Chapter 531: Third Time Calling
After dinner that night, Wendy and Michael retired to their bedroom.
Having washed up, they prepared for bed.
Snuggled in Michael’s arms, Wendy told him about what had happened earlier that day. "I met Mark today when I went to pick the kids up from school."
"Mark?" Obviously, Michael had no recollection of who Mark was.
After all, his name had only been mentioned in passing at that time.
"It’s the kid that Leah talked about a few days ago. The classmate of hers who brings her food," Wendy explained.
Michael remembered him and smiled, "So, you went to check him out? Well?"
"Well, I didn’t set out to do that. In fact, I had forgotten all about it. It was Leah who wanted to introduce us," Wendy explained.
"I think Mark is quite a nice kid. Well-mannered and smart. But Jake doesn’t seem to like him."
"Why not?" Puzzled, Michael asked, "Didn’t you just say that he’s a nice boy? Why doesn’t Jake like him?"
"He thinks that Mark has an agenda for trying to get close to Leah and doesn’t want her hanging out with him," Wendy replied.
"Jake is just looking out for Leah. He doesn’t want her to get hurt. After all, Leah is very young and na¯ve," Michael said. Knowing his son, he could pretty much hazard a guess at why Jake was reacting adversely to Mark.
"Still, he can’t stop Leah from making friends, can he? And Mark is indeed a good boy. My point is that they are still so young; what hurt could he inflict on Leah?"
"Jake’s been reading too much into it, that’s all," Michael said.
Wrapping his arms tighter around her, he murmured with a smile, "You seem to have taken a real liking to Mark. Should we keep an eye on him as a potential son-in-law?"
"Now you’re talking. I did indeed think about Mark becoming our son-in-law when they grow up," Wendy said.
"They’re too young now. Let’s just wait till Leah has grown up and understands what liking someone means. Then we’ll broach the subject again.
"In any case, I don’t think we need to fret about Leah right now. It’s actually Jake I’m worried about. According to Leah, this son of yours does not have any friends in school.
"Sometimes being too smart is not a good thing, especially when everyone else in your age group seems so immature."
Michael frowned at Wendy’s words. "You’re right. But I would say don’t fret over it.
We’ll just leave them to their own destiny. They will manage their own lives when they’re grown up."
With that said, Michael reached over and laid his hand on her belly.
It had been more than a month, and her belly was still flat.
"Was your morning sickness bad today?" he asked, looking concerned.
"I was so busy following the news on social media about Christian that I forgot about any discomfort from my morning sickness," Wendy replied.
Her mood lifted considerably at the topic of their conversation as she continued, "I don’t know if you’ve seen the comments online but Christian is being criticized into oblivion."
While talking, she reached for her phone that she had left by the side table and swiped to the chat app.
Tapping open the relevant content, she showed it to Michael and said, "Since you’ve been so busy at work, you would not have seen these. Take a look. They’ll cheer you up."
Since she was nestled comfortably in his arms, Michael took over the phone from her and held it up for them both to read the content.
When they got to the comments that were exceptionally critical of Christian, Wendy chuckled merrily and said, "Guess what? I found out today that there are many ways of verbal abuse. And some of them are so subtle that not even a single swear word was used."
At that, Michael grunted indulgently.
...
The continuous reading of the news about Christian had tired Wendy out.
Gradually, her eyes drooped, and she fell asleep.
Michael tenderly smiled when he heard her even breathing as she fell sound asleep.
Planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, he whispered, "Sleep tight."
In the days that followed, any comments posted by Christian’s trolls were quickly downplayed by the netizens’ criticisms.
On Christian’s part, he seemed to have given up on refuting the ongoing criticisms online. Probably because he had finally realized that there was no point going head-on with the netizens or perhaps, he had run out of money to pay the trolls.
In a matter of a few days, his reputation had plummeted from an elevated status to the bottom of a deep valley.
The market value of his company’s shares had fallen by more than seventy percent.
And, the increased value in stock price they had picked up from the launch of the new collection had disappeared.
Needless to say, Wendy was feeling decidedly uplifted over the past few days.
At her regular checkup with the gynecologist that Friday, Michael had been pleased to see that she looked a lot healthier and that their baby was doing well too.
Slowly but surely, Wendy had begun to accept this baby’s existence.
Whenever any mention was made about this baby, she would inevitably lower her head and gently touch her belly.
Together with Michael, they would wait with anticipation for their baby’s arrival.
That night, when Michael returned home from work, Wendy informed him, "Let’s go visit Grandmother tomorrow."
Michael stiffened when he heard what Wendy had just said.
When he had mentioned this in the recent past, Wendy had told him that she needed time to manage her emotions about the baby.
So, since she had brought this up of her own volition, did it mean that she was finally ready to tell his grandmother?
To Michael, this was a critical step.
The fact that Wendy was eagerly waiting for the arrival of this baby meant that she had finally accepted it.
Quite unlike before, when she would be shocked awake by nightmares.
Speaking of which, she did not appear to be suffering from any more nightmares in the past few days.
Michael had assumed that she no longer had nightmares because her mood had been uplifted by what was happening to Christian.
But now, he wondered if it was because she had decided to face reality about what had happened that night and accept this baby’s existence.
Trying desperately to keep his emotions in control, he had asked tentatively, "Is it because of what I think it is?"
Wendy smiled and nodded, "I know that you have been worried about me. So, I am willing to accept this baby for your sake. He is our child and has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else."
"Yep," Michael was over the moon at her words.
"Are we going to visit Great-grandma tomorrow?" Leah asked, who had overheard them talking.
Looking up at them, she smiled happily, "Oh, I will show her my new princess outfit."
Caressing her daughter’s little head, Wendy nodded tenderly, "So, let’s go to bed early tonight. We’ll head out to Great-grandma’s after breakfast."
"OK, I will wash up now and get to bed," Leah happily replied as she skipped to the bathroom.
The next morning, as planned, they set off for the mansion after breakfast.
Michael was about to call his grandmother to inform her of their visit when Wendy stopped him, "Let’s give her a surprise."
"’Sure," Michael replied, putting his phone away immediately.
"Grandmother would be so thrilled to see us. And she will be over the moon when we tell her that you’re expecting another baby."
"Yeah," Wendy smiled in return.
Happily, the family of four headed for the mansion.
Just when they were about to arrive at the mansion’s gates, Wendy’s phone rang.
Looking at the screen, she recognized the number as Todd’s even though she had deleted his contact details from her phone.
...
Despite the persistent ringing, Wendy did not accept the call.
Puzzled, Leah, who was in the back seat, asked, "Who’s calling, Mummy? Why aren’t you picking up?"
Michael, too, was baffled. Generally speaking, Wendy would have declined the call if she had not wanted to speak to the caller.
But here she was, neither declining nor accepting the call.
"It’s... " Wendy paused before declining the call.
Instantly, the ringing stopped, and silence returned to the car.
Managing a faint smile, Wendy said, "Nuisance call."
She was saddened that her long-time friendship with Todd had come to such an unhappy ending.
But then again, there was no way they could revert to the camaraderie they had once shared.
Glancing at Michael, she reminded him, "Drive carefully. We’re nearly there."
Compared to the past when he had not really known Wendy as a person, Michael was now better able to understand her moods and actions.
He knew instantly that the call was definitely not a nuisance call.
Nonetheless, he did not probe as Wendy had obviously not wanted to discuss it.
Just then, the phone began ringing again.
Having looked at the screen, Wendy noted that it was Todd calling again.
Sighing, she was just about to decline it again when Michael spoke up, "Take it.
Regardless of who the caller is, it must be urgent if he is calling twice in a row."
"It’s... " Wendy paused before continuing, "It’s Todd."
"Todd?" Michael repeated, surprised that this name had popped up again.
Since their return to Lake City from Rheinsville City, they had not had any contact with Todd.
Ever since that unpleasant incident, Michael did not have even a tiny bit of goodwill towards Todd.
He had not expected Todd to be so thick-skinned to call Wendy again.
"Why is he calling?" Michael asked, sounding decidedly displeased.
"Oh, was that Uncle Todd?" Leah asked smilingly, adding, "He did not send us off at the airport when we left."
Michael, who had been on the verge of an angry outburst, suppressed his rage when he heard Leah’s laughter.
He did not want to leave a bad impression on the kids’ minds.
After all, this concerned only the adults and had nothing to do with the kids.
Wendy looked at Michael before once again declining the call.
Having had his call declined twice in a row, Todd was getting anxious as he gripped the phone tightly, and his palm became sweaty.
Indeed, he should not be calling Wendy ever again. He was too ashamed.
However, the reason for his call was not simply to catch up. He did have an important matter to relate to her.
To him, it was an attempt to make up for his inappropriate behavior in the past.
Todd deeply regretted what he had done that night.
If only he had not drunk too much and behaved inappropriately towards Wendy.
They would have continued to be friends, making the occasional call to check in on each other.
It was all his fault. He was to blame for slamming the door shut on their friendship.
He knew that this piece of news he had for them would be critical to their mission.
At that thought, Todd decided to try calling a third time.
Wiping his sweaty palm, he took a deep breath and muttered, "I will not call again if she still refuses to pick up."
If she continued to decline his call for the third time in a row, it would be a clear message that she hated him and wanted nothing to do with him, ever.
If that was the case, he would make himself scarce and never show up in her life again.
With his fingers slightly shaking, Todd dialed the all too familiar number again.
As he listened to the phone ring away, Todd could barely breathe as he waited patiently, hoping that Wendy would accept the call.
