CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER-72. (NOT MY PROBLEM THOUGH).

I took in a deep breath, not knowing how to answer him. One reason for thinking over it was that I had nothing major to convey to him.

At that moment, I felt as if I was some student sitting in a d*mn viva trying to come up with anything related to the topic without sounding clueless.

I opened my mouth to answer Nicole, my lips parting as my mind tried to grab onto the right words, when the sound of the door creaking open cut me off.

All of them turned as another figure stepped in. My back was facing the entrance, so it took another second to turn. Though somewhere I knew that it would be Caroline, as she was the one who was not present here.

Boy, I could not speak how wrong and assumption was as my gaze fell on those high-end high heels, I knew it was NOT...Caroline.

My eyes trailed from her heels to her mid-thigh black dress and at last, those violet strands fallen freely on her shoulder.

Holy Jesus, what in the world is Grace doing here?

Her eyes instantly found Nicole’s, and the whole air in the room seemed to shift.

For a second, no one spoke. The time seemed to stop as my eyes peeked at everyone’s reaction to her sudden appearance.

Nicole’s fingers twitched against his glass, his jaw locked tight. His gaze burned, but did it affect her? Nah.

Her lips twitched into a smug as she swayed her bag on her shoulder and walked ahead, sitting beside Nicole and me.

Great timing, Lord. I can’t even tell if you are my friend or my enemy.

Nicole’s jaw clicked as he gritted out, "What are you doing here, Grace?" She took a moment as she flipped her hair and replied with an even wider smile, "To eat, I guess."

Her sarcastic remark did not leave a great impression on him. A nerve almost popped out of his forehead when she quickly tapped his arm and said, "God, you are such a brute. I have my ways." She winked at him and, without waiting for his reaction, she picked up the menu and started to look at it.

I almost sighed when her eyes darted in my direction as she asked with her poison-sweet voice, "It’s nice to see you again, sister-in-law."

The breath I was about to exhale caught in my throat, leaving me choking on it. I looked at her with wide eyes as I tried to stop my coughing.

Grace then lifted her eyebrows, trying to act shocked. Her acting was so fake that even a blind person could have seen right through it.

All were watching her, but she acted unaware of everyone’s reaction. She then passed me a glass of water, as she leaned in, caressing my back.

"You do realize that it’s our third meeting, right?" I froze, not having enough courage to match her gaze. I kept my gaze low as she straightened out her posture.

Wanting to divert my anxiety, my eyes wandered around when they landed on Dave.

The second Grace entered the room, I did not focus on him because of my own anxiety. But now, seeing him, I realized that he sat too still.

His expression was neither cold nor angry. He seemed...normal? I could not pinpoint exactly because the façade he carried felt foreign to me.

His eyes stayed at one point, not moving an inch. His gaze was focused in one direction.

My brows creased as I wanted to know why he was acting like that, but before I could actually ask him, Grace pressed the call button.

As the waiter came in, she started to point out several dishes. The waiter calmly noted everything down. The moment Grace stopped speaking, she looked around as if she was saying ’to give your order’, but neither of the males replied.

She then closed the menu and kept it on the side as she spoke up, "I guess, your appetite died with my sudden appearance. Not my problem, though."

Her sarcastic remark did not sit well with me. What did she think of herself?

She expected everyone to act submissively to her in which she started to succeed but now...I would not let her walk all over. Especially me.

The moment she left the menu on the table, I grabbed it the next moment and started to explore the dishes and drinks.

After taking a good minute, I ordered my food and drinks as the waiter noted them down and left. The moment I put down the menu, my eyes automatically fell on her.

The wide, smug smile she had worn from the start began to fade, and I counted it as my first victory.

I was still celebrating my victory when Grace’s voice again echoed in the whole room, "Now that the food is ordered, let’s start for what we all have gathered."

I wanted to smack the sh*t out of her, but my hands were tied. Her gaze moved between us before she retrieved her phone and called someone.

It took three seconds before the call got picked up as she instructed, "Come in." As she hung up, she gave me a ’The-show-is-about-go-down’ look. I gulped down my saliva as I tried to brace myself for the upcoming blow.

A few seconds passed, and the door to the room again opened. As another figure entered and closed the door, I squinted my eyes to take a good look at that person when a gasp escaped from my mouth.

"Caroline.." The name came out as a mere whisper.

There she stood at the entrance, her hands clenching her handbag. Her knuckles were white as if she might crush them with her grip.

Her shoulders were stiff, her chin raised just enough to make it look like she was holding herself together, but her eyes betrayed her.

They flickered with nervousness at the weight of walking into this room as everyone’s gaze stayed on her. I opened my mouth and closed it again like a fish as my brain could not process the scene in front of me.