Chapter 201
“Marvin, Star, here you go.”
Stella smiled and thanked him, then added, “I’ve been eating so many desserts lately. I wonder if I’m going to gain weight.”
Neville, munching on a crispy apple pie, chimed in, “A little bit of curve is good on
a woman; looking like a skeleton isn’t attractive.”
Marvin asked curiously, “Stella, didn’t you used to eat desserts?”
“Well, after having kids, I almost stopped.”
Marvin paused for a moment, then caught on.
“Is it because Keen is lactose intolerant that you stopped eating desserts?”
Stella nodded.
Neville seemed to have realized something too and said, “You’ve been putting up with this for so long? You’ve been married to Haynes O’Brien for five years, and I bet he doesn’t even know what you like to eat.”
Stella had a penchant for spicy, flavorful food-she was all about the heat. Yet over the years, for the sake of Haynes and Keen’s health, she always prepared bland, mild dishes.
Stella shrugged and said, “I can’t ask Keen to avoid something if I don’t lead by example myself.”
At that moment, the little rascal Marvin piped up, “Stella, when you’re with me, you can eat whatever you like. Don’t worry, I won’t touch anything you say I shouldn’t eat!”
Keen, observing this, muttered two cold words, “Hypocrite.”
Watching the trio devour their ice cream with delight, Keen glanced at a nearby ice cream stand and swallowed hard.
He really wanted some…
But he was lactose intolerant, and eating ice cream wasn’t good for him.
Never mind, he decided not to indulge.
However, Rachel had mentioned that nowadays, ice creams are often made with all sorts of additives, and might not even contain the lactose that bothers him.
A little taste wouldn’t hurt, right?
No, no, he thought decisively. If Marvin could resist eating what Stella forbade, then he had to be even more disciplined.
He couldn’t lose to Marvin of all people!
Despite his mouth watering at the sight of the ice cream, Keen managed to hold back.
…
“Sir, there’s a problem! The young master is missing!”
The O’Brien household was thrown into chaos.
Maisie had just gone off to make a fruit salad, and Keen had disappeared in the meantime.
She and all the staff searched every nook and cranny but found no trace of Keen.
Fearing the worst, Maisie quickly called Haynes.
Haynes was in a meeting when he received the call, and his expression immediately turned serious.
“What happened? How could Keen just disappear?”
Maisie’s voice, trembling with a hint of tears, replied, “I don’t know. The young master asked for a fruit salad, and by the time I finished making it, he was gone.”
With Keen missing, Haynes couldn’t care less about the meeting. He stood up, said “Meeting adjourned,” and instructed Benson, “Get a team to track Keen’s whereabouts.”
He then dialed his mother, Deanna O’Brien. “Mom, is Keen with you?”
Keen often spent weekends at Deanna’s place.
Deanna replied, “Keen told me yesterday he was going to a friend’s birthday party today, so he didn’t come over.”
Sensing the tension in Haynes’s voice, Deanna asked, “Is something wrong with Keen?”
Haynes’s voice was grave, “He’s missing.”