The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)
Chapter 1004

There was only a pair of newborn babies' shoes with a tiger-head design in the box.

What was this?

Mango looked at Brantley with puzzlement. However, he looked much more agitated than Mango.

He took the shoes with trembling hands, and tears instantly welled up his eyes.

"I didn't know that she was still keeping this. Ah... I thought that she didn't care about it anymore!"

Brantley placed the shoes on his face with tears streaming down his face.

This scene scared Mango out of her wits.

Brantley had been a tough man throughout this life. Even when Queena passed away, Mango had never seen him being so upset.

"Grandpa, what's wrong with you? Who is the owner of these shoes? Is it my mother?"

Mango took a guess, but Brantley waved his hand instead. He directly stood up with the shoes with a tiger head design and went to his room. Mango turned to glance at Carmel with a confused expression on her face when she saw the lonesome and grief figure of Brantley. However, Carmel shook her head too.

Mango didn't know what had happened in the past, but she knew that Brantley had recalled some sad memories because of her.

If she had known that this would happen earlier, she wouldn't have been so curious!

"What shall we do now?"

Mango looked at Carmel while asking.

Carmel frowned and thought for a moment before she said, "The ex- commander must have remembered some past. We should leave him alone for a while." "Alright then."

In fact, Mango was getting slightly hungry, but it was obvious that she couldn't eat now.

She took out her mobile and browsed through the news to catch up with the latest happenings.

Suddenly, Toby came in with a bouquet of roses at this time.

"Toby, are you trying to win over a girl? Or vice versa? Wow! This big bouquet of roses looks beautiful!" Mango teased Toby.

Toby placed the roses directly before her and said,

"It's for you." "Huh? Me?"

Mango was stunned when she heard his reply.

"Who ordered this for me?"

"Well, I have no idea. Someone from the military region sent it here."

Mango was even more astonished after hearing these words.

At that moment, Carmel kicked the roses out with her long legs.

"Wait! What are you doing here, Carmel?"

Mango felt depressed when she saw that the roses were now ruined because of Carmel's kick.

"I'm worried that something in the roses might harm you."

Toby wanted to hold his temple in frustration after hearing Carmel's reply.

"Hey! Can you stop being so oblivious? What kind of place is this? This is the Xiao family! Do you think that I will bring in anything potentially dangerous here?"

"Well, you can't say that for sure. Anyway, I don't believe in anyone except Madam."

Carmel retorted instantly to embarrass Toby.

Thus, Toby's expression darkened in a split

second.

"What do you mean? Are you trying to say that I will harm Ms. Shen? Huh?"

Mango quickly stood up and tried to stop them when she saw that the two of them were about to fight,

"Wait a minute... I know that you two are both doing this for my good. However, we don't have to panic this much and be too alert at home! Hey, is there a card over there? Carmel, take it for me, please. I want to see who has sent it to me. I'm already a mother, but I still am receiving roses. This is a pleasant surprise, isn't it?"

Mango felt weary emotionally when she said this.

Both Toby and Carmel had bad tempers, and it was truly dangerous for them to be in the same room.

Carmel glanced at Toby and went straight to take the card without saying anything else.

Mango opened the card. The message on it said, "Hi, my dear mommy, are you happy to receive the roses? I bet you must be very happy, right? Well, if you're happy, show me a brilliant smile! Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I wasn't the one who bought these roses. Instead, Mr. Ye was the one who asked me to send a dozen of roses to you every day so that you won't forget him. Alas, I'm your son, but I have to bear with your displays of affection every day! I'm such a poor child!"

Then, Zion had signed off the card with his name after the message.

After reading it, Mango immediately burst into laughter.

That brat!

She looked at the wreckage all over the floor and couldn't help feeling a little distressed.

"My son sent these roses to me. Also, these roses have my husband's blessings! So, both of you have to compensate me for this damage!"

Mango complained childishly, and she almost cried in front of Toby and Carmel when she said these words.

Carmel instantly felt guilty after hearing her complaints.

"What if I go out and buy you a bunch of identical bouquets?"

"How can they be the same? My husband and son were the ones who gave me these!"

After saying this, Mango squatted down, picked flowers and gave each of them one. When Carmel saw this scene, guilt flooded her, and she even wanted to beg for Mango's forgiveness.

"Madam, I..."

"What are you trying to say? Huh? You should be smarter next time!"

Toby directly scolded her instead.

Carmel immediately shut up after hearing his words.

She had been too impulsive just now.

Mango picked up the flowers. Then, she saw Carmel's guilty expression once she turned around. Although her heart ached, she still consoled the latter, "It's okay, I'm just joking with you. Let me go up and arrange the flowers first."

After finishing her words, Mango took the roses into her bedroom.

She found a beautiful vase to arrange the flowers into it and pruned them.

Well, Nathaniel was a capable person indeed! Even though he was in the police station, he managed to call Zion to send her roses.

Perhaps he had called Zion using Noah's mobile phone?

Mango's lips curled up slightly at this thought. Suddenly, she felt that those roses were especially bright and beautiful.

Did Nathaniel finally learn howto be romantic?

This was not his style at all!

Mango looking at the rose and smiled like a fool.

However, she had no idea what her expression was right now.

In fact, she missed her son.

Then, Mango took out her cellphone and gave a call to Zion, but nobody answered.

Suddenly, she felt that she had made a wrong decision by sending her son to the army. After all, it was not easy to see him at all!

Mango was slightly depressed at this thought.

Right at the moment, she received a call from Mateo.

"Hey, Mateo."

"I've heard that you're back! Where are you? I'm running some errands outside, so I want to go and see you along the way. Why didn't you tell me after you've suffered so much injustice? What's the name of the person who beaten you? Is she called Gisella? Hah! Leave her to me! I'll make sure that she'll suffer the same pain ten times worse in return! How dare she bully my niece?"

Mateo was grumbling non-stop at her. However, Mango felt touched and happy after hearing his words.

"I'm just fine, Mateo. Can you please do me a favor here?" "Just tell me about it. I'll grant any of your wishes as long as I have the capabilities to do so."

After all, Mateo would grant any of Mango's requests right now, and he would even give her the moon and the stars if she wanted them!

When Mango heard his words, she was glad that her family was still around, but she was afraid as well.

One day, if she had no blood relations with them anymore, would they abandon her like how the Shen family did?

Mango suddenly realized that she was thinking of nonsense. So, she scolded herself subconsciously.

After all, the fact that she was a daughter of the Hans family was already confirmed, right?

Why did she suddenly think of such an impossible hypothesis?

Mango hurriedly shook her head and threw those chaotic thoughts out of her mind. She smiled and said, "Mateo, I haven't seen Zion for a long time, and I miss him so much. Can you let me visit my son? There are many rules in the army, and I can't even meet my son as I wish. Urgh! This is too annoying!"

Mateo initially thought that Mango was about to say something difficult. Once he heard of her complaint, he immediately smiled and said, "Wow!

I was wondering what kind of weird request you would make. Is that all?"

"Well, isn't this a pretty difficult task?"

"It may be hard for others, but it's a piece of cake for me! Let me finish my errands first. By the time I head back to the military region, I'll take you to see that brat. I'm telling you that you really have a great son. The Hans family is proud of him!"

Mateo praised Zion continuously.

After hearing this, Mango felt proud of Zion because she was his mother, but she missed him even more now.

"I'm staying at grandpa's house. Uncle Mateo, don't forget to pick me up later."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then."

After Mango had hung up the call with Mateo, she was feeling much better.

Both Rita and Wisdom weren't around, so she was grateful that she could still see Zion. Otherwise, she would miss them too much!

While she was still deep in thought, someone knocked on the door.

"Ms. Shen, the commander asked you to come down for dinner."

"Alright, I'm coming now."

Mango tidied up herself before opening the door and going downstairs.

Meanwhile, Brantley had already returned to his normal state. Upon seeing Mango coming downstairs, he smiled and said, "Hurry up, and let's eat! Aren't you hungry?"

"Of course, I'm hungry! But weren't you the one who pushed me away and left me just now? I starved so long because of you! Hah, grandpa, I want you to compensate me!"

Once Mango was done complaining, she cheekily held his arm, and the both of them walked together into the dining room.

Brantley shook his head tenderly and said, "Well, I'll compensate you. Just tell me what you want."

"I don't want anything else. Um... I only want to know what happened to the shoes with the tiger heads design. Why did you react this way?"

After hearing her question, Brantley paused for a moment before he sighed and said, "I'll tell you about it later. Let's have our meal first."

"Alright."

Mango was not someone who would force others to answer her question. Furthermore, this was Brantley, her grandpa, so she dropped the subject immediately.

Then, they went to the dining room and took their seats.

When the butler served the food, Mango immediately felt that the food that was in front of her looked too delicious!

"Ah! Home-cooked food is always the best. Rita would love this! I wish she was here..."

Mango suddenly felt a lump in her throat at this thought.

Ever since she returned to the country, the time she spent with her children was getting lesser.

Suddenly, she couldn't help but recall Rita's ferocious look in her mind.

She never thought that Rita was cute at that time, but she thought otherwise now.

"Alright, it's not like Rita isn't coming back anymore. She'll be back in just a few days' time. So, you can see her soon!"

"Well... that's true."

Mango nodded and said, "Grandpa, Mateo will pick me up and bring me to see Zion at the military region later. Do you have anything you want to tell him?"

"Tell him to work hard and learn as much as he can. Then, he can be a useful soldier that can serve our country well!"

Indeed, anyone could tell that Brantley was an army veteran from the way he spoke.

"Yes, sir!"

Mango was not astonished either and replied with a smile.

Then, both of them started to enjoy the meal.

After having her dessert, Mango felt that she had stuffed herself a bit too much.

She wanted to go for a walk in the backyard, and Carmel did not follow her either. After all, this was the Xiao family's villa, so it was impossible for the outsiders to break in.

Meanwhile, Brantley needed to take a rest after eating his meal as he was old. Thus, he had returned to his room.

Mango stretched her arms out, and she put on a coat before going to the backyard.

Recently, Brantley had turned the backyard into a flowerbed. Thus, Mango was delighted when she saw he had planted various types of flowers there.

Suddenly, Mango became alert when she heard a "plop" sound, followed by the sound of something heavy falling to the ground.