Mr. Charles's Hidden Wife novel Chapter 169

"I'm free tonight, but... if I were to join, wouldn't I be a burden to your parents?" Wendy asked sheepishly.

Ross laughed in response. "Nonsense, my mom's really curious to see how you look like now that you're all grown up, especially since it's been ages since she last saw you," he said.

She pursed her lips and gave a faint smile. "Then, I guess... I'll be seeing you tonight."

"Nice. I'll send you my new address later," he replied.

"Alright," she said and hung up. A faint grin crept up on her face afterwards.

Before she got off work in the evening, she texted Baron to tell him not to pick her up from work as she'd already made plans.

She called Henson next.

She knew that if Baron couldn't come pick her up, he'd definitely inform Henson about it, and he'd quickly find out about it, so

instead of him coming to stop her once he received the news, it was better for her to just inform him directly. 

Immediately after the call connected, she said, "Henson, I won't be back for dinner tonight as I'll be going to the Lowry's. Ross’ mother invited me to dinner after she heard that we bumped into each other last time."

Henson was displeased as the name Ross Lowry came up again.

"How long will you be there?" He snapped.

"I'll head back as soon as I'm done with dinner," she replied.

Seeing as he didn't respond to that, she hurriedly said, "Guess I'll hang up first." 

"Wait," he stopped her.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Please have Baron send you there."

"He doesn't have to, I can go there myself-"

"If you don't, I rather you not go," he interrupted in a cold voice. "You might place a lot of your trust in the guy, but to me, anyone who approaches you won't harbour good intentions. At least if you ask Baron to send you there, I'll know your whereabouts, and if anything happens, that's where I can find you," he explained.

She felt a touch of warmth in her heart after hearing him say that. "Alright, I understand," she obliged with a nod.

After hanging up the phone, she sent the driver a text. "Can I trouble you to come over now to drive me to a certain place for dinner, Baron?" it read.

After she got off work, she asked Baron to drive her to a nearby shopping mall, so that she could grab a few supplements and some canned food to go.

When she arrived at the Lowry's family home, she finally got to see his parents again, of which she hadn't seen in almost eleven years. Their reunion was nothing short of joy.

"Oh Wendy, I really didn't expect the frail little girl I've known from back then to grow up to be such a fine young lady.

I say, you look even prettier than your mother," Anna Lowry, Ross' mother remarked.

Wendy felt somewhat embarrassed at her generous compliment. "You two are even more amazing than I am, Auntie and Uncle. It's like you two didn't age at all," she said with a big smile.

"Heavens, no. We're already old and frail," Anna said as she patted Wendy's hands. "I heard from Ross about what happened to your mother, by the way. We couldn't believe our ears when found out about her condition. You were all alone and we didn't help out much. I always feel like I let her down whenever I recall the times she helped Ross at the time," she lamented.  

"Don't say that, Auntie. Now that I'm an adult, I can already take proper care of myself," Wendy comforted her with a gentle smile. "I'd like to think that the reason she left was because she felt safe in the knowledge that I could already take care of myself at that age," she continued.

Immediately following that, Liam Lawry, Ross' dad and Ross himself emerged from the kitchen. "Come here quick, Wendy. We can talk while we have dinner together," his dad said.

When Wendy and Anna arrived at the table, they couldn't help but gawk at the spread. "Wow! I didn't think you could still surprise us with something so amazing, Uncle," Wendy exclaimed.

"Take a seat. Make sure to tell me if my cooking has changed since then," Liam guffawed.

Just as the four of them took their seats, they heard the doorbell ring.

Ross got up and walked towards the door. "Who could it be at this hour?" He muttered.

Wendy's heart tightened. "Could it be that Henson was here for her?"

 She thought as she stared at the front door nervously.

He looked surprised when he saw the person standing outside after opening the door. "Why are you here?" He asked, confused.

"So, you really WERE at home after all. I wanted to see what you were so 'busy' with since you turned down my invite to the movies, saying you were 'busy' tonight. Where are your parents? Are they here too?" A woman's voice came through from the door. 

He moved aside to let the woman at the door slip into their house slippers. And she did it in a way that indicated that she'd already done it a million times before this. The moment she turned around and saw that there was a beautiful woman sitting at the dining table, she frowned. "So, it seems like you have... a guest," she said.

His mother looked somewhat displeased as she gently put down her cutlery on the table.

Wendy followed suit.

He then walked over to the table together with the woman and announced, "Wendy, this is Sally, my girlfriend. Sally, Wendy. She was our neighbour back then," 

Wendy got up from her seat and nodded at her. "Nice to meet you, Sister Sally," she greeted politely.

Sally looked her up and down for a while before thinking to herself, "Her pretty face really rubs me the wrong way," She then gave a pout and scoffed out loud, "Nice to meet you too, but I don't think the term 'sister' is appropriate. Who told you I was older than you?" 

His mother didn't take too kindly to her remark and snapped, "Isn't it obvious that you're older than her? What's the point of asking?"

Sally pouted at her and said in an annoyed tone, "It appears that I came at the wrong time, Uncle and Auntie." 

"Didn't you come over just because you didn't trust my son?" His mother directed it to her.

"No, I meant to-" Sally hurriedly said before exhaling and continuing, "I'm just here to pay you guys a visit, is all,"

Ross exchanged glances with his dad before his dad got up in his seat. "In that case, we were just about to dig in. Come and join us then, Sally." 

He invited and went to the kitchen to grab another set of cutlery and plates. 

Sally sat beside Ross, and was positioned diagonally to Wendy.

She'd scrutinised her for the longest time now. Even Wendy, who was just casually sitting in her chair, started to feel somewhat anxious. 

Upon seeing her fix her gaze on Wendy so intently, his mother piped up in a chiding manner, "Why do you keep staring at her like that, Sally?" 

"I just think that she's really pretty," Sally remarked and smiled through pursed lips.

She then looked over to her boyfriend. "Ross, why didn't you tell me you had such a gorgeous woman hanging around by your side?"

Wendy thought that she was insinuating something. 

He frowned at that. "I hadn't seen Wendy in over 11 years. We just bumped into each other a few days ago at the mall," he said.

"Eleven years and you can still recognize her in one glance? By golly, you're amazing! You always take forever to find me when we go to the movies, even when there aren't too many people at the entrance," she said and pouted. "Is this preferential treatment or something?" Sally snapped.

Ross frowned as he looked at her.

His dad passed a set of cutlery and plates to Sally after coming out of the kitchen. 

Originally, she thought of letting the matter rest after seeing how she had the high ground now, but she felt oddly annoyed today. After all, her boyfriend had ditched her to have dinner with another woman, so naturally she felt upset by that.

"Ross, do you regret falling in love with me first after reuniting with such a pretty lady?" Sally suddenly blurted.

"Sally, we have a guest with us now, so how is this an appropriate topic?" His mother said, obviously agitated at her conduct.

Sally pursed her lips as she looked at Wendy and said, "So sorry, Wendy. I hope you don't mind though, I just adore cracking jokes," 

Wendy could tell right away that his girlfriend was extremely jealous of her right now.

"Oh, it's fine. I don't mind at all. Ross and I were just long-time neighbors who haven't seen each other for ages, and it's not like we've done anything weird together or anything. Besides, I already have a boyfriend." She giggled in response.