Chapter 7 The Happy Tears

Isla was shocked to her core. What was Gideon talking about? He wanted to bite her? She could feel his breath over her skin. Every single gust of air sent shivers down her spine. His words made her realise that she was frozen in her body. Was she ready for him to bite? What was he doing to her? No, no, she hated him. First he blocked her path, and then last night he gave her a fright. She really hated him, so why was her heart beating so fast? She was sure that within minutes her heart would jump out of her chest just like in animated cartoons.

She gulped. She knew she had to get away, far away from him. She jerked her hand away from his grip, pushed him again with all her might and shouted, “Leave me alone, you asshole! Because of you, I am here. If not for you, I would have escaped. I almost had a heart attack because of you last night. I will kill you one day. I will kill you for sure!”

She saw his lips moving upward slightly but was not sure if he smiled or not. After her outburst, he let her go, and she shook her whole body as if she was shedding his essence off.

“Ugh!” she said, disgusted. “GG!” shouted Isla and walked away.

“Wait!” shouted Gideon after her. “What is GG?” he asked.

“Ghost Gideon!” snapped Isla and ran down the stairs.

“Wh…at?” shouted Gideon loudly, and suddenly the whole house echoed with his laughter. He kept laughing and roaring. He had to clench his stomach as he kept bending in every direction, laughing.

Charlotte, who was getting ready for her wedding, who was sitting before her mirror getting her makeup done, who was still in her robe, almost on the verge of getting dressed, froze instantly in shock. She had not heard that laughter in years. She stopped everything, opened the door of her room and ran outside.

Her mouth fell open; her hands flew to her mouth and covered it in surprise and happiness when she saw Isla running down the stairs, fuming in anger, but her son was standing at the top of the stairs, laughing as if he had just heard the best joke in his life. The happiness on his face, the fine lines of his face, his body swaying in every direction with his laughter made her emotional.

“He… he is… he is laughing! He is… is happy!” Tears started streaming down Charlotte’s face. Hearing his laughter, all the servants had appeared before the stairs and kept staring at him with fondness. Eleanor stood next to Charlotte and patted her back.

Desmond came running in his white shirt and black trousers. He, too, was getting ready, but when he heard the commotion, he ran outside. He looked at Charlotte, and his heart sank. He grabbed her shoulders and asked, “What? What? Why are you crying? Is everything alright?”

“He… he is laughing,” sobbed Charlotte.

“Who?”

“Gideon!” sniffled Charlotte.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” asked Desmond with love and adoration.

“He… stopped laughing; he stopped smiling after his father’s death. After years… he is laughing after years!” explained Charlotte. “And your daughter did that. Thank you! Thank you!” said Charlotte and kept crying in Desmond’s arms.

“Oh, Lotte! Please stop crying. He is happy. You should be happy too,” comforted Desmond, holding her tight in his arms.

“I am happy. I am happy, Des!” said Charlotte. She pushed him away with love and ran to Isla. The way she ran to her, made Isla flinch in fear for a second. She was crying on her wedding day, which meant bad news, but everyone else was smiling yet had tears in their eyes. What was happening? She was finally at the last step when Charlotte grabbed her hands and looked at her with softness, love, and sweetness in her eyes. “Thank you, Isla!”

“Huh… why? What did I do now?” asked Isla.

“You made my son laugh!” cried Charlotte. Isla found everything bizarre. As everyone kept talking far away from her, she heard not a word. Her ears only rang with Gideon’s loud laughter. She was still unable to understand why everyone was looking at Gideon as if he had won an Olympic medal. Everyone had pride and happiness in their eyes.

“Um… so, what’s the big deal?” asked Isla carefully.

“Nothing! Nothing!” smiled Charlotte and immediately hugged Isla. Isla was first shocked and then made a disgusted face. She didn’t like Charlotte hugging her. How could she? Charlotte was the woman who was going to take her mother’s place.

“Okay, okay, let me go!” snapped Isla and pushed Charlotte away.

“Anything you want. I will do anything you want,” said Charlotte happily, caressed Isla’s cheek and walked away. Isla tried to move her face away when Charlotte tried to touch her, but Charlotte only caressed her softly and then removed her hands.

Charlotte walked up to Desmond, kissed him on his cheeks and went back to her room after glancing at her happy son once more.

“Ugh… drama queen! Everyone is a drama queen in this house! God!” murmured Isla and walked away from the stairs.

“Miss Isla! Miss Isla!” Amara came running with a huge smile.

“What now?” snapped Isla.

“The golf cart is ready. Please go to the wedding venue. We will follow you shortly,” replied Amara. She was so happy after seeing Gideon that not even Isla’s snapping and anger made her lose her smile.

“Fine!” growled Isla and walked out. Theodore Locke was waiting at the door with a golf cart decorated with flowers and frills, and everything was white.

“Good morning, Mr Locke!” Finally, a smile appeared on Isla’s face. She liked Theodore the very first time she met him, and she was happy to see him.

“Good morning, Miss Isla! You look marvellous!” smiled Theodore.

“Thank you very much!” smiled Isla and ran towards him.

“Shall we?” asked Theodore and presented his arm to her. She softly interlinked her arm with his, and they walked down to the cart. He made her sit in the seat but kept standing.

“What are we waiting for, Mr Locke?” asked Isla.

“Him!” replied Theodore with a smile and kept staring at the door. Isla looked at the door and saw the handsome Gideon walking towards the golf cart with his hands in his pockets. He had a certain aura around him. He looked gorgeous yet dangerous. He looked like he could solve any problem but at the same time could create a lot of trouble.

“He… he is coming with us?” asked Isla, gulping and gasping.

“This cart can carry multiple people, Miss Isla. Why waste a trip?” explained Theodore.

Isla immediately jumped off the cart. “I… I am not going anywhere with him!” she snapped.

Gideon scoffed. He took one of the hands out of his pockets, ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Isla with dangerous eyes, “Who said that I want to go with you? You are anyway going to take up a lot of space. I prefer to go alone. But what can we do? We have to think about the environment and all.”

“Huh! People like you care about the environment? That’s a good joke!” taunted Isla.