Alex nodded, probably knowing what I was going to do, and left the room.


    Fortunately, after he left, I breastfed rie Bear, and she became obedient.


    When Leo came in again, he had someone move in a water dispenser, a bucket of mineral water, and a new small basin.


    “If you’re going to bathe rie Bear in a while, just use the mineral water, she has tender skin…” After that, he looked at me attentively.


    I nodded, poured some water, and wiped rie Bear’s face. The little guy bad slept well and had enough food, so she was in good spirits.


    After such a long day, I was a little sleepy. After Leo held rie Bear from me, I leaned on the couch and unknowingly fell asleep.


    When I woke up, it was already dark outside. I sat up on the couch in shock when I saw rie Bear was not around.


    The nket covering me had fallen to the ground. I looked around the room subconsciously and saw that the baby was not in the hotel suite at all.


    I tried to remain calm and took out my phone to call Leo.


    Before the call was connected, the door was opened.


    Leo came in with the stroller, and rie Bear had fallen asleep inside.


    Seeing me freaking out in cold sweats, Leo was stunned for a second and then said, “I saw that you haven’t brought much luggage with you when you came to City P, so I asked someone to help arrange some new clothes and daily groceries for you. It’s colder here in City P than Newton Town, it’s easy for you to get changed and wash often this way if you need.”


    I nodded, looked at rie Bear, breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back on the couch. I looked at Leo and said, “Thank you. It’s gettingte, you should get back now.”


    He looked at me and said after a brief hesitation, “ra, I know you still hold grudges against me. You can punish me all you want, but I am your big brother, please don’t push me farther away. I just want to take care of you and rie Bear.”


    I pursed my lips, sank my eyes, and said, “No, it’s not necessary. I can take care of her myself, you should leave now!”


    Leo frowned, a little helpless, “Why do you have to be so stubborn? The die is cast, there’s no turning back. It’s not helpful for us to dwell on it. You keep pushing all of us away like this, have you thought about rie Bear’s future?”


    I raised my eyes to look at him, but my emotions were very light, “Yes, what happened, happened. All I want is a little space and time. What’s wrong with that?”


    He was stunned for a moment and went silent for a while. Afterward, he sighed and said helplessly, “Okay, I will give you some time and space.”


    That I came to City P, on one hand, was for the AI project of the Gibson group, because I had been in charge of it the whole time. If I left suddenly now, it’d be challenging for others to pick up and follow up on it with limited time and preparation.


    On the other hand, I was here to farewell properly with Link Kennedy. I would probably stay in HL Area for a few more years after I left this time. Besides, it wouldn’t be convenient for me to travel with rie Bear back and forth.


    …


    Four yearster!


    Time had flown by in the blink of an eye. I bought an old house in the alley of the HL Area and moved in with rie Bear.


    It wasn’t really an old house. After all, it had been renovated and looked as much as a brand new one.


    The house was not huge. There were two floors and four rooms, but the yard was rtivelyrge, and the different households were separated by walls.


    The environment and climate in the HL Area were excellent. In addition to the locals, there were also some foreigners who hade here in their retirements and those who hade to enjoy rural life.


    The yard was big, and the children had a lot of room for activities. I watched rie Bear grow up gradually from learning to walk staggeringly to being able to run around.


    The longer I had spent in HL Area, the more relieved I had felt about the past.


    When we first came to the HL Area, rie Bear wasn’t used to the environment yet, so she would wake up in the middle of the night crying. No matter what I did, she wouldn’t calm down. After a while, whenever she cried, I would cry along with her too.


    rie Bear got sick afterward, and she began to be sensible at the age of one. It seemed that she could read my emotions, and she had be more well-behaved.


    The HL Area was a remote location. I didn’t start looking for a job until rie Bear had turned three years old.


    On the first day of sending rie Bear to kindergarten, she took my hand and said, “Mommy, you muste to pick me up at night. I will be waiting for you.”


    In the past three years, rie Bear had healed me. She had helped me move on from my deceased baby, as well as everyone in City P and Newton Town.


    It seemed that now my life had no more connection with any of them.


    I hugged her and kissed her, “Mommy will be here for you on time!”


    This child and I had be one already, inseparable.


    There were no publicpanies or advanced technologypanies in HL Area. I was a single mom and my first job was as a dishwasher in a small restaurant.


    In the corner of the restaurant’s back kitchen, I was wiping the dishes. There was a lot of noise around, but I was enjoying the quietness handling the softness of the foam.


    I wasn’t living an as prosperous and grand life here as in City P, but I had precious peace of mind.Content rights by N?velDr//ama.Org.


    At five o’clock in the afternoon, I went to pick up rie Bear on time. I then took her back to the back kitchen. She would stay by my side when I cleaned the dishes.


    She would always ask me, “Mommy, do I have a daddy?”


    I asked her, “Do you need a papa?”


    She was more sensible than I thought, and she would ask me, “Do you want me to have one?”


    I smiled lightly. I took rie Bear to buy her a box of steamed buns on the way home when thenterns on each side of the road had firste on.


    Then we went back to the yard and sat on the stone bench to enjoy these buns together. The taste was extraordinarily good.


    Sometimes in the middle of the night, I would also dream of Diana. In my dreams, she was still the same little girl as when she was a child. She woulde to me with a few ripe green awns in the season.


    And she and I would slice the green mangoes in the yard and eat them tossed with chili powder. The two of us always liked to eat it and hung out for an afternoon.


    After rie Bear had gotten used to the life in HL Area, I began to sleep better and better, and it was often already dawn when I woke up.


    Half a year ago, a resort hotel was built by theke in HL Area. I quit the job at the restaurant and started working at the hotel as a cleaningdy.


    The work was not hard. Besides, it was close to where rie Bear went to school, so I could pick her up easily.


    In the evening, I finished the cleaning work in the hotel, changed my clothes, and got ready to pick up rie Bear.


    Nathan leaned against the door frame, looked at me, and said, “Are you going to pick up rie?”


    I nodded and looked back at him. The man was in his forties, tall and handsome. I asked, “Do you need me to pick up Joey for you?”


    He smiled lightly, shook his head, raised his eyebrows, and said, “I mean I will drive you there. Let’s go.”


    Nathan was the manager of the hotel. When I entered the hotel, he was my interviewer. After reading my resume, he was a little puzzled and asked me, “You graduated from a famous university, why would you apply for the cleaning position?”


    I smiled, “It’s also a professional job, after all. Besides, the sry of the cleaning position is decent.”


    He raised his eyebrows but smiled. Indeed, other positions in the hotel had a probation period plus a promotion period.


    The starting sries of other positions were low. But the sry of a cleaningdy was a t payment, not a bad one.


    We worked in the same ce, and it was probably a coincidence thatter we found out that we were both single parents, so we got closer.


    He was the manager, so he would inevitably get too busy to pick up his child at times. asionally he would ask me for help pick up Joey when I went to pick up rie.


    After leaving the hotel with Nathan, he picked up his car. It wasn’t too far away, and it only took a bit over ten minutes to drive there.


    There were many parents who hade to pick up their children at the kindergarten, and they were all waiting at the gate. There were some elderly who hade to get their grandchildren, too.


    The resting area outside the school was packed with elderly people.