Chapter 354: Chapter 354: Unspeakable Secrets
A dreamless night.
When Ann Vaughn woke up the next morning, she didn’t see Cyrus Hawthorne in the bedroom, so after freshening up, she left the room.
As soon as she stepped out, she heard noises coming from the guest bedroom.
"Uncle, you’re so slow! If you don’t hurry up, breakfast will get cold."
"Damn it, which idiot designed this?"
"It’s clearly because you’re slow, and you won’t admit it, hmph."
"...Call me Dad."
"Silly Uncle!"
Ann Vaughn followed the voices to the guest bedroom door, expecting the father and son were fighting again, and she was thinking about how to stop them.
But what she saw was Kenny sitting on the bed, swinging his little legs in the air, yawning.
The man crouching in front of him had his brows furrowed as if faced with a formidable foe, concentrating on the cartoon toggle on Kenny’s jacket.
Because Kenny was wearing multiple layers, the toggles were stretched tight, making them hard to fasten.
A hint of frustration appeared on the man’s handsome face. His long fingers, which usually signed documents with ease, seemed all thumbs.
"Done."
After another ten minutes, Cyrus finally fastened the toggle on Kenny’s jacket, inexplicably feeling a sigh of relief.
He had never been this nervous, even when signing billion-dollar contracts.
"Go freshen up, and then go wake your mommy." Cyrus stood up, taking a reluctant Kenny by the hand to lead him to the bathroom.
Hearing this, Kenny immediately flared up, "Did you take Mommy away last night? Don’t think using a pillow to fool me means I don’t know!"
"How old are you? You still need your mommy to sleep with you? Aren’t you embarrassed?"
"Huh, you jealous old thing! You’re even jealous of a kid, shame on you!"
The father and son somehow began quarreling again, neither willing to back down.
Ann Vaughn leaned against the doorframe, involuntarily letting out a light chuckle, her porcelain-like face suddenly radiant.
The scene before her was something she didn’t even dare to dream about having in the past.
Yet at this moment, it was real and clear.
It felt like waking from a dream.
When Ann Vaughn went downstairs, Kenny released his grip on the door and turned to look at Cyrus with a serious expression on his adorable face.
"I have something to say to you."
"Hm?" Cyrus, not lifting his eyes, squeezed toothpaste onto the Little Dumpling’s toothbrush and handed it to him naturally.
Kenny accepted it instinctively, ready to put it in his mouth, then suddenly realized and showed a slight annoyance on his face.
"When you are with my mommy, will you protect her like your own life?" Saying this, Kenny stepped onto the small stool Cyrus had prepared for him and stood in front of the sink.
Cyrus looked up at Kenny, who was staring directly at him, his throat moved as he said deeply, "Promises mean nothing. Actions speak louder."
Kenny froze for a moment, suddenly recalling how yesterday Cyrus had shielded Ann, stopping the falling vase without even frowning.
At that moment, he thought, if this man is his dad, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.
At least he was willing to risk his own life when his mommy was in danger.
Alright, he’ll grudgingly give him a point.
"My mommy, she seems strong and independent on the outside, but she often doesn’t take good care of herself. There was a time she was having a bath in the bathroom, and because there was no air circulation, she didn’t notice until she passed out in there; we found her much later and rushed her to the hospital..."
"So afterward, every time Mommy went to take a bath, I would sit outside to make sure she wouldn’t pass out again accidentally."
Cyrus had never heard Ann mention this before, immediately frowning, his expression serious.
Kenny looked at the toothbrush in his hand and continued, "These small things you wouldn’t know about just shows, you wouldn’t know how she almost died giving birth to me either. It was thanks to the doctor Uncle Sheridan brought that mommy survived."
"But because I was premature, I was weak from birth, stepping in and out of death’s door several times. Mommy was terrified I would leave and lived in constant worry, developing postpartum depression."
"Later, when I finally grew stronger, Uncle Sheridan had to return home due to family matters and left Mommy under Sherry’s care. You investigated us, so you should know who she is."
Cyrus let out a low hum, not responding further, but the guilt and sorrow in his eyes were a fierce wave.
Kenny didn’t look at him, missing how unpleasant Cyrus’s expression became, and continued in his childlike voice.
"But because of some man-made incident, Mommy and I got separated from Sherry and drifted into an unknown small town in M Country, without a cent and without any contact back home."
"That year was Mommy’s hardest year; she hadn’t even fully recovered from childbirth and had no identification, forcing her to take on strenuous, low-paying jobs just to scrape by."
"Oh, my mommy has an old leg injury that causes her intense pain when exposed to cold water, and since there was no money for medicine and no timely treatment, it left a long-term effect; now I take care to keep her away from cold water."
"And one year, a virus spread in the small town, and I got accidentally infected. With no antidote, the infected could only await death. Mommy almost broke down but pulled herself together to search for a cure, not sleeping properly for a whole month."
No wonder.
Cyrus’s fingers on the edge of the porcelain cup tightened continuously, joints turning faintly white.
No wonder when she learned that the QY Research Institute stored so many viruses and believed he intended to activate the MX plan, she would risk everything to stop him.
It turns out those she cared about had been hurt by this before.
Even when he knew nothing, she had been struggling to survive abroad, enduring so much hardship.
No wonder, despite clearly not resisting his touch, she refused to let him into her heart.
With such a deeply ingrained lesson in the past, how could she easily trust him again?
"I’m telling you this just so you can have an idea of what my mommy has been through in these past years." Kenny turned his little face with an air of pride, looking at Cyrus, "Even though I can protect Mommy by myself."
"But if there is one more person, I wouldn’t mind."
With so many unknown factors, Master Kenny had to plan ahead.
Though he still harbors grudges against The Archfiend, it’s Cyrus’s care for his mommy that lets him lower his defenses and share all this.
Cyrus raised an eyebrow, examining Kenny’s calculating demeanor, then clenched his right hand into a fist in front of him, smiling softly with his thin lips, "Gentleman’s agreement?"
"Yeah!" Kenny reached out his little chubby fist and bumped it against Cyrus’s.
Thus, a secret bond between two men was formed!