Lies

Edith did not think that Hazel was telling her the truth when she told her that she was an early riser.

According to Auntie Emma, Hazel would usually arrive downstairs to have her breakfast earlier than her uncle. President Mo was someone who would rather skip his breakfast and spend his time reading the business section as soon as he woke up.

Because she needed to hurry and arrive at the kindergarten, Edith and Hazel went out early in the morning before Neil even emerged from his room. Due to this new arrangement, Hazel became the first student to arrive at the kindergarten.

Hazel accompanied her teacher at the entrance until the first student showed up. Her eyes brightened upon seeing that Alex He had arrived with his mother.

The four of them exchanged greetings before Alex waved his hand to his mother and pulled Hazel into the classroom.

"You were not joking when you told me that the two of them were close," Lily said as she watched the two kids disappeared into the class. "When did this happen?"

Edith laughed and shrugged. "But this is good. Previously, Alex would choose to play alone. Other than his best friend, Tyler Lu, he did not like to mingle with the others."

Lily started to frown and a long sigh escaped her. The first time she heard that her son did not have a lot of friends at the kindergarten, Lily could not stop worrying. Later, she came over to the kindergarten to spy on her son and found out that he was someone who did not gather in a large group.

"You're here early," Edith tried to change the topic and swiftly regretting her decision when she saw the bright look on her friend's expression.

"I came to get those juicy gossips from you." A wide smile curved on her lips. "Come on. Tell me. How's the first night together?"

"Ugh." Edith pulled a face. "What first night together? Don't make it sound too dirty."

"How was that dirty. It was literally your first night at President Mo's place," Lily whispered. "I think, you are the one with those dirty thoughts."

Edith rolled her eyes. She met Lily's gaze and knew that her friend will not go away until she gave her some good story. "It was fine. We had dinner last night as President Mo wanted to welcome me." She watched Lily's teasing smile and continued, "Sitting across him made me all jittery and I had indigestion. It was stressful."

Lily laughed out loud as she imagined her friend's face as she had to keep her manner in check while facing President Mo.

"You're enjoying this." Edith narrowed her eyes at her and saw the teasing smile widened.

Lily stayed and teased her friend a while longer and left once she got what she wanted. Soon, the other parents came to sent their kids over to the school.

When Edith walked into the classroom, the kids were running around and making a lot of noise. Her eyes wandered around the room and saw that Hazel and Alex were still together. Moreover, three other kids were surrounding the two of them as well.

A sigh escaped her as she watched the five kids together, knowing that most of them never get along well. However, at this time, the five of them were playing together because of Hazel and Alex were together.

Edith walked over to her table and clapped once before she asked the others to disperse. The class quietened down in two minutes and Edith began her lesson.

It was only when the children were taking their afternoon nap that Edith was able to relax. She stretched out her body and took out her phone on routine. She saw a message from her grandfather and clicked it.

A picture of a mackerel almost the size of her arms appeared on the screen along with her grandfather's bragging that he had caught them on his fishing trip.

Edith snickered and replied to her grandfather's message.

This time, Mike Qian replied as soon as he got her reply. Edith glanced at the kids before she walked out of the classroom silently to call her grandfather. Her phone call was connected after a few seconds.

"Grandfather, you're back from your fishing trip?" Edith asked the moment the phone call was connected.

"Just arrived home an hour ago," Mike Qian said. He glanced at his friend, George Bei, and placed a finger on his lips, signaling his friend not to make a noise. "Did you see the picture I send you? How was it? It was a big fish, right?"

"Grandfather, are you sure it wasn't just luck?"

"You!" Mike Qian gritted his teeth in anger. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down as her granddaughter laughed happily. "Anyway, Aaron had a matter to attend to in L City. I asked him to send over a box of fresh fish to you. He should arrive at your place around the time you get off work."

"What?" Edith's eyes widened in surprise and she started to panic. It has been only one night that she had moved out to President Mo's place. If Aaron came over to her apartment and found out that she was not around, wouldn't her grandfather got suspicious?

"I sent over a box of food to you. Why are you so anxious?"

Edith took a few deep breaths upon noticing the hint of suspicion in her grandfather's tone. "Of course I'm anxious," Her mind whirled to think of an excuse. "I have something at the kindergarten and am planning to stay at Lily's place for a few nights. If Aaron came to my place and found that I'm not around, wouldn't he have to take those fresh produces back?" Her hands clenched into a fist, knowing that she was lying to her grandfather.

Mike Qian thought of her granddaughter's explanation and thought that it was very logical. "Then, I will call him and tell him to send it over to Lily's place. What is her address again?"

"Grandfather," Edith called out. "Don't worry. I'll call him. Anyway, he was not that familiar with Lily. It's best if I arrange a meeting time with him."

Once the phone call ended, Edith quickly browsed through her phone book to find Aaron's number.

Meanwhile, in Z Town, Mike Qian placed his phone on the table after the phone call with his granddaughter. His gaze shifted towards the scattered papers on the table and he picked up one of them to study the information on it.

"Old Qian, was that Edith?" George Bei glanced at his friend and heaved a long sigh when his friend did not give him another response other than a curt nod. "How long do you think you're going to keep telling your granddaughter that you went out on a fishing trip?"

"For as long as I can," Mike answered quickly and shot his friend a warning gaze.

"You're not planning to tell her about Rachel?"

Mike's movement halted as he thought of his daughter who passed away years ago. "No. And you... you should know better that you should never say a word to Edith about her Rachel."