Chapter 414: Golden Lotus Restaurant
Instead of taking one of Harry's cars, Lucy and Aaron booked an Uber ride instead to take them to the Golden Lotus Restaurant where Sara had asked Aaron to meet with her.
They were both lost in their various thoughts as they sat quietly in the car. Aaron couldn't say he was not worried as he knew that whatever he discussed with Sara would determine a lot of things in his future relationship with Harry.
As Lucy had advised, he needed to come clean with Harry after keeping this secret for all these years, and he needed Harry to hear it directly from him even if it would mean going to Harry's office today to tell him the truth if Sara refused his offer and decided to do as she pleased.
Lucy on the other hand sighed and looked out of the window as she recalled her phone conversation with her mother while Aaron was getting dressed earlier.
"Hello, sweety! I'm glad you called. I was going to call you to find out if you've seen Lucas yet," Janet had said immediately after she received the call.
"Good morning, mom. Yes, I have. I was with him a while ago," Lucy had said, as she tried to think of the best way to broach the subject.
"That is good. How are you? And how is everything going over there? I hope Tom is fine. I spoke with Evelyn yesterday," Janet had said, and Lucy could hear the smile in her voice.
"Everything is alright, mom. I called because I wanted to ask you a question," Lucy finally said, thinking that she should have sent the picture to her mother before calling her. But on second thought knowing her mother as she did, she knew that Janet would freak out if she received such a picture from her out of the blue.
"Oh! Alright, pumpkin. Go on," Janet urged her as she poured some tea into her cup.
"Before I do that, where is Dad?" Lucy asked when she realized that she was yet to hear his voice in the background as usual, and she would prefer if he was there with Janet to calm her down in case she became very upset.
"He stepped out a while ago. Go on with your question. Or do you need him to be here to ask your question?" Janet inquired as she raised her cup of chamomile tea to her nose and took a deep whiff before sipping from it.
Lucy glanced down at the hallway when Aaron called out to apologize for keeping her waiting. She needed to be fast and done with this before Aaron returned.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I know you might find my question to be very odd and upsetting, and I'm sorry. But this is important and I really need to know. What was the name of your twin sister?" Lucy asked, and Janet's heart skipped a beat as she drew in a sharp breath.
"What? Why are you asking me that all of a sudden? Has she tried to reach you too? Did Sara give you a call?" Janet asked as she dropped her teacup and rose, her voice ringing with anger at the thought that Sara was not only contacting her and Andrew but she was now trying to get to her kids.
Hearing her mention the name that confirmed her suspicion, Lucy's heart skipped a beat and she swallowed, "Too? Has she been trying to reach you lately?" Lucy asked curiously, and Janet drew in a deep breath to control her temper.
"Answer my question, Lucy! Did she give you a call or try to meet with you?" Janet asked through clenched teeth.
"No, she didn't. Mom, do you know if she ever got married or had any kids?" Lucy asked, wanting to know if her mother was aware of Aaron's existence.
"I don't know, and if for any reason she did, then I feel sorry for whoever the unfortunate man is. Unless of course she probably married someone who is just as evil as she is," Janet spat out spitefully.
"Did you really hear from her recently? Did she tell you she was ill?" Lucy asked urgently, wanting to be done with the phone call before Aaron returned.
Janet took a deep breath. Seeing no reason not to tell Lucy about Sara's recent calls. She suspected that Sara might try to get through to her by any means possible, and as such she wanted Lucy to ignore her if they ever crossed paths.
"She has tried to reach out to me and your father but we are not taking her calls, and neither should you and your brother. I don't know why you are suddenly asking me all these questions about her, but do not for any reason allow her to come anywhere close to you or get involved in any way with her. She is bad news. Sara is cruel, insensitive, heartless, self-centered, and pure evil. Nothing good can come from associating with her," Janet warned in a hate-filled voice.
"And I hope you would stop asking me questions about her. You have just ruined my day," Janet said as she picked up her cup of tea and went to pour it down the sink.
"I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention," Lucy said apologetically and glanced up when she heard Aaron approaching.
"Why were you asking all of a sudden?" Janet asked before Lucy could hang up.
"I will tell you about it later. I have to go now. I love you, mom," Lucy said and hung up the call once Aaron walked into the living room.
Seated in the car now, Lucy sighed as she looked away from the window and glanced at Aaron who had a pensive expression on his face, "Don't worry too much," Lucy said as she reached for his hand and placed hers over it.
She too was worried but she couldn't let it show. She needed to be strong for Aaron, and for Harry, "I should probably call to inform Harry that we are going out," Lucy said, and Aaron shook his head immediately.
"If you do that he is going to rush over to wherever we are to take me home," Aaron said, and Lucy sighed.
She glanced down at her handbag when her phone suddenly beeped with a text message notification and she took out the phone. It was a text from Tom.
[Hey, love! How's Aaron doing? What's going on there?]
"It's Tom," Lucy informed Aaron as she typed back a response.
[We are on our way to the Golden Lotus Restaurant to meet with Sara. I will give you the details later.]
Her eyes widened in surprise as she read Tom's text which came back almost immediately, [Who is she? And why are you meeting her there? I and Harry are currently having a meeting with some foreign investors at the Golden Lotus Restaurant.]
Lucy's heart was beating very fast as she turned to Aaron, "Tom says Harry is currently at the Golden Lotus Restaurant," she informed him.
"What? No. We can't let him see us there. We can't let her meet him there," Aaron said, alarmed, and immediately Lucy texted Tom back.
[Please get Harry out of there right now. He can't meet with Sara until Aaron tells him who she is.]
Away from there, Tom frowned as he read Lucy's text. Who was Sara and why couldn't Harry meet with her? It wasn't like Harry would recognize her if he saw her, or would he?
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSensing the urgency in her text, Tom glanced at Harry who was sipping a glass of wine as he laughed at something one of the investors had said.
[I will see what I can do.] He texted back before clearing his throat to get their attention.
"Gentlemen, since we are done with the meeting, I think Harry and I need to return to the office. Seeing how you have invested so much, we have to triple our efforts so that you can get even better returns on your investment. You won't get that if we both CEOs sit here and drink wine all day. Although I'm sure Harry here doesn't mind lazing around all day," Tom joked, and the investors laughed while Harry looked at him with a scowl.
"Yet I am the supposed workaholic. What's the rush? We should at least finish our glasses of wine," Harry said, and the investors chorused their agreement making Tom smile as he raised his wineglass to his lips and gulped down the entire content of his wineglass.
"I'm done with mine. Finish yours and let's leave. I have to help Lucy with something important at the office," Tom said as he rose from his seat, and Harry tried not to roll his eyes as he gulped down the content of his wineglass and rose too.
"Fine. I'm only agreeing because you mentioned Lucy," he said as he buttoned his suit jacket, "I'm sorry we have to leave now," Harry said politely as the investors stood.
"It's fine. Our mind is at rest knowing that you are so devoted to your jobs, and our money is safe with you," one of the investors said as they shook hands with Harry and Tom before they left.
"What does Lucy want you to do at the office?" Harry asked as they headed for the door.
"I just recalled that she was supposed to ask the human resource department to put out an ad for a part-time secretary to fill in for Amy until her return," Tom said, which wasn't entirely a lie.
"A simple one minute phonecall could have fixed that," Harry pointed out, and Tom shrugged.
"What can I say? I guess I was just jealous of the way you were laughing at some of those dry jokes and I wanted to take you away from them and keep you to myself. You are fast growing on me," Tom said, and Harry chuckled as they walked through the door.
"Your level of idiocy never ceases to amaze me," Harry said in amusement as they walked past two ladies who were walking into the restaurant.
Harry paused when he noticed a designer scarf on the floor and he picked it up, suspecting that it belonged to one of the ladies who had just walked past them as she was clad in designer wear.
Just as he turned around to call out to her, Sara who had gotten to the door and was about to step inside, also turned around when it suddenly occurred to her that the person who had just walked past them was Harry, since she was quite familiar with his face.
At that same moment, the cab carrying Lucy and Aaron drove into the restaurant premises, and Aaron's heart skipped a beat when he caught a glimpse of Harry and Sara staring at each other.