Can you not talk to her nicely

Given that it was Catalina who always tended to Estella, Lucian didn't have much experience dealing with children and thought his daughter was throwing a fit.

A look of panic flashed in the man's eyes as he saw the little girl weep, but ultimately, he glared at her sternly. "Stop crying," he ordered, thinking he didn't sound harsh at all. Yet, he sounded especially fierce in the child's ears.

With that, Estella began to cry harder. Tears gushed down her ashen cheeks like a river escaping a dam as she broke into an uncontrollable sob. Lucian's brows creased at the sight. He didn't know how to react.

Meanwhile, Roxanne couldn't watch how cold the man was toward his weeping daughter any further. "Is that how you treat a child? She's already in tears, and you're still talking to her like this? Can't you just talk to her nicely?" Lucian froze at the woman's sudden admonition.

Roxanne quickly strode over to Estella and knelt down to pull the little girl into her arms. "There, there, Essie. Don't cry! You can come over to play whenever you like, okay? I'll give you my number, so just let me know whenever you're thinking of dropping by," she assured tenderly.

"Don't cry anymore, okay? You won't look pretty if you do." Meanwhile, Archie and Benny stood next to them with tissues in their hands. While coaxing Estella, Roxanne reached out for a piece of tissue and wiped the child's tears.

The little girl slowly stopped crying and buried herself in Roxanne's embrace. Feeling her heart wrench, Roxanne held the child tightly and patted her on the back. Archie and Benny were livid to see Estella having burst into tears like that, and they turned to Lucian indignantly.

"Why won't you let Essie be friends with us?" Archie couldn't help but question. "We've never been mean to her! For the past two times she ran away from home, my mommy's the one who took care of her really well, and we'd play with her too. She has fun playing with us, and she likes us a lot, so why can't she be friends with us? It's not like we're bad guys!" Certainly not expecting to be reproached by two little boys, Lucian remained stone-faced, not knowing how to respond.

He didn't want Estella to be friends with them just because he was being considerate, yet they were now blaming him instead.

"Essie doesn't have many friends at school. Only Archie and I like her and let her hang around with us. When someone bullied her at school, we were the ones who helped her. If she can't be friends with us, she'll be all on her own! Is that what you want?" Even Benny couldn't refrain from lashing out at Lucian.

The man felt extremely conflicted to be questioned like that. Seeing him remain silent, the boys grew even more frustrated, thinking they had hit the nail on the head with their words. After holding back for a while, Archie eventually said what was on his mind,

"We protect her and play with her, but you're being so skeptical about us. What kind of people do you think we are?" Benny nodded in agreement, and the two stared at Lucian in disappointment.

This man was their father, but he had abandoned their mother before they were even born.

And now, on top of not liking them, he wouldn't even let his daughter be friends with them.