Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria) novel Chapter 173

Chapter 173
E
To be honest, this answer sounded rather strange no matter how one looked at it. If
it weren’t for the fact that this person had silently supported Nicole and Nathan with
donations for such a long time without any intent, Victoria would probably have
ignored him directly. But no matter what, she was the one who contacted him first.
Time was precious for Victoria even at night, so she didn’t want to waste it. With
that, she directly asked for his contact information. ‘Can I please have your contact
number?’
At this sight, Alaric stared at this sentence for a while and then entered his own
contact information. Victoria looked at the contact information he sent her and then
opened her WhatsApp to add it. The profile that came up was very simple, with the
simple letter ‘Y’ as the nickname and a profile picture of a beach at night. The
nickname was similar to his Tik Tok handle. She then quickly added the person’s
number.
After Alaric sent the message, he waited for a while but didn’t receive a reply from
her. He pursed his lips as he glanced at the time and thought, Could it be that the
person is not responding because it’s too late and had fallen asleep? While
contemplating, he opened WhatsApp and saw a new message. He subconsciously
looked at the person’s profile picture.
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Originally, he thought that people who had children usually used their own children’s
pictures as their profile pictures, but unexpectedly, the person’s profile picture was a
ray of sunshine at twilight. Looking at this picture, Alaric somehow felt that the
person was someone with a vibrant spirit, unlike himself… While in thought, he saw
a message appearing above the chat box, ‘The other person is typing…’
Soon, the other person’s message came through. ‘Hello sir, how should I address
you?’ Sir? Alaric pursed his lips upon seeing this.
He typed a word in response. ‘Al.’
Al? When Victoria saw this word, she was momentarily taken aback, but soon she
felt relieved. The world was vast, and over the years, she often heard the same
surnames, words, and even similar first and last names. At first, Victoria’s heart
would pound when she heard the same name. But now… she was just momentarily
taken aback and soon regained her composure. ‘Hello, Mr. Al.’ It was indeed similar
to his handle on TikTok.
Mr. Al? This address made Alaric slightly tug at the corner of his lips, but he didn’t
reply. Shortly after, she sent another message. ‘Thank you very much for liking my
two children. You have given both my children a lot of gifts throughout this year.
Nicole and Nathan both really like you. However, we mentioned during the
livestream that we won’t accept gifts. So, after excluding the portion deducted by
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the platform, I roughly calculated the remaining amount, and it’s this sum.’
E
Alaric paused upon reading the message. He knew that she added him just to talk
about money-related matters. He never expected that she had already calculated
everything. The figure she sent was also larger than he had anticipated. It wasn’t
that he cared about the large sum of money he had given out but rather, he hadn’t
realized that he had been tipping the two children that much money.
‘Mr. Al, this is a substantial amount. May I ask for your account number? I’ll return
this money to you.’ After receiving Victoria’s message, Alaric silently stared at the
phone screen. She’s serious about returning the money? Although he could tell from
the live stream that the two children came from a well-off family, who in this world,
apart from a certain foolish woman, would complain about having too much
money?
Victoria waited for a long time until she finally received a response from him. She
thought he had gone to look for his bank account number, but after a few minutes,
he only replied with a brief text. ‘There’s no need for that.’
She was speechless upon seeing that.
From the beginning of the conversation until now, she realized that he was a man of
few words. It was unclear whether it was how he normally was or he simply didn’t
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Chapter 173 Give Me the Door Access Code
want to engage in further conversations. However, based on her observation, it
seemed more likely the latter reason. After all, when Victoria sent him a message, it
was marked as read, but he didn’t reply until later in the evening. Perhaps, the
reason he replied to her message at night was that he thought it would be impolite
not to reply.
After making sense of the situation, Victoria dismissed the idea of chatting further
with him. She fell silent for a moment and then left a message that read, ‘It’s getting
late, Mr. Al. Rest early. If you have time tomorrow, please send me your account
number. Goodnight and sweet dreams.’
When Alaric saw this message, he couldn’t help but chuckle. It was evident that she
was trying to end their conversation. However, he was caught by surprise when she
requested his bank account details. She’s still thinking of returning the money? If I
were to send my account number, would she actually transfer the money to me?
Considering how well-behaved and polite the two adorable kids were, he couldn’t
rule out the possibility that if he dared to provide his account number, they would
genuinely transfer the money. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t take back what he had
given away.
The next day, the half-asleep Victoria seemed to hear some noise in the living room.
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They were rustling sounds. She stayed silent for a second, then quickly woke up and
pulled back the covers before getting out of bed barefoot. The morning light peeked
through the gaps in the tree leaves, illuminating the living room with flickering
fragments of light.
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The window in the living room was opened, and the sounds of birds chirping could
be heard which added liveliness to the atmosphere. The next moment, a tall and
slender figure was seen being busy by the dining table in the living room. The
sleeves on his off-white shirt were rolled up, revealing the muscular arms. He paired
the white shirt with simple black trousers, which exuded an extraordinary
temperament.
“You’re awake?” The man’s warm voice echoed while his gaze fell on Victoria. The
next moment, he noticed her bare feet, making him furrow his brows lightly. “You’re
up, but why aren’t you wearing shoes?” Hearing that, Victoria looked down and
glanced at her bare feet. Before she could respond, she heard Bane’s gentle voice
again. “Quickly put on your shoes.”
“Okay.” Victoria went back to her room and put on her shoes before coming out.
“Why are you here?” Victoria walked over and sat opposite him.
Bane placed the plate of breakfast on the table and put the bag away before saying,
“If I didn’t come, were you planning to have sandwiches again today?” Victoria
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Chapter 173 Give Me the Door Access Code
paused for a moment and then retorted, “I don’t eat sandwiches every day. I only do
that occasionally when I’m busy.”
“You should still eat properly even if you’re busy.” Victoria didn’t say anything and
looked at Bane helplessly.
Since Bane knew she was busy, he would often have his chef at home prepare
meals and send them over. At first, he would call Victoria before sending the food
over, but after some time, Victoria couldn’t bear it anymore and directly told him,
“Why don’t you stop coming over in the morning? I want to sleep a bit longer.”
At that, Bane raised an eyebrow and said, “If you want to sleep more, you can. Just
give me the entrance code.”
Chapter 174 Shouldn’t Rely on You for Everything