Despite the disturbance, they were still able to have their meal in peace.
Even after dinner, no one bothered to tell Fabio and Richard who those people were.
The kids were smart enough to not ask either.
After dinner, Andrew took Ashley out for a walk so she could better digest the food. The doctor had
mentioned that taking walks would be good for the baby too.
Thus, Andrew took Ashley out for a walk every evening after dinner.
As expected, the kids followed from behind. While Andrew didn't seem too excited about this, his
relationship with the kids had improved.
"Mommy, who were those people earlier? I don't think Great Grandpa likes them very much." Fabio
came skipping until he was in front of Ashley and promptly stopped when he was beside her.
While he noticed that Chant didn't like them, he also felt that Ashley and Andrew didn't seem too happy
with their presence either.
"He likes them. Also, you should call them grandpa and grandma, okay? They're your dad's parents,"
Ashley said firmly.
While the tension between the adults were real, Ashley felt it was best to keep it between them. The
kids were still too young to get involved in such matters.
"Really?"
"Of course! Would Mommy lie to you?"
Ashley had a look of amusement on her face as she gazed at Fabio.
"But why do I feel like they don't like us?" Fabio looked confused.
Although Arya was kind enough to praise him, he still felt as if something was off.
Children were sensitive. All they needed was one glance to know who was being genuinely nice to
them and who was not.
"It doesn't matter. We don't like them either. What's important is that we have Dad, Mom, and Great
Grandpa. That's enough," Dany added.
'She knows a lot at such a young age,' Ashley thought to herself.
Smiling, she looked at Dany. "You're such a smart girl."
The kids burst into laughter at the same time.
After walking around the villa, Ashley began to feel worn out so she decided that it was time to go back
inside.
Ethan, Arya, and Susie still hadn't left. They had settled themselves on the sofa with Chant.
The atmosphere seemed a little awkward as only Susie would talk to Chant from time to time.
Meanwhile, Ashley considered walking a few more rounds outside.
However, now that she had already come inside, she couldn't go out anymore—it would seem rude.
As soon as Arya caught sight of Ashley, she said, "Oh, Ashley's back. You two seem to be doing great.
Andrew knows how to take care of you."
Andrew didn't say a word while Ashley merely nodded out of politeness.
"It's getting late. Fabio, come here. Great Grandpa will take you upstairs and help you go to bed."
Chant reached out his hand to Fabio.
"Okay." Fabio then approached Chant and took his hand.
"Richard, Dany, come with us. Great Grandpa will take you upstairs to play."
When they headed upstairs, only a few people were left in the living room.
The tension was thick around them as they all seemed awkward. Anyone with common sense would
see that Chant was basically trying to get them to leave. Isn't it rude of them to insist on staying when
they were clearly being asked to go?
"Let's go." Andrew behaved as if they weren't there.
He supported Ashley as they made their way upstairs. When they left, only the three remained in the
living room.
As Susie watched Ashley leave, she intended to catch up with her and say something. However, upon
giving it more thought, she decided against it.
Ashley was no longer the same Ashley as before.
Even if Ashley hadn't changed, she still wouldn't dare do anything.
At long last, Arya collected herself and bade her goodbyes to Linda before leaving.
As soon as they stepped out, Ethan imploded. "Look at that ungrateful son! What did he do? I'm still his
father. He barely looked at me!"
"Andrew has always been like that. Why do you care so much? Let's just go,"
Arya said as the three got in the car.
Susie was in an undeniably terrible mood. She intended to talk to Ashley but didn't even get the chance
to do so.
Andrew kept a close eye on Ashley. He would never allow Ashley to be alone with Susie. It's not like
they had the greatest relationship either.
"Susie, what's wrong?" Noticing that there was something wrong with Susie, Arya looked at her with
concern.
While Andrew and Ethan's relationship had always been strained, at the very least, they had never
been mistreated.
Ethan owned shares in the Lu Group and the annual dividend was enough for the family to spend.
"I'm fine." Susie came to her senses and shook her head.
"Are you still thinking about Ashley?
Just let it go. You didn't know her back then. I'm sure they probably don't even remember it anymore.
It's been years after all. Besides, we didn't mistreat her. Don't worry."
Susie nodded but inwardly, she disagreed. At that time, she actually thought that Lesley would become
her sister-in-law. So what if Ashley and her brother got married?
They could still divorce.
In addition to that, when she found out that Angelina also hated Ashley, they teamed up and plotted
against Ashley.
She would be lying if she said that she didn't regret any of it.
Ashley remained unfazed despite all this. She had no idea what was bothering Susie and she wasn't
interested in finding out either.
After the incident, Susie managed to get a hold of Ashley's number and gave her a call.
Ashley already knew what Susie wanted to say.
It took two to tango. If Jeremy liked Angelina back then, they would have been together. What was the
point in pushing all of this?
"Ashley, I want to apologize to you. Can we meet up for coffee?"
Ashley sat on the balcony as the bright sun streamed down on her.
"Susie?" Ashley asked hesitantly.
"Yes, it's me," Susie responded.
Ashley couldn't remember the last time Susie had called her especially knowing how much Susie
despised her.
"I'm pregnant so it's not really ideal for me to be moving around. If you have anything to say, you can
say it over the phone. Besides, there's nothing to apologize for."
"Ashley, I know I was wrong. Can you give me a chance to say sorry to you?"
"I've already moved on from what happened in the past. I didn't take it to heart at all. You don't have to
do this. If you really want to say sorry, I already heard it just now.
If it's about something else, you need to talk to someone else. It's no use talking to me."
When Susie remained silent on the other end of the line, Ashley hung up the call.
Ashley rested well throughout her entire pregnancy. Whenever she felt bored, Ellie would often visit
her.
The two of them had a lot to chat about.
Unfortunately, this caused a lot of inconvenience for Andrew and Francis.
Every time Francis would try to visit Ellie, she wouldn't be available. He would try calling her but she
wouldn't answer.
Whenever Ashley and Ellie were together, they would keep their phones on silent.
Naturally, Francis would be worried if Ellie didn't answer her phone.
Eventually, he would find out that Ellie was just in Ashley's place.
As for Andrew, Ashley wouldn't be able to come out to meet him every time he got home from work.
When he arrived, he would find Ashley and Ellie chatting in the living room, laughing together.
Andrew would then call Francis and ask him to pick Ellie up.
This went on for more than a month.
However, it had been days since Ellie last visited Ashley.
Ashley called Ellie but instead Francis answered.
"Where's Ellie? Is she okay?"
Otherwise, why would she stop visiting all of a sudden?
Before, whenever Francis heard Ashley's voice, his first instinct was that Ellie was with her.
He couldn't deny the jealousy in his heart even if Ashley was just a friend to Ellie. But now, Ellie
wouldn't be able to visit Ashley anymore.
"Ashley, Ellie might not be able to visit you anytime soon," Francis said excitedly.
Ashley failed to catch the excitement in his tone so she asked worriedly,
"What's wrong? What happened to Ellie? Where is she?" Ashley couldn't sit still anymore.
"No, no. Ashley, relax. Listen to me."
Francis was afraid that Ashley would impulsively run over to their house.
He didn't even want to think about what Andrew would say to him if that happened.
"Ellie is pregnant. She just got the test results today. We're in the hospital right now. The doctor said
that Ellie's a little weak so she has to rest. I want to take care of her and cook good food for her so she
can be healthy."
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