Chapter 68
The rest of the dinner passed by uneventfully after they had managed to calm the excited and confused Christopher down by telling him the story, thrice. Lily was low–key grateful it had to be told that number of times because she needed to hear it just as much.
She became the center of attention the second everyone was done stuffing their stomachs. Everyone had a question for her, and it wouldn’t have been that much of a deal if they weren’t asking it all at the same time. She always thought and believed that every upper class family has a strict order that they followed, turns out her family was an exception to the rule. They were unfiltered chaos, and despite how unfamiliar and strange that it was, she enjoyed every bit of it.
“That’s enough!” Mr Larkin slammed his hands on the table, shushing every single person, and Lily’s heart dropped. “You guys are scaring her with your rowdiness, one at a time, and being the eldest of the family, I’ll go first.”
“You could have just said you wanted her to focus on your questions only, papa” Cleo muttered, taking a sip of her wine, and everyone in the room laughed, but soon pretended it was a cough when Mr Larkin shot daggers at them.
“Did you say something, Cleo?‘
“Does anyone want more wine?” She asked, completely ignoring his question. Elle nodded and Cleo smiled at her, ” let’s go get some. I’ll get the full bottle for you, papa dearest,” she blew him a kiss and walked away with Elle, while Mr Larkin exhaled loudly.
His daughter was exactly like him, trying to boss her around was always a futile attempt. He glared at Lincoln through his peripheral vision, wishing he was at least half as tough as his sister but he would put cinnamon rolls to shame.
“You had questions for me?” Lily asked, snapping him out of his thoughts and his face brightened with a smile and he turned his attention to Lily, who was staring expectantly at him.
“Yes, yes I do.”
He had gotten a full detailed report on her, but he still wanted to hear everything directly from her.
He intertwined his hands and rested them on the table, then leaned closer. Lily gulped and smoothened out her gown, her heart drummed loudly in her chest, expectant of his question. “What’s your favourite color?”
Christopher threw his head back and laughed, while both of Lily’s brows shot up as she tried to make sense of his question. Was he asking her that or was it a trick question? She glanced at Christopher for help, but he was too busy laughing:
“Umm…” She turned back to Mr Larkin with a forced smile, “I don’t really have one, but pink will do I guess.”
“So if I make your room pink, you wouldn’t mind?”
“Sorry?”
“Your room. Every member of the Larkin family has a room in this place, it’s a tradition.”
“Oh” It now made sense why this place looked like a cathedral. “You don’t have to give me a room, I…”
“Nonsense! You are a Larkin, and you deserve your pink room”
She breathed out a laugh and nodded upon his insistence.” Maybe not too pink.”
“I’ll send you pictures.” Her smille broadened and he returned it with an even bigger one before he reclined and relaxed on his chair. “So, how would you like to take over the company?”
“Papa!” Cleo shouted, and strutted over to the table with a frown on her face,” you promised you wouldn’t burden her with that on the first day!”
He sighed and raised his hands in surrender.” My curiosity got the best of…”
“Sorry, what do you mean by that?” Lily cut in, frowning. “Why would I be taking over the company?” He released a deep sigh, and the room that was carefree and chill a second ago, suddenly felt tense. “Is that why you called me over? To put me to slave away on your…”
“That’s a bit harsh, Lily” Cleo said and Lily raised a brow,” it might seem like that but it isn’t. We called you over to see you and welcome you into the family, Papa might have gone overboard but he doesn’t just hand his company to anyone. He hasn’t even made up his mind on giving it to his son whom he has known for over 40 years, yet he’s willing to hand it over to you.”
Lily wanted to argue and ask how she was supposed to know that or even believe it, but the look in Cleo’s eyes gave away the honesty of her words, so Lily swallowed all that she was about to say. “I am sorry for the outburst.”
“It’s no fault of yours, I moved too fast.”
“I am also sorry, but I won’t be taking over any company. I have my own dreams, I plan on opening my own company and the plan has already
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been put in motion, and as far as I know, Larkin Corporation is a construction company.”
“And an interior designing company” Mr Larkin added almost immediately, “but it’s fine, Lily. We are proud of you for taking a step toward achieving your goals” he picked up the glass of wine Cleo brought for him and raised it, “To Lily”
“To Lily” the rest of them chanted.
Everyone managed to relax after that, and instead of asking Lily all the questions, they opted for talking about themselves instead. Lily found herself smiling so wide throughout the talk, and a warmth she had never felt before burned at the pit of her belly, and when it was finally time to go, she wished she could stay back and reel in it for a while longer.
“I am really sorry, I wish I could stay longer, but I have to go,” she said and stood to her feet when her alarm went off for the second time.
Everyone’s faces fell, but none of them tried to hold her back, instead, just like they lined up to give her a hug when she came, they all, expect Christopher who shook her hand, gave her a goodbye hug, while whispering that she should be available for the next dinner.
“I’ll walk her to the door,” Elle volunteered and no one objected.
They both trudged quietly beside each other till they got to where Lily parked her car. “He signed the papers,” Elle said the second they made it there, and Lily’s mouth dropped open.
When her mum told her that she planned on divorcing Nicolas, she expected it to be a messy and draining situation, knowing the type of person he was.
“He agreed to sign it?”
Elle rubbed her lips together and nodded, “he doesn’t know Lincoln is back in the picture so he believes I’ll regret my decision and come crawling
back.”
“Wow,” she breathed out, and then smiled, “well, congratulations. It couldn’t have gone any better.”
She smiled and nodded, ” thank you.”
“I’ll get going then”
“Lily” she held her wrist, stopping her from leaving, and Lily frowned.
“Is everything okay?”
* Do… Do you have something to tell me?” She asked, and before Lily could refuse, her eyes wandered to Lily’s stomach.
SEND GIFT
