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After ending the call and tossing the phone, Corinne took out a tissue and wiped Joey’s messy face. She then lifted
the little guy. “Are you full?”
Joey wrapped his arms around Corinne’s neck and said, “Mhm! I’m full!”
Corinne then gave him a mini-lecture, “That’s good. You need to learn how to use a spoon so you can eat without
an adult’s help in the future. That way, you won’t get hungry even if there isn’t anyone to feed you.”
Joey looked at Corinne somewhat anxiously. “You…won’t be with me all the time?”
Corinne smiled at him gently and avoided answering his question directly. She said, “Your father will always be with
you, but he’ll be very busy with work. He can’t be with you all the time, so you need to learn to be independent.”
Joey nodded obediently. “Okay. Joey will work hard and learn to be independent! You and Dada won’t worry about
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtme all the time.”
Ever since she started taking care of Joey, she frequently spoke to him whenever she had time to spare. Their
exchanges allowed him to pick up more words and learn to speak too. Although it was still somewhat incoherent
baby language, Corinne could understand him.
Joey was a smart kid, but his learning curve had been delayed because of Anya’s and Phoebe’s antics.
Joey suddenly leaned on Corinne’s shoulder and muttered, “Can I call you ‘Mom’?”
His question startled Corinne because it came out of nowhere. “Why do you want to call me ‘Mom’?”
“Because Dad said you’ll be my mother from now on. I need to listen to you and protect you when I grow up. He
even said that you have my little sister in your tummy…”
Corinne felt her chest tighten. “When did he tell you that?”
“On the mountain. You were asleep, but Dad wasn’t…”
“I see…” Corinne was a little confused. ‘Why would Jeremy tell Joey those things when he had a legal wife? Does he
want her to raise Joey because the little boy accepted her more? Does he want her to do that in addition to raising
her child? Is it because he can’t bear to let his legal wife suffer?’
Corinne liked Joey dearly and did not mind taking him with her, but she felt that doing so would let Jeremy get the
easy way out.
‘What does he take me for?’ she thought to herself.
Corinne’s silence left Joey feeling a little anxious. “Can I?”
Corinne snapped back to her senses and answered awkwardly, “You shouldn’t just call anyone ‘Mom’. Once your
father comes back, you should ask him who you should be calling ‘Mom’.”
Joey felt a little lost. “Oh…”
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Corinne could tell that he was sad. There was nothing else she could do except pat Joey’s head gently to comfort
him. “Well, if you’re full, you can continue playing again!”
The role of a mother came with a lot of responsibility. She could not bring herself to be responsible in the sense that
she did not want Joey to experience abandonment yet again.
For that reason, she could not accept him calling her ‘Mom’.
She would have brought Joey with her if she had the choice. She was more than happy to raise a child, after all.
However, her priority was to rid herself of Jeremy. Taking his adopted son with him would only make him more
desperate to go after her.
Alas, she had to forgo it for the sake of the bigger picture.
Joey obediently climbed back onto the bed and played with his toys. Meanwhile, Corinne took out the phone that
Xante left her and dialed a number.
The call connected after some time. “What can I do for you at this late hour, Miss Xante?”
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