The Day I Kissed An Older Man by Cher the Cherished

Chapter 1515
However, Corinne did not have the luxury of time to figure out why 'Bryan' was acting that way. She shook her head and said,
"He's fine. He's just feeling a little shy, perhaps."
'Shy? That kid has been thick-skinned ever since he was little, so why would he suddenly become shy?' thought Xante.
Xante was even more confused than ever as she looked at 'Bryan'. For some reason, he looked different somehow.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" asked Corinne with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I promised to come yesterday, but something happened and I ended up not coming. Boss, I called you twice before I
came, but you didn't pick up my calls. I thought I'd come anyway," said Xante helplessly.
Corinne took out her phone and saw there were indeed two missed calls from Xante.
'I must be out of it to not have heard my phone ringing,' she thought.
"Sorry. I took the kids to the indoor playground and it was noisy there, so I must not have heard it. Anyway, help me watch the
kids while I go upstairs to change my clothes. I'll be back real quick," said Corinne.
Xante nodded and watched Corinne go up the stairs.
At that moment, Francine sidled up to Xante mysteriously and said, ' Don't you think Corinne isn't herself today? She looks sort
of depressed."
Xante glanced sideways at her. 'She's probably tired from running your family's company."

Francine shook her head. "No, I don’t think that's it. She was full of fighting
spirit two days ago and was as energetic as ever today. She had two meetings back-to-back! It wasn't until she suddenly said
she had to leave this afternoon that she came back like this."
Xante frowned. "She had to leave suddenly? Do you know why?"
Francine shrugged. "Beats me. Corinne rarely tells me what's on her mind. Sigh. I feel like she has turned into a completely
different person after Jeremy went missing. She's no longer the feisty woman who dunked my head into the toilet just 'cause I
made her mad. In fact, she's been very moody..."
Annie walked over and knocked Francine's head. "You'd be moody too if your husband suddenly went missing. She really loves
him, you know? I feel sorry for her. It's like she has lost half of her soul after Uncle Jeremy went missing."
Francine held her head in pain. "I know that! That's why I'm worried about her. To be honest, my grandparents aren't holding out
much hope that Jeremy is alive. I wish Corinne could move on a little. Otherwise, I fear she'll get depression..."
At that moment, depression was a really apt word to describe Corinne's mental state. She would find herself zoning out,
experiencing mood swings, and forgetting things.
It was only during work that she would temporarily snap out of her depression, other times, she would squeeze out a smile so
that the people around her would not worry about her. However, this just made them worry more.
"That's enough. We shouldn't speak about this kind of thing in front of the kids. It'll just make them sad," reminded Xante when
she saw Christine frowning in her arms.

Christine was indeed sad. "Auntie Xante, are you guys talking about my Mommy? Is she sad because my Daddy didn't come
home?"
Xante, Annie, and Francine fell silent. They had no idea how to explain Corinne's situation to the little girl.
"There, there, Christine. There's nothing for you to worry about. We adults do get sad sometimes, but it's just normal. I'm sure
your Mommy will feel better after she has a good night's sleep."
Christine pouted. "But I feel like Mommy is sad every day, and she is especially sad today. Sigh. You guys need to introduce a
good man to Mommy if Daddy isn't coming back. Maybe Mommy’s sad ’cause she's so lonely. She needs someone who can
make her laugh like Daddy did."