?<strong>Chapter 196:</strong>


    Aurora huffed silently, her thoughts prickling with defiance. Yesterday’s kick hadn’t been forgotten, and she was determined not to show weakness.


    “Mom is not here. It’s just me and my brother at home,” she dered.


    Pa, momentarily taken aback, marveled at Joelle’s audacity to leave two young children unattended. Yet, she saw an opportunity—to perhaps mend things with Adrian by offering her help.


    “Oh, I see,” she responded, crouching to speak through the mail slot. “Can Ie in to keep you twopany? It’s quite risky for you to be alone without an adult.”


    Aurora replied, “But I don’t even know you. You look much older than my mom. Should I call you Granny?”


    Pa, only twenty-three, felt a rush of irritation at thement. If it weren’t for Adrian’s sake, she would have dragged this little girl out and given her a good beating. “Well, I am just twenty-three, not really old, right?”


    “What? Twenty-three? Maybe you should take better care of yourself. Like my mom, who loves her skincare routines.”


    Pa, sensing her patience thinning, decided to get to the point. “Little girl, is your father named Adrian Miller?”


    Aurora’s expression sharpened. Her mother had cautioned her never to disclose family details to strangers, particrly those she found disagreeable. “Does my dad interest you?” she countered.


    “No, no!” Pa attempted a reassuring smile. “I’m just wondering who’s the fortunate parent of such a witty child like you?”


    “It’s my dad!”


    “And who is your dad?”


    “Are you interested in my dad?”


    “No, no!” Pa’s face drained of color as she realized she’d been outmaneuvered by the young girl. Her frustration echoed her previous interactions with Joelle—exasperating and circr.


    “Hey, open up!” Pa’s voice was firm.


    Aurora, curious and cautious, peered through the mail slot. “Mom said I shouldn’t open the door to strangers.”


    Pa gestured to herself. “We met just yesterday, remember? Your mishap with my high heels—surely that doesn’t make us strangers?”


    Aurora frowned slightly. “Did youe here to ask me to clean your shoes?”


    “I need to talk to your parents. Now, open the door!” A flicker of fear crossed Aurora’s face.


    When the door swung open, Pa entered with a victorious smirk, thinking she should have bypassed the small talk. “Now, fetch me a ss of water,” shemanded, making herselffortable on the sofa as if it were her own home.


    Aurora hesitated, then climbed onto a chair and filled a ss with water. “Where’s your mom?” Pa asked.


    Aurora shook her head. “I’m not sure.”


    “Did she mention when she’d return?”


    “No, she didn’t.”


    “She’s quite negligent,” Pa murmured, finishing her water and setting the ss down, her mind racing with schemes. “Start crying, kid.”


    Aurora blinked in confusion. “What?”


    “Just start crying, and im you miss your dad,” Pa coaxed, phone in hand ready to record. If Adrian wouldn’t meet with her voluntarily, she resolved to find a way topel him toe to her.


    “I don’t know how to cry onmand,” Aurora said inly.


    “Useless!” Pa’s irritation red, and she reached out, giving Aurora a light pinch—not to hurt, but to frighten her.


    To her dismay, Aurora immediately burst into tears. “Gina!”


    At that moment, Gina, fresh from changing Rnd’s diaper, entered the room and gasped at the scene unfolding before her. “What are you doing? How did you get in?”


    Pa scrambled to her feet, retorting defensively, “You said the house was empty, didn’t you? You little trickster, you misled me!”


    Aurora, tears streaming down her face, cried out, “Gina, she barged in, demanded water, and then she pinched me…”


    Having witnessed the pinch, Gina’s belief in Aurora’s words was unshakable. She quickly retrieved her phone. “This is trespassing and child abuse! I’m calling the police!”


    “Wait, wait! I’m leaving now, just don’t call the cops!” Pa pleaded, panic setting in.


    Yet, witnessing how Pa had sneaked in during her brief absence and then harmed Aurora, Gina was determined not to let her off the hook so easily. “Leaving so soon? I saw you pinch her. You’re staying right here until the police arrive!”


    Cornered, Pa attempted to deflect. “You’re using me of pinching her? Who even are you? What gives you the right to be here? For all I know, you could be the real threat, maybe even a kidnapper!”


    “How dare you!” Gina yelled, her voice fierce.


    Aurora, brave despite her tears, stood before Gina, arms outstretched protectively. “Gina is not a kidnapper!”


    “Hah, as if anyone would believe that,” Pa scoffed, pulling out her own phone to dial. “Adrian, you need to hear this…”


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