Chapter 132: Did She Want More?

Several days had passed and Leah was discharged from the hospital, after receiving Tristan’s blood, her condition finally stabilized, she slowly began to recuperate and before long, she was able to walk and eat.

“Mommy, Mommy! Look what I made!” Leah held up a paper lantern she’d folded up like a flower with little crystals decorating the inside.

Celine smiled, taking the lantern and examined it. It was a pink paper lantern, it looked extremely pretty and it had a huge heart in the middle that said, ’Thank you Angel!’

“Baby, this is so cute! Did you make it for me?” She smilingly pinched her daughter’s cheeks.

Leah snatched it out of her mother’s hand, “No Mommy, not for you. It’s for the angel that saved me.” Leah said in an adorable voice, “The nurse told me that a handsome angel came to save me and gave me his blood, so I made this for him to thank him. Mommy, where I can I see him, I want to give this to him.”

Celine’s eyes lowered and a pained expression surfaced on her face, in order not to alarm the kid she immediately changed her expression and smiled instead, “Of course we’ll give it to him, since he’s an angel he can appear anytime, keep it well so you can give it to him when he shows up.”

Leah beamed happily, “Alright Mommy, I’ll keep it well.”

Celine caressed her hair, then left her to continue making her little crafts.

“You know you shouldn’t lie to a kid right?” She found Natalia perched on the kitchen island, sipping on a cup of coffee. She had overheard the little conversation between mother and daughter just now.

“Well, I can’t just tell her the truth.”

Natalia jumped off the island, fury shining in her eyes, “That blasted man! So he finally finds out he has a child but he just leaves? And to think I actually hoped there could be something between you two!”

Celine showed a bitter smile, “It’s not as if I never expected this to happen, he has every right to choose to ignore his children, after all it was my own decision to keep them, so they’re mine.”

Natalia wanted to reply when someone suddenly rushed into the kitchen cutting the conversation short but it was evident Natalia had a lot more to say regarding the issue.

“Celine, you were right, she took the bait. Having Larissa Edwards wear one of your exclusive designs to the Spring gala was a great idea, Lilian has been crazily trying to find you to purchase one of your designs for the Deyzabella runway show.”

Elise’s voice sounded extremely excited. Making Celine the greatest female star in the country had always been her goal, and if it would happen five years late, she would still be willing to continue pursuing that goal, however, Celine’s re-entrance into the entertainment industry would always be met with resistance, especially when there was someone like Lilian Roberts trying to pull strings with her connections to tear Celine down.

For five years, Celine had made a different name for herself by pursuing a hobby she never took seriously in the past. She’d spent six months studying the fashion industry before deciding to plunge into it with an anonymous brand, never revealing her face or her identity to the world, unexpectedly her brand blew up, from important celebrities to wives of powerful politicians. Since Celine wasn’t doing design full time, her work became exclusive and even highly sought after.

The effort it took to land a custom design contract with her made many more vie to have her works in their closet, her elusiveness created a uniqueness to her brand where every dress with the name Cristal on it could be as rare as a pink diamond.

Sometime back she had heard of the spring gala and willingly volunteered to make a dress for Larissa Edwards, one of the country’s top models. Lilian loved to uphold her shine in the industry, she had expected to be named best dressed, however when the charts came out, Larissa had been named best dressed for wearing a unique and highly sought after design custom made from the brand Cristal. It blew up and Lilian didn’t want to be outdone again, so her entire staff was trying to seek out Cristal for the dress she would wear to the next events.

Celine held a satisfied smile, she wondered just how Lilian would react if she came to know that the Cristal she was desperately looking for was actually her beloved half sister who she swore to destroy.

“Get her a meeting with Stella, if she is so desperate to wear something exclusive, I’ll give it to her.”

Stella was Celine’s brand assistant, the face that came out to the public whenever she chose to work with certain clients. Elise didn’t even ask questions, she was already excited to find out what Celine had planned that she rushed off to carry out the task.

“What exactly are you planning Celine?” Natalia asked with eyes filled with curiosity.

“Let’s just say… Lilian is going to get a little lesson for what she did to me five years ago.” Celine spoke with hints of mystery in her voice.

“I like the sound of that.” Natalia remarked before suddenly recalling something she’d wanted to say to Celine and she became serious again, “But Celine… don’t you think something isn’t right?”

“About what?” Celine asked, pulling out ingredients from the fridge for pasta, a meal Leah had requested.

“About Tristan Grayson.”

Celine’s actions paused, she assumed they had finished that conversation, but then she knew Natalia would always say what she had in mind before finding peace.

“I mean…he wouldn’t just leave silently after finding out about his own children right, even if he doesn’t want them, he should have many questions he wants to ask you.” Natalia said thoughtfully.

“I thought the same thing Nat, I was afraid he would be angry and he would confront me, but he just left.” Celine mused.

“What if he doesn’t actually know yet, or he’s not entirely sure. Maybe he just donated his blood because he was a match.” Natalia said.

“I don’t know, and I really don’t want to keep thinking about it.”

“Well, then confront him. If he already knows, at least you can find out from him what he thinks about it, and if he doesn’t know for sure yet, it will be up to you to inform him.”

Celine massaged her temple in frustration, the thought of having a confrontation with the man over this matter gave her a headache.

“I don’t want things to become more complicated Nat, whether he knows or not, I really don’t care. I don’t even like the fact that I’m still working at his company, it makes me see him everyday and I feel guilty everytime I see how much he looks like Leo.” She felt totally frustrated, she would have to go back to work tomorrow and the thought of seeing him again was already making her nervous.

“Please, don’t play that you don’t care crap with me. You certainly do care, I think you care even more now. Don’t tell me you have never thought of him actually wanting to be with you and the kids.”

Celine stiffened momentarily, she wanted to deny it but she couldn’t lie to Natalia.

Natalia took her silence to be confirmation, “Look Celine, that man might be a jerk for not giving a fuck about his own children but then again that might not be the case, maybe he knew nothing about your situation and the children, I suggest you come clean with him, just go talk to him and tell him what happened that night led to you getting pregnant. Face his rejection or his acceptance, at least then you’ll get to know where you stand rather than guessing all the time.”

“What do you want me to become, a homewrecker? He already has a fiancee, if I tell him it might ruin their relationship.”

Natalia leaned close to Celine with a fascinated smile on her lips, “We’re just talking about the kids Celine, I didn’t ask you to go confess your feelings to him.”

“I don’t have any feelings for him!” Celine immediately denied, her voice coming out a bit louder than she anticipated.

“Alright, whatever you want to tell yourself. But then telling him about the kids won’t make you a homewrecker, unless you really know deep inside that you want more from him, more than just him acknowledging your children. You said you didn’t care but you seem to care more than you even know.”

Celine fell silent for a bit, somewhat lost in thought.

Did she want more from him?

What exactly did she want?

Her heart suddenly began to race as she asked herself this question, the answer to the question was right there, she only had to reach into her mind to grasp it, but Celine chose to retreat.

Some answers were better left unknown.

Natalia patted her shoulder and began to make her way out of the kitchen, “Whatever you decide, you can let me know how it turns out.”

*****

The next morning, an important conference meeting pulled her off to work again.

Celine was planning to take a few weeks off of work so she could spend time taking care of Leah at home, and going to work today was the best chance for her to sign the paperwork herself and seek some days off.

But immediately she stepped into the company building, a strange dread began to climb up her spine.

If Tristan already knew the truth, would she be able to face him?

After sorting some things out in her office, she headed to the conference room where the meeting would be held. A few minutes later, everyone began to arrive and once the conference room was fully packed, the meeting officially began.

Tristan walked in a bit late, and Celine tried not to look at him for fear that once her eyes met his she would see the anger in them. But several minutes into the meeting, she couldn’t help but sneak a glance in his direction. He looked slightly pale and unwell, she quickly looked away when she sensed his gaze turning to her direction.

He maintained a stern, indifferent look on his face throughout the meeting, but Celine noticed he never uttered a single word.

Celine tried to focus on the meeting but her mind kept drifting back to him repeatedly, she wondered why he looked so pale. Was he sick, or could it be that he wasn’t resting properly?

Once the meeting ended, he left the conference room immediately without wasting a second. He’d said little to nothing at all since the meeting began, merely making hand gestures for the next person to speak from time to time.

Celine’s gaze followed his retreating back, an uneasy feeling settling in her mind but she silently packed her files and returned to her office.

Several hours later, Celine was heading out for lunch when she heard a loud crash from Tristan’s office. Alarmed, she rushed in without knocking, pushing the door open.

“Tristan!” She called out in a panicked voice when she was met with the sight of him collapsed on the floor.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep