Chapter 388: Chapter 388

Just moments earlier in the receiving area ....

Aliya felt her heart tremble at what she deemed was blatant disrespect by Samantha. Her little girl from two years ago had not been like that. Back then, Samantha had been the most respectful girl that Aliya could ever have, and she had seen her mother as her world! What happened?!

She clenched her hands and even forgot about her audience for a little while,

"Young lady! I am not done talking-"

However, when Samantha interrupted her for a second time, her eyes narrowed as she thought, ’No, that can’t be!’

Aliya’s mouth fell open at the next words that her eldest daughter said to her.

"Didn’t you say that you were going to stay here? So why should I listen to this talk now? You can find me when you settle in later!"

Samantha did not give her any face at all. The girl who had adored her some time back talked to her like she was a lesser human. Just what did this Shelby person teach her children? Aliya wondered. She clenched her hands to hide the bubbling anger while at the same time, she bit her lips and sent an aggrieved look towards Ian. It was a silent plea for help, but Aliya was destined to be disappointed this time.

Right at that time, the unknown young man and the woman in the worker’s attire stood up at the same time. Aliya looked at them for vision’s peripherals. Since they had not been introduced to her, she totally disregarded them, but the man turned to Geneva and said,

"I’ll go talk to my sister, Mrs Thornston." Aliya noticed Geneva frowning at the young man.

’Sister?’ Aliya thought,

For Geneva, she was rather enjoying this whole mother-daughter exchange. It was no news that Geneva was the one who had tried to discipline Samantha the most, but this old wise woman was also one who knew children in and out.

Geneva, therefore, had a hunch that whatever change Samantha had gone through had to do with her mother, who had re-appeared from the dead. It did not make sense that it would be related to Shelby because Shelby had been the one who had changed Samantha for the better.

"Okay, Rocky." Then Geneva replied, adding, "you sister calls me mum, why are you still referring to me as Mrs Thornston?"

Rocky scratched his hair and smiled sheepishly.

"Are you going too, Ava?"

"Yes, Mum." Geneva nodded and did not say anything else as the two exited the room. In all this, these two never spared Ian a glance. Aliya, on the other hand, still looked aggrieved on the surface, with slightly watery eyes looking at Ian. However, inwardly, she did not know why those two had decided to interrupt her at that time.

’So, this is that woman’s brother?’

As Aliya thought of this and held Ian’s gaze, a nonchalant voice asked,

"Is there anything else, Aliya?"

’WTH! Is that how she addresses her mother?’ Aliya could not mask her gaze as this was coming from her eldest daughter! In the room, she had noticed how the children addressed Shelby. Though different, they were still similar.

Ingrid, her only biological daughter, called that woman ’Mummy’, while her youngest called her ’Mama’. Lastly, Samantha called her ’Mum.’ However, she was not sure why, Aliya knew that there might be a story in there. What she did not understand was why this daughter of hers would call her by her given name. Though it was her name, it made her feel weird, as if she was being disrespected.

"Wh-" Alia started, but she was interrupted by Samantha again,

"I see that you have nothing to talk about. I’ll take my leave then." Samantha bowed to her grandparents and her father and then left decisively with Gabriel.

It took almost a full minute for Aliya to react after Samantha had exited the room. She was too shocked!

"Pr- I mean, Ian, what is going on?"

Aliya dropped her pitiful act and could not help but ask this,

"Why is my perfectly polite child now acting this way with me?"

Aliya asked, and then suddenly clamped her mouth shut.... A little too late, I must say. She understood the implications of her statement very well.... a little too late as the words were already out.

This time, Alex could not stop Geneva, as the older woman responded with malice, "What do you mean by that? Do you mean that the children that were left behind in that unfortunate incident have not been trained to your liking?... and who exactly are you trying to blame?"

"I did not mean it like that, Mum... I-"

"Mum? Ha! It’s Mrs Thornston to you!"

Geneva stood up from her chair and shot a glare at Ian. No words were necessary to describe how she felt about this. However, they had all said what had to say to Ian a while back and saying the same words repeatedly could become counter intuitive. Geneva stormed out of the room.

Aliya was left staring at the backs of almost everyone who had left there. Weren’t they supposed to be there to welcome her? Why was this happening? ... and even though her words had come out wrong, she had every right to ask about the children, so why were they all reacting like that? Aliya turned back to Ian and a relief washed over her... even though short-lived.

Thankfully for her, Ian was still in his seat, staring down at her. Aliya could not fathom his expression at all.

She bit her lip again and then looked at him through her lashes.

"Suzie," Ian said and then stood up.

He did not say anything else, but Suzie replied,

"It will be taken care of."

Suzie had a tactical understanding with her employers and no words were needed for her to get any task done.

Ian strode out of the place with just a single statement, "I’m glad you’re okay, and we’ll find out what happened to Tyler to give you some closure."

Before Aliya could say anything else, Ian was out of the door. Soon, Alex and then, lastly, Brad stood up and left the room, leaving their esteemed guest, Suzie and a few of the workers as well.

Brad had taken in the scene and noted everything, but he did not even feel like making any conversation with this person. He also did not understand why his brother was being a ’softee’ on this person.

In Brad’s view, there were some people, who did not deserve any chances at all and in Brad’s mind, this Aliya person, was on the top-most part of that list. Brad was glad to leave the space in which Aliya was, but he never knew that that was a short-term occurrence.

Aliya could not believe her eyes. Ian left her? What the hell was going on? Did that woman have as much influence over the family to this extent? That nobody?

Aliya was flabbergasted and stood deep in thought for a long while before Suzie’s voice drew her out of her reverie.

"Miss Aliya, I’ll take care of your sleeping quarters-"

Aliya found herself taking a breath of relief. She had thought that with the family storming out and leaving her behind, that meant that she was to be driven out.

Suzie paused for a bit and then turned to one of the workers,

"Prepare a room in the West Wing for our guest -"

"Wait, what do you mean the West Wing?" Aliya interrupted,

"Is there a problem, Miss?" Suzie inquired,

"Yes, isn’t Ian in the East wing? Why are you arranging my room on the opposite side?"

Suzie stared long and hard at the woman, who still looked pale. She felt no sympathy for this woman in any way.

"Yes, Chairman Ian is in the East wing, but what has that got to do with you, Miss?"

Aliya noticed that this Suzie person was only being polite on the surface. The attitude did reflect how the members of the Thornston estate had treated her.

"What has the Chairman being that wing got to do with where we house you, Miss Aliya? You are or guest and as such I was to send you to the South wing, but on account that your kids are considered family, I decided that this would be better. But I don’t understand where the chairman sleeps has anything to do with this?"

Suzie knew very much what Aliya was driving at, but she decided to play ignorantly.

For a moment, Aliya was taken aback, but she still asked,

"... and my children?"

"... will be taken care of readily in their quarters, as they had been experiencing for all this time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a lot that I must get done." Suzie replied and then assigned a handy female worker to Aliya.

"Send her to the West Wing as discussed and make sure that she wants for nothing."

The maid directed an unsatisfied Aliya out of the room. She was whisked out of the room so fast that she had no way of expressing any dissatisfaction.

At this time, the few workers who had been around were itching to talk of it, but they knew of the rule in their estate, so they only took in everything that was happening.

Finally, Aliya was ushered into a room.

She took slow steps around the room as the workers carried her bag into it. The place could pass for a mini apartment on it own. Despite this, Aliya was obviously dissatisfied with it. Holding her sentiments in, she waited for the workers to leave and then closed the door behind them.

For some reason, she had already garnered the reputation of the other woman. Many of the workers in the mansion already knew her or knew of her as they were all long-term workers. However, none of them stayed behind and left in a haste.

Aliya walked into the bathroom slowly as she took the room in. Arriving in front of a mirror, she studied her reflection.

Her pale face stared back at her. For a moment, she just stared unblinkingly at herself. A face that could pass as break-taking, with the right makeup applied, skin smooth and flawless. It was unknown what Aliya was thinking off at this time as she stood still for a long time here.

Slowly, a smile spread across her face, brightening her features, graceful, yet it exuded a hit of something sinister as well. It was brief and died off in the same vigour that it had appeared.

Thank you so much to all for your votes and comments! I hope we can keep it up ^_^

Support the author by reading only on NovelHub :) ~Uploaded only on NovelHub by Loctovia ~