From the airport, Samantha went straight to Sapphire Gardens, her old home before she and Daniel moved in together .  

"Thanks for arranging this for me, Han," Samantha briefly hugged her friend who just rolled her eyes at her . "Yeah, yeah… what could I possibly do after you threatened me?" Hannah replied .

"Hey, I did not threaten you, okay? I just… motivated you . " Samantha batted her eyes playfully at her friend while she pinched Ashton's cheeks gently to make him look so cute in front of his aunt .  

"Oh shus.h.!.+ You know I can't say no to you and this cute little monkey!" Hannah touched little Ash's nose . "I have to leave you for now though, the cafe just called me and there's something that I need to sign . I have to go over there real quick . You'll be fine on your own right?" 

Samantha nodded and waved a hand at her, "Don't worry, I'll be okay . Philip will arrive soon as well so I'll have some help around . "

Hannah and Samantha laughed when they both remembered how they got out of Country A .

A few days ago, Philip's replacement arrived and the guy was extremely strict that it was too suffocating . Even going to the bathroom, the man stayed outside of the door and when going to sleep, he even almost wanted to stay in the same room to keep close guard . Luckily, Seo Joon intercepted and let him stay outside of Samantha's room .  

Although she was closely monitored by the new guy, she and Hannah were still able to trick him with the help of her brother . But before Seo Joon even agreed to their plan, she had a hard time convincing him at first but after a few attempts, she was able to finally get him on board .

Thus, Seo Joon feigned ignorance when Samantha and Hannah took off and went to the airport without being detected after tricking the new bodyguard . The only condition that Seo Joon had for her was that she had to have security with her at all times in which Samantha gladly accepted as long as she got to decide who it was . So without thinking twice, she called Philip and hired him herself .

She knew that her arrival in Country K will definitely be known by her father pretty soon but she was ready to face him this time . She was not going to let him ground her anymore . The entire time, she had thought of how she was going to convince him to at least let her stay in the country . Even if her security was going to increase, it was better than being thousands of miles away from Daniel .

"Ma"

"Mum" 

Samantha's head snapped towards Ashton who was sitting obediently in the high chair . The little boy had been uttering the same syllable for a couple of months now and every time, it would warm her heart when he hears him .  

Smiling, Samantha tried to help him say more sounds . "Say daddy… daa"

Try as she may, all Ashton Daniel did was blew air from his mouth clumsily, making bubbles with his saliva in the process .

Breathing out a heavy sigh, Samantha gave up and continued to cook for their lunch . She turned on the TV for some background noise but soon after, a report showed the opening of a new mall owned by the Cho Corporation . Its CEO will be present during the ribbon-cutting ceremony which will commence in three hours .

A smile appeared on Samantha's face when she suddenly thought of something . "Ashy, do you want to see daddy?"

"You do, don't you?" 

'Just say yes, child . Because I definitely want to see your daddy . ' She voiced in her head .

…

Sure enough, three hours later, Samantha stood on the side with Ashton in her arms and Philip a couple of feet away from them .

Samantha wore huge sungla.s.ses that covered almost half of her face and a black baseball cap . She dressed up pretty simply with only a plain white s.h.i.+rt and black jeans while little Ashton wore the same, white s.h.i.+rt and black pants .  Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting .

They were just in time for the ceremony to start and soon, they saw Daniel Cho in the middle .  

As soon as Samantha saw him, she brightened up . "Hi, daddy…" She whispered to Ashton who was also looking at the direction where his mother was looking but since he was only about ten months old, his sight could only go as far as twelve inches in front of him . Still, Samantha was quite elated to see Daniel even if it was from a distance .  

Thinking that seeing him for that day was already enough, she decided to head home and let Ash have a nap . Turning around, they walked towards the car that was parked on the other side of the road .

Meanwhile, Daniel turned to Ahn . "Prepare for tomorrow's flight going to Country A . Have you already moved up the scheduled appointments until three days later?"

"Yes, boss . Everything has been set . I will drop by your penthouse later to prepare your suitcase . " Ahn responded whilst he busily went over some things through the tablet .

While they walked towards the car, Daniel caught sight of a familiar figure from across the street . He found it weird and thought he must have just seen things .

. .

While Samantha had finished fixing Ashton on his car seat, she was just about to close the door of the car when a man's hand suddenly stopped the door from closing and without saying anything, he swiftly got inside the car, closing the door right after .

Simultaneously, another man also got inside the front seat, stopping Philip from pulling out his gun .

Samantha who was only slightly surprised by what was happening felt b.u.t.terflies in her stomach when she saw the only man that she wanted to see . "Daniel…" she uttered .

However, the look on Daniel's face did not seem like he was pleased to know that she was back . "What are you doing back here, Samantha? I thought we had an agreement . "

Thinking that Daniel was mad, Samantha's brows furrowed . 'Could he at least smile for his son?' 

"It isn't an agreement if it was only you who insisted on it, Daniel . I did not agree on any of this . "

"Staying here is dangerous," Daniel said through gritted teeth in a low voice . Ashton caught the weird vibe in the car that his little mouth trembled a little and he looked like he was about to cry but he didn't .

"Staying near you might be, and you're the only one doing that now . We just took a peek to see you and did not even think about letting you know . "

Noticing Ash's expression, Daniel calmed himself down and ordered Philip, "Drive . "

From the rearview mirror, Philip looked at Samantha and waited until she nodded before he drove away .

Samantha knew that Daniel was not going to take her decision well but staying away from him after seeing him again just felt like h.e.l.l for her . What was she supposed to do? Suck it up and patiently wait until G.o.d knows how long that will be until everything's okay? Yeah, that seems doable — except Samantha's impatient and can no longer bear to be that far from him .

She had already suffered two years without Daniel, raising Ashton without him on top of that . Being a mother without her husband to help her raise their child sure was difficult for her . Maybe it's just postpartum depression that's happening to her but she felt like everything was against her . Was it so bad that she wanted to try to be happy?

Regardless, Samantha only wanted to reduce their gap .