Departure with a Belly ( Victoria Selwyn & Alaric Cadogan’s )
Departure with a Belly Chapter 173

Chapter 173

E

To be honest, this answer sounded rather strange no matter how one looked at it. If

it weren’t for the fact that this person had silently supported Nicole and Nathan with

donations for such a long time without any intent, Victoria would probably have

ignored him directly. But no matter what, she was the one who contacted him first.

Time was precious for Victoria even at night, so she didn’t want to waste it. With

that, she directly asked for his contact information. ‘Can I please have your contact

number?’

At this sight, Alaric stared at this sentence for a while and then entered his own

contact information. Victoria looked at the contact information he sent her and then

opened her WhatsApp to add it. The profile that came up was very simple, with the

simple letter ‘Y’ as the nickname and a profile picture of a beach at night. The

nickname was similar to his Tik Tok handle. She then quickly added the person’s

number.

After Alaric sent the message, he waited for a while but didn’t receive a reply from

her. He pursed his lips as he glanced at the time and thought, Could it be that the

person is not responding because it’s too late and had fallen asleep? While

contemplating, he opened WhatsApp and saw a new message. He subconsciously

looked at the person’s profile picture.

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Originally, he thought that people who had children usually used their own children’s

pictures as their profile pictures, but unexpectedly, the person’s profile picture was a

ray of sunshine at twilight. Looking at this picture, Alaric somehow felt that the

person was someone with a vibrant spirit, unlike himself… While in thought, he saw

a message appearing above the chat box, ‘The other person is typing…’

Soon, the other person’s message came through. ‘Hello sir, how should I address

you?’ Sir? Alaric pursed his lips upon seeing this.

He typed a word in response. ‘Al.’

Al? When Victoria saw this word, she was momentarily taken aback, but soon she

felt relieved. The world was vast, and over the years, she often heard the same

surnames, words, and even similar first and last names. At first, Victoria’s heart

would pound when she heard the same name. But now… she was just momentarily

taken aback and soon regained her composure. ‘Hello, Mr. Al.’ It was indeed similar

to his handle on TikTok.

Mr. Al? This address made Alaric slightly tug at the corner of his lips, but he didn’t

reply. Shortly after, she sent another message. ‘Thank you very much for liking my

two children. You have given both my children a lot of gifts throughout this year.

Nicole and Nathan both really like you. However, we mentioned during the

livestream that we won’t accept gifts. So, after excluding the portion deducted by

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Chapter 173 Give Me the Door Access Code

the platform, I roughly calculated the remaining amount, and it’s this sum.’

E

Alaric paused upon reading the message. He knew that she added him just to talk

about money-related matters. He never expected that she had already calculated

everything. The figure she sent was also larger than he had anticipated. It wasn’t

that he cared about the large sum of money he had given out but rather, he hadn’t

realized that he had been tipping the two children that much money.

‘Mr. Al, this is a substantial amount. May I ask for your account number? I’ll return

this money to you.’ After receiving Victoria’s message, Alaric silently stared at the

phone screen. She’s serious about returning the money? Although he could tell from

the live stream that the two children came from a well-off family, who in this world,

apart from a certain foolish woman, would complain about having too much

money?

Victoria waited for a long time until she finally received a response from him. She

thought he had gone to look for his bank account number, but after a few minutes,

he only replied with a brief text. ‘There’s no need for that.’

She was speechless upon seeing that.

From the beginning of the conversation until now, she realized that he was a man of

few words. It was unclear whether it was how he normally was or he simply didn’t

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Chapter 173 Give Me the Door Access Code

want to engage in further conversations. However, based on her observation, it

seemed more likely the latter reason. After all, when Victoria sent him a message, it

was marked as read, but he didn’t reply until later in the evening. Perhaps, the

reason he replied to her message at night was that he thought it would be impolite

not to reply.

After making sense of the situation, Victoria dismissed the idea of chatting further

with him. She fell silent for a moment and then left a message that read, ‘It’s getting

late, Mr. Al. Rest early. If you have time tomorrow, please send me your account

number. Goodnight and sweet dreams.’

When Alaric saw this message, he couldn’t help but chuckle. It was evident that she

was trying to end their conversation. However, he was caught by surprise when she

requested his bank account details. She’s still thinking of returning the money? If I

were to send my account number, would she actually transfer the money to me?

Considering how well-behaved and polite the two adorable kids were, he couldn’t

rule out the possibility that if he dared to provide his account number, they would

genuinely transfer the money. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t take back what he had

given away.

The next day, the half-asleep Victoria seemed to hear some noise in the living room.

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Chapter 173 Give Me the Door Access Code

They were rustling sounds. She stayed silent for a second, then quickly woke up and

pulled back the covers before getting out of bed barefoot. The morning light peeked

through the gaps in the tree leaves, illuminating the living room with flickering

fragments of light.

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The window in the living room was opened, and the sounds of birds chirping could

be heard which added liveliness to the atmosphere. The next moment, a tall and

slender figure was seen being busy by the dining table in the living room. The

sleeves on his off-white shirt were rolled up, revealing the muscular arms. He paired

the white shirt with simple black trousers, which exuded an extraordinary

temperament.

“You’re awake?” The man’s warm voice echoed while his gaze fell on Victoria. The

next moment, he noticed her bare feet, making him furrow his brows lightly. “You’re

up, but why aren’t you wearing shoes?” Hearing that, Victoria looked down and

glanced at her bare feet. Before she could respond, she heard Bane’s gentle voice

again. “Quickly put on your shoes.”

“Okay.” Victoria went back to her room and put on her shoes before coming out.

“Why are you here?” Victoria walked over and sat opposite him.

Bane placed the plate of breakfast on the table and put the bag away before saying,

“If I didn’t come, were you planning to have sandwiches again today?” Victoria

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Chapter 173 Give Me the Door Access Code

paused for a moment and then retorted, “I don’t eat sandwiches every day. I only do

that occasionally when I’m busy.”

“You should still eat properly even if you’re busy.” Victoria didn’t say anything and

looked at Bane helplessly.

Since Bane knew she was busy, he would often have his chef at home prepare

meals and send them over. At first, he would call Victoria before sending the food

over, but after some time, Victoria couldn’t bear it anymore and directly told him,

“Why don’t you stop coming over in the morning? I want to sleep a bit longer.”

At that, Bane raised an eyebrow and said, “If you want to sleep more, you can. Just

give me the entrance code.”

Chapter 174 Shouldn’t Rely on You for Everything

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