Chapter 56: shopping personally
Kathe smiled to herself even though she couldn’t see the old lady’s expression.
The old lady stepped out of the room with a soft smile on her face and was surprised to find Jark at the door with a complicated expression.
The old lady quickly frowned and walked away, taking a different direction.
Jark, seeing the angry look on the old lady’s face, scratched his head sheepishly. He had never been afraid of anyone more than his grandmother.
He knew it was best for him to run after her and explain.
"Grandma, I can explain."
The old lady sneered when she found out that Jark was running after her and waved her walking stick at him.
"Hmph, get away, you rascal."
"Grandma, I didn’t mean to ignore your call, it’s just that..."
He was interrupted when he saw Jacklyn walking toward their direction.
The old lady noticed the change in his aura and turned back to find Jacklyn walking toward them with a wide grin.
She turned back to Jark and tapped him on the shoulder. She didn’t want the two brothers clashing.
"Let’s talk in my room."
Jark nodded, understanding that the old lady wasn’t ready for them to clash.
Before the old lady could change her direction, Jacklyn was already in front of them, his arms wide open, the grin still on his face.
"I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Jark, you seem to be getting scolded by Grandma. What have you done this time?"
He attempted to put his arm around Jark’s shoulder, but Jark took a step back.
Seeing his reaction, Jacklyn’s smirk grew wider.
"You can tell me. I might plead with Grandma for you."
Without giving Jark a chance to retreat, he quickly placed his arm on Jark’s shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows at him.
The hallway suddenly turned cold. A chilling aura emitted from Jark, making the hair on the back of Jacklyn’s neck stand up. He was already nervous, but he put on a brave face, knowing fully well that Jark couldn’t do anything to him in the old lady’s presence.
"Take your hands off me."
Jark was already losing patience. He wasn’t sure if he could control himself for much longer.
The old lady saw that the matter was about to escalate, so she removed Jacklyn’s arm from Jark’s shoulder.
Jacklyn’s eyes flickered with malice as his face turned grim for just a second, but he quickly masked it with a smile. However, his expression didn’t escape the old lady’s sharp eyes.
"Jacklyn, you should know when to stop. You’ve known Jark for so long, and you know how much he hates being touched, so keep your playful side within boundaries."
She turned to look at Jark, whose face was boiling with anger.
"Come with me to my room."
"Hmm."
Jark nodded and walked toward the old lady’s room without waiting.
After making sure that Jark was gone, the old lady turned to Jacklyn with a soft smile that wasn’t really pleasing to the eyes. It was filled with meaning.
"I hope that the few years you spent outside the Quinns’ side have taught you a lot."
After saying that, she turned and walked away in the same direction Jark had taken.
The moment the old lady walked out of sight, the grin on Jacklyn’s face disappeared as he stared in her direction with anger mixed with hatred.
After a while, Shashe walked out of the shadows and stood beside him.
"You can see how biased the old lady is. When it comes to the both of you, she defends one while making the other look like the bad person. Now you see why you have to work even harder."
The smile that had disappeared from his face returned, this time in a creepy manner.
"He will know how it feels to be abandoned and crave love. He will understand what it means to have everything snatched away."
He turned to his mother, and the smile disappeared again.
"For now, he should enjoy it."
He walked away.
Shashe turned to watch her son walk away. She couldn’t help but frown. She hadn’t realized how much he had grown during the years she wasn’t around him. She couldn’t help but smile.
"You can’t cast one fish away just because you caught gold along with the fish."
Shashe murmured and walked away.
...........
By the time the old lady got to her room, Jark was already there with an old photo frame in his hand.
"Hmph. Are you trying to get emotional to avoid my anger?"
Jark placed the frame back and turned to the old lady with a childish smile.
"I was just admiring your beauty. I think Grandpa spoiled the photo layout."
Knowing how pleased the old lady always felt whenever her beauty was appreciated, he knew it would work.
The old lady smiled in satisfaction as she drew a chair opposite Jark.
"Did you think I’m angry because you didn’t answer my call?"
Jark looked at her in confusion at first. He might be considered a smart person when it came to operations or work, but when it came to the old lady, he was always afraid of her different tricks.
Then he replied confidently,
"Yes, I’m sure."
The old lady shook her head slowly.
"I’m angry that you didn’t inform your wife of your whereabouts, not that you didn’t answer my call."
Jark licked his lips.
"I told Thompson to tell her that I was off on important work."
The old lady frowned, not satisfied with his response. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes inwardly.
"Why didn’t you inform her yourself?"
"I wasn’t close to my phone," he replied almost immediately, but suddenly looked down after seeing the disdainful look on the old lady’s face.
The old lady sighed, dropping her walking stick on the table, and turned back to Jark with a strict face.
"Do you know why I’m so concerned?"
Jark swallowed hard. Just by hearing the coldness in her voice, he tried his best to give her an excellent response.
"She is your granddaughter-in-law."
The old lady became even more convinced that her grandson was more rooted in business than in relationships. Out of annoyance, she poked Jark’s head lightly.
"If you start thinking differently from business ideas, I guess you will make a perfect husband."
Jark became even more confused about why the old lady was getting angrier every second. He was sure he had done nothing wrong.
"Grandma, am I not a perfect husband...?"
The old lady couldn’t help but cut him off, half-yelling and half-angry.
"No, you are not."
The room suddenly fell silent.
After seeing the confusion still on Jark’s face, she knew she needed to calm down a little to make him understand. She sighed again, calming herself before continuing.
"Nobody is perfect, but it takes care and love for the world to see you as a perfect person while forgetting your bad side."
She paused to study his expression and was pleased to see that he seemed to be understanding.
She took his large palms into hers and continued,
"Jark, there are things whose value you only realize after they slip away, and by then, it’s too late to hold on to them. I hope you won’t lose something that valuable."
After hearing the old lady’s explanation, Jark couldn’t help but feel stupid. He thought he knew how to handle things and that he was good at making decisions, but it seemed he was lacking in many areas.
"I’m sorry."
The old lady was a little surprised by how quickly he admitted his mistake, but her surprise soon turned into a soft smile.
"It’s not meant for me, but for her. She was really worried yesterday."
The ending part of her sentence was filled with meaning.
Jark sighed.
"I didn’t know I would end up making her worried."
Seeing his sincerity, the old lady nodded toward the door.
"Then you should go make it up to her."
Just then, something clicked in the old lady’s mind, and she looked at Jark briefly before looking him over.
"By the way, where were you?"
"Meeting."
The old lady narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"Alone, without Thompson accompanying you?"
"I asked him to stay back. I had other things to manage."
Since she couldn’t detect any lie in his words, she finally gave in.
"Okay."
She leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed.
Jark, seeing that the old lady was done with him, stood up and was about to head for the door.
When the old lady’s closed eyes suddenly flew open, she looked at him.
"Where are you going?"
"To my room."
"You can’t go in now. I’m sure Kathe is still angry with you, so it’s better you both meet in the evening. For now, go get prepared and dress to impress."
"I know, and thank you for handling the situation."
"It’s okay. You can get lost now."
Jark smiled and walked out of the room. He pulled out his phone from his pocket.
"Thompson, meet me at the garage. We need to go to the mall for some shopping."
Thompson, on the other hand, was surprised. Since when had his boss decided to go shopping personally?