349 A slight change of hear

Time - 09:26 AM

Ethan stood frozen as a pair of heavy gaze fell upon him.

'Why does it feel like deja vu?' he thought.

'First, Lillian Grey, now Giselle's parents!'

He was even afraid of slipping his glance somewhere else, fearing that the tall man who stood straight in front of him could pierce holes from his cold glaring. Summoning the courage, Ethan took a peek at the person standing next to the cold stare, Gigi. It appears that Giselle's sister was comparatively in a shock though less affected than him, but she did seem to understand his position. Her eyes didn't blink for at least the forty seconds they stared into each other.

Giselle, who watched the atmosphere growing cold, tapped Ethan since she had just introduced him to her parents officially.

Ethan had no time to remain motionless. He gulped a puff of cold air for support and released himself from the burden of being watched.

"H- Hello! Mr. and Mrs. Jones! I'm Ethan Ruz, L- Lia's father," Ethan greeted politely.

Still, the two grey eyes could show no response, yet only gawk at this person intently. Melanie studied his bearing while Eric's glare never left Ethan's ashen face.

Just when Ethan thought he could seek Giselle for help, Eric's voice finally came out of his sealed thin lips.

"I wish we could have met personally at home and talk."

Though the voice was frail and quivered, it still held such authority, and everyone surrounded hushed to listen to the old guy talk.

"That's alright!" Melanie jumped in to relieve the tension.

"You're Ethan, right?" she asked.

Ethan nodded with a fleeting smile and returned being stiff.

"My husband can be very intimidating, but don't be nervous Ethan," Melanie added to approach.

She came near to Ethan and caught his face with her delicate hands. The touch of her aged skin with layers of wrinkles underneath and the smell of a mother couldn't help but put Ethan at ease. He relaxed his muscles to become free and couldn't apprehend the emotions he was feeling right now as Melanie studied his face closely. Her gentle eyes were full of warmth and consideration for a stranger.

"You look very handsome, Ethan," Melanie stated.

Eric, who was supporting his wife from behind, grunted visibly. Ethan's blush instantly vanished to break a sweat.

"Don't be harsh on him, dear. Come, greet him properly. He is Lia's father."

Eric followed to approach him to stand next to his wife and greeted him courteously.

"Nice to meet you, Ethan. I'm Giselle's father, and this is her mother. You can call us Eric and Melanie, no need to be so formal."

Up until then, Eric's face indirectly challenged Ethan, but right now, his voice matched that of his wife's, tender yet careful.

"Ah- yeah! Hey!"

So far, Giselle silently observed to see how things went as she too was nervous for this gathering since its Ethan's first time meeting her parents. She stood by his side to keep an eye and was ready to lend her aid when needed. However, seeing how peace returned between the two, Giselle could overlook her father's icy glares. Moving on, she went to greet her family with a quick hug.

"Where's Lia?" Gigi asked after learning that the child is missing for a long time.

"Don't tell me- she left already! We can't see her?" Gigi groaned with scorn.

"We are still going to see her in the play and meet her later, so-"

While Giselle consoled the arrived guests, they heard the child's voice.

**

Time - 09:37 AM

"Aunt Gigi!"

"Grandpa! Grandma! You came! You came!"

The group instantly turned to the direction the voice emerged and found little Lia completely transformed into her character with perfect makeup and hair, racing towards them.

"Lia? Why- What are you doing here? Did something happen?" Giselle's face grew tense as she inquired. Immediately, she glanced around to check for Mrs. Beth, hoping that she wouldn't be there to witness Lia breaking the rule.

"Nothing, mom! I snuck out to see everyone before the play," Lia replied coolly. Her smile, still spreading to greet the three new visitors.

Eric, Melanie, and Gigi had already ushered to meet little Lia as their gazes melted to the sight. They surrounded to idolize and worship the child while Gigi removed the camera from her bag to make a sudden announcement.

"Let's take pictures, Lia!" she cried from excitement.

Giselle intruded right away to stop them from causing a scene. Since there's no one else from the drama team roaming around, Giselle worried if someone were to witness a student in full costume, sneaking out, it would bring a lot of trouble. Thus, she abruptly shut Gigi to avoid taking any pictures that could possibly draw the surrounding attention.

"What a scaredy-cat!" Gigi muttered to ignore and clicked the shutter to snap a picture. She only took one, and that was Lia's, a single portrait of Lia in her costume for the stage play. Once satisfied with the photo, Gigi then obeyed her sister to put away the camera.

Giselle, though at first got agitated, now seem to calm down and was feeling glad about Gigi's silly ways.

"You should get back soon, Lia," Giselle said, remembering the situation and choosing to be on the safer side.

Lia agreed. She glanced at the three to smile generously, thanking them for coming to see her- when suddenly a thought came crashing her mind.

"Mom, where's Ms. Lillian? I didn't see her! Did she went somewhere?" Lia innocently bombarded Giselle with an array of questions.

Time - 09:43 AM

The sudden utterance caused friction as the happy mood instantly plummeted. Everyone's face tensed except Ethan, who had momentarily forgotten himself from admiring his little princess dressed as those beautiful victorian ladies from the past. So much that he stood lifeless like a statue. Only upon hearing Lillian's name randomly out of nowhere did he sprang out of his dazed state to witness all riding the same boat. Giselle appears to be falling into the sea while the other three watched her in hesitation. For a good few minutes, none spoke until Gigi forced herself to spat some words.

"You- Who did you invite- How? What the hell is going on, Giselle?" she was finally able to connect her words, but soon realized that she exaggerated.

Giselle remained speechless. If it were Gigi alone, she could somehow find ways to explain, but with her parents being there hindered her from speaking freely.

It wasn't as if Giselle ignored this outcome until this very last moment. Ever since she heard that Lia invited Lillian, Giselle had worried subconsciously about Lillian Grey meeting her family.

Except for her sister, no one in the family knew about Giselle's love for Lillian. Glancing at Eric and Melanie, Giselle saw their faces fell void. She misread their silence to their complete lack of information, believing that her sister had kept her word and protected her secret. What Giselle never knew was Gigi already spoke to her parents about Lillian Grey- the girl that their daughter fell in love for the first time and also became the cause to leave.

Eric and Melanie certainly heard the name. Their hearts both sank at the same time, even without communicating. They worried if their daughter's return has something to do with that girl she once loved. However, they were far more concerned about how come Lia is already aware of such an individual and is even comfortable speaking her name without care. Several questions swam to disturb their peaceful minds due to which they fell to deep silence.

Gigi recollected herself to calm down first. Meanwhile, Ethan jumped in this time to save everyone. He persuaded the child to cheer up. Lia did put up a fight with her father, nagging him about Lillian's whereabouts. She even ended up imagining if Lillian chose not to come, and this plunged her healthy mood. Lia began to suffer more about Lillian's absence. Watching her react this way made Gigi arouse doubts. She glimpsed at Giselle to find the mother speechless, lost in the moment.

'You are so lucky to have a guy like Ethan!' she thought to herself.

Gigi then glimpsed at her parents, seeing their crestfallen faces. She instantly tapped them out of the misery, signaling to act natural.

Eric refused sternly and kept being quiet while Melanie agreed to obey.

"Lia, dear, did you invite someone else?" she asked softly.

Gigi's face twitched in trepidation. She hissed mutely. When Melanie agreed to follow her lead, she envisioned it to switch the subject so that everyone can forget and move on.

Who knew that they would return to step onto a landmine involuntarily?

Lia left her father's side to jump to her grandmother, repeating how she invited her mother's close friend, Lillian Grey, personally.

Undoubtedly, she avoided her solo adventure to surprise Lillian Grey and only informed about her anticipating guest.

"Would Lillian even show up in this place? Didn't she just came out to the world?" Gigi realized what she had mentioned to correct herself, "I- I meant she did reveal to the world that Gill is her penname and that she is the one writing those famous books."

"Gill?" Eric muttered to his memory lapse.

Gigi filled him up with the details. Only then did Eric's face changed to bend. He loosened his stance to stretch while adding, "If she is someone famous, then it is difficult to make a public appearance without consulting with her management."

His words resounded and made Lia come to a bitter realization. Without having anyone console her anymore, she withdrew herself quietly. Bidding goodbye's to her present visitors, the child left with a sulking face as if all the energy Lia carried had been sucked out empty. While staggering her steps, she ran back to the building, disappearing into the busy crowd from getting detected.

It was a contrast to what they had witnessed previously.

Ethan stood up to return to Giselle's side, still finding her in absolute restraint. Seeing how everyone's attention fell on her, Giselle excused herself to leave for a moment. Thanks to Gigi, who took over to preserve a lively atmosphere, she chatted with Ethan about his work. Likewise, Eric and Melanie forgot about the whole scenario, even though it was crucial, due to their age, they couldn't help but to shortly disregard.

***

Giselle, on the other hand, left the group in a solemn state. Considering her father's words, she did think to herself if Lillian had trouble in making public appearances. After all, things like this could become a tabloid the next day for people to slander:

'Lillian Grey, attending Jayce's editor's daughter's school festival. Do they have a secret relationship behind the scene?'

All kinds of nasty things could arise from this, which made Giselle sad. She was looking forward to meeting Lillian, but right now, she worried about Lillian's safety more than her desire.

Clenching herself to make a harsh decision, Giselle decided to inform Lillian not to attend the school festival. She would rather wish Lillian to retreat even if she was on her way.

Thus, trying to connect her with a call, Giselle reached out to Lillian Grey. Her face remained unhappy from the decision she took with a heavy heart.

Nevertheless, all of her calls ended up getting ignored. Worried, Giselle sent Lillian a message and then tried to reach for Jenna.

Luckily, Jenna picked up to hear Giselle's decision. Without waiting for a response, Giselle hurriedly spoke her mind and cut the call abruptly.

Jenna remained speechless on the other end. She pondered for a while before following up to call Lillian Grey.

As a consequence of making a haste decision, Giselle sighed heavily to return.

Unlike Giselle, it took several steady attempts before the call finally got answered.

"What's up, Jenna? I'm on my way to see Lia's play!" Lillian greeted pleasantly. She was driving by herself to the event. Jenna could sense the rapture in Lillian's voice, feeling almost guilty with the news she carried to share.

"Ms. Grey, Ms. Giselle, doesn't wish for you to come!"

Jenna dropped the bomb without warning, and Lillian hit the brakes so hard that her car jerked for a moment. She did notice the number of missed calls from both Jenna and Giselle. Because she was driving through the busy streets, Lillian couldn't find time to respond, but when the incoming calls became a nuisance, she finally chose to answer.

"WHAT?" Lillian raged.

"Ms. Giselle just called me to inform you that your attending to a random school festival would definitely make a good scandal for the media, so she thought it would be best for you to avoid it."

Jenna did her best to make it sound professional so that Lillian would never follow up to ask for her opinion. Just as predicted, Lillian never spoke for a good few seconds, and the silence screamed inconvenience through the speaker. Jenna patiently waited before Lillian finally responded.

"Lia is Giselle's child. In a way, I take her to be mine as well. I don't care what anyone says. I made a vow to both of them, and I will make sure to fulfill it."

"But- Ms. Giselle is not wrong. If she was not a KeyLine employee, then I won't bother to correct her, but she is Jayce's editor, which can bring some trouble if you can understand."

Jenna appealed earnestly, considering Giselle's thoughts to make sure Lillian doesn't fall into unnecessary pranks for media entertainment.

"You don't have to worry, Jenna. Did you think I would be that careless? I am not going there as Gill, the writer, but Lillian Grey, just Lillian. Do not worry! I can handle it!"

Lillian's words of reassurance persuaded Jenna, yet she warned her author to be extremely vigilant and not act loosely.

Lillian quietly listened to every word of her speech before ending their conversation. She returned to drive in her cheerful mood. However, hearing Giselle's change of heart, Lillian couldn't help but feel an ache burning inside her heart. She became restless to meet her and resolve this wound before it manifests.