Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 110: Childhood stories

Chapter 110: Childhood stories

Diana showed her room to Hazel while carrying Angel.

Hazel marveled, ’’I have come to this boy’s mansion before but except for his room, the rest of the place resembled a ghost house.’’

Diana laughed, ’’It has been renovated after I moved in,’’ The last time she met Hazel near the police station, the woman had mentioned about Ryle’s place but she had no idea who Ryle was and what his place had got to do with her but now she could understand.

Hazel grew quiet when she heard that. Ryle renovated his house after Little Ana moved in?

Her eyes scanned the girl from head to toe and danger flags flashed in her head. Diana was beautiful and smart. It was totally normal for men to fall for her without her needing to lift a finger. The age difference between her and Ryle should not be much either.

She treated Ryle like her son but what about her foolish biological son? That dumb kid was still bordering on friendship. In case Diana was stolen by Ryle, it would be too late for him to cry over spilled milk.

As frustrated as she was but as Maxim’s biological mother, she should make at least one or two efforts for him lest the cabbage she had keeping an eye on for so long got stolen, ’’Men these days...’’ Hazel clicked her tongue.

Diana, who was about to show the exquisite shoe collection gifted to her by Maxim, paused and turned to look at the lady, ’’What happened, Auntie?"

’’Your Auntie has seen this world longer than you,’’ she held her hand and pulled her towards the bed, ’’Let me tell you about a thing or two so that you don’t get duped in the future.’’

It was Angel’s nap time and the girl had dozed off when Diana was showing her room to Hazel. Diana placed her on the bed and adjusted two pillows beside her before she glanced at Hazel worriedly.

’’Doing things like renovating the house and all that... As a girl, you should never fall for such materialistic things, alright? That boy is just so used to women falling at his feet and all he needs to do is pull one or two such tricks,’’ Hazel said without guilt. To have Diana as her daughter-in-law, she would need to unabashedly smash Ryle’s ship before collecting a few brownie points for her son’s ship, ’’You should give in to the kind of men who don’t make an effort at all but you could feel their care when they take you to restaurants,’’ As dumb as her son could be, he has been following the rule of ’the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach’ since they were young so the strong point was coming in handy today.

Diana was speechless.

She did not focus on the latter part of the statement because the former one caught her attention.

Women falling at his feet with one trick or two? That flower boy...

Also, which mother would describe her son in that way? Only a righteous woman like Hazel would do that. She would chastise her own son if he went against her morals.

The respect in her heart for the woman went even higher.

’’Don’t worry, Auntie, I won’t fall for anyone,’’ Diana smiled.

’’Of course not!’’ Hazel was stunned, ’’You need to fall. How can you not fall?"

Diana blinked in confusion.

Hazel cleared her throat, realizing that she had overreacted. She changed the topic.

After some time, Diana sighed and held her hand. Something was bothering her and she knew that if she did not talk about it, she would not be able to sleep at night, ’’Auntie, now that you are here, I have something that I want to say...’’

’’Mm?" Hazel looked at the girl, ’’You don’t have to hesitate before speaking about anything to me. Just say what’s there in your heart.’’

’’I am really sorry for lying to you that day. There was a situation with the police and I was pretending about the engagement thing,’’ she could have easily explained it to her later but when Diana saw her maternal grandmother in that place, she just wanted to flee from there.

’’Silly girl, I know the truth and I am not holding it against you,’’ What Hazel really wanted to say was ’Silly girl, if my son was more intelligent then the engagement thing would have been a real deal.’

Diana sighed in relief.

But as she thought about the circumstances that day, she realized that Hazel must have seen through her lies right there. And she was just pretending along with her. Or else, why would she say things like Maxim had never settled down because he was waiting for her?

Unbeknownst to her, as smart as Hazel was, she had indeed fallen for Diana’s convincing lies. She was emotional when she saw her after so many years and Diana was not the kind of person who would lie to her so Hazel easily believed her words.

But after she went back home and contemplated their encounter, she saw a few loopholes while thinking about it. First, she did not believe that her son was capable enough to tie Diana down. Second, Diana was unusually loud everytime she mentioned the engagement and third, Diana kept looking at the constable from time to time.

At the dining table.

Logan was out for some work matters so on the dining table, there were only going to be the four of them, along with the soundly sleeping Angel in Diana’s arms.

As Ivy served the food, she frowned, ’’Dee, how about I hold her? How can you eat properly while carrying her like that?"

’’How can you do it then?" Diana shot back at her, rendering her speechless, ’’I am fine. I could have left her on the bed but I was worried that she would wake up and roll around. It’s high... So, I will feel anxious leaving her there.’’

Hazel, who had occupied her son’s main seat nodded when she heard that, ’’You should never leave kids alone like that. I still remember that dark night...’’ her face turned solemn.

Both Ivy and Diana perked up in their chair when they saw the look on Hazel’s face. Why did it look like she was about to discuss something very sad and tragic with them?

’’When I went to take a shower while Maxim was sleeping,’’ There was another long suspenseful moment of silence before the woman continued, ’’When I came out, he had fallen on the floor. There were no external wounds at that time.’’

Diana, whose heart has been hanging at this point, came to rest. And suddenly, she wondered what Maxim looked like when he was young. But her thoughts were interrupted when Hazel continued speaking.

’’Who knew he would receive internal injuries?"

Ivy was stunned, ’’Internal injuries... aren’t they more serious?" After serving the food, she sat on her chair, the seat on the right to the main chair.

Diana nodded, ’’Of course, what makes them more serious is that they can go unnoticed for a long time.’’

’’No no, not the literal one,’’ Hazel waved her hand like an elegant butterfly as she said, ’’I mean the kind of internal injuries that affected his EQ, his taste in girls... Alas, it is already very much of a blessing that he inherited the gorgeousness of his looks from me...’’

Ivy broke out in laughter.

Diana giggled, low-key agreeing with the last statement. Maxim was a male version of Hazel, literal carbon copies.

Hazel added in a conspiratorial tone, ’’Other than those, I think the cause of his hammering and withering sexual orientation might also be that incident.’’

Ivy and Diana were about to laugh again but from the corner of their eyes, they saw Maxim.

Maxim almost stumbled down the last stair when he heard that.

After composing himself, he walked towards the dining table.

Hazel smiled at him, ’’You are here,’’ her sunny face might have made a person think that they were hallucinating about the words she spouted a moment ago.

Maxim frowned.

Diana straightened in her seat. She was sitting to Hazel’s left side on the woman’s insistence and when Maxim approached, she naturally thought that he was going to sit beside her.

He walked towards her and took the sleeping Angel from her arms. ’’Eat properly,’’ he whispered to her.

Diana’s lips parted at his actions, a trail of warmth shooting inside her heart.

Hazel’s keen eyes noticed every moment of their interaction and her eyes flashed with interest. It seemed like her son was finally learning a thing or two.

Angel stirred a bit but Maxim patted her back and the girl continued snoring softly on his shoulder.

Just when Diana thought that Maxim was about to sit beside her, much to her surprise and a tad bit of disappointment, he walked around the table and sat beside Ivy who looked shocked too.

Ivy had naturally expected him to sit beside Diana. How was she going to digest her food with his icy presence? She fell in contemplation. Hmph... she would eat while feeling Angel’s presence.

Worst of it all, throughout the dinner, Hazel kept telling stories from Maxim’s childhood which were all laughable. But what made them worst was the fact that the protagonist of the story was right next to them so they could not laugh.

One of those stories was about their old neighbor in their hometown Avalon. There was a fat boy who was being constantly bullied by the boys in the neighborhood and one day when he was crying, the young Maxim gave him his handkerchief.

From that day onwards, the fattie pestered Maxim everywhere and persistently told everyone that they will get married in the future. He even called Hazel his mother-in-law and asked her to bless them on their wedding to which she just smiled, angering Maxim in the process who complained that her smile might give him false hopes. The fiasco went on for a few more days until it was revealed that the fattie was actually adopted by a gay couple and he was influenced by his parents. When he received Maxim’s care, he could not help but want to stay 24X7 with him just the way his parents stay with each other.

Ivy bit her lips to stifle her laughter till her whole face turned red.

Diana looked at their cheerful storyteller before she tilted her head to look at the main protagonist whose face was turning dark every second. Her chest shook but just like Ivy, she held her laughter inside, afraid of having Maxim explode on them.

At this moment, Diana felt a nudge on her feet. She glanced at Ivy who was sitting right opposite to her and as their eyes met, they could see the laughter on each other’s faces even without their lips tilting.

Diana nudged her back.

Right as she was about to start eating, she felt two more nudges in front of her toes.

She was confused. Was Ivy using this as a way coping mechanism to restrain her laughter?