Chapter 197

Jimmy followed his line of sight and saw Matteo and Raven heading into a coffee shop. They seemed to have no intention of leaving.

Rex didn’t take his eyes off them. “That girl… Could it be true? Did Matteo really have a daughter?”

Jimmy wasn’t too concerned. “Maybe.”

Rex stood still, his lips pressed together. If that girl was truly Matteo’s daughter, Raven, being with him, would likely face hardship in the future. And there were also rumors that Matteo had already been married. If that was true, would he and his ex-wife be tied together for the sake of the child? Wouldn’t that make things harder for Raven?

Jimmy’s phone rang. After a while, he put the phone down and said, “I have some things to take care of. Are you coming along?”

Rex came back to his senses, his eyes darkening. “No, I’m waiting for someone. You go ahead; we can meet next time.”

“Okay.”

Jimmy walked off. After his figure disappeared, Rex walked towards the coffee shop. As he opened the door, he ran into Raven, who was about to take Isabella to the restroom. Both stopped in their tracks.

Raven saw him and said, “Mr. Hardin? What a coincidence.”

“Mm,” Rex replied, closing the door. His gaze swept around the coffee shop and landed on Matteo, who was ordering from a waiter. Rex shifted his attention to Isabella. Just one glance, and he was almost certain that Isabella was Matteo’s daughter because she resembled him.

Still, he asked, “Is this…?”

Raven lowered her head and answered, “Frank’s daughter.”

Sure enough. Rex felt a weight in his chest. At that moment, Isabella spoke up, “Aunt Raven, who’s this handsome uncle?”

Raven bent down, gently tapping Isabella’s little nose, and smiled warmly. “Auntie’s friend.”

Isabella said, “Oh…”

Raven then turned to Rex and asked, “Mr. Hardin, did you come to meet a friend—”

Before she could finish, Isabella interrupted her. She shook Raven’s arm, “Aunt Raven, hurry, take me to the restroom.”

Chapter 197

She had drunk milk tea earlier and now desperately needed to pee. Seeing that Raven seemed about to keep chatting with Rex, she couldn’t hold back and interrupted her. Because she was in such a hurry, her tone even sounded a bit commanding toward Raven.

Rex noticed how tender Raven was with Isabella, but Isabella seemed to be bossing her around. His brow furrowed deeply. But Raven didn’t seem to mind at all. When she looked at Isabella, she remained gentle and patient, saying, “Okay, Auntie knows. It’s my fault, I’ll take you right now.”

She then turned to Rex and said, “I’ll go ahead. See you later.”

Rex felt even worse after seeing this. But he didn’t have the right to say anything at the moment, so he just replied, “I also need to go to the restroom. How about we go together?”

Raven smiled and said, “Okay.”

Isabella was in a real hurry. Seeing that Raven was moving too slowly, she couldn’t wait any longer and let go of Raven’s hand, running toward the restroom on her own. Raven saw this and immediately rushed to catch up, calling out, “Isabella, wait for me!”

Rex watched, feeling that Isabella was acting too willfully. Just as Isabella was about to speak, she suddenly stopped and looked to the side.

“Isabella?”

Raven, who had caught up, noticed she had stopped running and instantly guessed she might have seen Freya. She glanced at Rex, who was quickly following behind, and her eyes flickered. She then pulled Isabella’s hand, saying, “Isabella, weren’t we going to the restroom? Let’s—”

“Mm.”

Isabella looked around a few more times but didn’t see Freya again. She figured she had imagined it and stopped looking, hurrying to the restroom. Freya was indeed in the direction Isabella had just looked, but she was blocked by someone. With the bustling crowd in the shopping mall, she hadn’t noticed them.

After a while, Raven, Rex, and the others came out of the restroom. Isabella was at the age of curiosity. Everything she saw along the way piqued her interest—looking here, peeking there, chatting non-stop with Raven. Raven always smiled and responded.

Rex, watching from the side, felt that Raven was very responsible for Matteo’s child. He also felt more deeply that taking care of children wasn’t an easy task.

When they returned to the café, Rex immediately glanced over to Matteo’s direction and saw that Matteo was leisurely drinking coffee while flipping through a magazine. He looked like a carefree boss. Rex paused for a moment.

Chapter 197

Earlier, on the way to the restroom, Rex had mentioned that he was meeting some friends at the café. Entering the cafe, Raven asked, “Has your friend arrived?”

Rex shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Then why not come sit with us?”

“You’re out on a date, so it wouldn’t feel right for me to join,”

Raven smiled. “It’s fine, Matteo won’t mind.”

So Rex walked over with Raven and the others toward Matteo. As they approached, the first thing Rex noticed was a bouquet of deep red roses beside Matteo’s seat. There was no need to guess—the roses were definitely a gift from Matteo to Raven. It seemed that Matteo didn’t think as badly of Raven as he had assumed earlier.