On the chessboard, Ashton was down to his last few pieces. Gazing at me, he asked in a gentle tone, “What are your plans for this afternoon?”
“I don’t have any plans,” I replied. Then, I attacked his knight.
He didn’t seem to mind and openly surrendered to me.
Emery walked away, probably tired of witnessing Ashton’s obvious submission. Meanwhile, Cameron stood by the side and rebuked, “Didn’t I tell you both to visit the aquarium in the North District today? Summer has been going on about it for a long time.”
“That’s a good idea. The weather today is suitable for an outing,” Ashton answered with a nod.
I refused flatly, “I can’t. I’m busy.”
Both Cameron and Ashton looked at me, and the former asked quizzically, “Busy with what?”
My eyes stayed focused on the board and I only lifted my gaze after taking Ashton’s king. “Didn’t I tell you I’ll be visiting Uncle Louis today? I haven’t seen Hannah for a long time too. I wanna see her baby.”
Cameron was momentarily taken aback, but she managed to squeeze out a smile. “But Mr. Fuller is here. It’s a good time to take Summer out to play.”
“Oh.” I paused, then countered, “But I’ve already called my brother and made dinner plans with him tonight.”
Trying hard to patch things up between Ashton and me, Cameron proposed, “Well, that’s great too. You can all go together. Summer has never seen Hannah’s baby. Since Summer likes babies, I think it’s a good idea to-”
“Let Summer stay at home and play with Xavier. He’s a baby too and she likes him. It might be troublesome to bring her along. It’s better if I go alone.” I stood up and was about to go upstairs.
Right then, Summer bounded down the stairs barefooted and ran toward me. “Mommy, Uncle John is calling!”
Speak of the devil…
As soon as I answered the call, his voice drifted across the phone. “You’re back in K City?”
“I see you’re well-informed,” I replied.
He clucked his tongue in a playful manner. “Of course. Let’s have dinner together tonight. I haven’t seen you in such a long time. I miss you.”
I hummed in response. “Sure. I was coincidently planning to see Hannah and the baby, then visit Uncle Louis.”
John fell silent for a while before clarifying, “I meant just us.”
I pursed my lips, slightly stunned. “Why?”
When he didn’t respond, I speculated, “Did you and Hannah fight?”
“Can’t dinner just be the two of us?” From his grumpy tone, my guess was probably right.
I sighed softly and concurred, “Fine. You pick the place and time, then.”
He agreed and hung up after that.
Summer wrapped her short arms around me and I noticed that she was still in her pajamas. Hence, I told her to go upstairs and change, but she wanted me to help her. Seeing as she wasn’t a baby anymore, I turned her down. To my chagrin, she ran to Ashton, hugged him, and started acting all cute.
Mentally throwing my hands up in defeat, I went back to my room and prepared to unpack my things since I probably had to stay here for the next few days.
After Independence Day, I would need to go back to A City and continue working on the Lavelian Village project. I didn’t bring much of my own belongings back with me and the large suitcase was actually for all the cute toys I bought for Summer.
Summer was probably awakened by my ringtone and immediately went to look for me because I noticed that the bed was still unmade. After tidying up the bed slightly, I arranged my skincare products on the dressing table.
Hearing some movement near the bedroom door, I assumed that it was Summer and lectured, “Summer, you need to make it a habit to make the bed and change your clothes after waking up, okay?”
Even though there were maids at home, she needed to learn how to do these things on her own because not being able to do something and not wanting to do it were two different things.
When I didn’t hear her response, I frowned and glanced behind me to see Ashton’s towering figure.
His obsidian eyes were steady as he stared at me in silence. I stiffened and avoided his gaze, not intending to speak.
“How’s Mr. White’s injury?” he asked as his gaze darkened.
“He’s fine,” I replied succinctly.
He sat on my bed and kept the conversation going. “When are you planning to go back to A City?”
“After Independence Day.”
This one-sided conversation was awkward, but Ashton seemed unfazed as he continued speaking.
Already in a sullen mood, I stood up and made my way to the door, but he snagged my arm. “Must we continue fighting like this?”
I looked at him with a frown. “When did I fight with you, Mr. Fuller?”
His expression turned slightly glacial at that. “Scarlett, I want us to be able to sit down and talk things out, not give each other the cold shoulder and behave unreasonably.”
I met his gaze and huffed out a mirthless laugh. “You’re right, Mr. Fuller. I’ve always been an unreasonable person. If you can’t stand it, don’t come here. No one asked you to anyway.”
Humans were funny beings. Obviously, I could have had a civil conversation with him, but I just had to hurt him.
Ashton’s face clouded over and he nodded with a cold smile. “Fine. Have it your way, then. I’ll stop bothering you.”
