Chapter 394: Chapter 394

When Aliya mentioned the destination, Geneva dropped her fork and wiped her lips. She was now paying full attention to the conversation.

"Yes, I was invited by some ladies that I met in the hospital,"

Geneva, who was more familiar with their circles, frowned. She looked up at Suzie and then nodded,

"Sorry to interrupt, Miss. But I believe that an invitation had come for you too...."

"Yes, Miss, I had in mind to bring it to after you retire for the evening, but since Miss Aliya had mentioned it, I think I should bring it forward now,"

Suzie placed the simple invitation on Shelby’s right side, and she picked it up, adjusting herself on Ian’s lap. Neither of them noticed Aliya’s slightly changing expression, but Geneva did. At this time, she wondered if Aliya had any other hidden motive.

Ian held her waist and whispered in her ears, "Be still!"

Shelby blushed and then shook her head.

"Is it the same tea party being held by the ladies in the circles?" Shelby asked Aliya.

For a moment, Aliya was put on the spot. She had thought that she would be able to take Shelby to this ’tea party’ and hold the favour on her head. However, the thing was that Geneva, as well as most people in those circles, knew that following someone to those parties was a societal suicide.

It was not that this would apply to Shelby as she represented the Thornstons. They would want the Thornstons at any function, but despite this, there were still rules that had to be followed. Since marrying into the estate, she had hardly mingled with the high society, so if she went for this, it would be Shelby’s first solo.

Geneva frowned heavily but did not interject anything.

"Well, since I have an invitation, then we can surely go together."

The dinner was uneventful after that. What Aliya was most surprised about was the fact that Shelby sat on Ian’s lap throughout the dinner, being fed by him. The two acted as if there was no one there.

Like, Aliya raised her head at one time to see Shelby and Ian locking lips in a very passionate kiss. That type of kiss should be reserved for the bedroom. Her mouth dropped open AGAIN!... but it seemed like she was the only one who felt that this was unusual. Because the adults went their way.

A few female workers giggled and had, red faces but that was it. Samantha rolled her eyes, and Ingrid did not even look over. Gabriel peeked through his fingers and smiled broadly.

’What in the freak was going on?’ Aliya asked herself as her blood bubbled up from this scene. However, if anyone knew of this, they would have told her to conserve her emotions because this was the trend at the table. The two never ceased to touch each other to Aliya’s irritation.

Another thing that stood out for Aliya was the fact that no one looked directly at Shelby in the face.

It was as if everyone in the estate was submissive to her, and Aliya did not understand, but one look at Shelby’s bright blue eyes startled her. It shocked Aliya in a way that she had never experienced before in her life. She found herself palpitating and almost panting. She was dazed for a moment and forcibly closed her eyes. WTH!

’So that is how it is?’ She thought.

A few days later and the day of the tea party....

It had been a peaceful few days in the Thornston estate. After that first day dinner, Aliya had taken Shelby’s seat one more time and then stopped on her own accord!

How could she not? Whenever she took that seat reserved for the matriarch, no one said a thing, but she was subjected to Ian and that woman’s display of affection throughout the meal. The third time, when everyone came in, Aliya was seated in the middle of the table on a random chair. Brad was the first to snicker and wink at his brother. Aliya did not take that seat by Ian’s side again!

"Take care! And have fun!"

Ian gave Shelby a French kiss and then helped her into her car. Murray was already seated in the driver’s seat.

Before the doors closed, Shelby heard,

"Ian, can Albert drive me?"

Yes, the two women were going with different rides on this day and frankly, Shelby preferred that. Notwithstanding this, Aliya’s request was surprising because everyone knew that Albert was Ian’s exclusive driver before Shelby and the kids had come into the picture. Despite this, this old driver was hardly used by anyone else without explicit permission. In fact, observant people would agree that Albert only ever drove people around and close to Shelby.

A few people hovered around to listen to Ian’s reply.

"Albert cannot take you today as he has an errand to run. One of the other drivers will take you."

Ian added just as one of the cars stopped right in front of Aliya, and an unfamiliar man got off and opened the door for her,

Aliya looked at Ian with reluctance. Ian’s repeated demeanour and replies over the few days had given Aliy the response that she was looking for. It was not the one she sought, but that was what she got. She had come to understand that the Ian she knew who could bend to her every whim was no more there to do her bidding because another woman had her wrapped around her little finger!

Aliya nodded and then got into the car.

Shelby turned as the door on the opposite side of where she was seated and Ava sat in.

"You.... what are you doing here?" Shelby asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Miss, I will be replacing Suzie to serve by your side today..."

"What- w-hat did you call me?"

"Murray, can we go?" Ava called out.

Murray chuckled and started the car. He knew that Ava was more than capable of taking care of Shelby, and that was why he did not comment. True to Murray’s words, Ava’s training regime had been increased to match that of Suzie and after a month of doing this every single day, Murray could vouch for Ava on this.

Well, the thing was that Shelby herself was not any bad. She had also commenced training with Ian. Since the attacks on her had increased, Ian could not rest assured and had started giving her basic self-defence lessons.

"You wouldn’t talk to me, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I begged Suzie to let me come with you instead."

"Is that why you are dressed ?"

"Like what? This? Isn’t it beautiful?"

Ava asked. She was in a simple black dress with a white collar and a black bowtie. The dress stopped midthigh, long white stockings paired with black boots.

"I love it!" Ava beamed.

"For this, trip, I will be. Your personal maid! But till we reach the venue, I’ll be your friend, Ava!"

Shelby shook her head and looked at her friend yet gain. She knew that she had been unreasonable in how she had treated Ava but there had been a lot going on and frankly, Shelby was just disappointed in Ava.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

Shelby asked as Murray sped along the street towards their destination, which was at the heart of town. The drive was estimated to be about half an hour, after they left the Thornston estate lands.

"Shelby, can you not do this? I am sorry that I hooked up with Rocky without telling you but, you hav-"

"You think that I am pissed off at the fact that you’re with Rocky? What do you take me for?!"

"Ava, I tell you everything! I tell when I am menstruating... I told you when Ian first kissed me! I told you when that creep James was making advances at me! You even gave me videos... explicit videos to help me with Ian! Why would you keep the fact that you were interested in Rocky from me?"

Ava felt her face warm up and looked at Murray. She did not understand why Shelby was so much okay with talking about her husband’s intimacy in front of this man, but then, thinking more deeply about it, did it matter?

"Rocky is my younger brother- "

"That is the reason, Shelby. Rocky is your younger brother, and I had always viewed him that way...."

"Hmmmmm.... He is one persistent man!"

Shelby was silent for a while and then burst out laughing. She laughed so much that her sides hurt.

"You heard me right! Your brother does not take NO for an answer. He went around telling that duchebag ex of mind that he liked me.... and most importantly, he was there for me, when no one else was."

Ava whispered the last part, but Shelby heard it.

"Ava, no matter what, if you viewed me as your friend, you would have told me when these thugs had threatened you. I tell you every single thing, Ava."

Shelby sighed and then narrowed her eyes at Ava,

"Now, tell me about you guys!"

Ava giggled and leaned over to hug her friend tightly.

It goes to say that Murray heard his fair share of girl talk. It was not his first time listening to such talk between these two, but it was his first time, in person. In the past, he had been invincible and would have spared himself any embarrassing details. He shook his head at the contents of their talk.

Shelby also regretted it, because all she heard was, "OMG! Rocky did this.... he did that... he is awesome....."

Fifteen minutes later....

"....you won’t believe what he can do with his tongue..."

"Ewwwww! Ava! I don’t want to hear conjugal details about you and my baby brother!"

"You don’t? I thought you said that I should not keep you in the dark?"

"I take my words back, Ava... anything but that...." Murray struggled to keep a straight face and was finally relieved when the venue loomed up.

When their car got to the final destination, Murray opened the door for them, and Shelby stepped out, with Ava keeping a couple of steps behind her. Just then,

"Royston? What are you doing here?"

Ava felt Shelby stiffen slightly before the words reached her ears.

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