Love’s Cruel Stroke Chapter 36
Rachel clutched the phone and sighed quietly. She had to admit that Francis made a fair point; after disappearing for four years, she ought to go back and visit Vivian and offer the old woman an explanation for all that had happened. That said, there was no telling that Vivian would still be on her side.
“Mommy, the veggies are getting all mushy in the pan,” Casper suddenly pointed out, scrunching up his nose.
Rachel quickly hung up the phone and resumed cooking.
Dinner was ready about half an hour later. Upon sniffing the delicious scent of food, Olivia walked into the kitchen without any prompting and hoisted herself onto her usual seat by the dining table, then eyed the dishes with anticipation.
Even Casper couldn’t resist laughing as he said, “Mommy, look at how cute Olive is.”
Smiling, Rachel served the little girl a bowl of soup and said, “Dig in, Olive, there’s a good girl. You’ll need to eat a healthy diet if you want to grow up and be a pretty princess.”
Olivia ate in silence, shoveling large spoonfuls of food into her mouth in earnest. It didn’t take long for the two kids to polish off the hearty spread on the table.
Meanwhile, over at the Ford Residence, a lavish dinner had been laid out on the long dining table.
There were two figures who sat across from one another at the expansive dining table – Jordan and Damian. Both father and son manned either side of the table, and they each looked distinctly grim. At present, the air in the dining room was cold and heavy.
Damian threw his utensils aside and pursed his lips unhappily, then snapped, “I’m not hungry anymore!” He shoved his chair backward, then made to get down from his seat.
“No one said you could leave,” Jordan said coldly. “There are no picky eaters in the Ford Family, and you won’t be the first one, so sit down and finish your meal.”
Damian sat stiff and straight as he argued, “So you won’t even let me have the freedom to choose to have or not to have my meals?”
He had been kept in the Ford Residence for a whole day ever since he was withdrawn from kindergarten, Seven or eight tutors had shown up thus far just to impart upon him the knowledge of various subjects, and at some point, he believed he might be going insane.
Ile had been looking forward to dinner all my long, but now that he was seated here at the table, he saw that there was nothing he liked to eat, even though there was a feast decked out before him.
Ile would rather starve than have anything on the table.
Growing impatient, Jondan got out of his seat and strode over to Darnian, then said icily, “Freedom is not the absence of principles. You will finish your dinner, and you are free to snack on whatever you like aficilward without my input.”
He considered this to be a suflicient compromise, but Damian clearly did not register it as such, for he lifted his little chin and schred at his father with red-rimmed eyes, roaning, “You’re crossing the line, Daddy! I don’t like you at all, and I won’t ever have dinner with you again!”
With that, the lule boy stormed up the stairs and locked himself in his bedroom.
Jordan sighed and pinched the space between his brows. He had been rebellious back in the day, not to mention hard-headed, but he had never talked back to his parents the way Damian did. He wondered if he found Damian’s behavior particularly aggravating because he was used to Dmitris compliant nature.
He could feel the onset of a migraine assaulting him as he sat down on the couch. I‘ve had fewer problems dealing with projects worth billions, he thought darkly.
“Master,” Joe said as he walked over to the douch. “The dishes today are a little sweeter than usual, and Young Master Damian has never preferred such flavors. How about if I ask a few other chefs to whip up something different for him? I’m sure there’s something that he’ll like.”
Jordan’s voice was crisp and cold as he said, “The Ford Family has seen about a hundred chefs come and leave since Damian was born, and not one of them could appeal to that kid’s palate.”
It was clearer than ever that Damian was aggravating Jordan on purpose and trying to push his limits.
Joe sighed, “Master, Young Master Damian is still growing. He will need food.”
Jordan’s face was gloomy, and he took a deep breath before saying, “If the local chefs are inadequate, then look for the ones abroad. I don’t care how much money it takes as long as the chef we hire is the one who can ultimately make something Damian likes.”
“Yes, Master,” Joe agreed hastily.
As cold and distant as Jordan was on most days, Joe knew that the man loved the two voung masters unconditionally. There were some who said that a father’s love was as
mighty as a mountain, but if it were up to Joe, he would think a father’s love was as wide and depthless as the sea.
Up on the second floor, Damian was misty-eyed as he sat by the balcony. He was starving, but as he munched on the cookies he had taken out from his backpack, he choked on the crumbs. The tears that threatened to overwhelm him finally did, and in a broken voice, the little boy mumbled, “I hate Daddy…”
He was crying while mumbling angry words about his father. Daddy‘s evil. He‘s always so mean to me, and he won‘t let me leave the house. He keeps me locked up in my room and forces me to learn all that boring‘ stuff.
Damian wanted to run out of the house and look for Rachel. He wanted to touch Olivia’s face and marvel at how adorable she was, but the more he thought about this, the more upset he was.
Just then, his smartwatch buzzed with an incoming call. He glanced at it and saw that it was a call from Dmitri. Hastily wiping away his tears, he clicked to put the call through
“What gives, Damian? Why are you crying alone?”
Damian jumped. “How do you know I’m crying, Dmitri?”
“Did you forget that we’re twins? I feel as you do,” Dmitri pointed out coldly. “I know when you’re crying, but you seem rather upset this time. Come on, tell me what happened.”
Damian flushed, embarrassed to have been caught crying by his own brother. “I tripped and scraped my knee. It hurt so much that I cried.”
“Really? Then I’ll get Joe to help you bandage it up.”
“No!” Damian cried, then rubbed the back of his head in frustration. “Could you just stop being so clever and keep your nose out of my business, Dmitri? So I cried because I was upset. Is that such a crime? Don’t I have the freedom to hide in my room and cry in secret?”
“You can cry all you want, but I just want to know who you are crying for,” Dmitri said unaffectedly, “Of course, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. Right, then, bye”
“Hey, wait!” Damian yelled. He huddled into the corner of the wall and sighed. He would turn to his friends if he had any, but right now, Dmitri was his only confidante. “I met a woman, Dmitri. She’s pretty and kind, and I really like her, but Daddy pulled me out of school and grounded me for good. I can’t even go and see her. I feel absolutely miserable, and Daddy’s got me learning all kinds of boring stuff every day from 7.00AM until dinnertime. I’m going crazy…”
Dmitri cut off his brother’s senseless whining and asked, “Who’s the woman?”
“Just a woman I like. She has really pretty eyes, like a full moon in the night sky, and her voice is so pleasing. I would fall asleep in no time if she were to read me a bedtime story every night-“.
“I’m not asking you to sing praises of that woman; I’m asking you who she is and what her name is.”
“Oh, her name’s Rachel Yates..”
Upon hearing this, Dmitri narrowed his eyes. Rachel Yates! That‘s Mom‘s sister from another father! She‘s the woman who supposedly died four years ago, but out of the blue, she showed up again just a couple of days before this. How did Damian meet her? Is she trying to get close to him on purpose?
At the thought of that, he warned coldly, “If you’re smart, you will stay away from her, Damian. She’s not the saint you make her out to be.”
