Luke still lacked confidence in his drawings, but if he refused to show the completed drawing, Bonita would be disappointed. That was absolutely not allowed. However, showing this messy drawing to himself was embarrassing. It was a dilemma.
“One, two…”
“Wait.”
“Three!”
Luke reflexively presented the paper. Regret came later, but that feeling didn’t last long.
As Luke’s eyes beheld the drawing by Bonita, they widened as if they were about to pop out.
“Oh my!”
Aria burst into joyful laughter. It was understandable. Next to Luke, who was drawing seriously, Aria looked like a girl, laughing happily. Her mischievous expression was so vivid that she seemed ready to wink at someone outside the picture.
“Ah…”
Looking at the drawing absentmindedly, Luke belatedly noticed Bonita’s expression. Bonita was looking at Luke’s drawing with a somewhat indescribable expression.
Luke swallowed hard.
‘As expected… she won’t like it, right?’
If Bonita had the drawing skills of an ordinary child, Luke’s drawing wouldn’t have looked so bad. However, even though Bonita could draw well, she drew too well. It was easy to understand why Aria mentioned the word ‘genius’ as soon as she saw it. Luke gauged his daughter’s reaction.
“…Bonita?”
He was confused about whether he should be pleased with Bonita’s newfound talent or embarrassed by his own crooked drawing next to such a vivid masterpiece. It was a severe ambivalence.
“…Hmm.”
A fearful moment passed. Bonita slowly picked up the drawing Luke had made and asked with a pure expression, “So… um… you’re really good at drawing. Uh… this… character? Right.”
Sometimes, affection can be more cruel.
“Hehehe!”
Aria burst into laughter beside him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she laughed. Luke grabbed Aria’s sleeve secretly.
“Stop laughing.”
“Keh heh, no, hehe! How can I not laugh at this?”
‘Darn it…’
Luke ran his hand through his hair. Honestly, he didn’t know he was so untalented in drawing. Come to think of it, Elodie wasn’t particularly good at drawing either. Keeping the bear mug in mind was unrelated.
It wasn’t because of beautiful drawings; it was because of Elodie’s precious feelings for drawing pictures in a mug for him.
‘But this…’
Luke unfolded Bonita’s drawing once again. In the picture, he and Aria looked incredibly peaceful and joyful, even to Luke.
“Do you like it?”
Bonita asked, dangling her short legs. Her big eyes sparkled with expectation.
A faint smile spread across Luke’s face.
“I really like it. Thank you, Bonita.”
“Really?”
“Sure. …Even though I couldn’t draw a picture that you would like.”
Bonita swayed her short legs and asked, “Luke, do you really like it?” Her big eyes sparkled with anticipation.
A faint smile spread across Luke’s face. “Very much. Thank you, Bonita.”
“Really?” Bonita asked.
“Yeah. …I may not have been able to draw the picture you like, but still.”
Luke added with a slightly gloomy tone.
Upon hearing this, Bonita tilted her head.
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Even though it’s a mess?”
“But it’s the first time someone has drawn a picture for me.”
Bonita tightly clutched the drawing Luke gave her and smiled broadly.
“And besides, since I’m good at drawing, it doesn’t matter if Dad isn’t that good!”
Touched by Bonita’s words, Luke, who was about to express his emotions, suddenly stopped breathing.
Aria, who had been giggling while watching Luke, also did the same.
The two exchanged surprised looks for a moment, then inevitably focused their gaze on Bonita.
Luke stuttered, “Bonita, what you just…”
His voice trembled as he struggled to speak. After a moment of hesitation, he blinked his eyes slowly. His head tilted toward the ceiling.
He had to do that; otherwise, it felt like tears would fall.
Seeing Luke’s reaction, Aria leaned forward. Excitedly, she shouted to Bonita with a slightly flushed face.
“Bonita, say it again!”
“Huh? What?”
“What you just did!”
“What did I just…”
Bonita, who was muttering in confusion, realized what she had said.
Bonita’s face turned slightly red. It was a casual remark, but the reactions of the two were too intense, making her feel embarrassed.
“Bonita…”
After a while, Luke, who gently brushed his eyes, approached.
Bonita was tightly hugged without a chance to escape.
“Hiccup.”
Surprised by Bonita’s sudden hiccup, Luke found even that moment irresistibly adorable.
As he spoke deeply, like exhaling a breath, he said, “I’m glad you said that. Really…”
He couldn’t bring himself to ask her to call him ‘Dad’ first, fearing it might become a forced imposition.
They had been getting closer lately, so he intended to gradually approach the idea and let it come naturally.
‘I never thought I would be so obsessed with a title.’
The power of words was greater than he had imagined.
To exaggerate a bit, it felt like he was finally recognized as a father by his child. His eyes were watery.
“Uh, um.”
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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