Chapter 26
Right then, someone knocked on his door. “Come in.”
Britney stepped in with two cups of coffee in her hands. “I’ve brought your favorite americano drink, Alex.”
“What brings you here?” Alexander glanced up at her calmly.
“Didn’t you say that we’ll be telling Grandpa about our wedding tonight? I’m a little nervous.” Britney bit on her lower lip as she gave him a bashful smile.
“Haven’t you always visited Grandpa before we even decided to have this wedding?” Alexander didn’t bother to play along with her; he simply tore down her pretentious front.
An awkward look crept across Britney’s face, but she shamelessly continued to speak in a sweet voice. “That was when I was putting up a show with you, Alex. Naturally, I have to be a little more worried now that this is the real thing. Do you think I’m dressed appropriately for tonight? Will Grandpa like this?”
Alexander didn’t even look at her. “Whatever.”
“Alex” Britney uttered as she walked toward him. Feeling slightly annoyed, she was about to start a fight when she caught a glimpse of the medical documents that were placed on the table. The words ‘Tina Hunter’ were printed on it.
“Who’s Tina Hunter?” Britney couldn’t stop herself from asking. Alexander glanced at her as he responded calmly and said, “She’s the daughter of an employee.”
“Why are you looking at the medical records of an employee’s daughter? Who is this staff of yours?” She demanded.
Alexander finally placed his hands over the medical records as he spoke with a sharp edge to his tone. “Do I have to report everything to you?”
“No. That’s not what I meant; I was just asking,” she said as her face fell a little.
“Well, you’re asking too many questions. I still have other matters to handle, and we’re only meeting Grandpa during dinner. You can head over there yourself; I’ll be there on time.” This time, he was giving her a direct order. She quickly regretted having asked so many questions earlier, but she knew that the situation could no longer be salvaged when she saw the annoyed look on Alexander’s face. She embarrassedly mumbled some excuse before seeing herself out of the office. Tina Hunter, she sneakily recited the name in her head as she went out.
“Alexander offered to handle your kindergarten admissions for you?” Scott pressed a phone against his ear as he paced around energetically in the Duncans’ ancestral home. “It seems like things are working out well since he offered to help your mother out so soon.”
The voice on the other end of the call was sweet and innocent. “It’s lucky that you informed me about Mr. Alexander’s whereabouts, Grandpa Scott. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to get Mommy and Mr. Alexander to ‘bump’ into each other at the restaurant.”
“It’s also partially because your mother’s a good woman. There aren’t many women who have caught Alexander’s attention in the past,” Scott replied.
“You’re saying that Mommy has a chance, right?!” Tina asked excitedly.
“She doesn’t just have a chance; she has a high chance.” The two of them were chatting happily when the housekeeper stepped into Scott’s room. “Mr. Duncan, Mr. Alexander and Miss Price have arrived.”
Scott chuckled. “Alright, Alexander’s back. I’m going to take this opportunity to ask him what his thoughts are. I’ll talk to you later, Tina.”
“Okay. Bye, Grandpa Scott,” she uttered. Scott felt extremely pleased and relaxed to hear the easygoing, cheerful voice on the other end of the call; he was still beaming even moments after the call had ended.
“That cheeky girl, Tina, really captured my heart. If her mother gets married to Alexander and moves in with us, the atmosphere in our house will be so much more lively. Jordan will get himself a friend too.” he said.
“Aren’t you afraid that Tina’s mother will be less attentive to Jordan since she has her own child to care for?” the housekeeper asked.
“Didn’t you see them at the restaurant that day? Jordan and Tina got along so well, and her mother was so sweet to Jordan” Scott replied. The housekeeper seemed a little more at ease upon the mention of the meeting at the Japanese restaurant that day.
No one was surprised to hear Alexander bringing Britney home for dinner. Ever since Scott pressured Alexander to get married five years ago, he had brought her back to meet the Duncan Family so that they would stop pestering him. Initially, Scott considered the possibility that they might actually be interested in one another, but he soon realized that it was all just a show.
“Why didn’t Jordan come along?” Scott asked about the young boy once they were all sat at the dining table. Alexander frowned a little when he thought of the tantrums Jordan had thrown at home. “He’s been in a bad mood recently, so I didn’t want to cause more trouble by bringing him here,” he explained.
“You’re the only one that can ever cause me trouble,” Scott said as he threw Alexander a side–eye. “You have to find a mother who can care for Jordan soon. Do you think he’s going to be in a good mood when he spends all his time with a bunch of maids? It’s going to be your own fault if you end up with a spoiled brat”
Upon the mention of that topic, Alexander lowered his chopsticks as he began to speak. “I’ve thought about this, and I think you’re right. I’m planning to get married soon.”
“You’re getting married?” Before Scott could express his joy, Alexander continued to explain himself. “That’s why I brought Britney home to let you know about this,” he said.
“What? You’re getting married to her?” The old man’s face fell instantly.
Alexander frowned as he didn’t understand why Scott’s face had darkened so quickly. “Britney has been with me for a while now, so I thought I’d just get married since you want me to,” Alexander explained.
“Wait, no. Hold on.” Scott felt his mind spinning in circles, and it took him a while to calm himself down. “What about Jordan? Did Jordan agree to this marriage?”
Alexander nodded with great certainty. “I’m doing this for the sake of Jordan, after all.”
“No way. I don’t agree to this; not until Jordan comes over personally and tells me that he agrees to it.” Scott was fuming as he rejected the marriage right in front of Britney. Alexander was rather surprised. I thought Grandpa would be glad to hear about my plans on getting married. What‘s up with this odd reaction of his?
Britney was fuming with rage at this point, but she tried her best to suppress it as she chimed in with a gentle voice. “I’m going to treat Jordan really well after we get married, Grandpa. Furthermore, I’m the one who knows Jordan the best-I’ve watched him grow up throughout the years.” However, Scott only threw her a disdainful look before he scoffed and turned toward the housekeeper. “Go pick Jordan up and bring him over, Harry.”
The Duncans’ ancestral home wasn’t far from where Alexander lived, so it only took half an hour for the housekeeper to return with Jordan. The young boy flinched with fear the moment he walked in and saw Britney in the house. Scott smiled and waved for Jordan to come over to him. “Come to your great-grandfather, Jordan.” Jordan then ran over to Scott.
“Your Daddy told me that you want a Mommy, right?” the old man asked.
Jordan shook his head at first before shuddering in fear when he caught sight of Britney through the corner of his eye. He then nodded slightly. Alexander noticed that there seemed to be something odd about this.
“Children can’t truly understand what’s going on, but I’m sure he knows who treats him the best. Come over to your Aunt Britney, Jordan.” Britney waved at the young boy as she beamed sweetly, but Jordan unknowingly shrunk away and hid behind Scott. The old man realized this and looked up at Britney with a cold glare. “That’s not right of you to say that. I think children know a lot more than we think they do; the way you communicate with a child will eventually determine the child’s character.”
The smile on Britney’s face froze a little as she awkwardly agreed to him. “Yes. You’re right, Grandpa. I’ll be careful with my words from now on.”
