"My painting won first place in the Jinhe Award in S City! I want to treat you to a meal!" The little boy said excitedly, looking at the pretty twins with enthusiasm. "Hey, kids, how about I play with you?"
"No, Mommy says we can’t play with strangers, and we shouldn’t talk to strangers!" Elias said loudly, and Dorian nodded in agreement. "That’s right, what my brother said is true!"
Ella’s expression darkened slightly. "No need, thank you for the offer."
Although the boy’s painting had won an award, she wasn’t too happy about it. If Eric saw this, she wondered how he would feel...
Ella got the twins into the car, and the handsome little boy stood there, staring at the car as it drove off, regretfully tapping his head.
"Sigh, ’You were born before me, and I was born after you... you are already married by the time I came into the world...’"
After Ella returned home with the twins, she found that Eric hadn’t come back yet.
She was a little worried, so she called Eric. Upon learning that he was on his way back, she felt a bit relieved.
When Eric finally came home, his mood seemed much better. Seeing the happy twins, his face softened even more.
Ella approached him cautiously, carefully helping him take off the warm jacket. "Feeling better? How about we go out for a walk, or you could meet Richard and the others for drinks to relax?"
"No need, I’m fine now." Eric shook his head, his expression flat and unchanging.
Ella’s heart tightened. She wasn’t sure why, but she always felt that Eric’s mood was off. It seemed like he was just pretending to be fine so that she and the kids wouldn’t worry or be affected.
Her heart ached as she hung up the coat, watching Eric laugh and chat with the twins, no trace of exhaustion on his face.
At the dinner table, the atmosphere had been good, but suddenly, Mrs. Harris brought out a plate of poached chicken and a bowl of chicken blood and lettuce soup.
When Eric saw the coagulated chicken blood, it looked like solidified blood, and he immediately lost his appetite. Still, he forced himself to lift his utensils, ate a few pieces of vegetables, and quietly finished half a bowl of rice before putting his utensils down.
"What’s wrong? Don’t you have an appetite?" Ella asked, her beautiful eyes filled with an unspoken concern.
Eric shook his head. "No, I had something with John and the others at the company earlier, so I can’t eat much now."
His calm demeanor made it easy to believe he wasn’t lying.
Ella raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything further. She kept her eyes on him for a moment, watching as Eric quickly left the table and cast a cold glance at the bowl of chicken blood and lettuce soup.
The chicken served tonight had been brought by Mrs. Harris from her home, an old farm chicken that was supposed to taste amazing.
Eric used to love eating farm chicken, but now he wouldn’t even touch it.
Ella knew that he must have a psychological barrier now. Confronted with the bloody memories of his past, there was no way he could eat it in the short term.
Eric went to the backyard alone to smoke. The smoke gently left his lips, swirling in the air for a while before dispersing.
Ella followed and sat beside him.
"You don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine," Eric said softly.
Ella leaned into him, inhaling the faint smell of smoke. Surprisingly, she didn’t mind it much. Eric, noticing her presence, wisely extinguished the cigarette, knowing that secondhand smoke wasn’t good for a pregnant woman.
"Those photos were probably taken by paparazzi. They might have been published in the news back then, but James intercepted them."
At that time, the Nelson family, while not as powerful as it is now, still had the means to pay for things.
A little extra money could make the problem go away, silencing the scandal.
After all, James’s affair had led to his wife jumping from the top floor—such a piece of news, if released, would be a huge blow, not only to the family but also to Nelson Group.
These photos not only brought back bloody memories for Eric but also made him realize that if these images were to surface online, it would be a massive blow to Nelson Group.
Although many years had passed, the impact would still be there. He didn’t want the photos of his beloved mother at the time of her death to be exposed to the public.
For the deceased, this was a disrespectful act.
"I know, that incident really affected you. If it’s too hard for you, maybe you should see a therapist?" Ella asked gently.
Eric shook his head lightly. "I already have plans."
Ella didn’t say anything more. She simply took his hand and placed it on her belly. "Our daughter is growing every day. She needs you as her dad, so please don’t let anything happen to you."
Eric cupped her chin and affectionately pressed his lips to hers. "I won’t be in trouble."
His promise was firm, and Ella felt somewhat reassured.
However, in the next two days, Eric ate very little and his mental state was only so-so.
At 10 a.m. the next morning, Nicholas arrived at LXL, hoping to meet Eric.
The secretary informed him that Eric was too busy to meet anyone and needed an appointment.
Nicholas could only schedule an appointment for 10 a.m. the next day and went to the company’s restroom.
"I heard the CEO’s mood has been really bad lately, and he’s been snapping at people."
"Maybe his marriage is in trouble? After all, the only one who really affects him is Mrs. Nelson."
"I’m not sure, but I saw Mrs. Nelson having dinner with the CEO and their kids yesterday."
"I heard the CEO’s got depression and is secretly having his assistant find a therapist. One of the staff members overheard him talking on the phone about it."
Nicholas, washing his hands in the men’s restroom, couldn’t help but smirk as he overheard the gossip coming from the women’s restroom.
In many ways, Nicholas wasn’t as good as Eric.
But a month ago, Nicholas had painstakingly dug into Eric’s past and discovered that he had developed autism after Victoria’s suicide.
So, Nicholas spent more than half a month tracking down the now-shut-down journalist who had covered that story.
The incident had happened over 20 years ago. The journalist still had the photos, and although James had paid him a large sum of money back then, he’d squandered it all over the past two decades.
So, when Nicholas approached him, the journalist was more than happy to sell the photos to Nicholas.
People with autism often relapse when they are reminded of past "triggers."
Eric’s mental state had been unstable these past few days, so Nicholas was certain that those photos had begun to take effect.
Whistling to himself, Nicholas left LXL.
At 5:30 p.m., Ella brought the twins to the downstairs of LXL and arranged to meet Eric for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant.
Since Eric’s appetite wasn’t good, Ella decided to keep him away from meat for a while and have him eat vegetarian dishes for a few days.
Eric actually liked the food at the vegetarian restaurant and ate with relish.
The two little ones also ate quietly. After Eric finished his meal, he leaned back and started browsing the news on his phone when he suddenly saw a news article someone had reposted on the chat app.
It was the first-place winner of the Jinhe Award. Eric glanced at the image, and the woman in the picture seemed somewhat familiar...