Overprotected By My Tsundere CEO

Chapter 435 - 256: Pedro Langley, Can You Act Like a Human? [Part 3]

Nora Scott helped Pedro Langley into the bedroom.

She pulled back the covers and let him lie down.

However, just as she grabbed the corner of the blanket to tuck him in, his strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her forward. Caught off guard, Nora fell directly into his embrace.

Her chin knocked against his shoulder, hurting a bit.

"Are you pretending?"

Nora reached out to twist his arm.

"Truly drunk."

Pedro held her, his voice wrapped in the alluring haze of drunkenness.

Nora mumbled, "You reek of alcohol."

Burying her face in the side of his neck, all she could smell was the alcohol.

Pedro turned his head, deliberately getting closer, next to her, "You don’t like it?"

"A little," Nora responded, pausing slightly before adding, "But I can tolerate it for now."

Pedro laughed softly while holding her.

He raised his hand, covering his forehead and cheeks, feeling the higher-than-usual temperature, Nora asked, "Does your head hurt?"

"Yeah."

"I’ll get you something to sober up."

Nora spoke as she started to get up.

But then, with a slight exertion, the arm around her waist pulled her back.

"No rush," Pedro turned sideways, buried in her hair, softly murmuring, "Stay with me a little longer."

He found her hand, opened her palm, and interlocked his fingers with hers, a small, intimate gesture between lovers, filled with tender affection. Just a slight touch could even melt the heart.

He always wanted to spend time with her, even if they said nothing, did nothing.

Just looking at her made his heart full.

"Hey."

Nora leaned into his embrace, one hand held by him, the other scratching his chin.

Pedro moved slightly, a little ticklish from her scratching.

"Hmm?"

He made a sound, just a nasal tone, the alcohol making him a bit tired and his mind hazy.

Nora asked, "How do you raise a child?"

Pedro suddenly opened his eyes, the previously tipsy gaze instantly becoming a bit clearer and bright.

"Though I’m drunk, if you want—"

Before he could get inappropriate, Nora, annoyed, twisted his shoulder and warned him through gritted teeth, "I’m talking about Andrew Hughes."

"He’s not mine, not raising him."

The joy quickly faded, and Pedro demonstrated his sudden change of expression expertly.

Nora explained, "There’s no one at his home; he needs to stay with me for a few days."

Pedro asked, "Practicing with him?"

Giving him a cold glance, Nora was left speechless, "Can you be a decent person?"

"Can look, can hold, but can’t eat. Not interested in being a decent person when in a bad mood."

By the end, Pedro was complaining.

???

Nora twisted him again.

Pedro hissed.

"Does it hurt?"

Nora immediately lightened her touch.

"Just wanted to see if you still care about me?" Pedro slightly raised his eyebrows, acting smug.

"..."

Don’t mention twisting him hard, Nora now even felt like punching him.

"Truly drunk, huh," Nora poked his cheek with her finger, grumbling, "You’re talking stupidly."

"Hmm."

Nora laughed, "I call you ’stupid’, and you still go ’hmm’; are you stupid?"

"Whatever you say is right."

Pedro, with his eyes closed, flattered Nora with a few words.

If someone else said this, Nora wouldn’t pay attention, but when it came from Pedro, it was somewhat pleasing.

She asked, "Are you working tomorrow?"

"I have a meeting in the morning."

"Oh."

Nora responded without much interest.

"Bored at home?" Pedro opened his eyes slightly, quickly saying, "I’ll find someone to keep you company."

Pedro had two female friends with whom he had a good relationship.

Katherine Collins was one, but she was filming a documentary and not in Fenton City, but the other one...

Having just returned to the country, she was forgotten by the entertainment industry, no work knocking on her door, boring her to death at home every day.

"No need," Nora immediately rejected it and, under Pedro’s puzzled gaze, leisurely said, "I’m going to work too."

"Which job?"

Everything Nora did was "freelance", going to "work" as she pleased, never caring about the "nine to five".

Without batting an eye, Nora calmly said, "Security company, in finance."

"The ’two thousand salary, social security benefits’ one?"

"Hmm."

With a helpless tug at the corner of his mouth, Pedro Langley rubbed his thumb on her wrist and extended an invitation, "Ten times the salary, full benefits. How about coming to my company as a mascot?"

"With all my talent, to be a mascot for your company?"

"A mere security company can’t contain a peerless beauty of your talent and infinite capabilities."

"...We who are born extraordinary spend our whole lives trying to blend into the ordinary."

Nora Scott suddenly spoke in a melancholy tone.

Pedro Langley was stunned and asked with a chuckle, "Who said that?"

It didn’t sound like something Nora Scott would say.

Raising an eyebrow, Nora thought carefully and recalled, "My senior sister said that when she was being pretentious."

"..." Pedro Langley curled his lips, "Your treasure of a senior sister really drops golden sayings."

"Yes, she always has her own set of principles," Nora smiled lightly, "She can even use one set of principles to convince another."

"Hmm?"

"It’s just..." Nora reminisced, her lips slightly curling up, "She speaks differently to different people."

"Why have you only learned to retort against others all day?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

Nora squinted slightly, her gaze coolly sweeping over him, with a hint of threat.

"No."

Pushed by his survival instinct, Pedro Langley made his standpoint known promptly.

Nora snorted softly.

Her senior sister had already tied the knot with Joshua Nogueira, so Pedro’s crooked thoughts were out of the question.

With warmth in his arms, Pedro couldn’t bear to sleep; when drowsiness hit, he suddenly asked, "What’s with that kid with the surname Hughes?"

At the mention of Andrew Hughes, Nora felt a headache.

She explained to Pedro about Andrew’s family situation, the trouble the three troublemakers caused at school, and Sir Hughes’ attitude and the exchanges with Andrew.

In the end, she said rather displeased, "I was still a ringleader at five."

What kind of five-year-old could be so skilled in life skills?

Normal kids are mischievous and cause trouble everywhere, so being this worry-free... is a problem.

"You must have skipped kindergarten."

Pedro confidently evaluated.

Startled by him, Nora paused, then reluctantly retorted, "I called it an organized and planned outing."

No room for denial.

Because she actually did such things.

She orchestrated an "escape" with Michael Quinn and Joseph Sutton, planned for half a day, mapped out a route, and snuck out successfully once.

— That’s what the elders said when she grew up.

Besides, their motive was essentially different from Andrew Hughes’.

Theirs was for fun; Andrew’s was for a math problem.

Nora couldn’t help but feel irritated thinking about it.

All for... not for fun, not for troublemaking, not for food, but for a damn math problem?

Even when Joseph was a little prodigy, he wasn’t this obsessed.

For Nora, before senior year, all textbooks were meant to be torn and played with.

Pedro chuckled softly, "I heard from your grandfather that you hardly had any peaceful days at school since childhood."

"Why does he tell you everything?" Nora frowned.

"Is that a secret?"

"..."

It really wasn’t.

In the alley, just ask around—any adult, not a small brat, could tell stories about her mischievous past in a heartbeat.

After a moment, Pedro offered her a lousy idea, "Why don’t you take him out of class tomorrow?"

"Am I that kind of person?" Nora retorted.

It’s one thing to climb walls with peers to skip class, but now to take a five-year-old out of school?

"Anyway, according to the kindergarten, he’s sneaked out not just once or twice," Pedro laughed, "Apparently, school doesn’t mean much to him at all."

Nora was also quite annoyed at the kindergarten.

During dinner, Oliver told her about Andrew sneaking out of the kindergarten and into the school.

Andrew’s multiple escapes from kindergarten were all successful, not to mention the teachers who did nothing but contact or wait for contact from parents, constantly threatening "expulsion" and shirking responsibility at the drop of a hat, while accomplishing nothing useful.

If they truly cared about Andrew, how could a child like him manage to "sneak out of kindergarten" multiple times successfully?

From Oliver’s tone, it seemed the teachers didn’t like Andrew Hughes.

Lucky for them, Sir Hughes was easygoing; anyone else with a serious attitude would have clashed with the kindergarten.

Nora frowned, "Why should I bother?"

Pedro smiled, piercing through her thoughts with a word, "Who told you to worry about him and bring him home?"

"..."

"According to your analysis, it was Rose who took him away," Pedro deduced, "This kid probably doesn’t have many friends in kindergarten, or he wouldn’t use ’friend’ to refer to Marcus Shaw. Usually, his grandfather leaves him alone at the fruit shop, and the shopkeeper is busy doing business, having no time to mind him."

After a pause, he added, "This kid is alone and lacks companionship. Wherever you take him will be better than leaving him alone."

People left alone too long tend to have problems.

Nora’s eyes suddenly brightened, "Then putting him with you is fine too."

"And then the next night, rumors of ’Pedro Langley’s illegitimate child’ will explode?" Pedro laughed bitterly.

Nora: "..."

"By the way —" Pedro suddenly woke up a bit, holding Nora’s hand, asking, "Did you know about the online rumors of you as an ’illegitimate daughter’?"