The More the Merrier novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9 They Are Brothers

That's weird. I've been gone for so long, but they haven't called me yet. Usually, they would be scrambling around to look for me already. Aren't Mommy, Zachary, Oliver, and Jesse worried about me at all?

With that thought, Jasper checked his phone, which resembled a watch.

Uh-oh. The battery died.

“Gavin, your food's ready!” Edwin called out when he noticed Jasper as he was about to bring the food over to Gavin's room.

“Okay!” Jasper responded as he ran to take his seat at the dining table.

Seeing that the table was full of delicious-looking dishes, he quickly grabbed a fork and happily dug in.

“Gavin, pace yourself. Please chew your food more slowly!” Edwin urged as the way Jasper ate shocked him. What's going on? Usually, he would chew more slowly before swallowing.

“Mm-hmm!” The boy was beaming with delight as he ate. Oh my gosh! These are heavenly! Jesse would definitely love this!

Suddenly, Jasper slowed down as he felt guilty. Did Mommy, Zachary, Oliver, and Jesse eat yet?

“Mr. Whitley, these are really good!”

“Hehe! I was afraid that you'd get tired of eating the same thing every day! Have some more if you like it!” Edwin suggested as he put more food on his plate.

Jasper caught sight of Benjamin walking toward them and started to eat quietly.

“Mr. Graham!” Edwin quickly prepared cutlery for Benjamin while the latter took his seat to eat with Jasper.

His brows furrowed deeply when he saw Jasper swallowing the food without chewing.

“Chew for thirty times before swallowing!”

“B-But I'm hungry!” Jasper exclaimed in surprise. Thirty times? That's too tiring!

“Don't eat too quickly! No matter how hungry you are, you must chew your food thirty times before you swallow!” Did he not eat well while I was away?

Benjamin glanced at Edwin. “Mr. Graham, Gavin's been taking his meals properly in the past few days! Maybe he's eating so quickly today because he was hungry,” Edwin explained respectfully with his head lowered.

Meanwhile, a small pair of eyes were looking at Benjamin and Edwin. Jasper paced his chewing. What's up with this rule? He's too strict! Mommy has never been as fussy as him!

In the next few minutes, Benjamin would reprimand him whenever Jasper didn't chew at least thirty times. This is the hardest meal that I've had! Ugh. The food doesn't taste that good anymore.

After he was done, he quickly ran toward Gavin's room and locked the door. Once that was done, Jasper continued to search the room as he looked for clues or ways to contact Gavin.

Phew. Luckily they didn't call Gavin. I'll definitely be exposed if they do. No, I must find a way to call Gavin to see if he's okay.

No matter how hard he looked, Gavin's number was nowhere to be found. In that instant, he heard someone knocking on the door. Jasper beamed when he knew that it was Edwin.

“Yes, Mr. Whitley?” he asked as he opened the door.

“Gavin, your dad asked me to make this for you! Let me know any time if you want to eat it in the future!” Edwin informed as he passed the cotton candy to Jasper.

“Thank you, Mr. Whitley!” Jasper took the cotton candy merrily and took a bite. Yay! I get to eat this every day now!

“Oh! Mr. Whitley, can I borrow your phone for a little while?” he asked out of the blue when Edwin was about to leave.

“Here you go!” Edwin reached for his phone in his pocket and passed it to Jasper without question.

“Mr. Whitley! Your font's too small! I'll make it bigger for you!” Jasper tilted the phone to an angle where Edwin couldn't look at the screen and quickly looked for Gavin's number in the contact list.

Since Gavin had done the same thing before, Edwin smiled and waited patiently at the door without the slightest bit of suspicion.

Without much difficulty, Jasper found Gavin's number after scrolling for a while. After that, he quickly memorized Gavin's number and changed the font size before returning Edwin's phone to him. Good thing Mr. Whitley doesn't have many contacts in his contact list.

“This cotton candy is delicious!” Jasper exclaimed with a huge grin on his face.