Once Tom and Harry were settled in the Den, Tom looked at Harry with a serious expression, "Is everything alright?"
"Sure. I wanted to check on you to see how you were feeling now about the whole DNA stuff," Harry said and Tom eyed him doubtfully.
"You saw me before I left the office…"
"That was at the office. I wanted to be sure you wouldn't be at home weeping," Harry said and Tom chuckled.
"Well, as you can see, I'm fine. Now tell me the real reason you wanted to see me," Tom said and Harry shrugged.
"Your mom called earlier," Harry said and Tom raised a brow.
"Earlier when? And what did she want?" He asked, feeling exasperated already even though he was yet to hear what Harry had to say.
The fact that she had spoken to Lucy already made him certain that her call to Harry had to do with Kimberly.
This was exactly what Lucy had been saying earlier about his family, especially his mother meddling in his affairs.
He had told her to let things be, so why was she still going about calling everyone?
"Not long after I left the office. About two hours ago," Harry said as he glanced at his wristwatch to estimate the time.
"She wanted you to give her Kimberly's details?" Tom asked and Harry nodded.
"How did you know?" He asked with interest
"She spoke to Lucy a while ago. I'm guessing she chose to ask Lucy about it because you turned her down," Tom said with annoyance.
"She is not okay with the fact that you don't want to do anything about what happened. She feels you shouldn't let Kimberly go just like that," Harry said and Tom nodded.
"Let's wait and see what will do now that she knows those behind it. It's annoying having her meddle in my business this way, you know?" Tom said, and Harry didn't know whether to pity him or envy him.
"At least you have a mother who loves you enough to want to meddle in your business," Harry said and Tom frowned.
"Don't go that route with me," Tom cautioned.
"I'm just trying to say you shouldn't be too upset with her. Maybe if you see her actions from a place of love you'd be less irritated. For your own good and peace of mind," Harry said reasonably.
"What I would rather do for my own good and peace of mind is put a stop to it once and for all. I've had enough of all of it. It's tiring. And seriously after this whole Kimberly stuff, I'm not ready to put up with it anymore," Tom said in annoyance, and as though summoned by the conversation Evelyn chose to call him at that very moment.
Tom scowled when he saw her call and received it without saying a word as he waited to hear what she had to say first.
"Tom? Are you there?" Evelyn asked, sounding agitated.
"Yes, I am. Is there a problem?" Tom asked, feeling slightly concerned by her tone.
"How could you let Lucy threaten your grandfather into…"
"Excuse me?" Tom cut in, not wanting to believe his mother was saying what he thought she was saying.
"I don't support what your grandfather did in any way, but handling it the way you did was wrong. How could you let Lucy get involved? This was supposed to be between your grandfather and…"
Tom rose from his seat involuntarily, "I don't want to believe you are serious right now. I don't want to believe you called me to say this, because you are really beginning to get on my last nerves," Tom cut in tersely and Harry raised a brow, wondering what was going on.
"I'm serious! Do you know how much problem this is going to cause between your dad and grandfather? Your father is mad at me alre…"
"He is MAD at you because you made him mad! It has nothing to do with Lucy! And you should know I'm mad as hell right now as well, and I don't even want to talk to you either! I'm disappointed that still can't see that you are the cause of everything. I'd appreciate it if you don't make this about Lucy! You wanted to punish Kimberly despite all I said to you before, so go ahead and punish her and grandfather as you deem fit, but DO NOT for whatever reason try to put any blame on Lucy. Your issue with dad is your fault. Deal with it! Maybe this will teach you to listen to others," Tom yelled, and Bryan who had been on his way to the dining with Sonia, walked into the Den, leaving Sonia to go ahead of him to the dining.
"What's going on? Why is he mad?" Bryan asked Harry who remained where he was seated watching Tom.
"Tom…" before Evelyn could complete whatever she wanted to say, Tom hung up angrily.
"Can you believe her? Can you believe she is trying to put the blame on Lucy? This is unbelievable! It's crazy!" Tom said angrily, and Harry sighed while Bryan frowned as he looked at them, wondering what was going on.
"Why are you yelling at mom? And what is she blaming Lucy for?" Bryan asked Tom in confusion.
"Maybe you should call her and ask her that yourself! I'm too mad to talk to anyone right now. I'm going upstairs. See you tomorrow, Harry," Tom said as he turned and walked away while both Bryan and Harry frowned in concern as they watched him leave.
"Tom is losing his temper a lot lately. He never loses his calm this way," Bryan observed, and Harry had to agree.
"I guess everything is getting to him," Harry murmured as he rose.
"I just walked past Tom and I swear he was breathing fire. What got him so upset?" Jade asked both Harry and Bryan as she walked into the Den.
"I think it's mom. He was yelling at her a moment ago. Maybe Harry can tell us what is going on," Bryan said and both of them turned to Harry.
"Why is Tom upset?" Jade asked him flatly.
Not seeing any need to hide it much longer since it had become their family business, Harry sighed, "Your mom asked your grandfather to find a way to convince Tom to settle down, and your grandfather hanged up with his protege or goddaughter, I don't know what she is to him. She came to Tom claiming she had a daughter for him…"
"What?" Bryan and Jade asked in unison.
"You are joking, right?" Jade asked in disbelief.
"I wish I was. Tom had to come back earlier from his business trip because of that. He carried out a DNA test and it turned out the kid isn't his. The lab director told me your grandfather was trying to get him to tamper with the result and claim the girl was Tom's. You can guess the rest of the story from there," Harry concluded and both Jade and Bryan frowned.
"All this was going on since Friday?" Bryan asked in disbelief.
"Why didn't you say anything to me?" Jade asked Harry.
"Because it's not your business. Tom is mad right now. He has every right to be. So maybe you can both talk to your mom. This is not the best time for her to try to put any blame on Lucy. I need to leave now," Harry said as he glanced at his wristwatch and Jade sighed, while Bryan sat down.
"I will see him off to his car, and come back so we can talk," Jade told Bryan before walking away with Harry.
Away from there, at the dining, Sonia had a concerned frown on her face as she joined Lucy and Candace.
"Did something happen between Evelyn and you?" Sonia asked curiously.
"Something like what?" Lucy asked before taking a sip from her glass of water.
"On our way down here, Tom was yelling. I deduced he was on the phone with Evelyn and he said something about not putting the blame on you or making it about you. Bryan went in to find out what was wrong," Sonia said and Lucy frowned.
"I don't know what that was about. If he was yelling that means he must be upset. I should go find out what is wrong?" Lucy said as she excused herself and went to the Den.
She was surprised to find just Bryan seated inside, "Where is Tom?" She asked, and Bryan raised his head to look at her.
"He went upstairs to cool off. Can I have a moment with you?" Bryan asked hopefully.
"Sure," Lucy said as she went to sit close to him.
"Harry told us about the DNA stuff. What he didn't say is why my mom thinks you are to blame for something. What is that about?" Bryan asked and Lucy took a deep breath before going on to narrate what had transpired between her and their grandfather as well as her last phone call with Evelyn.
"When we spoke a short while ago she wasn't mad at me, so I don't understand why she might be mad enough to blame me for anything now," Lucy said feeling exhausted.
Unless Evelyn was upset because she she felt justified that Lawrence Hank had done what he did with Kimberly because of Lucy's refusal to get married.
"I asked your grandfather to report himself to your parents and the rest of the family else I would do so myself," Lucy said after a short pause.
"You did?" Bryan asked, surprised that Lucy had given their grandfather such a task.
"Yes, I did. He crossed a line by doing what he did, and that has to be corrected. Tom was very affected by this whole drama and I won't let anyone get away with messing with him, whether or not they are his family. If Evelyn is upset because of my actions, I can't say I'm sorry about that. She can look out for Tom how she deems fit as his mother, and I would do the same how I deem fit as his girlfriend. If you don't mind, I need to go find Tom," Lucy said as she rose and walked away, leaving Bryan who did not know whether to admire Lucy or be worried about the friction in the family.
Lucy was right. His grandfather had gone too far pranking Tom the way he did and Tom had every right to be upset.
"What is going on?" Sonia asked as she walked into the Den to join Bryan.
Candace had decided to go upstairs and change into more comfortable sleeping clothes, and since she didn't want to stay alone at the dining when she was burning with curiosity she had decided to come find out what was going on.
"Are you done with dinner already?" Bryan asked as he rose when she sat beside him.
"It's hard to have dinner when everyone seems upset. And I didn't want to eat alone," Sonia said and Bryan rose to lead her to the dining.
"Sorry about that. Let's go have dinner now. We can't keep our Ryso starving," Bryan said we he took her hand.
"Why was Tom upset? Where is Lucy?" Sonia asked as they returned to the dining.
"She went to find Tom. He is very upset. Grandpa played a prank on Tom..."
"That is putting it mildly. That was no prank," Sonia hissed, and Bryan paused to look at her.
"You knew about it?" He asked, and Sonia realized her slip.
She shrugged, "Yeah. Lucy told me about the stuff on Saturday and called to inform me of the DNA test result," she said, seeing no need to keep it a secret anymore.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Bryan asked with a frown.
"Your brother didn't tell you about it why should I tell you something I heard from Lucy?" Sonia asked matter of factly.
Bryan opened his mouth to argue but Sonia raised a finger and shook her head, "Don't you dare try to pick a fight with me over this. You kept Tom's secret too when he was pretending to be someone else to Lucy. And what did you tell me? You are not Tom and I'm not Lucy..."
"How is that even the same thing?" Bryan asked with a scowl.
"So, what do you want right now? You would rather us to fight over this? Like we haven't had enough fights already? Do you want more conflict?" Sonia asked, and Bryan glared at her.
"You shouldn't have kept it from me," Bryan insisted.
"You know this is probably one of the problems that comes with two best friends being involved with brothers. I see no reason why I should tell you something my best friend told me in confidence simply because he is your brother. I'm not arguing about this anymore with you. We can either discuss the situation logically or forget about it," Sonia said before walking ahead of him to go sit at the dining leaving a sulky Bryan to follow her.
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