The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

"Hahaha!"

Mango couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Charlotte had heard a lot about Rita, but she hadn't met the little girl formally before. Hence, she always assumed that Rita was gentle and kind but sickly. Now that Rita shot her in the face with a water blaster the moment they met, Charlotte was quite shocked indeed.

Meanwhile, Zion struggled as he said, "Put me down Auntie Blu! My sister is very protective of me."

"Let go of my brother!"

Rita stepped forward with the water blaster in her hand as she gave Charlotte a death glare.

Then, Charlotte looked back at Mango in dismay, only to become more irritated when she saw her best friend had laugh herself silly.

"Hey, little girl, could we talk about this? Your brother caused me to be abandoned at the cemetery overnight, and that nearly scared me to death. So, I need to sort this out with him."

Zion couldn't help but shrink backwards when he heard Charlotte's words.

Mango only knew that Walter had abandoned Charlotte at the cemetery, but she wasn't clear about the details. Hence, she turned her gaze to Zion as Charlotte spoke.

On the other hand, Zion felt quite embarrassed and he grinned sheepishly. "How did I know that Uncle Song would do that to you? I was in a rush, plus, I only did that because you knew him."

"You're still trying to explain yourself? You little brat, I landed myself in so much trouble because of you! What's worse, you don't even feel guilty for what you have done!"

As soon as Charlotte mentioned that incident, she became angry.

Then, Rita stepped forward and grabbed Charlotte's hand before she said, "Even if my brother tricked you, you shouldn't hold it against him. Don't you think it's embarrassing for you to seek revenge against my brother?"

"What the hell?"

Charlotte now found it hard to defend herself.

Rita was obviously very protective indeed.

"Honey, you better get it straight. It's your brother's fault."

"I don't care, let go of my brother!"

Rita pulled at Charlotte's arm to no avail, and she got so angry that she blasted Charlotte in the face with the water blaster again.

"How dare you bully my brother? Let go of him!"

Charlotte was caught off guard by the spray of water, and she became very irritated.

"Mango, can't you control your daughter? This is too much!"

Since Rita was indeed going a little overboard, Mango decided to intervene.

"Rita, stop! You can't do this to Auntie Blu! You need to respect her!"

"But she's bullying Zion!"

Rita pouted in defiance, and she looked as if she was about to cry.

Thus, Zion's heart ached for his little sister.

"It's all right, Rita. Auntie Blu and I are just having a little bit of fun, right?"

After that, Zion looked straight at Charlotte.

Charlotte didn't know if she was just hallucinating, but Zion looked exactly like a carbon copy of Nathaniel, right down to the look in his eyes!

Hence, she couldn't help but stare blankly for a moment before she let go of Zion and said, "You stinking brat!"

Then, she roughly ruffled his hair. Although Zion was irritated at that, he didn't show it on his face.

After Zion regained his freedom, he pulled Rita behind him and bowed to Charlotte. Then, he said, "I'm sorry for what I did earlier, Auntie Blu. I was immature and I didn't know any better, so I hope you won't hold it against me."

Charlotte was at a loss after she heard his words.

If she continued to bicker with Zion, she would come across as petty. However, it wouldn't be right for her to forgive him as he didn't look sincerely sorry at all.

Charlotte gritted her teeth in anger, but Rita poked out her head from behind Zion before she could say anything else. Rita looked at Zion and she whispered when her brother nodded at her, "Auntie Blu, I'm sorry for blasting you in the face with water. Please don't be angry with me, all right?"

This time, Charlotte was able to tell that Zion was actually apologising in order to set a good example for Rita and he didn't want to trouble Mango as well.

Hence, her anger subsided when she realised how sensible Zion was being.

"Oh, I'm not angry. Didn't your brother just say we were just having a bit of fun? You said that your name was Rita right?"

"That's right!"

Rita nodded her head, albeit timidly.

She hardly ever interacted with people, and she was afraid of strangers. If Charlotte hadn't grabbed Zion's collar, she wouldn't have jumped out to defend him at all. Now, Rita seemed to have withdrawn back into her shell as a nervous glint appeared in her eyes.

On the other hand, Charlotte was familiar with Rita's situation. Hence, her heart ached upon the sight of the young girl's nervousness.

"How about I reintroduce myself? My name is Charlotte Blu, and I'm your mommy's best friend. You can call me Auntie Blu, or Godmum if you'd like!"

It was obvious that Charlotte liked Rita very much.

Rita's frail appearance always seemed to evoke a protective instinct in people.

"Godmum?"

Rita's voice was full of doubt, but it still made Charlotte feed delighted.

"Ah, you're my goddaughter now! You're such a good girl, so much better than your brother!"

Charlotte was so happy that she nearly picked Rita up off the ground.

However, Zion cut in disdainfully at the sight of her joy, "Rita was just asking, not actually addressing you, Auntie Blu!"

"You little brat, do you ever shut up? It puzzles me, you know? Both of you have the same parents, but your sister's an angel, unlike you."

Honestly, Charlotte felt as if Zion and her just weren't meant to get along with one another.

Then, Zion shrugged indifferently and said, "I'm not going to marry you anyway. What's the point of making you happy?"

"You, you... Mango!"

Charlotte felt like she was about to burst into tears.

Why was this little boy pissing her off so much?

Meanwhile, Mango tried her best to hold back her laughter and said, "Zion, behave."

"Yes, Mommy! I won't waste my time with idiots like Aunty Blue."

It would've been fine if Zion didn't add the latter part of the sentence, but now Charlotte really wanted to beat him up.

"Godmum, are you going to hit my brother?"

Rita blinked her doe eyes at Charlotte as she spoke in a sweet, innocent voice. Hence, this caused Charlotte to suppress her ballooning anger.

"No. Don't be afraid Rita, I'm not going to hit him."

When Charlotte heard Rita call her godmum, she was absolutely delighted.

"Thank you, Godmum!"

Rita smiled sweetly before she stood up and went over to Mango's bed.

"Mommy, daddy told me that you're sick, so we shouldn't bother you too much. I won't hug you, but could you pat my head? I haven't seen you in a very long time." Rita asked sadly and it was clear that she had missed Mango very dearly.

After Mango's surgery, she hadn't seen her daughter up until now. Furthermore, she didn't even have the time to check on Rita's progress on her recovery. When she saw that Rita's complexion had improved, all of her worries faded instantly.

"Come on and let me hold you!"

However, Rita shook her head when she heard that and said, "Daddy said that you're too weak to carry me. It's fine, I can always hug you, right?"

As she spoke, she took off her shoes and tried to climb on the bed. However, she was too short and this frustrated her to no end.

Meanwhile, Charlotte frowned when Zion gave her a nudge.

"What?"

"Aren't you Rita's godmother? Why are you so unobservant? Since my sister can't get on the bed, why don't you help her?"

Then, Charlotte blushed furiously with embarrassment. She had been so preoccupied with admiring Rita adorable face that she hadn't even noticed that Rita needed help.

Now that Zion spoke up, Charlotte was rather ashamed.

"Ugh, I was going to do that. I don't need you to tell me what to do."

Charlotte huffed before she stepped forward and carried Rita to Mango's side.

"Thank you, Godmum!"

Rita smiled so sweetly at Charlotte that it nearly took her breath away.

"Gosh, Mango. Your daughter's going to be a real beauty when she grows up. She's going to be a real heartbreaker in the future!"

"Ah, quit it with that crap."

Mango chastised Charlotte amusedly before she saw Rita stretch out her arms to hug her.

Rita's body still smelled of medicine, but it was much fainter than before. Today, Rita was wearing a long, flowing dress and she looked very pretty. "Mommy, will your illness go away if I hug you?"

"Yup!"

Then, Mango pulled Rita into her lap.

Her daughter seemed chubbier than before, and it could be seen that the Ye Family had treated her well.

"Mommy, did you miss me?"

"Of course! I missed you every day!"

When Mango said that, she noticed the sceptical look in Charlotte's teasing eyes and her face immediately turned red as she blushed.

Over the past few days, she didn't miss her children much due to Nathaniel's company.

"Cough cough!"

Mango cleared her throat uncomfortably.

However, Rita was none the wiser and she kissed Mango on the cheek. Then, she smiled and replied, "I miss Mommy too. You need to get well soon, okay? You promised to take us somewhere fun!" "I will!"

Mango looked at Rita affectionately. Finally, she could get a taste of the blissful life that eluded her before this.

Meanwhile, Zion was glad to see Rita so happy and he said, "Mommy, Grandma and Grandpa are here as well, but they're downstairs speaking to Mr. Ye. They'll come up to visit you in a moment. You know, Grandma cried when she found out that you were sick."

"Really? Did you comfort her then?"

"I did! Don't worry, grandma's in a much better mood now. She's really happy that she could spend time with me and Rita."

Zion's words comforted Mango.

"Come over and let me have a look at you."

Then, Mango stretched out her hand towards Zion. Zion hesitated for a moment before he walked forward sheepishly to Mango's bed and he looked at her with eyes were full of anticipation.