Chapter 281

“Mel, I know you’ve been unhappy these last two days, and you dislike Harold. Can you tell me the
reason?” Duke held Melody while he asked her softly. The little girl looked down, and her long, curly
lashes trembled. She tightly clenched her fists. Duke was very patient when he dealt with Melody. He
slowly said, “I’m your Uncle Duke. No matter how bad things have happened to you, you can always
tell me.”

Melody slowly loosened her fists. She raised her head and stared Duke in the eyes.

Alden, who was not far away, walked over. When he was approaching them, he stopped walking. What
Duke said to him in the car lingered in his mind again. Mom never made any decisions for him, so
should he also leave Melody be? Melody accepted Duke, and she was willing to get along with Duke.
She was also willing to share her secrets with Duke. What right did he have to stop her?

Alden pursed his lips, turned around, and entered the kitchen.

Melody did not eat anything before he took her back from the Winters family. He had to cook

some pasta for her.

Duke glanced at the kitchen from the corner of his eye, and his gaze was filled with admiration.

He really did not engage with too much idle chatter when it came to such a brilliant person. He just
briefly gave some guidance, and Alden could grasp the key of the matter. Alden must have contributed
a lot when Adina raised the two kids alone. Duke looked away before he continued talking to the girl in
his arms. “Did Harold bully you? Tell me how he bullied you. I’ll beat him up for you.”

The little girl shook her head.



She grabbed Duke’s palm, and she prepared to write something. Duke raised his hand, flipped open an
empty page of the book on the tea table, and took a pen over. “Write it slowly. Take your time.”



Melody leaned on the tea table, and she wrote down a sentence. (I like Harold, but he is Dew’s son, so
I don’t like him now.] After she finished writing, she prepared to put down her pen, but changed her
mind and added another sentence. (George is also Dew’s son. I also don’t like him now.]

These two sentences made Duke tremble.

He thought Harold had done something wrong. He even punished Harold to reflect on himself in the
room. In fact, Harold did nothing wrong. The person who made the mistake was Duke. It was his
mistake five years ago, but Harold innocently bore the mistake. After Melody wrote the two sentences,
she did not receive any response. She bit her bottom lip, tore the paper that she wrote on, and rolled it
up. She prepared to throw it into the trash bin.

Duke held her hand and took over the paper roll.

“Mel, I know why you don’t like Dew. I also don’t like her.”

Duke carried the girl and sat on his lap.

His voice was low and soft, like the heavy rain that came in sudden bursts during summers, rapidly
driving away the heat.

“Do you still remember how Harold received the slap from Dew for you that day? Between you and
Dew, Harold chose you without hesitation. You can’t push Harold away because you hate Dew. Do you
know how sad he has been these two days? He’s been thinking about what he has done wrong…”



The girl lowered her head. She anxiously pinched her hem, and her lashes trembled even more.

Alden was initially cooking pasta in the kitchen, and he did not want to get involved in this.

But no matter how he controlled himself, he was just a four-year-old kid. He finally could not help but
walk out.




62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda