My Dreamy Old Husband

Chapter 225

Sophia couldn’t figure out what had made Nathan suddenly behave like a spoiled brat. After wrecking Stanley’s mechanical keyboard and figurines last time, he stripped Stanley’s pet cat bald this time.

With that, he had gotten into trouble twice in a row, which didn’t seem like a good sign at all; Nathan came from an incredibly distinguished background in the first place. Now that he had begun misbehaving recklessly at such a young age, who knew what he would do when he grew up?

As Nathan’s stepmother, Sophia felt hugely responsible for what he had done. How could she be worthy of the trust that Nathan’s dad had put in her if Nathan grew up into a spoiled brat because of her overindulgence?

The night after they went home, Sophia video-called Michael while applying her facial mask when she told him about the two troubles Nathan had gotten himself into.

Nathan was eavesdropping outside the door when he heard Sophia worriedly talking about the two incidents. At last, she concluded, “What Nathan has done this time is terribly wrong, and he is showing tendencies of growing up into a spoiled brat. We can’t let him go on like this!”

Michael pondered seriously for a moment on the other end before he said in a grave tone, “You’re right— kids shouldn’t misbehave like this. How can he make trouble as he pleases while being a guest at somebody’s home? Not only that, he also spoiled something so valuable! We can’t let him go on like that.”

He then continued, “Now that he’s broken the husky’s leg this time, he might start hitting other people in the future! Just beat the hell out of him; he’ll stop making trouble next time once he learns his lesson.”

Nathan, who had just celebrated his sixth birthday, experienced the pain of being betrayed by his closest kin for the first time. Everything is just part of his trick! he thought to himself.

After some discussion with Michael, Sophia decided that she couldn’t leave this incident like that. She would make Nathan apologize to Stanley and give him some money as compensation. After all, both Nathan and Stanley were Fletchers, so things would be awkward between them if this incident remained unresolved.

Nathan was seething as Sophia marched him off to Stanley’s place to get him to apologize to Stanley.

Stanley was delighted for a moment when he learned that Sophia was coming, but when he heard that Nathan was coming as well, he immediately hid his pet cat and dog away out of fright.

His pet dog ended up breaking its leg after being chased by Nathan; it had to have its leg suspended in traction like him. Even his pet cat had been stripped bald because of the boy!

Still, Stanley decided to forgive Nathan for Sophia’s sake, but he would never let Nathan hurt his darling little pets again. After hanging up on Sophia, he said to his nanny, “Auntie, please bring me my walking stick. I want to go for a walk outside with Judge.”

Judge was the name of his crippled pet dog. It got its name from ‘the Blade of Judgment,’ a godly weapon in the Swordsman Game.

Sean visited him every day and played online games with him whenever he had no classes to attend.

Sean and Stanley were the same age, and they had graduated from the same high school. Stanley joined the army right after his college entrance exam, whereas Sean went overseas to recuperate from a severe bout of illness.

When Stanley left the army and came back to pursue his studies two years later, Sean had also recovered from his illness and just returned from overseas. The two of them then ended up attending the same university and playing online games together.

Supporting himself with his stick, Stanley eagerly slapped some hair gel on his head despite not needing it with his current haircut. He then asked, “Do you think I look handsome today, Sean?”

Sean glanced at him and smiled before answering, “You’re very handsome already.”

Only then did Stanley feel relieved. He left home with the aid of his stick while Sean put his crippled pet dog in a stroller and wheeled it outside.

Meanwhile, Sophia had entered the military compound with Nathan. As they headed to Stanley’s place, she urged Nathan, “Darling, just listen to me and say sorry to Stan later. Got it?”

Nathan nodded with his head hung low.

He had been down in the dumps ever since he realized that he had been tricked by Michael. He had been so preoccupied with helping Michael that he failed to notice he had turned from a well-behaved kid to a spoiled brat in Sophia’s eyes.

Stanley was clever this time; not only did he forbid Nathan from entering his house, he also changed their meeting place to the military compound’s leisure garden so that Nathan-the-spoiled-brat would have no way of scourging him again.

Having entered the military compound, Sophia headed toward the GPS location Stanley had sent her and found Stanley, his pet dog, and Sean.

The military compound was built many years ago, and it had retained its original appearance despite being refurbished repeatedly over the years. Its spacious courtyard was filled with lush greenery. The trees in the garden were planted many years ago, and they gave off an intriguing air of history after being well-tended over the years.

The military compound looked even more stately with its long history as it lay bathed in the last rays of the setting sun.

The military compound was especially boisterous in the evening since aged men and women could be seen doing square dancing or exercising everywhere.

Stanley was playing a game of chess with a group of old men when Sophia found him. After a fierce battle, he was driven into a corner by his ferocious opponent, causing him to flush and scratch his head with anxiety. Sean, who stood at one side, was wheeling a stroller, inside of which was Stanley’s crippled husky as it fell asleep while wearing a disposable diaper.

Sitting across from Stanley was a grey-haired old man with a grey beard. Even though he was old, he was young in spirit; his eyes gleamed with astuteness and a heroic vigor.

A group of old men were standing behind the grey-haired old man as they chanted, “Check his king! Check his king!”

Suffering under tremendous stress, Stanley moved a chess piece apprehensively. With that, the eyes of the old man sitting opposite him brightened, and he shouted with an animated expression, “Checkmate!”

He lost again!

Stanley tossed the chess piece in his hand away and said, “I’m not going to play chess with you anymore; it’s meaningless since you’ve captured all my chess pieces every single time. I’m going to walk my dog!”

The old man opposite him grabbed him immediately and said, “Come, come, come—let us play another game of chess. I’ll let you make one extra move at the beginning of this game.”

However, Stanley didn’t budge. He could never be a match for the old man even if the latter let him make ten extra moves at the beginning of the game!

However, since the old man had forcibly dragged him back to his seat, he could only sit down and play another game of chess with the former. After the old man let him make one extra move at the beginning of the game, he kept on pondering over the positions of chess pieces on the chessboard with a grave expression, determined to win back a game.

This group of old men had a combined age of over a thousand, whereas he and Sean had only a combined age of a little over forty, so how could he be a match for them?

He thought to himself, This group of old men is bullying me on purpose. I’ve been checkmated so many times, and every time I was checkmated, he would let me make an extra move at the beginning of the next game and checkmate me again! It’s so awful of him to bully a handicapped person!

He was desperate for an excuse to flee the scene as quickly as possible, but it seemed that this group of old men wouldn’t let him off easily. They might look old on the outside, but they had been renowned figures in the military back in the day.

Sophia came just as he was playing the game. Overjoyed upon seeing her, he tossed the chess piece in his hand away. “My friend is here, so I have to leave!” he exclaimed.

The old man opposite him grabbed him, saying, “No—you’re not going to leave until you finish this round of chess!” Content is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

The old man was nearly a hundred years old, but he clutched at Stanley with such an incredible strength that the latter nearly cried in pain. Stanley said, “Let go of me! I’ll finish this game of chess with you!”

Sophia came over with Nathan when she saw Sean beckoning to her. She then caught sight of Stanley, who was looking at the chessboard with distress written all over his face as he was surrounded by a group of old men.

He had been stumped by the same move countless times. No matter what move he made to counter it, the old man would always succeed in capturing all his chess pieces; it must be what the old man wanted all along!

Moving closer to take a look, Sophia saw Stanley’s chess pieces under threat from all quarters, and any bad move would result in him losing the whole game. The game was so intriguing that she unconsciously lost herself in it, and she began observing the positions of the chess pieces relative to each other.

Having decided to give up, Stanley randomly picked an unoccupied square and moved one of his chess pieces to the position. Much to his surprise, while the chess piece was still wobbling, a fair hand appeared out of nowhere and moved it to a position he had never thought of.

In an instant, Stanley was saved from losing the game!