Becoming Strangers Again by Lily

Chapter 56 RYAN All dressed and ready to go, we all headed to the car. After the kids got in and Lily tried to go in after them, I grabbed her and pulled her back. She blinked at me. "What?" Smiling sofily, I jerked my head towards her dress. "I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful in that black dress." She stared down at the dress in question before returning her gaze towith an unsure expression etched on her face. "I am not sure what you uw in the dress because it is just a basic black dress, but thank you" She detangled my fingers from her arm and got into the The ride to my parents was going smoothly until that jackass decided to call Although my eyes were buried on my phone, the entirety of my attention was on Lily's conversation with Jake; not that she was trying to hide it or keep it low in any way. "We are heading to their grandparents place" She informed jake with a smile, a real smile and not that diplomatic smile that she offers me. "You want to speak to them!" I head swiped up quickly and I glared at her. "Don't" I growled that one word and she halted. "How many times have I told you not to get him involved anytI am with my kids?" Liam lifted his head and stared atand I flashed him a smile before reaching down to ki*s his forehead. He returned his attention to his brother Noah. Lily who was still glaring atsighed before looking out the window. "I will let you speak to them before the go to bed." Is she f@cking kidding me!! I opened my mouth to argue that my kids will not speak to that man whilst under my roof but on a second thought, I decided it was best not to argue with her. The rest of the ride happened in awkward silence until the driver pulled over outside my parents' driveway. We got down and so did Liam Ethan looked up at the gigantic building and poured. Liam leaned towards him and whispered, although it wasn't much of a whisper since everyone around him heard him. "I told you theirs will be bigger." Tilting my head, I tried to figure out what they were talking about when Lily cto the rescue. They are comparing my house to yours." She explained and I chuckled. "They have this habit of comparing every house they visit." "Really?" chuckling again, I glanced at them. "I guess there is a lot I need to know about them." Reaching for either of them, I took Ethan's hand, while Noah and Liam opted to take Lily's hand. We walked into the living room but it was empty. One of the staffs approached us. "WelcMr. Williams." She acknowledged. "Your father requested that you and your sons meet him in the study room." I tried not to make a big deal of how Lily wasn't mentioned; surely, they should have known that I will show up with her, taking the lead. we all walked up the stairs to the study. I was the first to walk in with Ethan. "Since you are meeting with your grandchildren for the first time, they little effort you would have made was to make it not look like a business meeting."1 reprimanded before taking a seat. My mum's eyes lightened as she saw Ethan, however when Lily entered with the rest of the boys, she frowned. "You cwith her?" she asked with a scoff, not bothering to hide her disapproval. Lily took a seat next to me, with both boys sitting in between. "It is nice to see you loo Mrs. Williams. My mother scoffed yet again which irritated the heck out of me. I cleared my throat to capture her attention. "Remember what we talked about." I chastised softly. "And for heaven's sake behave yourself in front of the kids." "You will not talk to your mother like that. My father warnedand I moved my gaze to him. "As opposed to how you talk to her in public?" I fired back at the hypocrite. "Besides, I was just calling her to order, something you should equally take note of too." Lily cleared her throat. "Can we pipe it down?" she requested, moving glanced to each adult in the room. "I know we all have our difference but please let's not do this in front of the kids, they csense the negative spirit in the air." Murn got off her seat, walked over to us and squatted to the boy's level, smiling at them. "Hi," she greeted Noah with a wave. "I am Sarah, your grandmother." 1/2 Chapin Mi Noah blinked up at Lily who nodded and encouraged her to reach out to mim, was when Noah offered a smile. "I am Nooh He whispered shyly. "It is nice to meet you" While mum moved her introduction to Ethan, I waited eagerly for Liam's reaction towards her, she thinks she can just talk down on Lily when she walked in and expect Liam to accept her with open arms? She I going to get the biggest shock of her life. "IL" mum greeted Ethan. "I am Sarh, your grandmother." Ethan repeated the sprocess with Noah before accepting her handshake and offering his nin return. She moved to Liam and repeated the process of smiling and offering her nbut Liam just blinked at her in response. "Don't be rude Liam," Lily chastised him softly. "Your grandmother is saying hello and you are expected to respond." He moved her gaze to Lily before returning it to mum. "I am Liam." Was all she got. No smile and no nice to meet you. I snickered. Father cleared his throat. "What was their names again?" he asked me. I hated the tone at which he spoke. I understood what he was trying to do because I was once at the receiving end. He is trying to instill the fear of Richard Williams into them but I am not g oing to let that happen. "If you can't remember the names they just mentioned to mum, you can have them introduce themselves to you again." I will not have him behave as though they are not present or as if they are insignificant We stared at each other unblinking until he realized that I was very much aware of what he was doing. Sighing, he looked at the kids. Lily stared at me, exhaled heavily before bending to whisper to Noah. "Go say hello to grandpa." He stood up and dragged his feet over to Father, his usual shy smile replaced with an unsure smile. It was as if he couldn't figure out if the man standing before him is a friend or a for. "I am Noah." He mumbled. Father didn't respond at first, he just stared at him. "Lookin the eyes when you talk boy and speak out, I can't even hear you properly." "You will not speak to him like that." Lily warned him. "One more tune and attitude like that and I will take the kids and leave." Father chuckled mockingly at Lily as he watched Noah return back to his seat. Ethan walked over and did this introduction, a bit louder and bolder than Noah. It was as if he doesn't care if grandpa is being a mean asshole. Next up was Liam but he remained seat. Lily reached forward and caressed his head, encouraging him to go ahead but he shook his head and moved his head to father, staring him dead in the eyes. "I don't like grandpa so much." He stated matter-of-factly. "He is not being nice." He turned to Lily again. "Mummy can we please go home! I want to go home." I couldn't feel prouder at a father at that moment. N

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