Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Mia had completely forgotten why she was crying earlier. The whole family, as if they'd stumbled upon a hidden treasure, couldn't stop watching the video of little Henry wobbling around as he tried to walk. Jade, always with her quirky insights, piped up, "Hey Anya, what made you think to start filming?"

Everyone turned to Anya, finding it hard to believe she had some kind of foresight.

Just then, a message from Leo popped up, saying, "The little chubster's walking!" and "Forget watching the queen of clumsy, send me that meatball."

Mia took a deep breath and handed Anya's phone back to her. "Tell Leo I'm keeping tabs."

That night, still buzzing from Henry's surprise accomplishment, the family encouraged him to take a few more steps, trying every trick in the book to get him to move.

Mia announced, "Step aside, let me handle this."

She whipped up a bowl of instant noodles and sat down in front of Henry, turning the meal into a little show.

"Ah, mama." Henry toddled forward, captivated.

After a few steps, without anything to hold onto, Henry almost hit the ground, but his dad swooped in, picked him up, and gave him a proud kiss. "You little rascal, walking without letting your old man in on it." Henry eyed the noodles in his mom's hand, drooling.

Chad leaned in to observe Henry. "Andre, Henry's quite the little secret keeper. Clinging to the table like that, and who knew he could walk a bit?"

Meanwhile, Molly, sitting next to Mia, eyed the noodles. "Mia, got any more?"

"You wouldn't dare. You're pregnant."

Molly shot back, "You ate my ice cream when you were expecting."

Mia passed the fork to Molly, blocking the guys from seeing. "Quick, take a few bites before they notice."

Andre glanced over at his son, then back at his wife. "Molly's not eating healthy."

Chad chuckled, still watching Henry. "Let her have this win. If I clamp down too hard, I'll be the one regretting it."

Molly savored the treat. "Mia, you're a real pal."

Mia replied, "Only because you didn't rat me out."

After they finished, everyone seemed in better spirits.

Mia finally went to pick up her son. Henry frowned, wondering where the tasty food went, then decided to nibble on his mom's face instead.

As for how the noodles came about, Andre knew better than to question his fiery wife at a time like this.

Hansen, tempted by the smell of noodles, disappeared for half an hour. When he returned, he too carried the scent of instant noodles.

Henry was like a zoo attraction, surrounded by family until they finally called it a night.

Later, a video call from Cooper came through. He'd seen the clip of his nephew learning to walk and was eager to see more, but Mia refused to answer. "So you have a son and now you're all high and mighty."

Mia retorted, "That's right, I have a son and you don't. If you're so great, go have one yourself."

And that was that.

Cooper tried another angle, "Give me back my nephew."

When he couldn't get through to his sister, he turned to his brother-in-law. "Come on, just send my nephew over. I'll be the cool uncle. This way, Henry won't distract my sister from her studies, and you get some couple time. It's perfect." Andre shrugged. "My wife runs the show here. I don't have a say."

"Come on, Andre! Stand up for yourself."

Andre confessed, "Andre's scared of his wife."

Mia felt quite pleased hearing that.

Cooper decided he was done calling the couple.

Wanting her son to get more practice walking, Mia knelt on the bed, holding his tiny hands and guiding him forward.

Andre tried to catch her attention. "Mia."

She coolly replied, "Not in the mood to talk."

Andre was already calculating how much this blunder would cost him.

At eleven, she snuggled with her little one, distancing herself from her husband.

Henry was thrilled, sleeping in his mom's arms.

His dad, however, felt like there was a river between them.

The next morning.

Even though she was still a bit miffed, Mia knew she had to get up for her grad school classes. At the classroom.

Jamie and Denny noticed she wasn't as fiery as the day before. "Mia, you good?"

Mia, pulling out her books, replied, "Yeah, just waiting to see how Andre plans to win me back."

"Huh? Andre?"

They were both puzzled.

Mia paused, realizing she might have let it slip. She hadn't called him her husband in her annoyance, just his name.

"You mean like the business mogul Andre? Mia, have you heard about him, the big shot from Eldoria?" Jamie asked, full of admiration.

Denny chimed in, "You study economics, you must know. Your family's great with names, sharing one with the business tycoon."

Feeling a bit guilty, Mia got out her

pencil case. "Yeah, I've... heard of him." More than heard, her son with this

big shot" was already with

"Let's, uh, focus on the problems, on studying."

Knowledge is personal, and even if

she was upset, Mia wouldn't let it derail her studies. After Henry fell asleep, she only pretended to rest using the time to process her emotions and figure out what she really wanted.

Through her studies and budding understanding of the industry, Mia realized she really liked it.

If she didn't study now and just went to work, no one would hire her. She didn't want to end up going backward by just being a full-time mom. Starting a business was out of the question for now.

Besides, she had those ten checks safely stashed away in her little treasury.

Finally, Mia picked up her pen and opened her textbook.

While studying, Mia received a deposit notification. With her phone in hand, she counted, "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands..." Yep, 5,210,000.

"Mia, what are you counting?"

Mia replied, "Counting my money."

Her classmate Jamie thought she was joking. "You're a riot. Pay attention to this tricky law."

At Cedillo Inc.,

Andre sat at his desk with a chubby baby, pressing his phone to his forehead, still no message from his wife.

Noah bluntly asked, "Boss, why's the missus mad again? At this rate, her fortune's gonna outdo yours."

Andre just sighed.

Soon after, his phone rang with Mars's playful voice on the line. "Andre, where are you? You're the only one missing. Get over here." Andre stood up, grabbed his little one, and headed out.

He arrived at the top floor of Crescent Park.

The moment Henry appeared, he instantly captivated everyone.

"Come here, buddy, let your godfather give you a hug."