The following day,
Jasmine sat in front of the principal in her office, holding a compassionate expression with a soft smile on her lips.
“So, how are you related to Mr. Cooper for him to have allowed you to come to check on his daughter,” the principal said sharply while she adjusted her eyeglasses at the bridge of her nose.
Jasmine's smile faded away for a second as she thought of her response carefully, “I'm just a friend of Mr. Cooper and to be honest with you ma'am, he's not aware of my presence here,” she opened her mouth and said the truth.
“But please ma'am, I need to meet Aurora, It's quite urgent” she inputted in a crying tone, lowering her head slightly and fondling her hands which were positioned on the rectangular desk.
The principal removed her eyeglasses this time as she stared at Jasmine's face. She was an elegant woman who still look thirty when she was about fifty-something. Her gray hair was done in a French twist and her big round face was devoid of any makeup.
“You don't understand. It's not allowed here in our school, you can't meet a child without the consent of the child's parent" the principal explained to Jasmine carefully.
However, seeing the painful look on her face, she inputted, while reaching out to pick up the telephone, "If you want, I can phone Mr. Cooper for you,”
“No, no, no, ma'am. Please don't,” Jasmine reacted quickly and shook her head vigorously.
“But ma'am, I beg of you. Just give me a chance to meet Aurora, please” her eyes were now swimming with tears as she requested.
The principal was quite stunned at the rate of tears that were streaming down Jasmine's cheeks. Obviously, the reason she wanted to meet Aurora must be a crucial one.
She felt compassion toward her as she said, “Stop crying, Miss. Aurora will be here in a jiffy,”
Jasmine's face lit up immediately. She wiped off her tears as she watched the principal pick up the telephone and spoke a few words into it.
“Thank you very much, ma'am,” Jasmine said with a deep sense of gratitude, and the principal just nodded with a little smile crawling on her rigid face.
Just like how the principal had said, a knock came on the door shortly and the principal urged the person to come inside.
Aurora walked into the principal's office, followed by her class teacher.
“Jasmine”
“Aurora”
They both called out simultaneously. Jasmine, who had stood up immediately after Aurora had entered, scampered out of the seat and they both ran into each other's embrace.
Sobbing softly, Jasmine pulled out of the hug and looked into Aurora's face, “Believe me, Aurora. I don't know anything about all that you told me over the phone. Can you please tell me now?” she said impatiently, framing Aurora's face in her hands.
“You can talk outside,” the principal gave her permission. Jasmine nodded sharply and walked out, passing by Aurora's class teacher.
“You can go back, Miss. Angel. I'll let you know once she's done,” the principal said while putting on her eyeglasses.
The class teacher stared at the principal and kept opening her mouth, but couldn't utter a word.
Soon, the principal raised her eyes under her eyeglasses and saw that she was still standing in that spot.
“Is there something you want to say, Miss Angel?” asked the principal.
“I'm only curious, ma'am. I've never seen anyone around Aurora before, aside from her father. So, who could this woman be?” The class teacher expressed her thought, looking a bit frantic.
The principal smiled and responded gently, “Don't worry too much about it, Miss. Angel. You can go back now”
***
“Believe me, Aurora, I would never have said those consciously. I knew how important the deal was to your Daddy. I'm sure something is wrong somewhere,” Jasmine said between tears, and Aurora could see the sincerity boldly written across her face.
However, Aurora couldn't think of what might have gone wrong as she continued to stare into space.
Seeing that Aurora wasn't saying anything, Jasmine squatted and slowly held her hands, “I swear, Aurora, you've got to believe me, I'm saying the truth”
Aurora smiled and then lifted her little hand to wipe out the tears from Jasmine's face.
“I believe you, Jasmine, please stop crying,” she cooed, still cleaning her face.
“Then how do we make your daddy believe me? It seems he wouldn't talk to me forever,” she lowered her eyes, thinking inside her heart that, how would she take the news if eventually Noah picked up her call and told her not to ever call him again.
“Can you do a huge favor for me, Jasmine?” Aurora suddenly let out, jolting Jasmine out of her thoughts.
“What's it, dear?”
“There's a Mother and Daughter cooking competition coming up in our school next week and I really want to participate. Please, can you do this favor for me?” Tears welled up in her eyes as she said these words.
Jasmine swallowed hard and blinked her eyes twice. Was it right for her to agree to this request when Noah was pissed at her and wouldn't even talk to her?
“Aurora, your daddy…” she was saying but got interrupted.
“I'll handle it, Jasmine. Please don't say no,” Aurora implored, rubbing her palms
together and giving Jasmine her irresistible puppy eyes.
Moments later, both Jasmine and Aurora went back to the principal's office.
“Ma'am, she would be my mommy for the upcoming competition” Aurora notified, speaking directly to the principal and holding Jasmine's hand.
The principal stared at her, “I haven't received a notification from your daddy, Aurora.” she said calmly, causing Aurora to let go of Jasmine's hand and moved closer to the principal's desk.
“No, ma'am. You don't have to tell my Daddy anything, I'll talk to him myself”
The principal gazed from Aurora's sympathetic face to Jasmine's face. She didn't know who Jasmine was, but her mind keeps telling her that she was a nice woman.
Moreover, the principal knew how painful and unfortunate it could be for a child without a mother. So, she wouldn't say no to this girl's request.
The atmosphere settled in the dining room was quite a blossom. Noah kept glancing at his daughter's optimistic face as he served her meal, steamed buns with pickled cabbage and soya bean milk.
After he was done, he pulled his cuffs up to his arms and then pulled out his shirt that was tucked in his suit pants.
While sitting down on a seat right opposite Aurora, he said, “Someone looks so happy tonight. Do you have a gist for me?” his eyes carried a hint of skepticism. He couldn't help but think back to his daughter's surly mood before she asked him to get water for her last night.
Aurora took a graceful bite of her steamed bun with a grin, revealing a roll of her tiny white teeth.
“I'm inviting you to the competition, Daddy. Please make sure you come, hmm”
Noah stared at his daughter in bewilderment, “Do you mean the same Mother and Daughter cooking competition?”
Aurora nodded curtly, carrying her glass of milk, and drank a large content from it.
Noah rubbed his forehead tiredly, not liking Aurora's choice of topic. In his opinion, he thought they already talked about it. Why was his daughter bringing it up again?
“Aurora, It's a Mother and Daughter competition. I'm not a mother, how do you expect me to participate?”
“I'm not asking you to participate, Daddy. I just want you to be there, can't you do that for me?” Aurora asked with a crumpled face.
Noah breathed out heavily. “Okay, baby. But what's the plan?” he asked in a low voice, looking intently at Aurora's face as if he wanted to glean a piece of information.
However, Aurora didn't say anything as she continued to eat her food happily, ignoring her father's intense gaze on her.
“You know, it's wrong to hide things from your Daddy. I tell you absolutely everything about my day-to-day activities at work, now you're keeping things from me?” Noah said between pouting lips.
“Yeah, that reminds me, Daddy. Has the issue been resolved? The chairman isn't mad at you, right?” Aurora asked carefully, staring at her father's face and hoping for a positive response.
Noah's smile faded for a second as he reached out his arm and grabbed his glass of water.
“It's nothing you should worry about, darling,” he said his few words in a low voice, and then raised the glass to his mouth.
Aurora gazed at her father's hurtful face and felt a tight knot twisted in her chest too, “You haven't forgiven, Jasmine, have you?”
Hearing her name, Noah felt that weird feeling again. It occurs whenever he heard Jasmine's name, or she's close to him. He quickly dispelled his emotion, thinking in his heart that Jasmine didn't even call his phone throughout the day.
Does it mean she isn't concerned about what she has done again? Or perhaps she and her ex-boyfriend had got back together. Thinking at the prospect of this, his heart tightened up in anguish, and he almost prayed that this shouldn't happen.