The Day I Kissed An Older Man

Fine. You can eat with your hands this time. But promise me there’ll be no more next time,” said Corinne with a sigh when she
saw his hands were sticky with barbecue sauce.
‘Bryan’ quickly nodded and said, “I promise, Mommy! Thank you, Mommy! Thank you, Aunt Francine!”
Corinne thought there was something off about ‘Bryan’, but she could not point out what she found so odd about him.
He still looked the same as ever, but his behavior was very puzzling. Then again, kids could be unpredictable, so it still made
some sort of sense.
‘Maybe I’m overthinking it. The white polo tee could be just a mistake on his kindergarten teacher’s part... Just like Francine
said,’ she thought.
Corinne took a few bites of her food absent-mindedly when her phone suddenly vibrated.
She picked up her phone and saw it was a message from Lucas.
[Corinne, I’m outside the mansion. Please come out if you’re free. It’s urgent.]
Corinne stuck by her decision to not go back to being a Rivera, though she maintained somewhat of a familial relationship with
Lucas.
However, he rarely came to look for her at the Holdens’ mansion, so that meant his visit must be very important.
Corinne put down her utensils and got up. “Please excuse me. A friend has dropped by for a visit. I need to go out for a while.”
Greg nodded and simply said, “Sure, go ahead.”
“Why not ask your friend to join us for dinner since he’s already here?” said Pamela warmly.
Corinne waved her hand. “No, it’s okay. I don’t think he can stay for long. Please continue with the dinner, Grandma. No need to
wait for me.”
Pamela simply nodded and said nothing else after that.
Corinne walked out of the mansion gate and immediately saw a black minivan parked not far away.
She walked over and the driver quickly got down to open the car door for her.

“Miss Corinne, please get into the car,” he said.
“Mister Lucas, what brings you here?” asked Corinne as soon as she got into the car.
Lucas turned to look at her and then at the mansion gate. He sighed with disappointment when he saw it was quiet.
“I thought you’d at least bring out the kids to let me see them.”
Corinne yawned lazily. “They’re having their dinner right now. They won’t want to continue eating if I interrupt them. Plus, I’m
guessing you’ve brought them gifts and snacks again. They’re not going to want to eat their dinner if they knew.”
Lucas smiled. He was always impressed by how smart she was. “Yeah, I just came back from a business trip. I bought the kids
some gifts. You’ll need to ask the servants to carry them in ’cause it’s quite a lot.”
Corinne frowned. “Don’t buy them so many gifts next time. They have everything they need.”
“It’s not about whether they need it or not. I’m just doing my part as their uncle. I don’t get to see them much, so the only thing I
can do is shower them with gifts. That way, they won’t forget about their Uncle Lucas.”
Corinne facepalmed herself and said helplessly, “Fine. Do whatever you want. It’s not like I can stop you anyway. Why don’t we
get to the matter of why you’ve come here to find me? You’ve never come here even if you want to see the kids since you prefer
to meet them elsewhere, so I’m guessing you have something very important to tell me.”
“Yes, it’s something very important,” said Lucas seriously, “I just came back from Molomia and there, I happen to have the good
fortune of buying a painting of Nellie Nymphaea.”
Corinne was a little stunned to hear that name. “Which one?” she quickly asked.
“It’s one we’ve never heard of. It’s called ‘Night’.”