrong.
Absolutely wrong.
He shut his eyes in pain for a moment and turned around, "I’m disappointed in you, Sophie."
And then he left without casting a backward glance.
Sophie hesitated for a few moments, then she decided to follow him.
When the two, together with their daughter, arrived, Chris and Janice were waiting there.
...
Joey said to Anna, "Good girl, go play with this nice lady for a while, OK? I’ll be back soon."
Naturally, Anna was unwilling to be with a stranger.
Joey had to order a servant to take her out, despite her crying and his reluctance.
It was time to put an end to something.
When the sounds of sobbing faded away, he collected himself and walked over to Chris and Janice. His eyes fell on Janice as he started to speak in a flat tone.
"I’ll fulfill my promise to you now."
No sooner had he finished it than Sophie came downstairs.
There arose a sense of nervousness within her when she saw Chris and Janice together before her.
She turned around in a subconscious attempt to see Anna, only to find that she was gone.
She turned pale and rushed to grab Joey’s collar.
"Where is Anna?"
Looking at the panic-stricken expression on her face, Joey had a certain coldness in his eyes.
He shook her off without saying a word.
As her hand suddenly went supportless, there swelled a sense of anxiety in Sophie’s heart.
Looking at the expression on Joey’s face, she had a nasty feeling that something bad was going to happen.
She was right.
Joey uttered: "I have one thing to declare to you all."
All eyes were fixed on him as he said it.
Nathan also cast his gaze on Joey; he was unhappy that his son had decided to bring Janice with him.
He intended to see Chris, his son, only, and Janice was neither expected nor welcomed.
Joey’s words attracted his attention.
As Joey was just about to say something, Sophie stopped him.
"What do you think you’re doing, Joey?"
Sophie stared at him with her delicate and furtive eyes.
Joey, on the contrary, appeared quite resolute in his eyes.
"I’m sorry, Sophie. I can’t bear to hide it anymore. I have to make it clear to everyone today."
As if something suddenly collapsed within her, Sophie heard a loud crack in her mind, and her face turned deathly pale.
"Don’t you dare, Joey!"
She said sternly.
Joey, however, turned a blind eye to her threatening gaze.
"You know what, Sophie? I’ve been suffering for the past three years. I don’t know how you feel about things, but I can’t hold on to them any longer."
Without waiting for her reply, Joey turned to Nathan and said, "Mr. Bateman, I must confess that the man who slept with Sophie three years ago was not Chris, but me."
Like a bomb thrown into the crowd, the confession stunned everybody present, except Chris and Janice, who knew it beforehand already.
Uncle Charlie and Nathan were the ones rocked by this revelation, for they were the witnesses of the incident themselves.
Sophie’s face was pale and bloodless.
"Shut up, Joey!"
She dashed forward and tried to hit Joey in an attempt to interrupt him.
But Joey didn’t stop.
"Both Chris and I were drunk that night, and my room was dirtied by vomit, so Chris offered me his room, and he slept in the living room instead. And the man who had a physical relationship with Sophie was me, not Chris."
As soon as he finished speaking "slap"! A resounding slap landed on his cheek.
Joey turned around with pain.
Standing before him was Sophie with her slightly trembling palm and tearful yet vicious eyes she looked at him as if she was about to eat him alive the next instant.
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