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087: Gift for the Old Man (I)
"Do you want me to come and pick you up?"
Ayla shook her head instinctively before realizing that Claude couldn't see her reaction. She smiled at her own antics before finally replying to the man.
"No, it's fine. I can manage." She spoke into the phone's speaker as she made her way down the corridor, her feet moving towards the main gate of the campus.
"I can send in a driver. I don't want you to go alone." Claude's strained voice came from the other end once again.
"Claude, I appreciate your concern. But I am only heading to the mall. It's not like I am jumping off a cliff without a parachute. There's nothing to be worried about." She shook her head to herself. As much as it made her happy, knowing how much he cared for her, she couldn't help but become somewhat irritated about it.
She got free earlier today than she expected, so she decided to visit the nearby mall. They were supposed to leave for Claude's grandfathe
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"Ugh!" Ayla groaned out in frustration as Ayla walked out of another shop without having any luck in finding something that was able to catch her eye.She knew that there was probably nothing that Claude's grandfather lacked, but she had to give him something that spoke volumes. It was a long shot, but she had to try.From what Claude had told her, he was a man of temper and character. She was having a hard time deciding on anything. She was practically just strolling around the mall, going into antique shops one after the other with the hope that she might find something, anything.She checked the time on her phone once again. It had already been an hour and half since she arrived here and still no luck. What ticked her more was how eerily quiet her phone was. There wasn't any new message from him. His last text was a simple okay, that too in response to her text in which she had informed him of her arrival at the mall. She fought the urge to
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"Your nuggets… are finished."Ayla followed his gaze and found the empty box but instead of minding it, she gave the old man a wide smile. He made it sound as if they disappeared into thin air and the culprit was nowhere to be found. But in reality, he was the culprit. He practically devoured them whole without even bothering to leave a single nugget behind for her."I should get some more for myself. What do you think?" She raised an eyebrow at him when she saw him chuckling out loud."What?" She deadpanned."I don't think you should get any more of those as much as I would love it. My doctor will kill us both if he finds out." He mused."You were not supposed to be eating those?" Her eyes widened in shock."Why do you think I have this boring bowl of salad before me?" He deadpanned."Makes sense." She shook her head. It was no wonder that he ate all of her food. "But you better avoid fried
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"I am so sorry, love." Claude apologized to her the minute he threw his arms around her. He pulled her into his chest, inhaling deeply as he buried his face into her hair. "I didn't plan to make you wait for this long." He continued. "I really didn't.""I know, I know." Ayla spoke up, leaning back a little so that she could have a look at his face. "Don't fret about it. I was just roaming around. Now that you are here, we can actually shop for the gift.""You haven't bought anything yet?" Claude looked behind her only to find her college bag resting on the floor next to a seat."I couldn't find anything that screamed gift worthy for your grandfather." She pursed her lips together as she recalled her senseless strolling around the gift shops. "Though I think I now have an idea about what to get him, it could be worth a shot." She added hurriedly as her thoughts drifted back to the small sticky note which the nugget loving old man had left behind
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"How far are we?" A groan followed out of her lips as she stretched her arms in front of her."It will take another hour to reach there." Claude replied to her looking at her from the corner of his eyes. He turned his attention back to his laptop which was resting on his lap. "You can go back to sleep; I'll wake you up once we have reached." He added after a while."No, I am fine now." Ayla shook her head before stealing a glance behind.There was a black jeep with tinted windows following behind closely."Is this really necessary?" She asked the question again only to see Claude giving her a firm nod.It wasn't the first time she had asked Claude about it, but she failed to understand the reason behind the need for security. Claude had only informed her about it just before they were about to leave the mansion. When she tried to pry further, he brushed it off saying that they were only there as a precaution, and that
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"Wakey wakey, sleepy head." Ayla muttered next to his way as her hands shook his broad shoulders lightly. There was a small frown resting in between her brows as she made another attempt to shake him up."What?" Claude mumbled with a groan, not bothering to open his eyes."We are here, Claude. I don't think your grandfather will appreciate us being late." Ayla looked out of the window to see a couple of people already waiting for them, their patience running thin as they eyed their guards."Ugh!" Claude groaned out in frustration once again before forcing his eyes open. Ayla was right about him pushing his body's limit."How long has it been?" He mumbled out, stretching out his arms."Five minutes." Ayla replied to him and watched his eyebrows shooting up in shock. Wanting to make him feel better about it, she hurriedly added, "it's alright because your grandfather isn't here yet from what it looks like." She tilted her head back
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"Umm.. excuse me?" Ayla cleared her throat lightly, announcing her presence as she eyes the old man. "I hope I am not disturbing you." He was sitting on a wooden chair with his back facing her, too focused on the variety of food sprawled across the circular table to pay her any attention. "Yeah, yeah." He mumbled out a reply under his breath, his words filled with annoyance. "Make yourself at home." He was clearly not pleased by her sudden appearance and didn't bother to hide it. "Uh… thank you." Ayla kept her spirits up and walked around the table to settle down on one of the empty chairs. She chose to sit across from him so that she could have a better look at him while keeping the distance between them. It wasn't hard for her to tell that he was not fond of having company this early in the morning. "Claude was still sleeping when I left the room so I decided to grab a bite or two in the meantime and get myself familiar with the pl
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The Heartless Bride 191: Desires (II)*
The Heartless Bride 190: Desires (I)*
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The Heartless Bride 187: The Culprit (I)*
The Heartless Bride 186: Suspicions (II)
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The Heartless Bride 184: I was Missing you (II)
