“Myra wouldn’t stop complimenting you on our way here, Uncle Tony. She said that you’re very well-accomplished for your age and she complimented you for being handsome as well as kind! She also told me she likes you a lot and she doesn’t care about Sean at all! Mom told me that the reason why Myra blushes every time she sees you is because she’s head over heels for you…”
Henry was rambling even as he ran away from them.
“Come back here, you little rascal!” Myra bellowed after him. Her face felt like it was on fire from all the things he had said and she cursed inwardly, Ungrateful little brat. I can’t believe he’s doing this to me after he asked me to go shopping with him!
“No!” Henry blinked at her with an impish grin on his face. “Just admit that you’re in love with my uncle, Myra! There’s nothing to be embarrassed about!”
“Henry!” She gritted her teeth. She hadn’t realized how mischievous the boy could be and she wondered who had been filling his tender mind with all this nonsense.
“Are you angry?” Tony’s voice sounded weird, as if he was trying to suppress his amusement.
“Go ahead and laugh if you want to!” Myra snapped as she shot an icy glare at him.
Sure enough, he no longer suppressed his desire and let out a low rumble of laughter.
His voice was deep and enticing, carrying with it something uniquely enigmatic.
It was a joy to see someone as graceful and chiseled as him break into laughter. Myra wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh along or drown in her own embarrassment.
Tony suddenly stopped laughing and leaned closer toward her to nibble on her earlobe. The warmth of his breath tickled the delicate skin of her nape. He quickly released her, but she was already burning from inside.
Worried that Myra would soon be enraged if this continued, Tony stopped teasing her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as he guided her forward.
Sean stepped out from the corner and his eyes were stormy as he watched the three figure strolling not too far away. He was acutely aware of the resentment and frustration that was building up in him.
His heart clenched with fury when he thought about what that kid had said—‘She told me she likes you a lot and that she doesn’t care about Sean at all!’
When he saw how annoyed and irritated Myra had been, he was seized with a sudden urge to tease and cajole her. He did not want her to look at him as though he was the greatest nuisance in her life; he’d wanted to make her look at him with the same love and admiration that she had for him. Could it be that I have been acclimated to Myra’s presence around me? Is that why I felt like that? Could it be that I have developed real feelings for her—however slight they might be—during the course of our two-year marriage?
Sean closed his eyes briefly, overwhelmed by his own thoughts, before he turned and headed down to the basement carpark.
By the time Sean gave Lyla a call, he was already on his way back to the company.
“What?” Lyla demanded loudly, her shrill voice inviting disapproving looks from the other patrons in the cafe. Not wanting to cause a scene, she quickly lowered her voice and hissed unhappily into the phone. “What urgent thing in the company that requires your immediate attention? You told me you’d spent the entire afternoon with me, Sean. How could you abandon me halfway?”
She did not wait for him to answer and instead hung up angrily.
She wasn’t stupid. In fact, she could be quite clever at times. Judging from recent incidents, all the signs were indicating that she was in a precarious position indeed. She could fall from the pedestal that was Sean’s heart at any given moment.
Eve had never gotten along with her and if Sean kept distancing himself from her like this, it would only be a matter of time before she lost her title as the Young Mistress of the Chase family.
Lyla was suffocating under the weight of her fear and panic when she caught a glimpse of two familiar figures walking past the cafe window.
It was Eve and she was with the same woman whom Lyla had seen the other day.
Lyla had not been able to see the woman clearly before and she only managed to see her side profile. However, now that there was nothing obscuring her view, she could see that the woman was pregnant.
Eve, on the other hand, appeared to be doting on her. She was holding onto the woman even as they walked, as if she was terrified that the latter would get hurt simply by strolling in a mall.
At that sight, Lyla felt her heart plunge to her stomach. She had a bad feeling about this and without stopping to think, she hurried after them.
Nonetheless, she kept a safe distance away to avoid Eve seeing her.
She watched as they entered the same baby store that she and Sean had visited earlier. She noted that they had made a lot of purchases and she didn’t enter the store until after they had paid and left. Her face was grim as she walked through the door.
“Have you thought about what you’d like to buy, miss?” It went without saying that the sales assistant remembered her.
Lyla forced a smile. She hummed in response and said, “I have my eyes on that crib you showed me earlier—I’ll take one in the boys’ style and another in the girls’.”
Upon hearing that, the sales assistant beamed. “Certainly. Is there anything else you need?”
“That’s all for now. The rest will have to wait until after the nursery is done,” Lyla answered. She paused before she asked off-handedly. “I saw that the two ladies from earlier left the store with quite a haul. Is it because one of them is pregnant?”
The sales assistant had earned quite a hefty commission from the last two customers and she was still cheery about it as she answered, “That’s right. The mother-in-law is clearly taking great care of her pregnant daughter-in-law. The baby isn’t even born yet and she’s already stocking up on all the baby products!”
Lyla’s face darkened when she heard the words ‘mother-in-law’ and ‘daughter-in-law’. She glared at the sales assistant and seethed, “Do you even know what you’re talking about?”
The sales assistant froze at the aggressive tone of Lyla’s voice. She explained warily, “That was how the young woman addressed the madam, though. Furthermore, the madam was caressing the woman’s baby bump and saying something about ‘her golden grandson’—”
Before she could even finish speaking, Lyla had already stormed out of the store with a sullen expression.
“H-Hey, miss! You still haven’t paid for the cribs! Do you still want them?”
Lyla was no longer in the mood to answer since things were beginning to make sense now.
So, this is why Sean has been so distant with me recently and why there is an abrupt shift in Eve’s demeanor toward my pregnancy, she thought. Sean has a new lady now and he got her pregnant too!
However, she came to the realization that it wouldn’t make sense if the lady was Sean’s newfound love interest. As far as Lyla could tell, the lady was at least four months into her pregnancy, which meant that he had been with her since before Lyla’s return!
Lyla bridled at this. It had only been a while ago when he proclaimed his love for her.
Her blood boiled and she bit on her lip so hard that she was close to drawing blood.
So, what in the world are Sean and Eve up to? From what I know, Eve wouldn’t turn her back against me if the other woman is carrying a daughter. After all, it’s not a granddaughter she wants, which means the other woman must be carrying a son instead!
Lyla’s eyes widened at that and she felt dizzy as the blood rushed to her head. She stormed out of the mall and flagged down a cab. She gave the driver an address and before long, the car sped away from the mall toward Chase Headquarters.
As agreed, Myra and Tony would drop Henry back at the Hart Residence first.
Henry made his way from the car to the front door of the house before he turned to politely wave at them. “Goodbye, Myra and Uncle Tony. Thank you for shopping with me today, Myra, and I’m really happy that you did.”
Myra reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair with a smile. “I’m really happy as well. Go on then. It’s getting late.”
The little boy nodded as he hummed in response. Then, he turned to walk through the front door.
Meanwhile, Sebastian was standing at the side as he watched the scene unfold, a devious grin playing on his face. After a while, he lifted his hand and waved the two adults away, as though he was asking them to leave immediately.
They entered the car and as usual, there was a warmth in the atmosphere that eased them.
Tony’s hand clasped over Myra’s left hand. His thumb gently caressed the back of her hand as he asked, “Do you like Henry?”
The ticklish sensation of his gesture made Myra squirm slightly. She wanted to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her. She glared at him before she answered, “I do. He’s adorable and he’s really mature for his age.”
“Then, you should have one of your own—a child, I mean,” Tony remarked teasingly as he let out a low chuckle. He made it sound as if childbirth was as easy as breathing.
Myra rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I can’t just have a child at will, Tony. I need to get pregnant first before actually going through childbirth.”
