Chapter 240 Running Into Russell and Dominic
Zach shyly lowered his head, his ears turning red. His messy hair and nerdy black-rimmed glasses couldn’t hide his good looks. Tilda rested her cheek on one hand, watching with interest. She didn’t join in on the conversation, but inside, she felt a sense of contentment.
Looking at the trustworthy teammates, she thought, "This feeling is great. I don’t feel like I’m fighting alone anymore."
The job of ordering food was left to Astrid. She was the calmest one of the bunch, not like Jarrett and Theo.
After ordering, she handed the menu to Tilda. “Queen, is this okay?”
Tilda nodded. “As long as you like it, I’m fine. I eat everything, I’m not picky. Waiter!”
Not long after they finished ordering, two people walked into the BBQ place.
“Dominic, I’m telling you, I came here before with your mom. The food’s really good. You’ve been working way too hard. I’m glad you’re feeling better, but you’ve got to eat on time. Eat whatever you want today. It’s on me!” Russell pulled Dominic along, looking at his son with worry. In just the past few days, Dominic had gotten even thinner. When Russell grabbed his arm, he could barely feel any flesh and could easily feel the bones. Not to mention the dark circles under Dominic’s eyes and the exhaustion he couldn’t hide.
“Thanks, Dad.” Dominic knew he was in bad shape. He didn’t want to sleep because he couldn’t. He didn’t want to eat because he had no appetite. The only way to escape the things that haunted him, the guilt that was driving him insane, was to throw himself into work. Work like crazy. Let work take over his entire life. Let him be busy so that he has no time for anything else! Dominic couldn’t come up with any other way to cope besides this foolish and self-destructive one. Still, after Russell’s repeated pleas, Dominic gave in tonight. Even without an appetite, he followed his dad to the BBQ place.
At the very least… He didn’t want his family to keep worrying about him. He had made too many mistakes when it came to Tilda. No amount of regret could fix them. Unless, like Tilda once said… only his death could make her anger fade.
Just then… Russell and Dominic spotted Tilda sitting with her group, grilling meat. Russell blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Why would Tilda be here? But reality was cruel. The one person he least wanted to run into, he ran into. This biological daughter truly is a curse to our family!
Dominic saw her too. Guilt, panic, and fear all flashed across his eyes as he quickly looked away. He couldn’t help but remember the day of their falling out. It was raining. Tilda had said she’d only forgive him if he died. Now, running into her like this…
Even though Dominic felt incredibly guilty and knew he was in the wrong, he wondered if there was still a chance for her to forgive him. It’s impossible, right? If Tilda didn’t rub salt in his wounds and make him feel worse than death, that would already be considered mercy.
“Let’s go.” Russell took a deep breath. He could tell that Dominic’s attitude toward Tilda had changed. Just by looking at his son’s expression now, he knew… And it made him even sadder. That sadness was something Tilda had brought onto Dominic. Russell had tried asking him a few times why he’d changed so much when it came to Tilda, but Dominic never said a word. As a father, the only thing Russell could do was keep him away from her, to stop Dominic from getting hurt by Tilda any further.
The next second, Russell seemed to spot someone he definitely hadn’t expected. He let go of Dominic and strode straight over.
“Astrid? What are you doing here?”
Astrid, who had been chatting with Tilda, froze for a moment. Hearing Russell’s voice, she looked over, shocked. “U–Uncle Russell?!” Then she glanced awkwardly at Tilda. She knew Tilda had pretty much cut ties with the Jensons. If Russell said anything that might hurt her, it’d be bad.
Tilda wanted to facepalm. Of course, this would happen. How could I run into Russell and Dominic here?
“Why are you sitting with Tilda?”
It’s so late. Why are these two troublemakers eating barbecue? Russell had rarely seen his niece, Astrid, interested in this kind of food before! She had grown up overseas. Even after moving back to Slosa and getting a senior executive job, she always came up with an excuse to refuse whenever Russell invited her to have dinner at Jenson Villa. Russell knew Astrid was shy around people, so he let her be and simply kept an eye on her work. Astrid was doing better and better in Slosa, connecting with wealthy families and building her own network and resources.