Chapter 19 A Lesson Taught
“Oh, come on. Do you think I have nothing else better to do than drive a wedge between you both? Keep your man in line and tell him to leave me alone. Amanda shuddered at the thought of Elias’ shameless act of forcing a kiss upon her in the meeting room the night before.
When everything is over, I’m going to take Aiden with me and head to someplace abroad once Simon is back, the lady thought to herself. She was determined to cut ties with Elias.
“Don’t worry. Elias will leave you alone. If Old Mr. Winters hadn’t gotten in our way, we would have gotten married a long time ago. Hmph!” Grace turned around and left the bathroom.
In the meantime, the little boy was waiting for his mother outside the restroom, and he caught sight of Grace walking out the door angrily. When Grace left, she glanced at the boy beside her and stopped in her tracks for a while, finding him somewhat familiar. Have I seen this brat somewhere before? For some reason, he reminds me of someone.
When Aiden realized the lady was staring at him, he only grunted coldly and looked the other way. Meanwhile, Grace didn’t dwell on it any longer as she quickly moved on and made her way toward Elias, but little did she know that the child was the son of the man she loved.
A few seconds later, Amanda came out of the restroom and saw her son waiting for her obediently. “Let’s go, Aiden. We’re going to grab something to eat at the cafeteria over there.”
“Sure, but I’m not having a kid’s meal.” The boy looked at Amanda with a skittish expression on his face, acting like someone arrogant yet familiar to his mother.
Suddenly, Amanda stopped in her tracks when she saw a familiar silhouette. It turned out that she had spotted Grace walking into the cafeteria with a man who looked like Elias. In that instant, her eyes widened in disbelief. Damn it! That’s Elias. What am I going to do now? What if he sees my boy?
“Mommy, can we hurry up? I’m getting hungry now.” Aiden seized Amanda’s hand, his stomach growling desperately after playing for a few hours.
“Baby, why don’t we dine somewhere else? Let’s call it a day for now. I’ll promise to bring you back here again.” The only thing that Amanda had in mind was to leave the place with Aiden, for she knew it would be over for her if Elias saw her son. After all, she would be no match for him in court due to the Winters’ influence and power.
Aiden was angry as he pouted bitterly. “Hmph! You’re making empty promises, Mommy. You said we’d be here until night, so I’m going to eat here and continue playing after that. I haven’t had enough yet!”
“But you’ve already played for hours, and I’m getting tired.”
“Well, you can rest in the cafeteria, Mommy.” Aiden was adamant and determined to do what he wanted, reminding Amanda of his father.
Knowing that she couldn’t change her son’s mind, Amanda came up with an idea. “Alright. Wait
for me outside the cafeteria while I get some takeaway for you. We’ll dine elsewhere, okay?”
“Alright…”
“Good boy. Wait for me right here until I come back, okay?” Amanda then entered the restaurant alone, thinking she would just let her son play for a bit after lunch and take him home. Well, what are the odds of us running into each other? The theme park is packed with people, after all.
She decided to take her chances, though she didn’t want to risk losing custody of her son to Elias. Nevertheless, it would appear that fate liked to prank her as she bumped into Elias and Grace almost immediately after she stepped into the cafeteria. What a small world!
“Oh, it’s you.” Elias paused when he saw Amanda. After all, he didn’t take her for a woman who liked spending her time in a theme park. While the man wasn’t implying anything with his brief response, his words somehow made Grace feel jealous, reminding her of the same thing Amanda said to her in the restroom earlier.
Seriously? This is too much of a coincidence.
“Yeah, I’m here… to have some fun, just like everybody else. Amanda walked toward the cashier briskly, wanting to place an order before getting out of there.
Nevertheless, Grace tried to play on Elias’ sympathy and said. “Elias, there is something I want to talk to you about. I ran into Amanda in the restroom earlier, and she told me what happened last night was not like what you said. Are you hiding something from me?”
When Elias heard that, he felt helpless, wondering why she had to give him a headache. Oh, boy! Here she goes again.
“What did she say?” He turned to look at Grace,
“Amanda said… that you guys… did it last night!” Grace pretended to look sympathetic.
Elias knitted his eyebrows and looked at Amanda, asking in a deep voice, “What do you mean by that?”
“Seriously? Do you really want me to tell you what we did last night? Are you sure about that?” Amanda was disgusted by Grace’s pretense. Goodness, how did this b*tch get so good at acting?! She can be such an innocent little girl in front of Elias but act like a b*tch when I’m around.
At Amanda’s words, Grace was overwhelmed by disappointment, feeling as if she was about to fall apart. Did Elias lie to me earlier? Did they sleep with each other?
“Amanda!” The man gritted his teeth, thinking he would have choked the lady right away if they hadn’t been in a public area.
“I’m busy right now, and I don’t have time to waste on your nonsense.” Amanda made her point and headed toward the cashier.
“What are her words supposed to mean, Elias? What did you do with her? What did you guys talk
about?” Grace’s eyes were filled with tears in that instant.
Elias eventually grew tired of Grace’s fuss and snapped at her. “Do you trust her or me?! Because if it’s her whom you trust, you should stop asking me stupid questions!” He turned around coldly and headed toward a table by the window.
In the meantime, Grace was left behind with her eyes fixed upon the indifferent man as her heart was filled with rage and bitterness, but even so, she was forced to suppress her emotions.
Meanwhile, Aiden, who was watching through the window from the outside, witnessed the entire confrontation between his mother and the duo. Although he had no idea what was going on, he could tell that the two adults were bullying Amanda.
Hmph! How dare you both bully Mommy?! I’m going to teach you guys a lesson now. He then opened the door and sneaked behind Amanda, who was busy ordering food, making his way toward the window.
At that moment, Elias was already seated while Grace was just heading his way to grab a seat. Then, Aiden quickly sneaked behind the lady and pulled her chair away just when she was about to sit down.
“Ah!” Grace immediately fell to the ground and collapsed on her butt, but Aiden had already run
away
with a cheeky chuckle. At the same time, her loud screech instantly drew the attention of all the patrons in the cafeteria.
“Wait a second! Isn’t that Grace Murphy, the celebrity?”
“Yes, that’s her! How did a grown adult like her fall on her butt? Haha…”
“Isn’t she concerned about her image? By the way, the man sitting opposite her is so handsome. I wonder who he is…”
Hearing those murmurs, Grace got up from the ground in a clumsy manner just as the other tourists started to take pictures of her. She felt embarrassed. Oh, this is humiliating! I wish I could just dig a hole and bury myself in the ground!
On the other hand, Amanda hurriedly left the cafeteria upon retrieving her orders out of fear that Elias would discover Aiden’s existence. Therefore, she didn’t notice what Grace had just gone through moments ago. Soon, she exited the cafeteria and saw her son chuckling, wondering what was so funny. “Why are you laughing, Aiden?”
Aiden pretended as if nothing happened when he saw his mother. “Nothing, Mommy. Let’s go. I want to have my lunch and continue playing after that. I don’t want to waste more time because time is precious. Isn’t that what you always say?” The boy then seized Amanda’s hand and walked
away.
Not long after that, two people happened to walk out of the cafeteria while gossiping about Grace’s embarrassing situation. “The woman who fell onto the ground earlier was Grace Murphy, the celebrity, right? It was hilarious, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I saw a boy sneaking behind her back before he pulled her chair away. Kids are naughty. aren’t they?”
“By the way, the man sitting opposite Grace Murphy looked so handsome. Is he the wealthy boyfriend she’s said to be dating?”
Amanda’s face darkened when she overheard their conversation. Needless to say, Aiden, who noticed his mother’s expression, quickly tried to change the subject. “I’m getting hungry, Mommy. I want to eat now. Let’s go over there.”
Amanda grabbed her child and questioned, “Hold it right there. You were the naughty boy who pulled the chair away, weren’t you?”
“No!”
Then, Amanda pretended to be mad and pointed at the boy’s head. “What have I always told you? Never lie to me!”
Aiden immediately gave in and pouted. “Fine, it was me, but I just wanted to teach them a lesson. since they were bullying you.”
Although Amanda was supposed to be angry, she felt touched and amused by her son’s response. Unable to bring herself to lecture the boy, she took Aiden elsewhere and gave him the hamburger and coke she bought earlier. “You mustn’t do that again, Baby. That isn’t the right thing to do.”
Deep down, Amanda was more afraid that Elias would discover Aiden’s existence, thinking her innocent, cheeky son was playing with fire. Phew! Fortunately, Elias didn’t see him at all, or things would have gotten ugly.
“Alright, Mommy. I heard you, and I won’t do it again.”
She sprinted down the stairs but suddenly remembered her pregnancy and slowed down. Clutching the test strip in her hand, she wondered what Elias Winters' reaction would be once he heard the news.
Yet, when Amanda was halfway down the stairs, she saw two figures in the living room—Elias and a sexy woman. Slowing down her steps, she held the handrail tightly and felt her heart sink. That was because she saw her husband and the woman behaving affectionately as though they were a smitten couple.