You're Out, Daddy novel (Natasha and Kenneth)

Thalia was still baffled, but after seeing Anthony's serious expression, she quickly followed him.

As the boy led the way, Thalia trailed a meter behind and scrutinized him. After a while, she finally spoke up. "A-Are you not angry with me anymore?"

"What's there to be angry about?" Anthony replied without turning his head, seemingly having anticipated the question.

Thalia lowered her gaze and murmured, "Why do you still ask when you already know..."

Anthony suddenly halted and turned to look at Thalia, prompting the latter to freeze from guilt and begrudgingly meet his gaze.

"Thalia, you really don't need to worry too much about my thoughts and opinions," Anthony said with a weary sigh.

Upon hearing that, Thalia furrowed her brows. "What do you mean? Are you planning to sever ties with me?"

"What I meant to say is that the fault of this matter doesn't lie with you, so you don't have to tiptoe around me."

Thalia narrowed her eyes as she stared at the boy suspiciously, "Are you sure?"

Anthony nodded.

"In that case, why did you ignore me when I talked to you yesterday?"

With that, Anthony lowered his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh, "I didn't say anything because I couldn't accept the truth then. The one I'm angry at is myself. Both of you are very important to me, and I can't bear to see anything bad happen to either of you," he explained before looking up at Thalia. "Do you understand?"

Thalia, who had been grappling with conflicting emotions, was stunned by Anthony's words.

She gazed at the boy and found her unhappiness slowly dissipating, only to be replaced by a sense of relief.

"A-Am I that important? Can I really be compared to Nat?" Thalia muttered.

Anthony looked at the woman incredulously. Oh, gosh... Even at this moment, is that all she's concerned about?

"What do you think?" he grumbled, his eyes sweeping over her impatiently.

"How would I know?" Thalia retorted.

"Forget it if you don't know!" Anthony said before turning around and walking away. After all, continuing that conversation would only make the situation even more awkward.

Thalia immediately followed behind and caught up to the boy in two strides. The next second, she casually wrapped an arm around his shoulder and acted like they were best buddies. "Oh, come on. Tell me about it!"

True to her nature, Thalia could light up the room with just a little sunshine.

Anthony, on the other hand, actually felt pretty guilty. He knew the incident wasn't what Thalia had intended, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control himself that day.

However, now that he realized Thalia wasn't dwelling on it, he started to wonder if he was the one being too short-sighted.

"Let me go!" he grumbled.

"I'll let you go if you say it!"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to say what was on your mind earlier! Tell me. Are Nat and I equally important to you?" Thalia asked. One thing was for sure that one question was enough to make her day. Alas, Anthony continued to struggle. "Let me go!"

"If you don't speak up, I won't let you go!" Thalia retorted as she put the boy in a headlock.

"You-"

"What? What about me?" Thalia interrupted. "Listen up. If you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll hound you until you do!"

For a moment, Anthony was speechless. "Come on... Haven't you heard that you can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink?" "Who cares? What matters is that I've led the horse to water, so it'd better drink up!"

Once again, Anthony fell silent.

He knew Thalia well, and she was the kind of person who would talk the talk and walk the walk.

Left with no other options, Anthony finally relented. "Fine, fine, fine. You're important, just like how Nat is important to me. Will that do?" "What does 'fine, fine, fine' mean, huh? What kind of nonsense is that? Are you implying that I'm forcing you?" Thalia snapped back. "Well, shouldn't you know—"

"Hmm?" Thalia interrupted as she cocked an eyebrow at Anthony.

With that, the latter held his tongue and stared at the woman until an ingratiating smile surfaced on his face. "What I meant was... Shouldn't you know what I'm thinking about?"

Thalia shook her head. "I don't!"

Still smiling, Anthony took a deep breath. "Yes. You're as important to me as Nat is!"

Thalia's eyes instantly lit up. "Really?"

"Of course!"

"That's more like it!" Thalia said as she burst into a hearty laugh and let Anthony go.

With that, the latter immediately took the opportunity to move his neck, straighten his clothes, and take a deep breath.

Thalia couldn't help but glance at Anthony. Even though he had said those words under her coercion, she was still happy to hear them.

Oh, I know Anthony too well... His problem is he isn't good at expressing himself. That's okay, though. I'll slowly teach him how to open up and speak his mind in the future.

With that thought in mind, Thalia felt her heart burst with joy.

She had been alone and helpless from a young age, living a life full of hardship until Spencer came into her life and let her experience the warmth of the human touch. Alas, the older she got, the more she understood the harsh reality of life. It was difficult enough to find sincerity in most people, let alone familial love. Even after joining Darknetz, the people around her were nothing more than friends or colleagues The arrival of Anthony, however, changed her mindset. Thanks to him and Natasha, she finally felt what it was like to have a family.

Thalia, without a doubt, was happy.

Love, friendship, and family... I have them all, haven't I? Granted, my love life wasn't very smooth sailing, but it still worked out eventually.

At the thought of that, Thalia curled her lips into a smile.

Naturally, Anthony couldn't help but notice her big, goofy grin as he stood beside her. He quickly waved his hand in front of her eyes and piped up, "What are you smiling at?”

Thalia snapped back to her senses and shook her head. "It's nothing!"

Despite that, Anthony gave her a somewhat puzzled look. "Let's get going if there's nothing wrong then."

"Okay!" Thalia responded before following the boy.

Alas, in her moment of joy, she had again forgotten to ask where they were headed.

Upon reaching Dave's study, Anthony promptly knocked and entered the room. Unfortunately, Thalia's smile faded away when she noticed the people standing inside.

Apart from Dave, Kenneth and Spencer were also present.

The sight of Spencer reminded Thalia of their argument from the day before, and even though she now knew that everything he had done was for her, she still hadn't figured out how to face him. As a result, she averted her gaze and avoided making eye contact with him.

On the other hand, Spencer had fixed his eyes on Thalia from the moment she entered the room, and it wasn't until she looked away that he reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

Dave instantly picked up on the awkward atmosphere, but thankfully, he knew there were more important matters to prioritize.

The next second, he cleared his throat and looked at the group before him. "Now that everyone's here, I'll get straight to the point. I've gathered you guys because there's something important to discuss," he announced as he glanced at Kenneth leaning against the window. "Due to some special circumstances, I discussed briefly with Kenneth yesterday and have decided to bring our plan forward. Therefore, we need to assign tasks for our upcoming mission."

Upon hearing that, Thalia turned to Anthony.

Anthony, too, was looking at her. "Soon, Nat will be just like you!"

With that, Thalia suddenly became full of energy. She looked up at Dave, her playful demeanor long gone and replaced by a look of steely determination.