Chapter 128: Following Her
Over the cell phone, Wendy could hear the fear in Michael’s voice. Fear? Fear that Wendy would take Jake away? Wendy found that amusing. Didn’t he have a new love, Yonina Collins?
He was probably more afraid of losing his son. Wendy took a deep breath. "Mr. Lucas, I am calling to request for my leave. I don’t think it is appropriate of you to ask about my personal matters." She kept her tone cold and distant. Wendy’s reply made Michael’s heart panic more.
He gripped his cell phone. "What if I do not approve?" he asked, breathing heavily.
"You should be clear that I am working with MC Enterprise as a partner. Technically, I am not one of your employees. Even if you do not approve, I can still leave," Wendy replied. "Of course, you may take it as I am slacking off work. It is up to you."
There was silence on the other end of the line. Michael did not make a sound. Wendy did not say anymore and simply hung up.
Michael was left listening to the cold tone of the busy signal after she had hung up on him. He put down his phone numbly. From the sound of her tone, she should be taking Jake along. Jake was still young. If Wendy was leaving town, there was no way she would leave Jake behind. And once Wendy leaves with Jake, Michael was truly afraid that he would never be able to locate her again.
Michael quickly called Mr. York’s office extension. "Look up Wendy’s itinerary for the coming days," he instructed.
Recently, Michael had not asked about Wendy and Mr. York thought that he had already given up on her.
Mr. York could only sigh when he heard this latest task.
...
Wendy booked air tickets for Saturday. Zess knew they were returning to Rheinsville City and had packed their Luggage.
They were only going to be away for two to three days so there was not a lot to pack. Wendy had gone to the airport with Jake in a taxi first thing in the morning.
It was time for them to board the airplane.
Two hours into the flight, Jake whispered to Wendy, "Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom."
Wendy nodded. "Would you like me to go with you?" she asked.
"It’s ok, Mommy," Jake replied. "I can manage on my own." Jake was fiercely independent and had been able to do such things on his own a long time ago.
Wendy also felt safe for him to go on his own. Jake had left the bathroom and was on his way back to his seat when he suddenly spotted Someone.
There was someone in a black suit staring in Wendy’s direction.
Jake looked at that person and thought he resembled Michael Lucas.
He slowed down his footsteps and stopped behind Michael.
After determining that it was Michael, Jake tapped him on the shoulder. "Uncle Michael, why are you here too?" he asked.
Michael turned around and saw Jake. He quickly held a finger up to his lips to indicate to him to be quiet.
Jake nodded obediently and covered his mouth with his hands, indicating that he would not be too loud.
Michael felt relieved when he saw that. "Jake," he whispered, "what a coincidence."
"Yeah, what a coincidence," Jake replied with a smile. He could see Michael’s sheepish expression.
How could such coincidences exist in this world?
It was also obvious from Michael’s actions that he did not want Wendy to see him. Which meant that Michael had deliberately followed them here.
"Jake, let’s play a game, ok?" Michael said softly.
"Ok," Jake pretended to be excited. "What game? He played along.
"The game is not to tell anyone that you saw me on this flight," Michael said. He looked over to Wendy but could only see her seat. "I will also not tell anyone that I saw you, all right?" Michael continued.
"That sounds like fun!"Jake said, appearing to play along but he was actually rolling his eyes inside.
Was his father treating Jake like a three-year-old?
"Shall we make a pinky promise?" Michael held out his little finger.
But Jake refused. "That’s so childish," he said, turning his nose up at that. "I don’t like doing Such childish things."
Michael looked at his little finger, and then at Jake’s look of disdain. "Ok, well not do the pinky promise," he said, pulling his hand back.
"Don’t worry," Jake said with a smile. "I won’t tell anyone that you are here."
Michael sighed in relief when he heard Jake promise.
He was afraid that he would never be able to see Wendy again after she leaves this time. So, he had no choice but to follow her. He wanted to see for himself where she was going and what she was going to do.
Michael had been very careful the entire time to stay low. He did not expect his cover to be blown by Jake after nodding off to sleep.
However, he felt lucky that his son was cooperative and promised not to say a word to anyone else.
"I have to return to my seat now or else Mommy will start looking for me," Jake said. He waved goodbye and ran off.
"Mommy, I’m back," Jake said with a smile the moment he returned to his seat.
Wendy helped him to sit properly and buckled his seatbelt.
"Mommy, guess who I just saw?" Jake asked with a small look of surprise.
He had promised not to tell anyone. But Mommy was not simply "anyone."
He was not stupid. He could tell that Michael had been following them.
Though he knew that Michael would not hurt them, he did not know what Michael’s motive was.
So, of course, Jake would not help Michael to keep his presence a secret.
Between Wendy and Michael, Jake chose to side with his mother without any hesitation. "Who did you see?" Wendy asked out of curiosity.
"I saw Uncle Michael," Jake said. "Michael Lucas."
"Michael Lucas?" Wendy stood up immediately. She looked around, trying to see where he was. Jake quickly pulled Wendy with his little hand.
"Mommy, stop looking around," he said. "I had promised Michael Lucas not to tell anyone that he is here. If you were to look for him now, he would know that I had not kept my promise." Wendy stopped looking.
"Why is he on this flight?" Wendy asked. She immediately connected the dots.
So, he was following her on purpose?
She let out a chuckle.
After laughing, Wendy started to worry. Did he follow her because he had found out about Leah?
If he had, that meant she had gotten Leah involved in this. or perhaps he had not found out about Leah and was simply following her to see where she was going?
That was quite a huge possibility. Michael had not been keeping track of Wendy recently. But that would mean that Wendy could not see Leah.
Wendy felt bad towards Leah when she thought about that.
She had promised to see Leah soon. Leah also knew from their video call yesterday that she was returning today. The little girl was elated.
Leah would be very upset if she were unable to see Wendy after she had landed. But once Michael was to find out about Leah, he would definitely try to bring her back to Lake City. Or he could even take away both her children from her.
And even if Michael did not take the children away, the others in the Lucas family might want to visit Leah when they find out that Wendy has twins.
That would disrupt Leah’s life. Wendy could not let that happen.
She took out her cell phone and wanted to call Todd to stop them from coming to the airport. But after she had taken out her phone, she remembered that she was on an airplane. She could not make any calls while in flight mode.
Wendy closed her eyes in resignation. She had already cursed Michael a million times in her heart.
She had only wanted to visit her daughter and yet Michael would not give her the chance.
If Jake had not promised Michael not to tell anyone, Wendy would have confronted Michael about his motives. Now, Wendy could only bear with it. The flight lasted for over ten hours, then, they finally landed.
Wendy turned on her cell phone the moment she disembarked the airplane.
She quickly texted Todd. "There is a bit of a situation, don’t come to the airport."
Not long after she hit send, Wendy’s cell phone rang. Todd was calling her.
Everyone had just disembarked, and Wendy could not tell where Michael was in the crowd. She swiped to answer the call. "Don’t come over" she said in a muffled voice. "I might not be able to go back."
"What happened?" Todd sounded both surprised and anxious. "Leah and I are already at the airport. Leah knows that you and Jake are coming back today and dragged me to the airport early in the morning to wait for you."
Wendy felt her heart wrench when she heard that Leah was waiting in anticipation of their arrival. She had let her daughter down.
She let out a sigh. "Michael Lucas followed me back" she explained. "I cannot let him know about Leah."
Todd understood her meaning straightaway. Except that he was holding the hand of a disappointed Leah. "What do you intend to do?" he asked Wendy.
"I’ll take Jake around to play for a couple of days. Could you help me comfort Leah?"
Wendy sounded sad too. She added, "I will find another chance to come back."
"All right," Todd said with a sigh.
"I’ve got to go," Wendy said. She ended the call and exited the airport holding Jake in one hand and their luggage in the other.
Michael did not dare to follow too close, but he did not want to be too far away either.
There were so many people at the airport. If he were to lose sight of them, it would be almost impossible to locate them again.
Michael was no longer in Lake City, where it was his territory. And he had come here alone, again.
Todd stooped down, though he could not bear to break the news to Leah. He put his hand on Leah’s shoulders and sighed. "Leah," he said, "didn’t you say you liked that new doll? Shall I get that for you?"
"Ok" Leah replied happily. "We’ll all go together after Mummy and Jake arrive."
"How about going out with just me?" Todd lowered his head. He did not dare to look Leah in the eyes. He did not want to see the disappointment in her eyes as he told her, "Your Mummy has some urgent business to take care of and cannot come today. But she said that she would visit in a few days."
"Mummy is not coming back?" The smile on Leah’s little face disappeared when she heard Todd’s words. "Uncle Todd, I don’t believe you. Mummy said that she would bring Jake home today," she said.
Leah looked up and saw Wendy standing in the distance.
She shook off Todd’s hand and ran in that direction. "Mummy, that’s Mummy!"
Todd ran after Leah immediately. He saw that it really was Wendy in the distance.
She was just leaving the airport with Jake.
"Mummy..." Leah ran as fast as she could toward Wendy.
