"I asked you a question, Moon: who is Hugo, and what did you do to Ariel three years ago?" Grandma Nari pressed.
Moon was sweating under the air conditioner; her eyes were staring at Ariel in disbelief; how could she be in the spotlight like this? Did Ariel really want to do her this dirty?
"Ah, Dad, your birthday is coming up, right?" Ariel giggled and stood, walking over to Mr. Sloan to sit beside him.
Mr. Sloan slowly removed his eyes from Moon and looked at Ariel.
"Yes, you know, I've told Aiden that I don't want a huge party, but that boy refused; now, my mother has sent out invitations to the whole country, even to people outside the country," He sighed.
Ariel chuckled, "It's a good thing, Dad, we have to celebrate you," She hugged him.
"Tell him, my dear child, he's so stubborn, that's where my grandson got it from," Grandma Nari supported.
Ariel laughed, "Oh, but I love Aiden just the way he is, Grandma," She affird.
Grandma Nari chuckled and nodded, "I know le that, sweetheart, and you don't know how glad u are that you ca back into his life," Her voice was filled with emotions.
Moon should have been happy that the attention had been shifted away from her, but she wasn't completely happy; she felt ignored.
She knew that it was a good thing as Ariel diverted from the topic, yet the malicious part of her hated that no one was speaking or looking at her. All her life, she knew that getting Mr. Sloan to like her would be the jackpot, but she never succeeded; the man never even made himself available to her.
Hearing Ariel call him "Dad," rubbed her the wrong way; he had just warned her never to call him "Dad," yet soone who hadn't been in the family as long as she had called him "Dad," and he happily accepted it.
She could feel herself slowly losing control over this family, even Grandma Nari was going back to admiring Ariel and whatever she did or said.
Moon felt the old jealousy and resentnt creeping back into her, she eyed Ariel with hatred. Mr
Sloan was lovingly speaking to her, and Grandma Nari was busy giving her smiles and approving nods. It was so disappointing; she thought she had succeeded in poisoning Grandma Nari's mind about Ariel; the switch back was so unexpected; now, her manipulations were going to be very limited, and even if she did try to manipulate, it wouldn't wouldn't anymore.
"Grandpa," Jace called as Aiden walked down the stairs and dropped him to the floor.
He ran over to Mr. Sloan and hugged him.
"Aww, look at my boy, he looks so handso, and..." He paused and leaned to Ariel's side, "Can I call him fat?" He whispered.
Ariel chuckled and shook his head, "No, he prefers to be called just handso...and cute, right, baby?" Ariel kissed Jace's cheek, smiling.
Jace nodded, "I heard you, Grandpa; you can't call fat; I'm handso and big, just like Daddy," He pointed to Aiden, who was still standing beside the stairs and watching them interact.
Aiden smiled, not saying a word.
"Yes, Jace, you just as handso-"
"Keep his na out of your fuckinh mouth, Moon," Ariel cut her off, making sure to cover Jace's ears before she spoke.
Everyone was surprised at her sudden response, especially Moon. Moon was seeing different sides of Ariel; she felt like Moon was purposely tornting and keeping her on her toes, and she felt intimidated, too.
"Ariel, please, dear child, take it easy on Moon, we're all trying to accommodate Moon, I know it's hard, but-"
"No, Grandma, I'm going to be honest, my husband and I haven't even forgiven you, and you're family, not to talk of soone who isn't. We've made it clear that we are not forgiving Moon, and you can ask her; she knows why, but I bet she will never tell you because she knows it will get her disowned from her honorable family," Ariel carried Jace on her laps.
"Co on, Jace, let's go get you sothing to eat," Ariel said and carried her son into the kitchen.
Moon suddenly felt claustrophobic; everyone was once again staring questioningly at her.
"Moon, what Ariel said, is it true?" Grandma Nari asked.
"Grandma... Please, help speak to Ariel, she's totally misunderstanding , please," She sobbed, hugging Grandma Nari.
Aiden sighed, "When she's done crying, please send her back to where she ca from. And, preferably, never bring her back to my house, I have no business with her, she's only still I'm this family because of you, Grandma, if not, she would have been forgotten a very long ti ago," He inford and walked toward the kitchen, going to join his wife and son
Moon watched Aiden and bowled her eyes out, sniffing and crying; her body shook as she hugged the old woman beside her.
"No, Grandma, please, I'm part of the family, please," She begged.
Grandma Nari sighed, "Yes, Moon, you are; I'm never sending you away; stop crying now," She patted Moon's back, consoling her.
"It's all fake, mother. She's fooling you," Mr. Sloan said and stood from the sofa, heading g toward the kitchen, too.
***
Gideon made his way to Jewel's office, but again, he wasn't there.
He felt soone walk in beside him and imdiately turned, thinking it was Jewel who wanted to scare him like the last ti. But when he saw the person behind him, he frowned.
"Um, hi," He greeted the older woman in a pair of gold-rimd eyeglasses.
The woman frowned and pushed her eyeglasses in, "Hi... who are you, young man? You don't look familiar; I'm sure you're not a staff," She stated.
Gideon cleared his throat, "Uh, yes, Ma'am, I'm not a staff, I'm just here looking for soone, Jewel, but he's not in, I guess I'll be going,"
"Hmm," The older woman eyed Gideon curiously, "You're different from the rest; guess he finally decided to change his taste to sothing better," She slowly smiled.
Gideon frowned, hating that he understood what she was talking about, "What? No, you misunderstood ; I an, I just wanted to give him sothing and be gone; I'm not his boyfriend or sothing," He denied.
The older woman nodded, "I understand... young love," She sighed, "I was also in denial when I was dating my wife, so, I totally understand you," She patted Gideon's shoulder.
Gideon almost screwed his frustration out, but he swallowed it and simply gave the woman a forced smile, "Thank you for your kind words, I have to go now," He nodded at her and walked toward the door.
He knew that staying there and arguing with the woman would yield no fruit for him, and he didn't have the ti to spare for sothing irrelevant.
"Young man, "The older woman called as he stepped out of the office.
Gideon balled his fists and answered through gritted teeth, "Yes, Ma'am?" He slightly turned his head out of forced respect.
"Do you have his contact, I can give-"
"I do, thank you," he nodded at her and quickly left the office, the building.
It was at that mont that he beca grateful to Ariel for sending him Jewel's number; he would have endured another minute of torture while he took the number from that older woman.
"I've not t him, but I'm still stressed out, "He muttered as he entered his car.
He took out his phone and dialed the number Ariel had sent him, but after so many rings, it wasn't answered.
He was frustrated; he looked at his wristwatch and sighed, he'd spent twenty minutes of his ti in that office, yet he hadn't delivered his ssage.
How annoying.
His phone suddenly started to ring, and he was surprised to see that Jewel was calling him back; he wasted no ti in answering it; who knew if this would be his only chance of getting through to him.
"Hello, Jewel, where the fuck are you?" He questioned angrily, even though he did try to ta down his anger.
"Hi, Gideon, no need to be pushy, the sun is already hit enough. et at the location I just dropped for you, hurry...or you'll miss again; bye," Jewel ended the call.
"Idiot," Gideon angrily threw his phone on the seat but imdiately grabbed it when he rembered that Jewel had sent him his location.
He opened it and frowned.
He almost turned his car to ho, but he rembered that he had promised Ariel to deliver the Flash to Jewel, so he took a deep breath and drove the car to Jewel's location.
He soon ruched the location, got out of the car, and stood in front of a rainbow bar.
He had never in his life imagined finding himself in this kind of place.
Now, the real question was, what was Jewel doing in a bar in the afternoon? Was he that weird and stupid?
Gideon sighed and. walked toward it.
"Do you have any identification, sir?" The security asked in front of the bar.
"If fire asking if I have any gay identification, then I'm sorry I-"
"Ah, excuse , Brandon, Jewel asked to bring this man in," Another security man walked out with Gideon's picture on his phone.
"Oh, you're Mr. Gideon, right?" Brandon asked.
"Yes?" He wasn't even sure anymore.
"Then, please follow , Jewel is waiting," The second security guy inford and stood aside for Gudeon to walk through the door.
Gideon slowly nodded and walked in; each step was a heavy regret as he wondered how and why his picture got to be on the security man's phone.
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