The Day I Kissed An Older Man

A small figure appeared from a dark corner.
“Daddy...” Joey looked uneasy. He stopped walking because he did not dare to get any closer. He used to be closer to his
adoptive father, but ever since Corinne left, Jeremy always had a frightening aura that made him afraid to get any closer.
When Jeremy saw that it was Joey, his stern expression became slightly relaxed, and he raised his hand to call the child over.
“Come here.”
Joey walked up cautiously to Jeremy with a somewhat fearful expression. Although it was safer there than at the Riveras’
because he was no longer subject to any abuse, he did not feel any sense of belonging and was frequently very timid.
Jeremy stretched out his hand and pulled the child closer. His expression was not as gentle as one would expect, and he asked
in a deep voice, “Do you miss your mother?”
Joey shook his head vigorously. The word ‘mother’ elicited a terrified expression. The ‘mother’ he remembered was Anya, and
he did not want to see that devil of a ‘mother’ ever again.
Jeremy could see that Joey was afraid, so he explained gently, “I’m not talking about your first mother. I’m talking about your
wife. My wife is your mother.”
He had gone through the legal procedure to terminate Anya’s custody of Joey and was successful after getting evidence that
Anya had abused him.
Thus, Jeremy became Joey’s sole adoptive parent.
Joey blinked in a daze. “Your wife?”
Jeremy nodded. “Yes, my wife.”
Joey was still a little hesitant and shook his head. “Who...is that?”
Jeremy frowned. “You do. She treats you very well, and you like her a lot too.”
Joey opened his eyes wide to try and recall who Jeremy was referring to. When he had a sudden realization, he smiled
pleasantly and said, “Oh! Auntie Sissy! I want to see her again! She’s Daddy’s wife. She’s my Mommy...”

Jeremy touched the child’s head and took out the cell phone from his trouser pocket. He handed it to Joey and showed the cell
phone screen to the boy. “She’s asleep.”
The video call was still ongoing, and he was reluctant to hang up. After Corinne fell asleep, she unknowingly turned over to face
the camera and slept soundly.
Joey stared blankly at the phone. As soon as he saw that the person on the screen was someone he missed dearly, his eyes
turned red, and his little mouth pouted as if he was about to cry.
Jeremy placed a finger in front of his mouth. “Don’t cry, or she’ll wake up.”
In truth, Corinne could not hear a thing because Jeremy had switched off the microphone. Jeremy only said that because he
could not comfort Joey once Joey started to cry.
Joey nodded vigorously. “Okay, I won’t disturb Mommy Sissy when she’s sleeping!”
‘Mommy sissy?’ Joey had a knack for stringing together a random combination of names. First, it was ‘auntie sissy’, and then it
was ‘mommy sissy’. It was probably because Corinne looked very young in Joey’s eyes, almost like a sister rather than a mother.
Corinne was a very petite young woman, and she would have looked like a high school student were she not pregnant.
Jeremy’s stern gaze softened when he thought of Corinne. “Okay, Joey. Go back to your room and go to bed. Mommy will come
back soon.”
Joey seemed to have found something to look forward to at long last. He nodded his head happily and said, “I’ll be a good boy
and wait for Mommy to come back!” He nodded and immediately ran back to the room. He had snuck out by himself while his
nanny was asleep.
As soon as Joey entered the room, Jeremy reverted to staring at the screen. He looked at Corinne’s sleeping face and gently
stroked the phone. He then got up and went upstairs to his room.