Chapter 811: I DON'T NEED YOUR GRATITUDEAlia couldn't bear to see her mother sad every day. Even when she tried to smile, Amber looked like she was about to cry.
She knew what happened to her mother, but she didn't dare to open a can of worms that Amber was trying to hold back, therefore, she didn't say anything now, until her mother agreed to discuss this.
Therefore, after returning from school, Alia took her mother to go shopping, because she just got money from her drawing commissions and now she wanted to please her mother so she wouldn't look so down.
"Mom, you have to eat a lot, you look very thin," Alia said while cutting the steak for her mother so she could eat easily. This time, she would be the one paying for this meal. Even if it was a bit pricey, Alia had already raised enough money to afford this.
"You shouldn't waste money like this, Alia," said Amber when she saw the food that Alia had ordered. She was very proud of her daughter because she was growing well and she looked healthy, but of course this couldn't lessen her guilt and sadness for Kia.
"It's okay, mom, I don't do this every day," Alia said cheerfully, she then gave the sliced meat to Amber and smiled, telling her mother to eat a lot, even offering to buy dessert after they were done with the main course.
But, Amber had no appetite and didn't want to eat anything now. She just didn't want to make Alia more worried than this, so she tried to chew and swallow the meat in front of her, even though she couldn't taste anything.
"No need, no need to order dessert, I am not in the mood for anything sweet," Amber said and then smiled to reassure Alia, but that couldn't calm her youngest daughter down, even though after that she didn't say anything else.
And while they were eating and having a small talk, Alia's eyes widened when she saw who had entered the restaurant.
She saw the little girl she couldn't possibly forget at all. It was the little girl who was with her older sister, Kia, when they last met.
Alia remembered this little girl well because she was her niece, daughter of Kia.
"What's wrong Alia? What did you see?" asked Amber, she followed Alia's line of sight, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Everything looked the same and nothing was out of the place. "What did you see?" she asked again.
"That…" Alia wasn't sure if she could tell her mother this, but she also had no other choice. "That is Sis Kia's child…" she said in a low and hesitant voice. She was sure that it was Kia's child, but who was the grown woman with her? She looked very elegant and charismatic and of course everything she was wearing screamed luxury.
"What?" Amber was afraid that she had heard wrong, so she asked Alia to repeat what she had just said. "What did you just say?" she asked in disbelief.
"That is Sis Kia's child," Alia said again with a very confident face now, because the little girl was sitting just two tables away from them and she could see her quite clearly now.
"You are not kidding right?" Amber asked while watching the little girl with a woman, who looked older than herself, but the aura that radiated from her looked very powerful, like she wasn't someone easy to approach.
"Yeah, I am sure it's Mika." They knew Kia's child's name because Daniel told them and Alia also heard Kia calling her daughter's name before.
"You are not kidding, are you?" asked Amber, she felt her breath stop before her heart started thumping very fast when she looked at the little girl who was laughing.
Her tiny face bore no resemblance to her and Kia's, but it was certain that she had a friendly smile that was very similar to when her daughter was still a child, especially when she shook her legs impatiently.
Kia had the same habit when she was that child's age, but she didn't remember since when this habit disappeared.
"Mom, where are you going?" asked Alia hastily. She was surprised when she saw her mother suddenly stand up and it was obvious that she was going to approach Mika and the strange woman. "Mom, don't do that."
"Don't worry, I will have a good talk with her. If she's with my granddaughter, then she knows where Kia is right now, right?" Amber pushed Alia's hand away and walked toward Candice and Mika's table.
Meanwhile, Alia began to regret her decision to tell Amber about this problem, because it seemed like it would only cause more problems. So, without waiting any longer, Alia also followed her mother.
But, before Amber could approach Candice's table, a man restrained herself just as she was about to greet the woman.
"What do you need?" the man asked politely and firmly, having already confirmed Amber's intention was to talk to Candice.
Meanwhile, Candice stopped chatting with Mika and looked at Amber with a look of disapproval on her face.
She should have asked for a private room, but since Mika liked to look around and ask questions, while in a private room there wasn't much for her to see, she chose to have lunch in a main hall like this.
"I just want to talk for a moment," Amber said confusedly, looking at the man who suddenly stopped her and only then did she realize that this man was the woman's bodyguard.
Who exactly was that woman? Why did she need a bodyguard?
"If you have nothing important to do, you better step back," said the bodyguard in a low and firm tone.
"I just want to have a word with the Lady."
"Do you know who that woman is?"
Amber shook her head because she didn't know who Candice really was.
"Then you can return to your table now." The bodyguard was still standing in front of Amber, like a statue that had become a barrier between the two of them.
"I don't know who that woman is, but that little girl is my granddaughter," she said with certainty, because it was Alia who had convinced her that the little girl was Kia's daughter.
On the other hand, Alia tugged on her mother's arm and begged her to stop. She wanted to drag her mother away because she could see that the woman who was with her niece was not a woman she could take lightly, especially with these two bodyguards guarding them.
"Who are you?" asked Candice when she heard that Mika was her granddaughter. Actually, she could guess by looking at Amber's face, because there was a close resemblance between her and Kia, but she just wanted to make sure.
Amber held her breath for a moment and looked at Candice. "I am Kia's mother and I am sure that the little child is Mikaela, Kia's child."
Candice stared back at Amber intently, before she waved at the bodyguard and told him to back off.
"Please sit down," said Candice in a soft and authoritative voice. Meanwhile, Mika pressed her body against Candice and turned her face away because Amber was staring at her quite intensely, as if she was going to 'attack' her, which made Mika feel scared. "I didn't expect that I would meet Kia's mother in a place like this."
Candice rubbed Mika's arm and hugged her so she wouldn't be scared and also to help calm her down. However, the girl averted her eyes from Amber and it made her look sad, but Candice actually felt very happy to see that expression full of regret and pain.
"I also didn't expect to meet my granddaughter in a place like this," Amber then told how she knew it was her granddaughter and introduced Alia.
Candice, of course, could guess who the young girl with Amber was from the stories she heard from Misha.
And it was certain that Candice also conducted an investigation on this matter herself, where she found out what had happened to Kia and the results she got were not much different from what Misha had told her.
"Hello, Mika, I am your grandmother and this is your mother's younger sister, Alia," said Amber in a cheerful voice. She waved at Mika, but the little girl buried her face in Candice's chest and refused to look at her.
For Mika, Amber's passionate gaze was frightening, because this was the first time she had met Amber.
"It seems she doesn't recognize you as her grandmother, even though it's true that you are the mother of Kia," Candice said with a triumphant smile. For some reason, she liked this situation, especially after seeing the look in Amber's eyes which was full of suffering.
"There was a bit of a misunderstanding between myself and Kia, so we didn't see each other for a while," said Amber, trying not to give more details about the actual situation.
"What kind of misunderstanding?" asked Candice lightly.
"That…" Amber looked uncomfortable in her seat. "I can't say this, but if you could bring me and Kia together, I would be very grateful."
Candice smiled very sweetly when she answered that. "I don't need your gratitude, therefore, I also don't need to tell you where Kia is."
Candice didn't need gratitude that didn't mean anything to her and she made Amber understand that very well.
=======================
*Read my new book: KISSED BY THE DARK ALPHA*
Alpha Micah Donovan's second chance mate.