Chapter 176 I Believe in Lily
Lillian glanced at him discreetly when she heard the news. Catching Angela's eye, she smiled.
"Morning!" Evelyn yawned as she walked in, plopped down next to Theodore, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm so tired."
"Come on, wake up. We're leaving after breakfast," Theodore nudged her gently.
Evelyn sat up, surprised. "We're leaving today? I thought we were staying another day."
"Tomorrow's a workday, so we gotta head back today," Theodore explained.
Alexander chimed in, "No rush. You can leave tonight if you want."
After breakfast, Theodore got called away for an urgent matter at the law firm. Jackson and Nico also took off.
Before leaving, Nico pulled Luke aside. "If you miss Mom and Dad, just give us a call."
"Okay, I had a lot of fun with you guys yesterday," Luke said shyly.
Nico hugged him and left with Jackson.
"You did great," Lillian praised Luke.
"Dad said Mom is sick, and if I play with them, she'll get better. The teacher said we should help others and be good kids," Luke explained.
"Luke is such a good boy," she said, patting his head.
Tom had been clinging to Angela since he woke up and came downstairs.
"Angela, where are you going later? I'll take you out," Tom offered.
Angela pulled Wendy over. "I have plans with my friend today."
"Let's just leave now," she said bluntly, trying to avoid too much contact with Tom.
Angela and Wendy were also ready to depart.
Before leaving, Angela pulled Lillian aside and whispered, "You need to be careful about your husband cheating."
"It's okay, it's not what you think," Lillian smiled reassuringly.
Finally, everyone who was leaving had gone, and only Lillian, her husband, and Shae, who were still sleeping, remained in the villa.
After seeing off the last person to leave, Evelyn, Lillian looked concerned and asked Alexander, "Should you go check on her? She's still sleeping."
"Leave her be. She's not a child, she'll get up when she wakes up," Alexander said dismissively, and they both went back to their room.
"I'm going to pack up our things. You stay put on the bed and don't move," Alexander ordered.
Lillian sat obediently on the bed, watching him bustle around. Suddenly, she spoke up, "Alexander, there's something I want to discuss with you, is that okay?"
"Go ahead," he replied, not looking up.
Lillian hesitated for a moment, fiddling with her fingers, and then said, "I still have several months before I give birth, and I feel like I'm just wasting time staying home. I want to go back to work at the company."
"No way," Alexander refused without even thinking about it.
"Why not? Let's just discuss it," she pleaded.
Alexander stopped what he was doing and sat down next to her. "I need to take care of your safety. If you're really bored, I can sign you up for a class."
"No, I don't want to go to any hobby classes. I just want to go back to work," Lillian insisted. "Yesterday, I saw Wendy discussing work, and I really envied them. Just let me go back to work, please."
Alexander still didn't agree. "This is not open for discussion."
"Why do you have to be so domineering? You could at least discuss it with me or make a request. Just rejecting me so bluntly is very hurtful, you know," Lillian said, turning away upset.
Alexander explained, "Work is stressful. Do you think that's good for you? Shae and Lola are both in the general secretariat. Will you be able to keep things quiet if you see them every day? Sure, I could transfer them to other departments, but the company is only so big. I don't want you to get upset with them every day and affect the baby, and it's not good for your health either."
"Well, then just transfer them. I won't go downstairs, I'll just stay within my work area, and we can go home together every night. That sounds pretty good," Lillian suggested.
Alexander said, "You're being too idealistic. However, to prove I'm not just a tyrant, I'll consider it. But first, we need to go to the hospital for a check-up to see if the baby's development is okay before making any decisions."
Seeing him relent, Lillian's heart rejoiced, but her face remained cold as she asked, "Are you serious? You're not just saying that to appease me?"
"No, we agreed to discuss things before making decisions," Alexander patted her and said, "You can turn around now."
As they were chatting, there was a knock on the door, and Shae's voice came from outside, "Who's sleeping in this room? I'm coming in."
Alexander and Lillian looked at each other, then stood up and walked to the door. He opened it, and she was about to enter.
"Alexander? It's you. Where did they go? I don't see anyone," Shae asked, puzzled.
Alexander said, "They all went back. Go eat first, and I'll find you later."
"I drank too much last night," Shae muttered.
"We'll talk about that later," Alexander said, closing the door.
Lillian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Finally, she's awake."
"I told you it would be fine, but you didn't believe me," Alexander resumed packing.
Shae ate lunch alone in the dining room, trying to recall what had happened last night. She remembered blacking out at the bar but couldn't recall anything after that. Panicked, she covered her mouth, wondering if she had said something she shouldn't have. But try as she might, she couldn't remember.
After eating, she walked out of the dining room and saw Alexander sitting in the living room. She quickly walked over to him.
"Alexander," she sat down, looking at his slightly stern face, and spoke first, "Are you still angry with me? I really didn't trip Ms. Hill yesterday. Maybe she just had weak legs and fell, but she blamed it all on me."
Alexander looked at her calmly and said after a moment, "Shae, I'm not going to pursue what happened yesterday. I don't care how you explain it; I'm going to trust Lily."
"So you don't trust me?" Shae asked, surprised. "Aren't you afraid she's lying to you and wrongfully accusing me?"
"She's my wife, and I should trust her," Alexander said coolly. "What I want to tell you now is that Lily is pregnant. Imagine how dangerous it was when you tripped her yesterday! If something had happened to Lily and the baby, do you think my mother would have let you off easily?"
"She's pregnant? I didn't know!" Shae looked anxious and asked, "Is Ms. Hill okay? I don't know how she fell, but I really can't take the blame for this!"
