Lis communicated with Lexus more and it was from him that Hailee and Ramon learned about Lis's whereabouts and knew what she was doing, or at least that was what they thought.
"Work," Lis replied curtly, as Hailee had expected, but she wouldn't ask any further. "I missed your checkup twice, even though I said I would take you to the hospital for an obstetric checkup."
Hailee seemed to know what Lis had come for and her conjecture was proven by her next sentence.
"Today I will take you to the doctor's."
Hailee didn't know why Lis suddenly came to her house and wanted to accompany Hailee to the doctor's, even though she already got a check up done this month with Ramon, while Lis was difficult to contact.
"To the doctor's?" Hailee repeated the words and smiled sweetly. "But, mom, Ramon had already taken me to the doctor's for a monthly checkup," Hailee politely declined the invitation.
However, Lis didn't give up. She naturally took hold of Hailee's hand and said in a coaxing tone, "But, mom hasn't accompanied you before..." Lis then pressed her body against Hailee, looking at her with hope to grant her wish. "I've been so busy lately that I couldn't fulfill my promise the other day that I would take you to the hospital for a routine checkup."
Hailee rubbed Lis's hand, which was holding hers tightly. "It does not matter. I understand." Hailee shook her head slowly. "For the next examination, I can go with you mother."
"I don't know if I can clear my schedule when it is time for the next appointment," said Lis, not accepting Hailee's idea. "Besides, going with me will be much different than going with Ramon."
Hailee knew that Lis was lying about her busy schedule. According to Ramon, Lis had reduced her role at the company recently, but even so, there was no way she was so much busier than Ramon that she couldn't take time off and make sure of her own schedule.
Because no matter how busy Ramon is, he can always make time for Hailee, therefore, if Lis said her busy schedule was the reason for her not being able to accompany Hailee, then it was clearly a lie.
"But…" Hailee was about to refuse Lis' request again, but she didn't know what exactly she could use as an excuse to do so. She didn't want to offend Lis, because after all, this woman was her husband's mother and also she didn't want Lis to suspect that she knew about the problems in the Tordoff family.
"There's no problem in getting a double check up, right?" Lis cut off Hailee's words before she could think of a way to say anything more. "Or, you are finding excuses because you don't want to go with me?" Lis's face turned somber and she looked disappointed.
Of course it was just her who was sulking, trying to make Hailee agree to her request.
"No… it's not like that…" Hailee became uneasy. Maybe Lis just wanted to take her to the hospital and see the development of the baby in Hailee's womb, because after all, Lis would be the grandmother of the child Hailee would give birth to.
"You don't seem like you want me to accompany you for a check-up," Lis mumbled, making Hailee even more uncomfortable. "Or are you annoyed that mom doesn't seem to care about you? Mother was supposed to accompany you in your first pregnancy, but mother is actually busy working?"
Hailee grimaced when she heard that, her bad feeling made her finally agree. In a situation like this, Hailee seemed to prefer people who did have bad intentions toward her, rather than guessing the intentions of people who always treated her well.
"Okay, but I'll change clothes first huh..." Hailee said relenting in the end and Lis nodded, her face was filled with a happy smile that was clearly visible.
"Wear clothes that will make you feel comfortable, but prefer warmer ones," Lis ordered gently while caressing Hailee's cheek affectionately. "I can't believe I'm going to be a grandmother."
Hailee returned the smile, if she hadn't heard what Ramon had to say about Lis and all the gray secrets around her, then she wouldn't suspect Lis at all and not look at her in skepticism.
Because it felt good being taken care of by one's mother-in-law.
Maybe if her mother was still alive, she would treat Hailee the way Lis looked after her now.
Hailee missed her mother and she wanted to know how her father would react if she told them about her pregnancy, that the two of them will become grandparents...
Pain pierced Hailee's chest imagining their happy faces that she couldn't possibly see and it was all because of Aileen…
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Aileen finally returned to her office after a few days of absence and could not be contacted because she was with the mysterious man who took her away the night Hailee kicked her out of the house.
Yes, in the end, Aileen was interested in going with the man and knowing his identity.
Of course, Aileen couldn't tell anyone about this, because what she was going to do after this was something no one else should know.
As more people got involved, there would be more people to worry about if the plan was exposed and Aileen couldn't take the risk.
She wouldn't say this to anyone, including George. Hell, there was no one else in this world that Aileen could trust except herself and moreover, she was hellbent on making this plan work more than anything else.
"Where have you been?!" cried George, as soon as he burst into Aileen's study with his usual dark expression; full of anger and harsh words.
In the past, he still refrained from cursing or hitting Aileen in the office, but recently, especially when the problems of Aileen and Theodore's married life were revealed in the media and the Gevano family became hostile toward the Tatum family, which made all agreements between the two families become annulled, George no longer cared where they were, yelling and cursing at Aileen to his heart's content.
"I have no obligation to report to you," Aileen replied, she refocused her attention on the laptop in front of her, she had some important work to finish immediately and talking to George was nothing but a waste of time.
"Oh, of course you have to, you wretch!" shouted George again, his voice booming through the room. He dared to act like that because he was sure the soundproofing in this room wouldn't let his voice travel all the way out.
"No," said Aileen curtly. "You can leave if you have nothing important to do with me."
"Now you dare to oppose me!" George walked with furious steps toward Aileen, but as soon as he reached her, Aileen immediately stood up and faced him head on.
"Do you know? Hailee already found out that we were the ones behind the plot to kill her parents," Aileen said quickly before George could hurl any more cursing words. "She has Ramon Tordoff behind her and you can start to imagine what she's going to do."
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