The hidden billionaire heiress (Lyra Melvin) novel Chapter 1034

Chapter 1034 Who Can Resist Him

Alistair froze, staring blankly for several seconds before blinking nervously and avoiding Anthony's gaze. His guilt was written all over his face, and Anthony didn't even need to ask.
"Didn't I tell you this morning that you had to study the second half of 'Horse Racing' with your teacher in the afternoon? And yet, you played all day instead?" Anthony asked.
"Daddy, today it was because..." Alistair began to explain.
"Don't worry about it. Finish your meal and come to my study. I'll give you some time to come up with an excuse," Anthony interrupted sternly.
Whimpering softly, Alistair hated going into his father's study because he always got scolded or punished there. The good mood he had been enjoying all day disappeared as soon as he heard that he would have to go there tonight.
Paloma noticed Alistair's nervousness and explained, "Anthony, this afternoon I told Alistair not to practice piano so that Momo could visit for a while longer and let the two play together without any distractions."
Anthony looked at Paloma seriously and said, "This is indulgence on your part. It will only encourage him to be lazy."
"A five-year-old child should be playing around at this age anyway," Paloma replied calmly. "If Alistair likes studying, then let him do so. If he wants to play, then let him play."
"If he keeps being lazy like this, only seeking pleasure without striving for progress - what kind of help are you giving him by indulging his behavior?"
He rattled off arguments one after another until Paloma couldn't keep up anymore.
"As his great-grandmother who loves him dearly, how could I possibly harm him? As an elder relative, shouldn't I have a say?" She retorted back with her own argumentative style.
He fell silent after that exchange of words between them but Paloma continued on, "Besides... it wasn't such an important class anyway! It's just one afternoon missed practice session! Don't make such a big deal out of it."
After all, she was still an elder relative. Criticizing her too harshly in front of his son would not have been appropriate behavior from Anthony's side anymore than hers either way. So instead of arguing further, he gave her some leeway by saying,
"Alistair, this time we'll let it go, but next time, if any pre-arranged classes are skipped again, then consider yourself skipping class altogether."
Alistair's chubby face quickly turned pale as his small hands waved frantically while nodding along obediently. "Yes sir! Yes sir! I will listen carefully from now on!"
His father actually threatened him with truancy... He was so scared outta his wits now... Skipping class was a big problem that his father absolutely could not tolerate. He had experienced it once a few months ago, and the memory was still fresh in his mind.
During taekwondo class, he tried to be clever and used the excuse of going to the bathroom to sneak off and play with water. He got tired and fell asleep in the bathroom.
Later, all of the Callahan family's servants searched for him for half an hour. When his father found out, he almost beat him. He was even dragged into the study and made to stand there reflecting on his actions for an hour.
He tearfully confessed his mistake and promised never to do it again before his father finally let him go.
He would never dare skip class again unless he wanted a sore butt.
"Eat."
Anthony's face remained calm as he quickly peeled an entire shrimp with his long, handsome hands before putting it in Alistair's bowl. "Use your fork to eat. If you don't use it properly, just take your time."
"I know!"
Alistair picked up a fork with his small hands while staring at the shrimp in his bowl with shining eyes. He poked at it gently before saying, "Daddy, you forgot the sauce."
The boiled shrimp tasted better dipped in sauce~
Anthony remained silent as he took away Alistair's bowl of shrimp without any expression on his face, so that he could dip it properly before returning it back into Alistair's bowl.
The tender meat of the shrimp tasted even better after being dipped in sauce. Alistair especially liked it. "I want more!"
Just as Anthony took another sip from soup spoon, he suddenly put down the soup by himself, then continued peeling shrimps for Alistair silently
Paloma watched from beside, "Anthony, you've been working hard all day. You haven't eaten much yourself. Let me peel some shrimps for Alistair instead"
"I'm fine, grandma. You don't have to worry about me."
Because he needed to keep track how many shrimps did Alistair eat, he insisted on peeling them himself
There were more and more shells piled up on front of him while Alistair ate happily with saucy lips
After peeling seven shrimps, Anthony stopped abruptly. His eyes signaled one servant who then removed half plate full leftover shrimps away from table. Seeing those delicious-looking shrimps taken away, Alistair didn't understand what happened. "Daddy, I still want those!"
Anthony wiped off both hands slowly using wet wipes, "Shrimp is considered cold food. Your digestive system is still too weak, and you can't eat too much."
"But Daddy..."
"No buts. If you continue eating like this, you'll end up rolling around on your bed because your stomach hurts so badly. The doctor will have no choice but give you shots which will hurt very badly. Don't cry later blaming me."
In just moments, Alistair's face changed completely. He was most afraid of getting a shot in the butt. After getting the shot, he will be limping for two days and it hurt too much.
No way, absolutely not.
"Then I won't eat shrimp tonight. Can I have a chicken wing instead?"
"Sure." Anthony helped him pick up a piece of chicken wing and wiped off the sauce that was about to drip down his chin with a napkin.
Paloma watched silently from the side, feeling relieved to see how carefully Anthony took care of his son.
"You two should eat more. I'm full now, so I'll go take a walk in the yard to digest my food," said Paloma as she left the dining room with her cane and butler's assistance.
Meanwhile, at White family's dinner table...
Lyra asked, "Momo, what do you think of Alistair?"
Molly swallowed her delicious food and thought for a moment before answering, "Milk Tofu is silly but cute. Innocent yet clingy. Very lovely! Most importantly, he listens to me well when we play together."
Who could resist such an adorable little boy? Spencer chuckled, "You're just making excuses because you like his face and his eyes."
Being exposed by her brother didn't make Molly shy away from admitting it, "Yes! His eyes are really beautiful! And his face is so delicate that he will definitely become an extremely handsome guy when he grows up!"
Spencer remained expressionless as he retorted, "He's only five years old now. There's still quite high chance that he will grow up looking ugly or weirdly shaped later on in life… But one thing's for sure, being raised by Anthony means that he will definitely not turn out great."
"Spencer, I know you're biased against Anthony, and I get it. But milk tofu is milk tofu, and Anthony is Anthony y, and I think..." Molly protested while trying to defend Alistair.
Spencer frowned, feeling annoyed by all this noise around him. It was giving him headaches, so he coughed deliberately several times hoping she would stop talking.
Lyra immediately became concerned about Spencer's health status, saying, "Spencer, are you not feeling well? You haven't been checked this week yet… Tomorrow you'll take half-day off from school and we'll accompany you there"
Malcolm also asked worriedly if everything was okay, saying, "Have you taken your medicine on time these past few days?"
Spencer replied nonchalantly, "I'm fine... It's just someone who talks louder than birds chirping who makes me feel irritated."
His words were direct enough which made Molly pout slightly before saying resignedly, "Okay then... I won't say anything anymore…"
The calm days always seemed to pass quickly.
One month hurriedly went by, and before they knew it, it was Alistair's fifth birthday.
For the past few years, Anthony had never missed his son's birthday dinner, and even Lyra would send Alistair a different birthday gift every year.
In the CEO's office, Anthony was examining the exquisite gift box in front of him. It was the custom-made four-wheel drive car he had prepared to give Alistair as a birthday present.
The other day when Paloma mentioned rewarding him with a new four-wheel drive car, Alistair was thrilled at the idea. Even though Anthony didn't agree with her suggestion, he still took note of it.
Confirming that the four-wheel drive car looked beautiful and exquisite as ever, Anthony closed up the gift box without changing anything and headed to the conference room for a meeting.
At three o'clock in the afternoon after an hour-and-a-half-long meeting just ended, Zack rushed in anxiously and walked over to Anthony whispering softly, "Mr. Callahan," he said urgently, "Alistair's kindergarten teacher called just now, saying that something happened to him today at school."