Chapter 38~ Considering
Tessa’s breathing got caught in her throat. Her eyes turned into saucers as she stared at Aaron in disbelief. She couldn’t believe Aaron’s words. An apology gift? Who gives a shopping mall as a gift?
“Are you for real? You got me a shopping mall as an apology gift? What are you apologising for? I don’t remember being angry at you. Did you do something wrong?” Tessa inquired, feeling confused.
“I’m sorry for everything that has been happening ever since you returned to Ashford City. I hate. that I had failed to make it a safer place for you and our kids,” Aaron said and continued, “However, this is an apology for what Serena wanted to do to you at that party. I should have dealt with her the first time she tried to frame you.”
Tessa frowned deeply, she thought Aaron was going out of his way to please her. She didn’t need such extravagant gifts.
“Still… This is too much. I can’t accept this. Besides, it wasn’t your fault,” Tessa said and then handed the document over to him, “I told you I don’t need these things. I’ve already forgiven you about the past. This won’t make me change my mind about being in a relationship.”
She was worried that he would want something in return if she accepted the expensive gift.
“I know. There are no strings attached to this gift. Whether you give me a chance or not, it will still be yours. I just want to give it to you,” Aaron said desperately.
He swallowed as he thought of a way to make Tessa accept the gift but Reagan beat him to it.
“Mommy, get the gift. Daddy is very rich! Don’t feel bad about getting things from him.”
Tessa’s eyebrows furrowed and she glanced at her son, “Reagan, who taught you how to speak like
that?”
Reagan shrugged and said, “No one. I just know that Daddies protect Mommies and buy them. things to make them happy. Aren’t you happy when Daddy buys you flowers? I saw you looking at
them while smiling the other day-”
“Reagan!” Tessa’s face flushed at her son’s words. Her heart raced as she averted Aaron’s gaze.
Aaron chuckled and remarked, “Just accept it. You can accept it for the kids. What’s ours will
belong to them one day anyway.”
Tessa sighed and looked at the document. It suddenly felt heavy. The mall itself was worth billions of dollars. She wanted to continue refusing but when she looked at her three children, she
changed her mind.
The mall is for them,’ she said silently and kept the papers.
“Thank you, Aaron This is a generous gift. I’m partially rich now,” she joked.
Aaron smiled from ear to ear when she accepted the gift. He said, “I’m glad you like it. You can do as you wish with it There’s a team on standby if you want to have the mall renovated”
Tessa’s eyes sparkled There were many things about the mall that she was itching to change but
since it didn’t belong to her, she could only imagine it in her mind.
Looking at Aaron, she agreed, “I would love to renovate it.”
She felt giddy as she read the document over and over again. It said the owner of the Greenvalley shopping mall is Tessa Hilton. She thought she was dreaming.
In a blink of an eye, she had become the owner of a mall that was worth two billion dollars.
When Aaron said he had something for her, she thought it was the usual flowers or chocolates.
Not that she didn’t want those. In fact, she secretly enjoyed receiving flowers and chocolates from
him.
The butterflies in her stomach went wild whenever Aaron showed up with a box of flowers and
chocolates for her and the kids.
However, the mall was a huge surprise. Aaron gave it to her despite them not being in an intimate relationship. She was deeply touched by this.
Her heart was pounding erratically against her ribcage as she tried to process what was happening.
“Great! I’ll let the engineers know. The renovations can be done in parts so that we don’t inconvenience the other business owners,” Aaron’s voice came, bringing Tessa back to reality.
‘Is this really happening? I have a shopping mall and can do with it as I please?’ Tessa said to
herself.
The family had dinner and when it was time to put the kids to bed, Aaron and Tessa both sat in
their kids’ bedroom.
Aaron had read them stories but they were still wide awake.
Willa glanced at her father and said, “I don’t feel like sleeping, Daddy. Can you sleep with us?”
Reagan sat up and seconded his sister, “Yes, Daddy. We’ve never slept with you before. Please,
stay.”
“Please….” Nia chimed in.
Aaron glanced at Tessa and she ended up sighing. She said, “It’s fine. You can sleep with them.”
“Mommy, sleep with us too!”
Tessa was about to leave when her children called for her. She whipped around and shook her head “No, I’ll sleep with you tomorrow. Daddy will sleep with you today.”
“But we want both of you to sleep with us,” Reagan urged. “We’ve never slept with both of our
parents before.”
Guilt crept into Tessa and she bit her bottom lip. Once again, she regretted not telling Aaron about
the kids
“Ok, Mommy is tired Let’s let her rest. We can sleep together next time. For tonight, I’ll sleep with you,” Aaron said, not wanting to put Tessa on the spot.
The kids stopped pushing when their father said so and Tessa cast Aaron a grateful look before
mouthing. Thank you.
That night, Aaron slept in Reagan’s small bed with the three triplets resting on top of him.
When Tessa went to check on them, she sat on one empty bed and watched the father and children sleep peacefully.
A smile crossed her lips. She took out her phone and got a picture of the beautiful moment.
She then kissed her children goodnight before placing a warm quilt over them.
Her eyes fell on Aaron’s handsome face. It was a known fact that he was one of the most.
handsome men in Ashford City.
This handsome man was pursuing her vehemently. Tessa still thought it was a dream. She used to love him so much and he never paid her any attention.
How could a person take a 360 turn and become this sweet, romantic lovable man?
Tessa couldn’t deny it anymore, she was starting to fall for Aaron’s charms. Back then, it was hard to get Aaron’s attention. It was clear that he wasn’t ready to commit to her.
He often came up with excuses to not talk about the next step of their relationship. However, it was his turn to be passionate now. He showed her almost every day that he wanted her. He was so thoughtful and caring. How could she not get swayed?
But was she ready to take that step? To fully open her heart and let him in? Was it a risk worth taking? Tessa didn’t have the answers to those questions yet.
All she knew was that she liked what they had at the moment. There was no pain or hatred between them Just friendship and happiness.
She was considering giving their relationship a chance but the what ifs were holding her back.”
A few days later, the renovations on the Greenvalley mall had began
One part of the mall was evacuated for the renovations. The businesses renting the space were given temporary space somewhere else.
Tessa was investigating the area with a few engineers. They had discovered that there were some problems with the building. The people who were in charge of building it had used shortcuts and cheap materials.
Since they were going to do renovations on the mall by parts, there was a risk of the whole building collapsing
“I think we should evacuate everyone and redo the whole thing. The previous owner must have known it was a hazard to society that’s why he sold it quickly,” Peter, the engineer in charge. suggested
Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and nodded “Sure Have them evacuated. This crack doesn’t look too good”
There was a huge crack on one of the pillars and it looked like it would drop at any moment Peter got his walkie-talkie and instructed his team, “Evacuate the building! Now!”
He then glanced at Tessa and told her. “We should leave this place too. I just wanted to show you how damaged the walls are. Since we had tempered with it, it might collapse-”
Peter didn’t get to finish his sentence as his words were cut off when the floor underneath them gave way.
Tessa screamed as they both fell from the second floor to the first floor. Then, there was a large crashing sound and the roof of the mall collapsed on top of them.
