Carla felt uneasy about Lisa's words; she could not, however, deny that anyone would naturally be worried about their future daughter-in-law meeting an ex-husband alone at a hotel.
Instead of voicing her discomfort, she set down her cutlery and declared, "I'm going to see Daemon's kids. Please enjoy your dinner."
"All right, " Lisa acknowledged briefly before turning back to her meal.
Lucas placed his cutlery on the table and offered, "I'll accompany you, Carla."
She dismissed his offer coolly. "That won't be necessary; you should stay here with your parents. I want to be alone for a while."
Carla scuttled off soon after.
Lucas watched her departing figure with a forlorn expression. His efforts to grow closer to her were always met with a frosty demeanor.
Despite their engagement, Carla had never once opened her heart to him.
Nothing he did could convince her to accept him as a romantic partner.
In the meantime, Carla had arrived at the playroom to meet Daemon's kids.
The triplets seemed unusually listless that day, fiddling with their Legos distractedly. Their chattering selves were nowhere to be found, plunging the room into silence.
Carla asked gently, "What's wrong? Why aren't any of you playing?"
Alpha pouted and replied, "Venus isn't here, so it's not fun. Randy's missing too. He doesn't play with us, but he always sits beside us like he's protecting us."
"Aunt Carla, where did they go?" Beta tugged on Carla's sleeve and asked, "Where did Josh go? He looks like Randy, and he knows how to do cartwheels. It was so cool! Where did they go to?"
"Did a bad person take them away?" Gamma asked with puppy-dog eyes.
She added, "Yesterday, I saw a super tall man wearing black clothes. He looked so fierce, just like a bad guy! Did he take Randy, Josh, and Venus away?"
"That's their father. He's not a bad guy, " Carla explained with a smile.
"Really?"
Her answer piqued the curiosity of all three kids, who crowded around her, bursting with questions of their own.
"So that tall, fierce bad guy was Randy, Josh, and Venus's father? Does that mean he's your husband?"
"No, he doesn't have to be her husband. Mommy and Daddy aren't married, but Daddy is still our Daddy."
"Oh yeah, you're right. Aunt Carla is marrying Sir Lucas, so Sir Lucas is her husband."
"Then, who should we call Uncle?"
"Silly, of course it's Sir Lucas."
"Then what do we call that tall fierce man?"
"We'll call him the tall, fierce bad guy!"
"That's too long. I can't remember it."
"Then we'll just call him bad guy!"
"Okay! I can remember that!"
The triplets chattered among themselves and even came up with a nickname for Zayn.
Carla could not help but laugh at their antics, though it was a bittersweet moment that reminded her of her missing children.
She wondered how Zayn would explain things to them. If they found out about what happened, would they hate me?
Carla could not sit still any longer and told Freda, "Get the car ready. We're leaving for Pillere in half an hour."
"Huh? Aren't we setting off tomorrow morning with Sir Lucas and his family?"
"I can't wait anymore. Let's go now. I'll get Dr. Feroma, and I want you to settle the travel arrangements ASAP. We'll go to Pillere with these kids and the doctor, " came Carla's firm orders.
"Got it." Freda immediately got to work.
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