Chapter 321 Take A Picture
With Him
William ran into the hospital, his heart racing. The moment he spotted Renee sitting quietly outside the ward, the knot of anxiety in his chest
loosened. He hurried over to her.
“What happened?” he asked.
Renee shook her head and offered a small smile. “It looks like the situation
with Nixon is finally settled. So now, the only thing left is dealing with the Perez family, right?”
William let out a quiet sigh and pulled her into his arms. “He’s your father. You didn’t have to step in-I could have handled it myself.”
Wrapped in his embrace, Renee suddenly realized she wasn’t even wearing
a coat. She had been sitting outside in the cold for hours, but now,
surrounded by his warmth, the chill that had seeped into her bones slowly
faded. She felt a little more at ease.
“I was afraid that, since he’s my father, you might hesitate. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to hold back, so I took care of it myself.”
“Come on. You need to eat. You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
Renee hesitated, and then admitted, “No.” As if just remembering something, she quickly asked, “How’s Felix? Did he cry when he didn’t see
me?”
William slipped off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “No, don’t worry. My mom is looking after him.”
Renee thought about Esme, her mother-in-law. The tension between them
still lingered. The past had left scars she couldn’t completely ignore. Now, for Felix’s sake, they were trying to get along, but some wounds didn’t heal overnight.
Once they were in William’s car, Renee was fastening her seatbelt when he said, “We should start looking for a kindergarten for Felix soon. Once we do, we can move back to our own place.”
She turned to him, surprised.
William gave a small smile. “I know you aren’t completely comfortable living with my parents.”
Renee hesitated.
“I’ll tell them it was my decision,” he continued. “I’ll say after spending so
many years in the military, I’m just not used to their way of life anymore. They’ll understand.”
“But… do you think they’ll be okay with not having Felix around?”
“They can have him over on weekends. And if they miss him too much, they can always come visit during the week.”
That seemed like a fair compromise.
“Now, what do you feel like eating?” William asked.
Renee was about to answer when she noticed two young women shoving each other as they hurried toward the car. Something about their energy told her they were headed straight for them.
Sure enough, the pair stopped by the driver’s side window and knocked.
William shot Renee a questioning look.
She simply shrugged and smiled. “Looks like they’re here for you. Go on, roll down the window.”
Then, with a teasing glint in her eye, she added, “Just don’t break their
hearts.”
William lowered the window, his face unreadable. “What is it?”
“Hi, um… are you Mr. Mitchell?” One of the girls hesitated before speaking.
William’s tone remained cool. “What do you need?”
“We saw your car and thought it looked familiar, so we came over to check.
We didn’t expect to actually run into you!”
His expression hardened slightly. “If you have something to say, say it.”
Renee had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She didn’t want to startle the girls, so she held it in.
The two girls, visibly unsettled by William’s cold stare, lost their earlier enthusiasm. Under his sharp gaze, they fidgeted, unsure of what to do
next.
“Could we… um… take a picture with you?” one of them finally blurted out.
Renee couldn’t hold it in this time. A quiet snicker escaped before she burst into laughter.
A picture with William?
In all the years she had known him, she could count on one hand the number of times he had willingly posed for a photo. She still remembered their wedding shoot-how his expression had been so sour it was as if he were being dragged into something he absolutely despised. The photographer had spent the entire day drenched in sweat, convinced he had somehow offended William and was about to face the consequences.
