Chapter 293: Not A Petty Person
Michael’s analysis sounded logical.
And Wendy nodded in agreement.
Michael wrapped his arms around her and laid her back down on the bed.
Checking the time on the bedside clock, he noticed that it was past two in the morning.
Reaching out to pull the quilt over her, he urged, "Get some sleep. We’ll talk again tomorrow."
Already very tired from working long hours on a continuous basis, Wendy was joyously pumped up at seeing Michael and the kids. And now, after the passionate tryst with Michael, she could barely keep her eyes open.
If Michael had not broached the subject of her excessive working hours, she would have been fast asleep by now.
In any case, she could rest a little easier now that they had talked about it.
Totally exhausted, she yawned and shut her eyes.
With Michael’s hand resting lightly on her waist.
Very quickly, they fell into a deep sleep.
On the next day, Michael was roused by the alarm.
He took one look, realized that it was only six and immediately turned it off.
He knew now that Wendy had not only worked late into the night, but that she had an early start in the mornings as well.
He was aware that he would not be able to persuade her to go back to Lake City with them.
However, after their chat the night before, he was sure that Wendy would not disregard her health as she had done so before.
Noticing that Wendy was still fast asleep, he kissed her on the forehead, wrapped his arms around her, and went back to sleep.
And they continued sleeping till noon.
Jake and Leah had woken up early.
The first thing that Leah had wanted to do when she woke up was to go knock on her parents’ door but she was stopped by Jake.
Jake had told her that Mummy and Daddy were very tired and needed their sleep.
Jake rummaged around the apartment, looking for food that he and his sister could eat for breakfast.
In the end, there was nothing edible in the apartment.
Jake went into his room for his stash of allowance and led Leah downstairs to buy breakfast.
Having grown up in this area, they knew the place well.
Jake not only bought breakfast for himself and Leah, but he had also bought some food for Michael and Wendy.
However, as they watched clock ticking away till noon, he knew that the breakfast that he had bought them would go to waste.
Uncharacteristically, Leah sat watching cartoons listlessly, while occasionally looking at the bedroom door. She asked Jake, "Why aren’t Mummy and Daddy up yet?"
"Well...they should be up soon," Jake replied, feeling a tad unsure.
Are they really still asleep, at this hour?
By this time, he was feeling a little concerned.
"If they’re still not up, I will go knock on their door," Leah had come all the way here to see Wendy. They were leaving the following day and since she had already spent an entire morning without seeing her Mummy, she felt short changed.
Before Jake could respond, the bedroom door opened.
Instantly, Leah’s eyes lit up as she dropped the remote control and dashed towards the bedroom.
Seeing Wendy, she ran to her and hugged her leg saying, "Finally, you’re up, Mummy! I had wanted to wake you up but Jake told me not to, saying that you were exhausted and needed sleep."
Instinctively, Wendy cleared her throat delicately when she heard Leah utter the word ’exhausted’.
Reaching out to hug Leah, Wendy said, "I’m so sorry for sleeping in way too long.
Have you guys had breakfast?"
Leah nodded, "yes we have. Jake took me downstairs to buy breakfast. We bought some for you too but it’s gone cold now."
"That’s OK. Mummy and Daddy will not eat breakfast," Wendy said, carrying Leah to the bathroom to wash up. "Let’s wash up and then head out for lunch, shall we? Shall we go to your favorite place for lunch?" she asked Leah.
"Yay, yes please," Leah exclaimed excitedly. Looking at Michael, she asked, "Daddy, you have not tried the food at that place we’re going to. It’s really, really good."
Michael nodded, overjoyed that his daughter had not forgotten about him.
...
Wendy had decided against going to work since Michael and the kids were in town.
Actually she didn’t need to take leave since she was the team leader anyway.
Also, Timothy was away in Lake city so, even if she wanted to request for time off, she had no one to request it from.
But then, she had a team of people working for her.
As their leader, she had to inform them if she was not planning to go to the office.
Logging in to her company’s account, she opened the design chat group.
The group was very active indeed, talking about why Wendy had not made an appearance at the office.
[Where’s Miss Swift? Don’t we have a meeting at 10 today? It’s nearly 11 now. This is so very unlike Miss Swift.]
[OMG! Don’t tell me that piece of gossip from yesterday was true?]
[What news? Quick, tell me! I’m waiting.]
[Yesterday, the receptionist reported that Miss Swift’s husband had turned up at the office with their two kids. Since Miss Swift has not made a appearance at the office nor communicated with anyone, it’s most likely that she intends to spend the day with them.]
[But Miss Swift is a workaholic. Even if she does not intend to come in, she’d surely inform us. Why hasn’t she communicated with any of us yet?]
[Well, we’re all adults here, right? So, maybe, probably, perhaps, most likely...HaHa...she was exhausted after last night and needed her beauty sleep?]
The chat group instantly exploded when the subject was broached.
Everyone was giving their opinion as to what Wendy had been up to the night before.
The key was that Wendy was not someone who would skive off work without informing anyone.
Even if she had to attend to an urgent matter, she’d make arrangements so that her work would not be affected.
This was the first time she had been absent without explanation.
Of course, she had been working so hard lately that taking a day off was not unreasonable at all.
It was just so unlike her to do something like this.
Wendy scrolled through the trail of comments and cleared her throat awkwardly.
Very quickly, she typed up a sentence: I will be taking the next two days off. Call me if it’s urgent. Otherwise, I will deal with it on my return.
[HaHaHa, had you guys forgotten that Miss Swift was a member of this chat group?]
[OMG! And there we were, shooting our mouths off about Miss Swift!]
[Oops, sorry, Miss Swift! We didn’t do it deliberately. Next time, we will be careful and will definitely not gossip about you in this chat group.]
[Darn it! This is sooo embarrassing!]
Wendy didn’t know whether to weep or laugh as she read through the employees’ comments.
If it had been the Wendy of the past, they would not have dared gossip about her.
Michael, noticing her looking down at her phone, laughing and frowning intermittently, walked over and put his arm round her shoulders, asking, "What are you laughing at?"
"The staff at the office...," Wendy passed Michael her phone to show him, "These people had been gossiping about me in the chat group. They were so engrossed in their chat that they forgot all about me being a member of that chat group."
Michael scanned through the comments nonchalantly.
Brows raised, Wendy glanced up at Michael and laughed lightly, "Tell me, who did you ask at the office about me last night?"
"What...?" Michael lowered his head and, rubbing his nose, continued, "You’re asking me to be a snitch? I don’t think so."
"Did you think I would take it out on her?" Wendy guessed what he had been thinking.
Earlier on, in the chat group, didn’t someone mention that the receptionist had talked about Michael and the kids being at the office the night before?
"I’m not a petty person," Wendy took her phone back from Michael and smiled.
"No, my wife is definitely not a petty person," Michael leaned over and kissed her tenderly on her forehead. Then, he took her by the hand and said to the kids, "Come on, let’s go eat."
...
With only two days at their disposal, they really could not venture too far out of town.
In any case, Michael had come all the way here with the kids just to see Wendy anyway.
That’s why, for the two days that they were in town, Wendy only took them to attractions in the vicinity.
Alas, the happy, enjoyable time for the family of four was just too short as time flew by a little too quickly.
And, in the blink of an eye, they were on their second day.
Michael had booked the return flight for six that evening.
With that departure time, their flight would arrive in Lake City around 4 p.m. the following day.
Landing at that time, they should be back home by five. Just in time for dinner, a good night’s sleep, and then it’s off to work or school the day after.
Partings are always so sad.
Naturally, the most emotional one was Leah.
Although she had tried desperately not to cry, she could not help herself, failing miserably.
In the car on the way to the airport, she had clung tightly onto Wendy’s neck, refusing to be separated from her.
Wiping her tears away, Wendy comforted her, "Mummy will be back in Lake City very soon. Just one more month, OK?"
Initially, Wendy had intended to say twenty days instead of one month.
But then, she did not want Michael to worry about her working excessively long hours again.
Leah nodded meekly, her big eyes still filled with tears, "Jake and I, and Daddy will be at home, waiting for you."
"Sure," Wendy kissed her adorable face, secretly reluctant to see them leave.
When they were almost at the airport, Wendy got a call from Jill.
Wendy was a tad surprised when she saw the caller ID.
Wendy had asked Michael to warn Jill that Timothy had stormed off to Lake City to look for her.
Duly warned, Jill had kept her phone turned off.
Now, she had not only turned her phone back on but also called Wendy of her own volition.
That meant that there were two possibilities.
One was that Timothy had given up on forcing Jill to take up design studies.
Obviously, that probability was really low.
Or two, Timothy had managed to haul Jill back here, and that call was a call for help.
The second possibility was a highly probable one.
Wendy accepted the call. As expected, Jill was running as she spoke, "Help me! Please, help me... " Jill sounded shaken and out of breath on the phone and appeared to be breathing erratically.
Judging by her voice, Wendy knew that Jill was running as she spoke.
From the background noise, Wendy could hazard a guess as to where Jill was at that moment.
"Wendy, I’m at the airport. Please come and help me if you’re available," Jill said in an urgent tone.
In the background, Wendy could hear Timothy yelling at Jill.
"I’m nearly at the airport," Wendy replied.
"Oh really?" Jill sounded happy to hear that, adding, "Then please come quickly! I’m at Gate 11."
"OK," Wendy replied and hung up.
"What is it?" Michael asked when he noticed Wendy looking a little serious.
"That was Jill." Wendy continued, "She’s at the airport right now, probably hauled back here by Timothy. She called the moment they disembarked, asking me for help."
"I can’t believe that Timothy had actually dragged her back here," Michael smiled.
Then he said, "Jill is by nature a high-energy person who cannot sit still. She would be bored to death if she had to spend all day sitting at her desk designing. Besides, she sings very well, so she should make a good singer."
"My mentor would beg to differ," Wendy shrugged. Looking resigned, she added, "All he wants is for Jill to take over from him as a designer. After all, she is his only child."
Jake, who had been listening to her conversation with Michael, blinked and turned towards her and asked, "Mummy, what will you do if Leah and I refuse to do what you guys want us to do?"
