Chapter 1740 Castle On A Cloud
Vivian spun around to show off her healthy form, knowing Sasha was worried about her.
“Look, Mommy! I am perfectly fine!” she said.
“Wonderful!” Sasha nodded and shed tears of joy when she saw that her dear daughter was all right.
Next, she turned her attention to Kurt, who was standing next to Vivian.
“Mrs. Hayes…” Kurt was at a loss for words.
“Are you okay? Have you recovered fully? Let me take a look.” Sasha grabbed his hand and placed her fingers on his wrist to check his pulse. It was a winter evening and those fingers that were touching his wrist were cold, but her genuine concern and love warmed his heart. He obediently stood still as she examined him.
Ian and Matteo got off the plane and saw their mother attending to Kurt with much love and tenderness. They couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.
Matteo grumbled, “Ian, do you think Mommy will only have eyes for her son-in-law from now on?”
Ian did not bother to entertain his brother’s silly question.
Matteo started singing in a sorrowful voice. “There is a castle on a cloud, I-”
Before he could finish the first verse, a hard knock landed on his head and he jumped in pain.
“Daddy!” he protested.
“Stop your nonsense! Quit fooling around and get moving. It is New Year’s Eve tomorrow, so we have to get started on the preparations. Do you want your mommy to do all the work by herself?” he chided.
Being a loving husband, he wanted Sasha to get a good break and enjoy the festive season. To lighten Sasha’s load, he had already made a list of chores for his boys to do.
Matteo and Ian turned to look at their sister, who was being ushered into the car like a princess. Even her “personal bodyguard” was given preferential treatment. They couldn’t help but let out a big sigh, resigned to their fate of being the “unfavoured” ones.
On New Year’s Eve, everyone at Oceanic Estate chipped in to help out in the preparations.
Even Devin and his family came over from Red Pavilion to join them.
“Devin, why don’t you stay over and we ring in the new year together? We will head over to your place together tomorrow for more celebrations,” Jonathan proposed.
“Sure!” Devin happily agreed.
It was a busy day at Oceanic Estate, as there were lots of work to be done on the massive estate. The kids were trying to split the cleaning duties among themselves.
“Who wants to clean the hall?”
“Me, me!” A little hand shot up. Jeffrey volunteered for the chore, dragging his unwilling mom into it with him.
Sabrina had always found excuses not to do any chores, so her family members were gleeful that her son actually did the opposite and forced her into doing so.
Matteo continued with his chores assignment. “What about the garden? Who is going to take charge of the decorations? We need someone to put up the decorative lights and prepare flowers for all the rooms.”
No one wanted to volunteer for the difficult task of arranging flowers for the rooms, as there were many rooms in the estate and the amount of work involved would be overwhelming.
“Let me do it.” In the end, Jaena took on the most arduous chores without a complaint.
Surprisingly, another voice rang out and said, “Count me in! And my brother will help us too!”
It was Nina, and she volunteered to help Jaena!
Everyone, including Jaena, was stunned by her move. Jaena stared in disbelief at Nina, surprised that the little girl, who was afraid of her, actually offered to work with her.
“No! Your brother cannot help you with that! We have already assigned another chore for him!” Matteo objected.
After an awkward silence, Kurt spoke out and offered, “It is okay. I can manage both.”
Vivian chipped in and said, “That settles then. I will help Kurt, so you can rest assured both his chores will be completed. Ian and Matteo, you guys take care of the rest of the chores.”
After that, she quickly gathered Kurt, Jaena, and Nina, and ran out of the room. She was not about to give her brothers a chance to protest.
“What happened to the saying that blood is thicker than water?” Matteo fumed as he watched Vivian disappear around the corner.
As usual, Ian did not bother to say much. He grabbed the grumbling Matteo by his collar and dragged him off to work on the remaining chores.
Sasha was in her room on the third floor, tidying her closet. She was chatting with Sebastian, who was doing some reading.
“So you want to send Ian to North Chanaea University next year?”
“Yes. Compared to the school at the base, North Chanaea University has a much bigger student population. After interrogating Elizabeth, we know who are the ones that are microchipped. We need to remove the microchip from those kids and monitor them, which means we have to keep them away from the base for an extended period of time. Ian will be badly affected by their absence, so it would be better to send him off to North Chanaea University.”
Sebastian filled Sasha in on what had happened and told her about Haruto’s assessment of Ian’s psychological profile.
Haruto suggested widening Ian’s social circle in order to help him with his issues.
Humans are social animals, and having limited human contact over an extended period of time could lead to psychological problems, especially for an introvert like Ian. That was the reason why Haruto suggested that living among the normal population, away from their confined base, would be beneficial for Ian.
“That makes perfect sense. Let’s give it a try. I used to encourage him to go to preschool when he was young and adjust his activities based on his response. We can do the same for him now. Let’s take it one step at a time, and make other arrangements for him if we see that he really could not adapt to life at North Chanaea University,” Sasha agreed.
Sebastian nodded and went back to his reading.
Sasha suddenly recalled something and said, “Oh, what about Colton’s family? What plans do you have for them? His two kids are back, and they are still in the dark about the cause of their father’s death. By the way, Jared is kicking up a big fuss at The Ataraxy.”
Sebastian’s face fell as he stared grimly at his book.
