Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 291: An Unexpected Invite

Chapter 291: An Unexpected Invite

Arthur threw the journal at the floor disgusted by everything. He turned to his side and gently patted Talia’s head.

Should you read the journal and decide for yourself how cruel Cyrus was? Or should you be blissfully ignorant? If you ask me for answers, what should I tell you?

As he was pondering, he heard Talia’s phone vibrating. He turned the phone that was upside down and looked at the screen. It was an unknown caller but that number was familiar.

Why is he calling Iris?

"Pa?" without second thoughts, he answered the phone, getting down from the bed and spoke in a hushed tone so not to disturb the sleeping Talia.

"... Fredrick?" Gregory’s voice wasn’t that impressed hearing his son at the other end. After letting out a deep sigh guessing why his son is answering Talia’s phone, he continued, "It’s the middle of the day for goodness sake! Shouldn’t you be working?"

Arthur looked at the time. It was three in the evening. Yes, he should be in the office. But for his dad to call Talia, is the King using him to get to Talia?

"Pa, why did you call her? Did that King asked you-"

"You’re such a skeptic, aren’t you?" Gregory scoffed. " Can’t I just want to talk to my son’s well-hidden girlfriend?"

"Well, pa, first of all, she hasn’t even stored your number and it would be creepy if you call her out of nowhere. And secondly, she is not just my girlfriend, is she? She’s a Princess and you’re a President and you know there are protocols-"

"You’re trying to keep her for yourself, right?" Gregory was unimpressed. "Rod was the best. He introduced his wife to me one month to their relationship. And you-"

" Yeah, he brought home a lot of women. And how many ’potential wives’ did he introduce to you? Five? Six?" Arthur scoffed. He wasn’t pleased he was compared with Rod.

"... Second... She was the second woman. Don’t talk bad about Rod. He probably had three girlfriends total, including his wife. He was not frivolous... Neither are you. I have the best sons... " Gregory chuckled. He sounded proud.

Arthur saw the journal on the floor and sighed. Not your every son was good, pa. One was the worst of the worst...he was a dreg of the society.

" Why did you call her, pa? "he asked. He wanted to talk about why he kept Ray out and about even after knowing what he did. But now is not the time or place.

" I called her. Pass the phone to her! " Gregory barked out.

Can’t he talk to his future daughter-in-law?

" She’s napping now. Tell me." Arthur wasn’t fazed by his father’s displeasure.

"..." There was silence for sometime.

"Pa?"

"I wanted to ask you both for dinner tonight."

"In your mansion?"

"Yes."

"Pa, you know I don’t like being there. And I don’t think Talia would step inside that place. You know what happened there...." Arthur rubbed his forehead and walked to the turret, further away speaking in a very hushed tone.

"I have to break an important news to you all. I asked Rod’s family to join the dinner. I wished you both to be there too. I know you won’t bring Talia there and so I wanted to ask her myself."

Arthur could hear the weirdness in his father’s voice. "Pa, what is it?" Arthur asked as he felt worried.

"Nothing serious... I just wanted to see my sons and their families together before... Just come home, Fredrick. Bring Talia along too, okay?" Gregory’s voice was so contemplative.

"Before what, pa? What are you hiding?" Arthur knitted his brows.

"Fredrick... I said I’ll talk about it tonight. Use the bridge to come here. I’ve asked it to be a secret considering... considering her status. It’s just a family dinner, so don’t think much and bring Talia along." Gregory spoke in a soft tone although he meant it as an order.

" I’ll... I’ll ask her and will bring her only if she’s comfortable to be there." Arthur knew his father didn’t arrange the dinner elsewhere for privacy reasons. It seems like he has planned a lot for this and it seems important. And so he didn’t refuse him further.

He can bring himself to go, but only if Iris feels comfortable will he bring her there. It’s been a while since he’s been there. That mansion is the place of both of their nightmares. It would be hard for both of them to be there.

He took a deep breath as the image of the tied up Iris and the sound of his brother plopping to the floor came to his memory.

No! I refuse to stay focused on that.

Arthur after ending the call walked back to the bed to see Talia stretching as she sat in the bed.

"Did you have a nice nap?" he asked kissing her head and passed the phone to her.

"My dad called. He wants us to join dinner in his mansion. Apparently Rod and his family are invited too. He says he wants to relay us some news."

"Is it important?" Talia asked, the yawn that she was about to let out disappeared by this news. All the flashes of everything that happened in that mansion came to her mind.

"I think so... Or it could be my father being dramatic. He’s gotten more dramatic as he ages. Never mind... I’ll go there alone." Arthur rubbed her head seeing her frightened expression.

Talia held his hand and as she looked at his face, she could see he was clearly worried. She could understand it would be tough for him to go back to that place too.

And shouldn’t she be visiting her future Father-in-law? Her Grandpa especially advised her to make at least a short visit to him for courtesy. And she always wanted to meet Roderick’s children. Now that a chance presents itself, why should she refuse, right?

" No... I’ll go with you, " she said looking at his eyes and Arthur’s eyes widened.

"You don’t have to push yourself, Iris." Arthur squatted beside her to get to her eye level.

" I want to meet my future father-in-law. Or... Is that you’re not serious with me to introduce me to your family?" she raised her eyebrows and Arthur chuckled.

"Fine then," he sighed holding her hand. "Let’s get through this together," he bowed and kissed her hand. "You know what, Iris..." he said looking into her eyes. Those beautiful eyes that are always filled with love for him. "I love you more and more each day. My heart is filled with overflowing love for you and one day, my heart may explode if this continues."

"Should I make you hate me once in a while to protect your heart then?" Talia asked with a chuckle.

How sweet is he becoming.

"Oh, please don’t!" Arthur kissed her.

At that time, Arthur’s phone rang and he answered it immediately since it was from Jordan.

"Our staff wants to meet you. Shall we go to the office before going to dinner?" Arthur asked Talia while he was still on the call.

Talia nodded. She wanted to go to the Northern Star office too. Its been a long while since she’d been there.

After changing, both of them visited the Northern Star head office. The press were still hounding them, but they didn’t bother with them.

Talia was surrounded by many of the staff who were working there for decades.

They all were happy she stood up for Northern Star in that Press Meet. They all unanimously agreed that Northern Star cannot be nationalised.

Talia was surprised to see an old guard who used to be old even then still there in the guard uniform.

"Mr. Yeager? Did grandpa refuse your retirement funds and you deicide to work here still?" she asked with a smile. That old man used to be very jovial and he loved to joke around.

"Ah... You remember me... This little lady still remembers me..." That old man walked to her and kissed her cheek. "You see... Her Grandpa during the recession used the wood from the furnitures he inherited from his ancestors to warm us up... We didn’t even have dry wood after the war... And the Duke of Oakley brought us his expensive furnitures since he didn’t have wood too... Who would do that for their servants? The Duchess was a kind lady too. She stayed with us and we all shared our food during the famine that followed the war... And this young lady here... She is just like her granddad, isn’t she? Isn’t she adorable...? " That old man went on with his stories making most of the staff uncomfortable not knowing what to do. They have to work and they cannot leave an old man while he was telling his stories.

Talia pulled up a chair for herself and listened to the old man’s stories and the other staff joined without reluctance after that. In his stories her Grandpa was a very great hero. Talia loved those stories.

Arthur, after signing the documents he had to sign waited in the conference room for Talia as other board members were waiting for her. When he was told that she was talking with the workers at the lower level, he chuckled.

Like grandfather... Like granddaughter...

Other than meeting the upper management, she is spending time with the lower management - the backbone of the company.

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