CEO Ex-Husband, Don't Bother Me

Chapter 184 - 153: The War Begins

Only after settling Joy in for the night did Naomi Shaw have a moment to deal with him. When she turned back, her eyes met his intense gaze, and her heart couldn’t help but skip a beat. She came forward, about to pull him up, but he yanked her down on top of him instead. He squinted his drunken eyes, gazing at her as he murmured her name, "Naomi..."

"Hm?" she answered softly. He shook his head and then smiled like a child. "It’s nothing. I just wanted to say your name..."

She gave a resigned smile, getting up and pulling at him. "Come on, get up. I’ll help you to the bedroom so you can rest."

He felt that having Dylan and Joy, a son and a daughter, was already perfect. If they had another child, he wouldn’t know how to love them all, how to divide his love among them. It was better this way, to be content with having both a son and a daughter. As for what he owed her, he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her.

The consequence of their passionate night was that neither of them managed to get up the next day. Naomi was exhausted, while Julian Donovan was so completely immersed in his blissful state that he had no desire to wake up. Besides, it was Sunday, so he didn’t have to work. Naomi, meanwhile, was still on leave and wouldn’t be officially back at work until the next day.

Eventually, they were woken by the insistent, urgent ringing of the doorbell. Naomi drowsily tried to disentangle herself from Julian’s warm embrace to see who it was. Unwilling to let her get up, Julian pressed her back down, tucked the covers around her, and told her to keep sleeping. He then pulled on a pair of pajama pants and walked out.

The moment he stepped out of the bedroom, he saw a small, pink figure standing in the entryway, tilting her little head up to stare helplessly at the high doorknob. His sleepiness vanished instantly. Glancing at the time, he felt a pang of guilt and rushed forward to scoop the little pajama-clad princess into his arms. "Joy, why are you standing here?"

Ugh, he had forgotten about the little princess next door. And that the little princess needed to eat. They had both been dead to the world.

The little princess lifted a small finger and pointed at the door, saying in her sweet, childish voice, "Grandma..."

"Grandma?" He frowned and peered through the peephole. Sure enough, it was Jean Coleman, and she had Dylan with her. *What’s Mom doing here?* he wondered, setting Joy down before opening the door for Jean.

The moment Jean came in, she completely ignored him and swept Joy into her arms, cooing tenderly, "Oh, Grandma’s sweet girl, you must be starving! Come, Grandma brought you some freshly baked flaky pastries and some millet congee. Grandma made it all herself. Hurry and eat!"

Starving? A confused Julian followed behind her and asked lazily, "Mom, what are you doing here?"

Jean ignored him, bustling into the kitchen to get out bowls and plates. She set out the food she’d brought—an exquisite spread for breakfast—and only breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Joy start to eat under Dylan’s care. Then, she spun around and slapped him. Julian was shirtless, and the sharp sting made him cry out in a pained protest. "Mom, what’d you hit me for? Why are you getting so short-tempered?"

Jean had never hit him in his entire life, and now she had struck him twice in just a few days!

Jean took a deep breath to suppress her anger before scolding him. "It’s one thing for you two to be intimate, but you can’t get so carried away that you forget about my precious granddaughter, can you?"

"What do you mean?" He glanced quizzically at Joy, who was eating her breakfast. Jean sat down on the sofa and said irritably, "I mean that you two slept until now without getting up, and my granddaughter was so hungry she had to call me for help!"

Julian was instantly mortified, but also amazed. Joy had thought to call Jean for help? He picked up his phone from the coffee table and checked. Sure enough, there was an outgoing call to Jean.

Jean explained what had happened. The little princess had woken up and waited and waited, but neither her father nor her mother got up to make her breakfast. Used to eating her meals on a schedule, the little princess had gone to her parents’ bedroom and knocked on the door, but after knocking for a long time, there was no response.

Defeated, she had climbed onto the sofa to wait some more. Then she saw her father’s phone on the coffee table. She immediately thought of her kind grandmother and quickly picked up the phone. Thankfully, she recognized the two characters for ’Mama’ saved in the contacts, so she dialed the number. It was indeed her grandmother’s. She complained pitifully, "Grandma, hungry..."

On the other end, Jean grew frantic. "What’s wrong, sweetie? Where are your mommy and daddy?"

The little princess looked at the closed bedroom door. "Sleeping..."

A fire of indignation shot through Jean. She didn’t even have to think to know what had happened. Her son must have been tiring Naomi out again last night. He had two children already but still had no self-control. To think he couldn’t even get up to make his children breakfast! What kind of behavior was this?

"Be a good girl, Joy. Just hold on a little longer. Grandma will bring you something to eat right away!"

While gently soothing the little princess, she packed up all the breakfast she had just made and rushed over to their apartment with Dylan.

After hearing Jean’s account, Julian felt a mix of guilt toward Joy and a blossoming sense of delight. His little princess was exceptionally clever! How had she even thought of such a plan? Seeing the look on his face, Jean grew even more incensed. "And you still have the nerve to smile?"

Look at the scratch marks on his back, the mark on his chin. Just how intense had they been last night? She had seen the news about the concert last night. Even if they had reconciled, they couldn’t just forget about the children!

Naomi, having heard the voices outside, quickly threw on some clothes and came out. "Dean Coleman, what brings you here?"

When facing Naomi, Jean’s expression softened considerably, all traces of her previous anger gone. She smiled and replied, "Oh, I missed Joy, so I came to see her!"

Who could stay angry at such a gentle, kindhearted daughter-in-law? You’d only want to dote on her.

Julian muttered a disgruntled protest under his breath. "How come you’re so fierce with me but all smiles with her? Last night wasn’t all my fault..."

If she weren’t so enchanting, and hadn’t responded with such tempting passion, he wouldn’t have lost control.

Jean shot him a glare. Naomi hadn’t quite caught what he was mumbling. After hearing Jean mention Joy, she quickly looked over at the dining table where Joy and Dylan were eating breakfast. Then she turned to Jean with an embarrassed expression. "Thank you, Dean Coleman. I... I completely overslept..."

It hadn’t occurred to her that Joy had called for help herself. She had assumed Jean just happened to arrive, saw Joy hadn’t eaten, and specially prepared something.

"It’s alright. Just leave the two children to me. If you two didn’t sleep well, go on back to bed."

Jean smiled. Naomi was terribly embarrassed. "No, it’s okay. I’m awake now and won’t be able to fall back asleep..."

Before she could finish, Julian walked over, wrapped an arm around her, and began steering her back to the bedroom. "I’m not done sleeping yet. Come keep me company for a bit longer!"

"Hey, I’m not sleepy anymore..." Naomi protested.

Julian just called over his shoulder, "We know, thanks, Mom!"

Outside, a very exasperated Jean cleaned up, then left with the two children. Absolutely no self-control.

Naomi’s face was flushed with embarrassment. She swatted his back in frustration. "With all that panting, your mom knew exactly what we were up to!"

"So what if she knows? Everyone was young once!"

He was unconcerned. Gripping her waist, he continued his thrusts. Only after he finally found his own release did he hold her and tell her about Joy calling Jean. Naomi was both surprised and delighted. She never expected Joy to be so clever, yet so obedient and well-behaved at the same time. Overjoyed, she snuggled into his arms, unable to stop laughing.

They held each other and slept for a while longer, not getting up until around noon. Julian had planned to take her out for lunch, but after receiving a phone call, he had to leave in a hurry with a look of regret. Naomi understood. From what she overheard of his call, it seemed to be about the acquisition of the Donovan Group.

An overseas pharmaceutical company had announced a new offer to acquire the Donovan Group at a price higher than Mercy’s. It was easy to see this was a counter-acquisition tactic by Sean Donovan: a white knight. This meant that the company facing the hostile takeover was seeking help from a friendly company to block it. If this pharmaceutical company beat Mercy and successfully acquired the Donovan Group, the group would effectively remain under Sean Donovan’s control, because investigations suggested that the pharmaceutical company was likely one Sean owned himself.

Faced with a new offer that promised much higher profits, the Donovan Group’s shareholders would inevitably choose the price offered by the pharmaceutical company. That was why Julian had left in such a hurry to deal with it. Naomi, for her part, had a simple meal by herself and then went to the orphanage.

Seeing Jean again, Naomi was still a little embarrassed, but Jean’s natural demeanor eased some of her awkwardness. Joy and Dylan were being well taken care of by Jean, for which she was very grateful. Jean said considerately, "From now on, when you and Julian are busy, or on weekends, just leave Joy and Dylan with me. You and Julian just got back together, so you need more time to nurture your relationship. Besides, I also want to make up for all the years I’ve missed with my grandchildren..."

It was all her son’s fault, causing her to miss out on so many years with her grandchildren and daughter-in-law.

Faced with such kindness, Naomi didn’t know what to say. She had previously heard Willow Summers talk about her own story, how she and Walter Jennings had been forced to separate for a while because of his family’s opposition. After that, her impression of mothers-in-law was that they were terrifying. She never expected Jean to be so understanding.