enjoyebooks Chapter 639 - 610: Sienna Thornton’s Business Trip
Chapter 639 - 610: Sienna Thornton’s Business Trip
(Extra Chapter for October votes 4.5/16)Sienna Thornton is in Valois, spending her days immersed in intense negotiations and meetings with colleagues and subordinates to discuss various strategies at night.
Due to the time difference, Valois is seven hours behind the domestic time. So often when she’s free in the evenings, it’s already midnight back home. Therefore, she can only make voice calls with Simon Forrester during her lunch break and catch a video glimpse of their son.
Simon Forrester is staying at his wife’s family home, with Auntie King and others helping to take care of the child, which is quite convenient.
The child’s routine is very regular, mostly feeding every three hours. During the day, he sleeps for three hours each at noon and in the evening, while the rest of the time is spent with Charles Quincy doing various early education and play activities.
Generally, when Simon Forrester returns home from work at night, the child has just woken up, and it’s usually Auntie King or Quentin Thorne who is playing with him. After Simon finishes his meal, he prepares to video call with Sienna Thornton, and after the call, he gives the child a bath and then it’s time for feeding and putting him to sleep.
Usually, once the child sleeps, he goes to sleep as well, because the child needs to wake up after three hours for feeding. Hence, he can’t work late into the night and has to use the fragmented time of these two to three hours to accumulate sleep.
Before, when Sienna Thornton was around, she took care of putting the child to sleep, allowing him to work in the study. But now, he truly feels the helplessness of taking care of a child, not being able to work, and not even having time to check emails on his phone.
Previously, when the child whimpered for feeding at night, although he would get up to take the child from the crib and place him between them, once the child started feeding, quieted down, he would fall back asleep groggily. However, Sienna would have to keep in mind to switch sides after the child finished feeding on one, then wait for the child to finish, burp him, put him back to sleep, and then carry him to the crib.
Although he also helped, in the matter of waking at night for feeding, his contribution couldn’t match Sienna’s even a little bit.
These past few nights, when the child whimpered at night, he has been the one to prepare the milk and feed the child, and only after feeding and burping the child, he can put him to sleep and lay him in the small bed.
During this half an hour to even an hour’s time, he can’t sneak in any naps and must stay alert, constantly remembering the next steps, because late at night, it’s only him taking care of the child, always mindful of these things.
In general, he doesn’t have it easy, and he increasingly empathizes with his wife’s hard work.
As for Sienna Thornton, on her side, she’s naturally considering the tensions Simon Forrester and Quentin Thorne have long had. Each time they video call, once Simon Forrester returns to the room and closes the door, she always asks if he’s uncomfortable staying at her family home and offers to help coordinate.
Simon Forrester always replies with a smile, "It’s nothing, all good."
He fixes the phone on the table, holding the child in his arms while sitting and video chatting with her. The four-month-old seems to have either inherited the sharpness from the parents or is naturally clever, knowing it’s mommy talking, waving his little hands wanting to grab the phone.
Simon Forrester sometimes lets him hold the phone, but the child can’t lift such a heavy object, so he can only lay the phone on his leg, yet he knows to lower his head to look, making faces at mommy on the screen, first giggles out loud, then swiftly turns to bury his face in daddy’s arms, only to peek at the phone again after a few seconds.
Sienna, seeing her son’s cute and clever appearance, often tears up in front of the camera, vowing never to go on business trips again, or unless she can take her son along!
Simon Forrester pretends to be jealous, "Only take our son? What about your husband?"
Knowing he’s teasing, she jests back, "I already have a son, you are of no use anymore, do whatever you want!"
"So you chose me just for my genes?"
"What else?"
"My genes are excellent, having only one is such a waste, I can give you more, as many as you want, inexhaustible, I’m willing to give you everything for love..."
As he speaks increasingly cheekily, Sienna can’t take it anymore, covers her face saying she doesn’t want to look at him, only at their son.
Simon Forrester then hoists their son up to the camera, blocking his own face.
Sienna looks at her son and bursts into tears again, even skipping lunch for the video call, spending two hours just crying.
The time quietly slips away in such emotional moments, December 8th, Sienna Thornton’s last day in Valois.
Actually, conventionally, they should remain in Valois until the negotiation results are out before returning home. But Sienna, mindful of her husband and child, decided to return home on Saturday, letting other colleagues wait for the results and then leave.
The noon before heading home, she had just finished the video call with Simon Forrester, ready to leave the room and meet colleagues in the lobby, when she suddenly receives a voice request from Auntie King.
She instinctively thought there was something wrong with her parents or child, quickly answered, "Auntie? What’s wrong?"
The background noise on the other end was whistling, Auntie King seemed to be making the call in the cold wind.
Sienna’s heart sank.
After a few seconds, Auntie King’s deliberately lowered voice came from the other end, "Lawyer Thorne, I need to report something to you."
"Please go on." Sienna closed the room door, her steps shuffled.
"That Charles Quincy, ever since you went to Valois, has been acting strange!"
Realizing it’s about Charles, Sienna’s heart relaxed, and her tone brightened up.
Holding a briefcase in one hand and the phone in the other, as she entered the elevator, she tilted her head slightly to clip the phone, then pressed the button for the ground floor.
Once the elevator doors were closed, she straightened up, held the phone properly, and then casually asked, "What’s with Charles?"
"We arranged for Chandler to pick her up in the car at 8:30, and reach home by 9, by then Mr. Forrester would have gone to the company. But instead, she herself arrived at 8:30 the next day, didn’t take Chandler’s car, drove herself, claiming it’s convenient to park outside the neighborhood, refusing Chandler’s ride."
Sienna looked at her reflection in the elevator door, both her gaze and voice were heavy, "And then?"
"Later, she started coming by 8! Every time she arrives, Mr. Forrester is still having breakfast. And in the evening, instead of leaving at 5:30 as scheduled, she stayed and lingered, these two days staying till 6, always meeting Mr. Forrester upon him returning..."
The elevator reached the ground floor, the doors slowly parted.
Sienna, carrying her briefcase, walked out of the elevator.
Auntie King continued to critique Charles Quincy’s antics over the phone, Sienna understood the situation, and told the person on the other end, "I’ll be back tomorrow, I’ll talk to her at work on Monday."
Having said that, she also instructed Auntie King not to tell her family about these matters, including Simon Forrester, before hanging up the call.
While walking to the nearby World Trade Organization, she kept pondering how to handle this matter appropriately.
Charles Quincy indeed takes good care of the child, showing love and patience, with the child’s progress and intelligence apparent to everyone. But now that she’s developed curiosity towards Simon Forrester, how can this thought be snuffed out?