An apple was already peeled, and Ariana Evans, no stranger to using a scalpel, managed to peel it in one seamless, continuous strip.
She placed the peeled apple on the fruit plate, ignoring her daughter’s resentful eyes, stood up, and took hold of the wheelchair’s handle, "Let’s go, I’ll take you back to your room to tidy up."
"Mom, there’s no need..." Olivia Zane started, but suddenly realizing something, she stopped midway.
She initially wanted to mention that Nathan Moore’s villa had plenty of clothes to change into, but it turned into, "Okay, I also need to change clothes."
"Yolanda, let the maid handle it, you’ve been tired all day." From the sofa, Julian Zane disapproved and as he moved the wheelchair, Ariana Evans looked at him and smiled, "No need, it’s not hard work, I feel more relieved doing it as a mother."
"You’re always so hard-working!" Julian sighed, and Ariana smiled as she pushed Olivia towards the elevator.
As soon as they entered the room, and before the door was even closed, Olivia turned and asked anxiously, "Mom, what is it? Do we need to go back to the room to talk?"
"You this child!" Ariana frowned disapprovingly, closed the door, and said, "How many times have I told you, you need to be more patient!"
Olivia stuck out her tongue, "Mom, I’m just anxious, moreover, there’s no one else here, just the two of us, mother and daughter."
After pushing Olivia into the room, Ariana went inside without further ado, glanced at her displeasedly, and said, "How do you know there’s no one else? Be cautious, walls have ears!"
"Mom!" Perhaps used to sitting in a wheelchair, Olivia approached her mother by sliding the wheels with both hands.
"Walk on your own! Don’t you have legs?" Ariana, sitting in front of the bed, opened the bedside drawer to take out cigarettes and a lighter, glaring at Olivia before taking out a cigarette and lighting it.
Reprimanded by her mother, Olivia wasn’t upset, lifted the blanket, stood up, and walked towards her mother, smiling and asking, "Mom, you often sneak into my room to smoke, aren’t you afraid dad will smell the smoke?"
Ariana threw the lighter back into the drawer, casually took out an ashtray from inside and placed it on the bedside cabinet, took a puff of her cigarette, slowly blew out the smoke, watching it disappear before glancing at her daughter and saying, "Your dad has rhinitis, he can’t smell it."
Olivia sat down beside her mother, "Then can dad not taste it when you two kiss?"
Ariana had just taken a puff of smoke, nearly choked, and after exhaling the smoke, she couldn’t help but cough a few times and turned her head to scold, "Such a child! What nonsense are you talking about!"
"I’m not talking nonsense." Olivia defended herself unconvincingly, her smile growing, "If dad didn’t kiss you intimately, how would I have been born!"
"Still talking nonsense!" Although Ariana seemed displeased, her emotions betrayed her through her eyes and expressions.
Speaking of her husband Julian Zane, Ariana truly couldn’t describe their affection.
He is busy, busy with work. His body isn’t as robust as before, often seeming incapable. Later... she had the clinic’s traditional Chinese medicine doctor prescribe some medicine, and now... their affection is just like when they were young.
"Mom, why is your face turning red?" Olivia asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
Ariana took another puff of her cigarette and said sternly after blowing it out, "Don’t change the subject! Let’s talk about you first!"