"What's is it?" The three elders looked up at him.
Harry put down the chopsticks before he replied, "You have seen the video in which I proposed to Lola,
Nicole's mother." he paused before suggesting, "So, I thought maybe you could go to A Country with
me over the next few days, for dinner to meet Lola's parents." Honestly, he thought, he should just be
calling it an engagement party.
Bang! the sound startled him, and he looked over at Rose. Rose slammed her chopsticks onto the
table, her face dark with anger. She hadn't planned on discussing the video today; however, since her
son brought it up himself, she would voice her thoughts.
"How dare you!" she began, "Did you even bother consulting the elders about this proposal? Is that
woman worthy of such a magnificent and luxurious wedding?"
Harry's heart sank at his mother's criticism.
Kevin put his hand on Rose's and reminded her, "Don't be so tough on Harry. Let him do what he
wants."
Harry's grandfather did not say anything.
"You may accept this but I can't. I would accept anyone except Lola as my daughter-in-law." Rose
raised her voice as her frustration grew.
She thought Lola was a calculating woman and had something to do with what happened when
Yolanda did not marry Harry. Rose would not abide that woman as her daughter-in-law.
Nicole looked at the elders with curiosity at the mention of her mother.
Kevin noticed and looked at his wife. "Rose, did you see how grown Nicole is now? You would not want
her to leave her mother or live with a stepmother." he calmly stated.
He thought Lola was a fine choice and was happy for his son.
Rose glanced at Nicole affectionately responding to her husband, "What's wrong with a stepmother. If
we can find a good daughter-in law, who treated her even better than her biological mother."
"I do not want a stepmother." Nicole added. She finally figured out what the adults were discussing.
She slammed her spoon down. Her mouth turned down as she pouted.
Harry's mood immediately turned and he smiled. She was so like Lola.
Rose hurriedly lulled her granddaughter, "My little baby, grandmother doesn't mean that. Grandma was
just saying..."
Nicole cut the words off, covering her ears willfully, and shook her head, "I'm not listening; I'm not
listening. I no longer like grandma." she chanted over Rose's words.
When Harry saw Nicole getting upset, he took her from the high chair and sat her on his lap, pulling her
close.
"Don't worry, daddy would not replace mommy with some stepmother." He gently held Nicole in his
arms, reassuring her.
Nicole stopped pouting, but she didn't like grandma anymore, because grandma didn't want her
mother.
"Mother, if you don't want to go, we will go without you." He would live with Lola and Nicole in the
mansion.
"How dare you." Rose looked at her son, too angry to complete her thought.
Harry's grandfather, who had remained silent till now, put down the chopsticks slowly. He wiped his lips
before adding to the conversation, "Harry, you are 30 years old now, and mature enough to make your
own decisions. I support whatever choice you make."
"Thank you, grandfather." Harry beamed.
Since his grandfather has voiced his approval, Rose could no longer object to Harry's resolve to marry
Lola.
She would never go to A Country, because She didn't want to see Angie and her daughter Lola.
After the matter was resolved, Nicole refused to respond to Rose, regardless of how hard her
grandmother tried to coax her.
Nicole pushed her father to take her back to the mansion.
Later that night, when they were about to go to bed, Kevin looked at his wife sitting at the dressing
table and sighed, "You were rather unreasonable today."
Hearing this, Rose became angry. She adjusted the facial mask as she replied, "What did I do wrong?
You think rejecting Lola as our daughter-in-law is unreasonable?"
Kevin pointed at her helplessly, "As an elder, you should not have reacted in such a manner." Ah, he
thought, she acted like this because he spoiled her when they were younger.
"In what way have I not behaved as an elder?" "If Harry was engaged to another woman, I would say
yes immediately. This is Lola Li though, and I will never agree."
He couldn't make her see sense when she was upset like this, so he thought better, and rather than
argue, decided to let her go through this herself. "Time to sleep." he said to her.
Rose looked at Kevin laying as though asleep, her anger still keeping her in knots.
Inside the mansion.
Harry put Nicole to bed, and after he went to the balcony to make a call.
He found her number and dialed it.
"I'm having my shower now, I will call you back when I finish." Harry's eyes blurred at her words.
He thought of the days she was around.
"You Siren." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in misery.
Lola giggled, dried her hands and shifted the phone to her hand. "What's up, Boss Si? Miss me?" she
bantered playfully. Her voice was quite enchanting to him.
"Finish your shower first." He tried not to think about her in her state, and think about something else.
Lola hung up the phone, finished her shower quickly and stepped out of the tub.
She only wore a bath towel as she hopped into bed, and called Harry back.
"Finished showering?" His poise had taken a few minutes, but it had returned.
"Yes." she smiled into the phone receiver. "What can I do for you, Boss Si?" She laid gazing up at the
ceiling, her voice full of the affection and happiness she felt.
Harry got down to the business before he could be distracted as he was before, "Tell Wendy, nothing
happened between Jordan and that woman." Rumor was, that the woman didn't tell the truth even
when she was threatened and that it was when she thought her family's lives were endangered by a
sword of Damocles had she spoken honestly.
Lola smiled, she knew her brother had been wrongly accused. Lola replied happily, "Hold on," She
tossed the phone on the bed, put her pajamas on and ran out.
Harry figured Lola must be trying to tell her bestie the good news.
He was right. Lola knocked on the door next to hers.
Jordan opened the door, he was trying to help his pregnant wife, Wendy, to relax and rest
unsuccessfully.
"Where is Wendy? Where is Wendy?" Lola asked excitedly, craning her head to see in the room behind
her brother.
Wendy sat on the bed with her back to the door.
Hearing Lola's voice, she got up gradually and walked towards her, "What's wrong, Lola?" She asked
Lola.
"Jordan, please leave us." She pushed Jordan back into the room a bit. Jordan looked at the two
women in the doorway helplessly and walked inside.
Lola whispered into Wendy's ear.
"Nothing happened between my brother and that woman."
Wendy, blushed, and nudging Lola backward, "Thank you, I will be able to sleep now. Go to bed" Her
heart was finally at ease.
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