Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness novel Chapter 134

"Who the hell are you people?" Daniel demanded aggressively. "I could report you to the police for suddenly showing up and raising a racket."

"You’re very welcome to involve the police," Kent said with a faint smile. "I’m sure they would be very interested in the case of this car, and would no doubt take the matter into their hands."

He had barely finished speaking when the couple’s heads swiveled to look at each other nervously. The woman’s lips trembled in visible fear.

Kent only continued to look at them, his gaze swinging back and forth between the man and woman, his smile still in place.

Daniel cleared his throat. He never expected the prank to be so serious; the instructions he was given were rather straightforward. He took the money and did as he was told.

Nobody said anything about a dangerous prank that could possibly qualify as a crime and would bring the authorities to their doorstep.

"I don’t know anything," the man said to Kent, although his eyes shifted suspiciously. "I was only told to rent a car."

They were at a stalemate. Daniel and his wife were given a hundred thousand in cash to keep silent on the matter.

It was such a huge amount that even if he, or any of his lot, were to work for the rest of their lives, they would never amass such wealth.

But now that they were faced with the threat of being imprisoned, the money didn’t seem enough. Daniel was suddenly thankful that the person who hired him didn’t deem him worthy of the details to the transaction.

"Is that so?" Kent said slowly, a cold glint to his eye.

Daniel and his wife stuttered their denials, swearing they had no direct involvement whatsoever to the accident, and repeatedly begged Kent not to call the police.

"What should we do, Sir?" his assistant finally asked. They could both tell that the couple knew more than they were letting on, but obviously less than what Kent required.

As he looked around the surroundings and the living conditions within the area, he felt slightly sorry for the members of this community.

Still, that was no reason for them to risk what little they had by hanging on to the edge of a knife’s blade.

"Forget it," Kent exhaled. "Let’s just go." Any method of polite query was clearly just a waste of time. If the couple was unwilling to divulge what they knew, then he couldn’t do anything to force them.

Besides, he was sure that if the Gu family were really determined to look into the matter, they certainly would have the necessary connections and would definitely nail the culprit in no time.

He only walked the extra mile in hopes that he could provide some sort of explanation to Melinda sooner.

He called her later that night to relay what little he uncovered, and asked her if she wanted him to dig into it any further.

"Never mind. I don’t have a lot of enemies anyway. I'm sure that whoever is behind this is now on the run, and can’t possibly be hanging around for another scheme. I’ll be careful in the future."

She had, in fact, spent a great deal of the day pondering over the possible culprits. She had the usual suspects of course: the women who so openly despised her. But she had no proof, and could come up with no rational explanation behind the deed.

Well, whoever it was, Melinda concluded that the person didn’t have enough guts to inflict their actions directly on her. The car probably only served as an outlet for their anger. As long as her life wasn’t threatened, she wouldn’t waste her precious time worrying over the matter.

"In order to thank you for your help," she told Kent over the phone. "Why don’t we have dinner this weekend?" Kent’s concern and kindness really touched her.

Moreover, they hadn’t really had a proper chance to get together ever since Kent returned to the city, so this proposed a perfect opportunity.

"I’m all up for that," Kent agreed readily. While it was true that the magazine office was busy these days, the weekends were a required respite to all of its employees.

They settled for Sunday, which was the day after tomorrow, and decided on the time and place for their meet up.

Perhaps it was because the appointment was on such short notice that it slipped from Melinda’s mind to mention it to Jonas. Kent’s return had a lasting effect on Jonas, and his temper ran short over the littlest things. At home he was acting coldly towards Melinda, even though he didn’t want to.

It was just that he was floundering, clueless on how to go about his feelings. And he was extremely bad at communication.

That being the case, Melinda’s outing was never brought up in recently curt conversations between the husband and wife.

The next day, Saturday, Queena pulled Melinda into her painting studio. She had discovered a few days ago that Melinda was talented in the arts as well, and Nelson all but sang his praises to the yard.

"Mom, Grandpa is exaggerating," Melinda kept saying, embarrassed at the whole turn of events. Queena seemed keen on sharing her studio and asking her to paint something.

She felt a mild terror. If her mother-in-law truly discovered her painting skills... well, it didn’t even bear thinking.

Queena toured her around the studio, pointing at her supplies and telling Melinda the best spot to paint at any given time of day, as if she were sharing a very valuable treasure. "How is it?" the older woman finally asked.

"This place is incredible," Melinda breathed. She was always amazed at how dedicated artists were to their craft, and being inside Queena’s studio gave her a glimpse into the latter’s mind from a perspective that was no doubt inaccessible to most.

In truth she was feeling a bit of emotion, surrounded as she was by all the paint and heaps of blank canvases and a shower of natural light.

It had been so long since she had drawn a paintbrush across a clean surface herself.

"If you’d like," Queena was saying, "you can ask Gavin for a spare key to this room." Melinda swung her head to look at her mother-in-law in surprise. The older woman only smiled. "You’re welcome to it any time."

This was how Queena was, after all. If she took a liking to you, she tended to shower you with... anything she could, really. And if you let your guard down, she could get a tad excessive with her favors.

They spent the whole day in that room, and Melinda finally gave in and allowed herself to be pushed to a corner with her own easel and palette.

Queena was like a ball of energy as she dove into another blank canvas, humming to herself as she painted the day away. Perhaps it was because she was in such a good mood; perhaps it was because of the excellent weather.

Melinda, however, could not come up with anything good to put on canvas. She was still reeling from a myriad of heavy emotions, emotions that were a little too fragile and ugly to manifest themselves in any medium.

"Your grandfather was quite right," Queena later huffed as she looked at Melinda’s canvas. "You are too modest for your own good sometimes."

It was nothing brilliant, to be honest, just a hazy mix of colors, but she could tell that her daughter-in-law had real talent.

Nelson and Jonas found them not long after that, and the family patriarch didn’t fall short with his praises. It seemed like Queena’s good mood had translated well to picture. "I’ll probably be able to finish it tomorrow," she smiled contentedly. "I’ll frame it once the paint dries."

Jonas, on the other hand, peered over Melinda’s canvas. He knew from experience that she could do a whole lot better than this. He was no artist himself, but the brush strokes looked... sort of wrong.

The farm included a wide, fenced pasture to one side, and on the other side stood a huge barn that housed all kinds of farm animals.

"It’s absolutely lovely here," Kent commented. They had taken a walk along the frozen pasture, and finally found a bench to sit on as they watched the hustle and bustle of the visitors. It was a quiet place, in spite of the flurry of business that came and went.

"You’re not wrong," Melinda sighed into the bright crisp air. "If I had found this place any earlier, I would have done all I could to land a job here. I would have loved every bit of it and earned myself some extra coin on the side."

"Well, you have no need for some extra coin now, do you, Younger Madam Gu?" Kent teased, and she scoffed and rolled her eyes. They shared a little laugh.

What he said was true, and these days she didn’t really want for anything at all. Anything that could be bought with money anyway.

"I would have preferred a simpler life like this," Melinda said softly, and it seemed like their surroundings felt the weight of their words, because around them the snow seemed to hush as well. She continued speaking.

"I would have dearly loved to have settled somewhere scenic, with breathtaking views of mountains and rivers always at hand. I could live in a small farmhouse. And I would spend my days writing and taking walks with my cat and my dog.

I would grow my own food, and tend to animals, and my trips into town would be rare and few. I would live forever in my little farmhouse." She had a wistful smile on her face as she finished.

She only ever wanted an ordinary life. Such a mundane existence made her happy, even before she laid her eyes on Jonas.

She had no doubt that such a life would have made her a great deal happier than she was now. Or at the very least, it would have prevented all the suffering she had gone through.

Kent was a little surprised at the quality of nostalgia that came over Melinda, but he thought he understood what she was trying to say. He gave her a wistful smile of his own. "That sounds really divine."

They sat there for the better part of the morning, talking about anything and everything. Their discussions led, as it usually did, to literature.

Passionate as they were over the subject, their animated conversation soon took a toll on their appetites.

"I think we’re due a good meal," Kent said as he stood up and patted the snow off his clothes. "Let’s go to the restaurant." Melinda led the way.

They walked for about ten minutes until they were at the entrance of the restaurant, and as soon as Melinda stepped inside, her gaze locked on two very familiar people.

It was Jonas and Emily, and the woman had one of her arms linked around Melinda's husband's.

Melinda stopped short. Kent saw her stiffen abruptly, and he stepped forward, his gaze swinging to the direction of her stare.

Jonas and Emily were standing near the reception, not too far away. The four people stared at each other, and the air between them became heavy and charged with volatile and complicated emotions.

Jonas, in particular, was looking murderous. He stared at his wife and Kent, looking like he wanted to eat the other man.

People started to notice the strange atmosphere, and the nosier ones took the time to look at all four of them, eventually shrinking back as soon as they saw Jonas's face.

One look was all it took for anyone to tell that this man was not one to be trifled with. After a few beats, Jonas spoke.

"What the hell are you two doing together?" His voice was deadly calm, but there was an unmistakably dangerous note to it, and bystanders quickly scurried out of the way.