Chapter 154: Why Are You So Agitated?
Michael led the way, followed by Wendy with Jake in tow. Todd, carrying Leah in his arms, walked behind Wendy.
Seeing that Michael had walked further ahead, Wendy slowed down her pace and moved closer to Todd, whispering, "Did he give you a hard time in the car?" Wendy had to ask, not sure if Michael would act up with Todd.
"No, he didn’t. In fact, we had a pleasant chat." Todd replied.
Noticing that the footsteps behind him were getting fainter, Michael turned around instinctively. Seeing Wendy and Todd walking shoulder to shoulder and chatting, he scowled.
Retracing his footsteps, he looked first at Wendy before smiling at Todd, "This is a reputable restaurant in Lake City. Their signature dish, the roast duck, is sublime.
You must try it, Mr. Lewis."
"Sure!" Todd responded politely.
They entered the private room that had been reserved in advance. After they were all seated, the waitress handed them the order slips. Both Michael and Todd passed their order slips to Wendy at the same time, making her feel very awkward. Instead of accepting the order slip from either of them, Wendy asked the waitress for another copy.
Looking through the order slip, she selected two items and smiled at the two men.
"I’ll leave it to you to pick what you want to eat."
"Why don’t you choose for me? You know what I like." Michael said, insinuating that they were close enough for her to know his likes and dislikes.
Aware of his intention, Wendy said instead, "My apologies. I have no idea what you like or don’t like to eat."
Of course, her response infuriated him, as his face first reddened and then turned ghostly white.
On the pretext of clearing his throat, Todd kept his head lowered, but in fact was trying to hide his laughter. He then chose three items from his order slip, instructing the waitress, "Please omit the coriander for this dish, add more vinegar to this other one, and crisp up the chicken in this third dish."
Handing the order slips back to the waitress, Todd looked over Wendy’s selections and said, "I just knew that you would choose only the things that the kids love to eat and not pick anything for yourself."
At that, the simmering anger in Michael boiled over. Did Todd just order for Wendy?
Knowing that Wendy did not eat coriander, Michael was convinced that the first item that Todd had ordered was for her.
Why would he, Michael Lucas, let another man order food for his wife?
Looking a tad annoyed, he waved his hand over the order slip and uttered, "I’ll have everything on this list, and leave out the coriander!"
How childish was this? And, quite amusing too.
"Is that not too much food?" Todd pointed out.
"Oh, I do this all the time, ordering everything on the menu. You don’t know my habit since this is the first time you’re dining with me. You’ll get used to it," replied Michael, feigning a smile.
At a loss for words, Todd looked at Wendy.
Unable to help herself, Wendy sneered. When had he developed such a habit? She had certainly not seen him behaving like that!
However, before Wendy could make a comment, Michael had already passed the menu back to the waitress, instructing her to get the order fulfilled as soon as possible.
Soon enough, their food was served up.
Picking up her cutlery, Wendy was about to pick some food for Jake and Leah.
However, she had only just raised her hand when two spoons appeared on her plate.
She looked up at both Michael and Todd.
"Here, try this. I know you like this stuff."
Michael spooned some food onto her plate before turning to serve Jake.
Seated in her high chair, Leah looked from one adult to another with her big, round eyes.
Although she was too young to understand the dynamics around her, she could sense that there was not much cheer in the room.
Nonetheless, she smiled brightly and extended her chubby arms towards the food within her reach. Not very steady with her little hands, she carefully picked up some food and dropped them onto Wendy’s plate, saying sweetly, "This is for you, Mommy."
Watching the adorable Leah, Michael was about to serve her some food before he remembered that Todd was there, reminding him that she was Todd’s daughter.
He was also very aware that Todd was obviously interested in Wendy. That was why the food that he had intended to give to Leah ended up on his own plate instead.
Wendy went about attending to the two kids, seemingly oblivious to what was happening around her.
Michael was not a happy man, seeing Wendy being so attentive to both children.
Apparently, Todd’s kid, who was Wendy’s god-daughter, called her Mummy. On her part, Wendy was exceptionally good to Leah too.
Observing them, Michael concluded that Wendy had always been good to Leah. That meant that she and Leah’s dad, Todd, were close too. It was a scenario that Michael was loathe to imagine.
While he was reeling in his anguished thoughts, he caught sight of Leah reaching out to him, saying, "Uncle Michael, have a spare rib."
Michael’s heart was considerably warmed by the sound of that sweet, babyish voice.
Barely out of his trance, he held his plate out on reflex and accepted the food from her, smiling,
"Thank you, Leah."
He realized that he was getting more and more enamored with this cute little girl. But just one look at Todd, seated beside him, was enough to wipe that adoring smile off his face.
For some reason, Michael found himself wondering if any daughter that he might have with Wendy in the future would be just as adorable.
Truth be told, it was not an enjoyable meal at all. In fact, the ambience at the dining table was really awkward. Fortunately, about halfway through the meal, Michael managed to find a work-related topic and engaged Todd in conversation. Personal relationships aside, they were able to chat amicably.
After the meal, Wendy asked, "Are you guys tired? Would you like to head back to the hotel for a rest, or shall I show you around the city?"
"I’m fine. I’m not tired. More importantly, is Leah feeling tired?" Todd replied, looking down at Leah.
"No, no. I’m not tired. Not at all," Leah replied immediately, adding, "I want to stay with Mummy and Jake."
"I know my way around the city. Let me show you around." Michael spoke up unexpectedly.
Wendy was feeling a tad helpless at not being able to shake Michael off. It would appear that Michael was going to hang around them for the rest of the day.
Oh well, it would be alright, maybe even fun, as long as he behaved and did not act up.
Seeing Michael and Todd in deep conversation about work, she felt that there was a high probability that they might enter into a partnership in the future. And she definitely did not want her personal issues to impact their business.
After lunch, they headed out to the amusement park, primarily because of the kids.
In fact, this would be the very first time Michael had taken Jake to the amusement park. What he did not know was that this was also the first time that he had taken his daughter to the amusement park.
Leah was adorable and polite, charming Michael into buying two cute plushies from the souvenir shop, one for her and the other for Jake.
Although Jake scoffed at the girly plushie, Leah absolutely loved hers, showing it proudly to Wendy, "Look, Mummy! Uncle Michael bought me this!"
Wendy felt a surge of conflicting emotions when she heard Leah calling Michael ’Uncle’.
When the kids were tired out, Wendy decided to take them home.
"I will send Mr. Lewis back to the hotel. It’s been a tiring day for you too. So why don’t you take Jake home?" Michael volunteered.
Wendy had originally planned to send Todd back to the hotel and bring Leah home with her. Since Michael had offered, Leah would have to go back to the hotel with Todd. So Wendy planned to wait until Michael had left before heading back out to the hotel to pick up Leah.
In the car, Leah hugged her plushie toy happily and thanked Michael in the most adorable and sweet voice. "Thank you for taking us to the amusement park and buying me this toy."
"Do you like it?" Michael asked, his heart softening at the sound of her voice.
"Oh yes!" Leah chuckled cutely. Then, she asked, "Will you be joining us tomorrow too? Mummy said that she would be taking us to meet Grandma!"
"Grandma?" Michael asked, puzzled.
Who was this Grandma that Leah was referring to?
On impulse, Michael asked Todd, "Are your parents from Lake City?"
From Michael’s perspective, since Leah was Todd’s daughter, the Grandma she was referring to must be Todd’s mother.
Looking a tad uncomfortable, Todd held Leah a little too tightly. After a pause, he smiled, "Yeah, I guess." Wary of talking too much and arousing Michael’s suspicion,
Todd decided to be vague and play along.
"Hang on, that doesn’t sound right!" Michael said, realizing that something was amiss. He continued, "Didn’t Leah say that ’Mummy’ had wanted to take her to meet Grandma on her side?"
Leah tilted her head to look first at Todd, and then at Michael who was driving.
Confused, she blinked and said, "Yeah, Mummy said that she would take us to meet Grandma. I’ve never met her."
As she talked, Leah seemed to be really looking forward to their upcoming trip to meet her grandmother.
On his part, Todd was getting worried, wanting nothing more than to gag Leah and stop her from talking. However, it was too late because she had already spilled the beans.
"Can you please enlighten me on who exactly is this grandma that Leah is meeting with tomorrow?" Michael asked curtly, obviously not as amiable as before.
According to Leah, it was Wendy who had wanted Leah to meet with her grandmother. And, since Wendy was Leah’s god-mother... Did it mean that Wendy was about to introduce Todd to her own parents?
At that thought, Michael was so angry, he felt like he was about to explode. Despite being married to Wendy for many years, he had never met her mother. In the past, because he did not even like Wendy, they had only solemnized their marriage at the registry and had not even held a wedding. Later, after Wendy had fallen into the sea, he no longer had any reason to meet with her mother.
But now, here was Leah informing him that Wendy was planning for them to meet with her family. From Michael’s tone, Todd could tell that he had misunderstood the situation.
Since Michael was only aware that Jake was his son, he would never even imagine that Leah could be his own daughter. Besides, he could not have known that Wendy had given birth to twins because if he did, he would have searched everywhere for his other child.
Todd was convinced that since Michael had no grounds to suspect Leah’s parentage,
he would naturally misread the relationship between himself and Wendy.
Truth be told, Todd had not originally planned to go with Wendy to meet with her mother.
After all, he was in Lake City on a business trip, with a packed work schedule.
However, since Michael had misread the relationship between him and Wendy, Todd was happy not to disabuse him of that notion.
Smiling, Todd explained, "We’re going to meet with Corrine’s mother. As Corrine’s god-daughter, this will be Leah’s first meeting with her grandma."
At Todd’s response, Michael’s hands gripped the steering wheel increasingly tighter as he said tersely, "So, I presume that you will also be going with them tomorrow?"
Michael assumed that since Leah was going, Todd, being her dad, would naturally be joining too.
"Yes, I suppose I should pay Corinne’s mom a visit," Todd replied with a smile, as though it would be the most natural thing to do.
At Todd’s response, Michael exploded, no longer able to hold back his fury. "What gives you the right to pay Wendy’s mother a visit?"
She was his mother-in-law. If anyone were to pay her a visit, it should be him, Michael, and not Todd!
"Hey, cool it! What are you getting all worked up about?" Todd asked before continuing calmly,
"Wendy is my daughter’s godmother. As Leah’s dad, what is so wrong with me paying her godmother’s mom a visit?"
Actually, there was nothing wrong with that at all, if he turned a blind eye to the fact that Todd clearly had his eyes on Wendy. And Michael had detected strong vibes of animosity from Todd. He just knew intuitively that Todd’s feelings for Wendy were not platonic.
