Faced with my daughter's inquiries, | could only try to reassure her. "Mommy will be back as soon as possible."
"You always say that, but you keep coming back later and later!" Ava's emotions instantly surfaced as she pouted. Her gaze
lowered and she looked extremely upset.
"I'd never lie to you. It's just that sthings don’t go as smoothly as we imagined, which delays my return home," | patiently
explained.
She suddenly looked up, and | noticed that her eyes were glistening with tears. "But | don't want you to keep going on business
trips, Mommy. I'll be lonely."
"How could you be lonely?" | was sympathetic, but amused by her statement. "Don't you have Jenny, Grandma, and Grandpa to
keep you company? How could you be lonely?"
"But they're not you, Mommy. | want you, Mommy." Ava's tears finally fell, rolling down her cheeks.
| quickly reached out to embrace her, feeling a pang of guilt. | understood her loneliness.
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"Alright, | understand. We'll try not to go on so many business trips from now on. But I'll definitely bring back lots of gifts for you.
And after we deal with this, I'll take you all withnext time." | tried to give her shope to cheer her up.
"You always say that! You said you would taketo see Grandpa Archie in Solaris, but you didn't," Ava retorted.
Her words leftspeechless. | suddenly realized that my credibility in Ava's eyes had taken a hit.
Just then, Atlas's voice cfrom the doorway. "We won't let you down, Ava. Mommy and Daddy are going to Nocturnia to reclaim
our home."
"Really?" Ava's eyes lit up as she heard Atlas's voice. She sat up with excitement and looked at him as he entered the room.
"Daddy, is what you're saying true?"
Her expression was priceless.
"It's true. I've never lied to you, have I?" Atlas sat down behind me, wrapping his arms aroundand addressing Ava. "The thing
is, our hhas been taken by someone else. So we need to go and reason with them, and then we'll cback. That's why it'll
take stime. Can you accept that?"
Atlas had a way of turning a serious, tricky situation into a story, explaining it clearly and persuasively to Ava.
He really was a good father.
Ava sat there, thinking about Atlas's words.
Then she asked, "Are they bad people? Why did they take our home?"
It was clear she had been drawn into this issue.
Both Atlas and | couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay. Daddy, you have to work hard. You need to get it back."
"It might take a while. Can you accept that?" Atlas asked.
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"Yes. We can't let bad people live in our house!" She said determinedly.
| sighed with relief when | saw her expression. Atlas and | exchanged a grateful glance.
Just then, my mom pushed the door open and saw us there. She looked stunned.
| quickly said, "Mom, I'm flying to Nocturnia with Atlas today."
My mom's eyes narrowed for a moment, then she realized what was going on. "You're going today? Why the rush?"
"Yeah." Atlas stood up and held my hand. "My grandfather is seriously ill, so we need to go back and see him."
"Your grandfather is sick?" my mom said. "Then you should go."
She waved to Ava and Jenny, "You two, cdown and wash up. You have to go to school."
Ava and Jenny climbed out of bed, and my mom took them to the bathroom while saying to us, "You two, go eat breakfast quickly."
Atlas nodded and reached for my hand, "Let's go have breakfast and leave."