Tanya opened the video sent by Ms. Underwood.
It was taken yesterday afternoon after school, in a corner by the school gate.
In the video, Joy took advantage of the absence of others to snatch food from another little girl’s lunch box and stuffed it directly into her mouth, then turned around and ran away.
In the video, the little girl who remained on site silently packed up the lunch box and walked in the opposite direction.
Tanya rewound the video and stared at the little girl, the more she looked, the more familiar she seemed... Suddenly she remembered, wasn’t this the little girl she met by the roadside after dropping Joy at school before?
At the time, she vaguely felt the little girl had some trouble and had left her phone number for her...
"Joy has always performed well in class; I didn’t expect she’d go to the extent of snatching others’ food!" Ms. Underwood’s tone was stern, "This kind of behavior can escalate to school bullying!"
Tanya was momentarily speechless; her daughter was indeed a foodie, but Joy usually wouldn’t go so far as to snatch others’ food.
Yet the video was right in front of her...
"Ms. Underwood, I’ll talk to Joy."
"Alright." Ms. Underwood couldn’t help but say, "Joy seems cheerful and lively but is quite sensitive. As parents, you need to pay more attention and care to your child’s mental health."
"I understand, teacher. I’ll not disturb you then."
Ms. Underwood put down the phone, frowned, and sighed.
The woman of the house changes more frequently than clothes, no matter how wealthy they are, kids growing up in such environments are pitiful.
Tanya hung up the phone, thinking that Vincent sent Cindy to the hospital and would likely stay there for a while.
She went straight back to the villa.
Just as Ian delivered the medicine and was about to leave, he bumped into Tanya head-on.
"Mrs. Hawthorne." Ian’s eyes shown visible delight upon seeing Tanya.
Tanya nodded at him, "Dr. Sullivan, thank you for making another trip."
"No problem, it’s my job." Ian replied politely, then changed the subject, "Mrs. Hawthorne, I have a favor to ask."
Tanya looked at him puzzled.
Ian continued, "Actually, my mentor is the vice president of the International Chinese Medicine Association, Damian Steves."
Tanya’s eyes flashed, recalling the image of the playful old man who often visited her home in her childhood.
Ian: "There will be an East-West medical exchange conference in a while. We’re having trouble finding suitable young Chinese medicine representatives. Mrs. Hawthorne, if you have time, we hope you could attend."
"Sure." Tanya agreed without hesitation.
Promoting Chinese medicine had been her grandfather’s lifelong endeavor, not to mention old Damian Steves, whom she was familiar with, she was happy to help.
Ian hadn’t expected Tanya to agree so readily and was overjoyed.
"But Mrs. Hawthorne, our association is quite poor, this participation is voluntary and there will be no appearance fee." Ian clarified upfront.
Tanya smiled, "I don’t need an appearance fee, but can I make a request?"
Tanya calmly said, "From now on, don’t call me Mrs. Hawthorne. Call me Ms. Sinclair, please."
Before Ian could react, Tanya had already changed her shoes, heading directly upstairs.
Watching Tanya’s back, Ian couldn’t resist glancing at the wedding photo re-hung on the wall before leaving, feeling inexplicably ironic; one photo was hung while one was leaving...
Tanya walked to the children’s room, Caden had extra classes to attend in the morning and wasn’t home.
Aunt Tawny was coaxing Joy to drink medicine.
"Joy, this medicine isn’t bitter, Aunt Tawny tried it."
Joy pinched her nose in disbelief, "Aunt Tawny is lying, grandma and everyone say Chinese medicine is the most bitter." This text is hosted at novel✶fire.net
"This is medicine your mom prepared for you. She knows you don’t like bitter medicine, so she used ingredients that aren’t bitter."
Joy was half-believing, "That woman... is she really that capable?"
Aunt Tawny proudly said, "Of course, your mom was a genius before."
"Is she a genius like brother?" Joy was visibly interested.
Aunt Tawny laughed, "Your brother and you are both from your mom’s belly, she was a genius, and that’s why she could have such intelligent children like you."
Tanya was leaning against the door watching, her gaze was intensely tender.
She stepped forward, "Joy."
When Aunt Tawny saw Tanya appear, she immediately handed the medicine bowl to her and went downstairs to leave them alone.
"Joy, your mom’s medicine isn’t bitter; if you don’t believe, try a sip. If it’s bitter, mom will give you two strawberry cakes as compensation, okay?"
Joy’s eyes lit up at the mention of strawberry cakes. In addition, after last night, she wasn’t as resistant to Tanya.
So, when Tanya brought a spoon of medicine to her lips, Joy hesitated before opening her mouth.
She tasted it, her eyes sparkling as if she discovered a new world, "Really not bitter!"
There was a hint of sweetness, it was quite palatable.
Holding her bowl, Joy gulped down the remaining medicine.
Though the medicine wasn’t bitter, Tanya peeled a candy and fed it to Joy’s mouth.
Joy suddenly smirked, "You’re just like dad."
Tanya was startled, "What?"
Joy moved the candy from one cheek to the other.
"Whenever brother and I take medicine, dad would give us candy. Dad said he used to be in poor health and had to take a lot of medicine, which was very bitter, and every time after taking medicine, someone would give him candy."
Tanya’s hand holding the empty medicine bowl trembled slightly.