After a series of twists and turns, Nick and the others finally entered the residential area. Guided by the security guard, they drove to the row of detached villas near the lakeside at the back of the neighborhood.
Nick originally thought he would have to spend some effort searching for it, but to his surprise, his stepmother Helen and sister Lily, who had received his call, were already standing by the roadside.
"Over there," Nick gestured to Ryan.
Ryan nodded, then slowly drove the car over and stopped in front of the two. Having prepared himself, Nick quickly opened the door and jumped out of the car.
"Hey Mom, hey Lily!"
"Nick!" Seeing him, his sister Lily, who was wearing a long black down jacket, quickly reached out her arms and pounced toward him.
Nick quickly caught her, then rubbed her short hair, which had been blown messy by the wind, and said, "Wow, you've grown so tall."
"You're a big girl now, what's with all this wild behavior?" Helen scolded with a smile.
"Nick, why did you only just get back?" Lily hugged his arm and acted spoiled.
Seeing this, Nick teased her fluffy mushroom-style hair, saying, "Why did you cut your hair so short? You look like a mushroom."
"It's the stupid school's requirement. They won't let me attend classes if I don't cut it," Lily immediately pouted and complained to him.
Meanwhile, Helen smiled at the two and said, "Alright, let go of your brother. Nick, let's go inside."
"Okay," Nick nodded, then introduced Ryan to Helen: "This is my driver; he came back with me this time."
"Good, it must have been a tiring journey. Go on in, park the car in the courtyard," Helen looked Ryan over and said to him warmly.
"Okay," Ryan nodded and got back into the car. Nick, meanwhile, walked into the villa courtyard with Helen and Lily.
The villa had two floors in total. Although it wasn't tall, it covered a large area. One side faced the lake, and the other faced the road; the overall greenery and environment were quite nice.
When they reached the courtyard, they found that his father Harold was already standing at the door.
"Dad!" Nick called out quickly upon seeing him.
"Hmm, why are you back so late?" Harold nodded, then looked at Ryan as he got out of the car.
"There were too many cars on the highway, it was quite congested. This is my driver, Ryan; he drove me back this time," Nick quickly introduced.
"Good, come inside, it's warm at home!" Harold glanced at him, then nodded to Ryan.
"Okay." Subsequently, Nick and Ryan began unloading things from the trunk.
"Nick, why did you bring so many things? We have everything at home," Helen quickly stepped forward to help.
"Hehe, this is just a little something from me," Nick said with a smile. "Don't trouble yourself, just let us do it."
"It's fine."
"Nick, I'll help you carry it." Lily took something from his hand and quickly carried it into the house.
Nick smiled, then followed her inside with Ryan, both carrying things.
Entering the living room, everything opened up. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows kept the living room bright even without the lights on. The decoration style of the entire living room was very minimalist yet exquisite; it was clear that his stepmother had put a lot of thought into the renovation.
Even though they had only recently moved in, the place was filled with the breath of life everywhere. For example, several tangerine trees full of fruit were placed in the corners, and a large red holiday wreath hung at the corner of the stairs.
Looking at the pile of various items in the living room, Harold couldn't help but frown and say, "Why so many things?"
"Some are local specialties given to me by others when I was on business trips, and some I picked out and bought myself. It's useless for me to keep them, so I brought them all back for you."
Saying this, Nick took a gift box out of a bag and handed it to Harold. "Dad, this is Kona coffee that Jeff gave me when I went to Miami. You know I don't understand coffee, so it would be a waste for me to drink it. I specifically brought it back for you; give it a try."
"Oh?" Harold's eyes lit up, and he quickly took the gift box to examine it.
"Ryan, have some coffee! Sit down, make yourself at home, don't be formal." Helen invited Ryan to sit, then brought over a cup of coffee and smiled at him. "The journey must have been exhausting, sit down and rest."
"It's fine, Mom. These are premium dates, raisins, and some organic health supplements that the team gave me when I was on an inspection in West Texas. Keep them to make some breakfast later," Nick said, pointing at the two cardboard boxes with a smile.
"Okay, you sit down, I'll tidy up." After telling him to sit, Helen went over to start tidying up herself, chatting with Harold about the surprises she found with a face full of smiles.
"Harold, look, these dates are so big!"
"These raisins, each one of them... they must not be cheap."
"This is organic oil, right? And herbal teas... so many health items."
"...Hehe, they were all stuffed into my car by them; I didn't look closely," Nick said, looking at the joyful Helen. Regarding this stepmother, although there was some slight awkwardness and he couldn't truly accept her, there was still a deep affection.
So seeing her happy, Nick naturally felt happy as well.
However, while they were happy, Lily was sitting there with a pout, staring motionlessly at the pile of things her mother was tidying up.
The first to notice her abnormality was Harold; he doted on this daughter to no end.
"Ahem, did you bring a gift for your sister this time?" Harold glanced at him, then looked at his daughter with a smile.
Nick, coming to his senses, looked at Lily and indeed found the little girl sitting there with a pout, looking like she was about to cry.
"Ah, I forgot. How about I give you a few dates to eat? They're very sweet," Nick teased with a smile.
Hearing this, Lily's pout deepened, her eyes began to shimmer, and tears welled up in her eyes as if they were about to fall at any moment.
"There, your brother is teasing you," Helen gave him a look, then handed an exquisitely packaged box to Lily.
Seeing this, Lily quickly took the box, glanced at him, then quickly lowered her head to open it.
"Wow, so beautiful!" Lying in the middle of the box was a pendant. The main part of the pendant was a pale pink pearl, nearly three centimeters in size. The pearl was encased in vines carved from platinum; it was very beautiful.
"It's too valuable. She's still in school; she can't wear this, and it's not safe," Helen couldn't help but complain to Nick upon seeing the pendant in her daughter's hand.
Nick smiled and said, "It's fine, she can keep it for now and wear it when she grows up."
"Heehee, thank you, Nick!" Lily hugged the jewelry box, squinting her eyes with a happy smile.
"As long as you like it," Nick nodded with a smile, feeling a sigh of relief in his heart. In fact, this pendant wasn't sent by him at all, but was something Vivian had proactively sent over after learning he had a sister.
As for how much it cost, he didn't ask. Vivian said to consider it a return gift for the crystal pendant he had given her before. Ordinary pearls weren't expensive, but the price of high-quality large pearls like this was generally not low.
Besides this, Vivian also sent a set of famous cosmetics for Helen and a high-end fountain pen for Harold, all of which he had brought back. He actually understood Vivian's intentions. To this, he couldn't help but give a bitter smile; on one hand, it was hard to refuse the girl's kindness, and on the other hand, he felt it was nothing much, just some gifts.