Alice froze and involuntarily looked towards the door with teary eyes. She had not expected to see Jensen so soon again.
Alice was both shocked and embarrassed at the same time.
"I rushed here because I felt worried. I hope that I'm not too late and can still be of help," Jensen hurriedly replied.
He was actually looking at Alice while saying this. He grew even more worried when he saw her tears.
"You came at the right time. We are in the midst of discussing something serious," Heinz said. "We are discussing these things. Do you understand?"
"Zachary already told me about it just now." Jensen replied, "He briefly explained everything to me. I also learned about what happened today from Alex and Lester. So Gary was kidnapped but came back by himself?" "That's right. Uncle, I had been kidnapped, unfortunately, by two stupid kidnappers," Gary responded. "Anyway, I'm fine, so you don't have to worry about me."
"It's good that you're alright." Jensen breathed a sigh of relief. However, his gaze remained fixed on Alice.
Alice turned her face aside and looked away from him.
Jensen felt awkward as he stared at her.
"I'm all right, Uncle," Gary reassured him and looked towards Alice with his large eyes. "Little Aunt is the one who has been crying. She has been absent-minded all afternoon. She must have missed you, Uncle."
Jensen paused upon hearing his words, feeling slightly surprised.
Alice almost jumped up from her seat. "What are you talking about? I don't miss him at all."
Everyone else felt awkward as well and Heinz looked at Alice with a smile.
Alice's face had turned bright red due to embarrassment.
Gary replied, "I am only telling the truth, Little Aunt. You have been so absent-minded the whole day. All of us know that you miss Uncle. I am just helping you to say it out loud. Why are you so angry? Are you embarrassed?"
"Ahem, ahem..." Heinz tried to remind Little Gary to not go overboard. At the very least, he shouldn't embarrass a girl like this by telling everything as it was.
Gary understood what Heinz was trying to do, but he chose to ignore him. "What's there to be embarrassed about? How would he know that you miss him if you don't say it out loud?"
"Shut up," Alice exclaimed.
"Hmm!" Gary shrugged. "You are so fierce, Little Aunt. It's so scary. It's no big deal to admit it."
"Then why don't you acknowledge your father?" Alice could not hold it in anymore and retorted, "It's no big deal to acknowledge your father."
Little Gary's eyes immediately widened. They were filled with astonishment.
Heinz felt content when he saw the look on Gary's face. He really appreciated Alice's words.
Gary quickly retorted, "Little Aunt, we are talking about you and uncle now. Please don't change the topic."
"A child should not get involved with adult issues," Alice also responded quickly. "Don't change the topic too. It's so difficult to get you to acknowledge your father every single time. Is it so hard to just do it?"
Upon seeing how infuriated Alice was, Little Gary immediately pulled Ernest and suggested, "Ernest, let's go in and watch TV. Little Aunt is so scary when she is mad."
"Let's go, Brother!" Ernest hurriedly followed Gary into the room to watch TV.
Alice's face was flushed red.
Jensen and Zachary stood there in silence.
Heinz glanced at Zachary and asked, "What do you plan to do with Grandma's ashes?"
Zachary did not answer his question, but instead looked directly at Grace.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: True Fated Marriage (Grace and Heinz)