Arissa did not know what he was thinking about, but the beam on Darius' face caused the corners of her lips to lift as well.
Old Mr. Graham seems fun to be around. Why can't Benjamin be like this instead of acting cold all the time?
“Um, Issa? They're not here!”
As they talked, the pair arrived at the lake. Darius quickly scanned the surroundings for the children, but to no avail.
Puzzled, Arissa looked around as well. “Could they be further in front?”
I could have sworn they came back to the house...
Arissa brought Darius deeper into the garden in search of the children. The pair looked around for ten minutes, but there was no sign of them.
Darius' expression was gloomy as he huffed. “Is Benjamin hiding them from me on purpose after finding out I'm here?”
Arissa glanced over at Darius, doubting his take on the situation.
“I don't think so. Perhaps Mr. Watts brought them out to play?” Arissa suggested.
“Kingsley's here?” Darius peered at Arissa as he asked, almost in accusation.
Arissa nodded in response. “Yep! He always has his meals here, along with Dr. Bailey!”
Tossing Darius an encouraging smile, Arissa reassured, “Don't worry, Mr. Graham! I'll just give the kids a call!”
As she reached for her pocket, Arissa quickly realized that she had forgotten her phone with her. “Sorry, Mr. Graham,” she apologized sheepishly. “My phone is not with me right now. Can I use your phone instead?”
Darius patted his pocket before exclaiming in panic, “My phone's not here either!”
“In that case, let's go inside first. It's alright, Old Mr. Graham. You will get to meet them!”
With that being said, Arissa accompanied Darius back into the house.
While they were walking, Darius grumbled, “This has to be Benjamin's doing. Before this, it was only Gavin. And even back then, he never liked to bring Gavin to see me. Now that there are five more, he still wouldn't let me see them!”
With a huff, he pouted. “He's the one that's bad with kids, yet I'm the one who never gets to see them!”
Hearing Benjamin being scolded by Darius, Arissa instinctively jumped to his defense.
“Say, Old Mr. Graham. Does Benjamin know that you're coming over?”
Ever since she came out of the restroom, Arissa had not seen even a glimpse of Benjamin. She did not know if he was still in the house or if he had gone out as well.
“Probably not.” Darius hesitated.
His answer managed to piqued Arissa's curiosity. “Oh? If you don't mind me asking, how do you know we're back home?”
Darius broke into an impish grin at the question before lowering his voice to answer. “I hired someone at the company to inform me when Ethen returns. I then proceeded to go see Ethen myself, and Ethen told me that you guys are back!”
Realization dawned on Arissa.
When they returned to the house, William had already carried all the presents into the house and arranged them nicely with the help of others.
Darius slumped onto a couch. Disappointment was written all over his face for not being able to see his grandchildren.
Amused by Darius' actions, Arissa smiled and poured him a glass of water.
“Have some water, Old Mr. Graham. I'll call them now!”
Picking up her phone, she immediately dialed Gavin's number.
Sipping the glass of water, Darius stared at her in anticipation.
“Has anyone picked up?” he asked, impatient.
Arissa shook her head. “Not yet.”
It's been ringing for a while now. Why hasn't he picked up?
In the end, the call went to voicemail.
Seeing that Darius had gotten increasingly restless, Arissa comforted the old man. “Maybe he didn't hear the ringtone. Let me try calling Zachary!”
Upon hearing the suggestion, Darius nodded.
Arissa quickly dialed another number. To her dismay, the phone's ringtone could be heard from upstairs. From the looks of it, Zachary had left his phone at home.
Without another choice, Arissa called Kingsley instead. That time around, it only took a few seconds for the call to be connected.
“Arissa!”
Kingsley sounded surprised to be hearing from Arissa. “Why are you calling me? Aren't you having some time of intimacy with Benjamin?”
The corners of Arissa's lips twitched slightly. Glancing at Darius, she could only pray that she was not blushing.
“Mr. Watts, are the kids with you? Did you bring them out to play?”
“Yeah! Don't worry, I'll take good care of them. I promise I'll send them back later,” Kingsley quickly reassured.
Upon hearing his answer, Arissa breathed a sigh of relief. “Grandaunt and Edwin aren't here either. Are they with you too?”
“Yeah! This is the first time Mdm. Mary has been to Dellmoor, we're taking them around to sightsee and familiarize themselves!”
Just as Kingsley was speaking, Darius gestured at Arissa, asking her to pass him the phone.
“Pass me the phone, Issa! Let me speak to him!”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: You More Than Anything In The World