Chapter 56 - Regrets...

James could see it now, and she hadn't even fully bloomed yet; she was still a young teenager. It was too bad that he had made that promise to his father that no matter how she would look when they got older, he would never take her back from Ashton.

He was suddenly regretting it now.

He wanted to spend a little more time with her, but he knew this was not the right time. Their families were arriving any moment. He needed to be inconspicuous to not let his father know that he regretted the decision he made long ago.

They bid each other goodbye. Then, James went back toward the main hotel where he was staying, while Ava and Pisces went the other direction towards the villas.

When Ava and Pisces arrived at the villa, there was no one inside. However, Ava knew that her parents had arrived; when she checked the master bedroom, she found luggage after luggage inside the room.

She took out her phone and called Jeffrey to find out if he was with their parents.

"Yes, we're here at Jones's villa right now. Where are you? You said you were going here when you left earlier, but you were nowhere in sight when we arrived. Where did you go?" Jeffrey bombarded her with questions and didn't give her a chance to answer at all.

"I'm on my way. I'll tell you later when I get there." Ava then hung up the call as she walked out of the room to head to Jones's villa. She wondered if James would be there too.

The Jones's villa was right next door to theirs, so it only took her a couple of minutes to get there. She found them in the private garden behind their villa when she arrived, having cocktails and chatting happily.

Akira, Pearl, Jeffrey, and Ashton were on one of the tables while Ann, Jeff, Tanaga, and Ashley were on another one. There was no James anywhere in sight. Ava was disappointed, but she made sure it didn't show on her face when she walked in.

"Hello, everyone!" She happily greeted all as she went towards her mother to give her a hug and a kiss. She then turned to her father and did the same thing before moving to Ashley and giving her a hug as well.

After Ashley released her from a tight embrace, Ava then turned her attention to Tanaga.

"Hello, uncle!" She said with a sweet smile plastered on her pretty face.

Seeing how grown and pretty Ava turned out to be, Tanaga raised his brows before greeting her back. "Hmmm, you must be Ava..." He said, then turned to look in Ashton's direction curiously. He wanted to see his reaction upon seeing Ava, and he liked what he saw.

Ashton, with two indented dimples on both cheeks, stood up and rushed towards Ava.

"Where have you been? I was looking for you as soon as we arrived, but you were nowhere around!" He said playfully face-to-face with Ava.

Ava was at a loss as to why Ashton would be looking for her. She couldn't respond right away. She was contemplating whether she should tell them that she was just with James at the beach or not to mention him. After a moment of pondering, she decided to not mention James at all.

"Oh, I was checking out the beach with Pisces and lost track of time." But, unfortunately, her voice was barely audible for the parents to hear.

Ashton ushered her to sit with him at the other table, leaving the parents staring at their interaction with each other. Ashley and Ann loved what they saw, while Tanaga and Jeff had quizzical looks on their faces.

===

Ashley leaned over to Tanaga, "Where's James? I thought you talked to him to come over?" She whispered; she didn't want Jeff and Ann to hear.

"I don't know why he's not here yet, I told him to come here, and he said that he was on the way. He better come sooner, or his twin brother might run away with his bride-to-be." Tanaga teased before giving his wife a peck on her lips.

While Ashley and Tanaga were discussing among themselves, so were Ann and Jeff. Ann leaned on Jeff's arms, then whispered, " What do you think of Ashton? Don't they look good together?" She playfully bantered while speaking seductively under Jeff's earlobe.

"Who looks good together? And you better behave or else, I might have you for dinner." Said Jeff as he whispered back. He then turned his head toward the direction where his wife's lips were pointing.

A half-smile crept on his lip as he surveyed Ashton and Ava together. He did like what he saw, and if things worked out, they might not have any problems when the time came to tie the knot.

Then, something occurred to him. He kicked Tanaga under the table and leaned forward closer to him. "Tan, let me ask you... Who was born first, James or Ashton?" Jeff's face was serious while waiting for Tanaga to respond.

Tanaga didn't hesitate to answer. "James came out first; he's older by 20 minutes. Why did you ask?" After answering, he realized his grave mistake. Jeff was asking for a reason, to find out who Ava was betrothed to.

"Where's James, by the way?" Ann interjected when she saw Jeff's brows risen and glanced at Ashton once again.

Ashley was about to reply to Ann's question when they heard a voice coming from the door leading out of the villa.

"Hello, everyone! Good evening! I'm sorry I'm late!" Greeted James politely as he approached them while his eyes were on Ashton and Ava.

Tanaga saw where he was looking while Ann and Ashley happily greeted him back. Jeff was scrutinizing him as he got closer. He liked that James and Ashton were identical. However, he could see that James was becoming more and more like Tanaga every day. He had a serious look about him, and he was already walking like a real man should be while looking very good with his black hair.

Tanaga saw his best friend gazing intensely at his older son. When he saw a slight grin creep on Jeff's face, he let out a sigh. They needed to have a talk later after dinner. He needed to inform Jeff that James was no longer the candidate to be Ava's groom, but instead, it had to be Ashton...

James was still standing tall in front of the parents waiting for them to say something.

Ashley grabbed her son's hand then looked up at him, "James, why don't you join them while we're waiting for President Grant and the first lady to arrive?" She saw how James had been sneaking glances towards Ashton and Ava.

Ava heard James' voice when he greeted the parents. However, she didn't want her excitement to be noticeable, so she continued listening to everyone talking simultaneously and acted as if she didn't care that James had arrived.

However, deep inside of her, she really wanted to get up and ask her big brother to come and sit with them....