The Day I Kissed An Older Man

Chapter 819
“Do you want to leave this place?” Corinne asked Joey.
Joey nodded anxiously.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Orph...age,” stammered Joey.
‘Does he mean the orphanage? Heh. He’d rather go back to the orphanage than live with the Riveras, huh,’ thought Corinne.
She patted his head gently to calm him and to make him trust her.
“I really want to help, but I’m only a guest here while Anya is your legal guardian. I can’t help you to leave this place if we don’t
have proof that she’s abusing you.”
Joey only blinked and looked at her in a daze. He did not know how to express himself nor did he understand what she was
talking about, despite him taking every word seriously.
Corinne thought what she said was above Joey’s comprehension ability too, so she sighed and said, “What I mean is... Bear
with this for a while. I promise I’ll get you out of here once I get the chance to, okay?”
Joey was stunned for a while, but the look of wariness in his eyes lessened. He then nodded docilely.
“If
you don’t want to get hurt anymore, you’ll need to learn how to hide your feelings. Don’t show that you’re scared ’cause this will
only make them bully you more. You must pretend you find the whole thing fun, okay?” said Corinne sincerely.
Joey looked at her in a daze again. It was obvious he did not understand what she was saying.
That did not deter Corinne. She simply took off the red braided necklace and put it on Joey. While adjusting the necklace to fit his
neck, she said, “This necklace contains magical power. It’ll protect you from getting hurt, but you can’t cry in the face of your
bullies to make it work

Joey understood her this time, and being at a gullible age, he believed her. He touched the necklace as if it was the most
precious thing in the world and nodded.
“Okay, I know you can do it! When you see your Mommy later, you can’t cry no matter how scared you are, okay? You have to
smile and call her Mommy. I promise she won’t hurt you then,” said Corinne encouragingly.
Joey started trembling again at the thought of seeing Anya.
“I know you’re scared, but remember you have the magical necklace to protect you now. There’s no need to be scared, okay?”
Corinne kept encouraging him patiently.
Joey looked into Corinne’s eyes, and the fear in his eyes immediately disappeared. In its place was renewed courage. “Okay...
Joey...no scare...”
Corinne patted his head again before scooping him up and putting him in the crib to let him take a nap so he would have the
energy to face Anya later.
As much as it pained her to ask a little kid like Joey to hide his emotions, she had no other. choice. It was a case of losing the
battle to win the war. Thus, the only way to save him for good then was to get solid evidence of Anya abusing him.
Soon, it was time for dinner.
Benson was sent to ask Corinne to come down for dinner.
“Miss Corinne, dinner is ready. Mister Cedric has asked me to tell you to come down to the dining room whenever you’re ready,”
he said outside of the room.
“Okay,” said Corinne from inside the room. “You can leave now. I’ll go down in a bit.” “Certainly, Miss Corinne.”