Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Timothy had already been feeling a bit guilty over the whole situation, but when Vince brought it all out into the open again, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. His pride took a serious hit.

Worse yet, Vince was becoming more and more overbearing, meddling in places he had no business.

"If you have so much free time, Mr. Zimmerman, maybe you should spend it looking after your little sister. Your own family's a mess, yet here you are worrying about someone else's affairs."

With Henry present, Timothy had no intention of arguing with Vince. He didn't want to set a bad example for the boy.

Still, something seemed off. Timothy quickly caught on and asked, "How did you know we were here?"

Vince looked a little flustered but recovered almost immediately. "My father's a fan of papercutting. I heard there's a kids' competition today, so I thought I'd stop by and see if any of the pieces caught his eye."

It was a decent excuse, but Timothy just snorted. "Children's artwork? You really think your father's going to be impressed?"

"You never know," Vince shot back. "He might stumble across a young prodigy." Vince wasn't backing down an inch.

When it came to raising children, Timothy firmly believed you had to let them keep their dignity, especially in front of others. With Vince around, he decided not to say anything more to Henry. Whatever needed to be discussed could wait until they got home.

"Henry's contest is about to start. I'll take him to the auditorium."

And with that, Timothy scooped Henry up and headed inside.

Vince followed them into the hall.

Timothy didn't know a thing about papercutting, but Henry had obvious talent for it -undoubtedly inherited from Jessica. That made Timothy curious to see what Henry could create.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo was calling Jessica.

She answered, and Lorenzo's voice came through the phone. "Mrs. Lawson, there's a children's papercutting competition today. I've recommended you to the judges, and the organizing committee would be honored if you'd serve as the chief judge for this event. Would you be available to guide the kids and share your expertise?"

Of all the papercutting artists Lorenzo knew, Jessica's skill was unmatched.

The judging panel consisted of the city's most renowned traditional papercutting masters. After hearing about Jessica, every one of them was eager to meet her.

Lorenzo explained the purpose of the event: traditional crafts like this were becoming rare, and the Riverside City Cultural Department was keen to promote and preserve these skills so they wouldn'to disappear.

Jessica realized this was the same competition Henry was entering.

With both Timothy and Sheila likely to be there, she hesitated. She wasn't sure she wanted to go.

But when Lorenzo talked about the event's purpose and remembering it was also her grandmother's wish-Jessica finally agreed. She signed to Herbert, asking him to reply to Lorenzo for her.

She already knew the venue.

Henry had signed up for this competition ages ago, back when Jessica was still handling every little detail of his life.

Mr. Smith had just about finished discussing the script and contract with Jessica, and now he was asking for her passport and ID number so he could book her flight.

Herbert quickly provided his own details as well, telling Mr. Smith to book a ticketnoveldrama

for him too—he was accompanying Jessica overseas the next day.

As soon as they wrapped things up, Herbert drove Jessica straight to the competition.

Lorenzo met them outside and escorted Jessica to the judges' lounge.

Herbert entered the main hall through the front entrance.

Inside, the contest was about to begin. The host took the stage, went over the event details and the rules, then called all the young contestants up. Each child found their seat according to their assigned number.

Next, it was time to invite the judges to take their seats.

All four judges were celebrated papercutting masters in the city, and every child learning the craft recognized them. As the judges walked onstage, the children looked up at them with awe and admiration.