Deceiving Her Ears: Ignoring Your Call-Chapter 127: Are You Looking for Me?

The airport terminal was quite crowded.

People bustled back and forth.

Soon, Natalie lost sight of that familiar figure.

"Little Ear!"

Isaac Vaughn caught up to her, grasping her shoulder, "What’s wrong? Who did you see?"

Natalie turned to look at Isaac, her eyes brimming with tears, her eye corners reddened.

She felt her breath hitching, her fingers clutching Isaac’s shirt front, unable to speak.

Isaac was startled by her reaction and was about to quickly take her away.

But just then, a cold female voice rang out behind them—

"Are you looking for me?"

Natalie, held by Isaac’s arms, was shaken all over.

She slowly turned back and saw a beautiful woman’s face.

Exactly as she remembered.

Yet she remembered the woman always favored bright, colorful dresses.

She would say clothing reflects one’s life, it should be vibrant and bold.

But now, she was dressed in simple, plain colors, almost unadorned.

*

Inside the airport café.

Isaac looked at the two people sitting not far away, unable to help but marvel at the coincidence of life’s encounters.

Those similar faces made it easy to guess their relationship.

Natalie picked up her hot cocoa, sipping to suppress the unrest in her heart.

Fourteen years.

She once thought she would never see her biological mother again in this lifetime.

After a long time.

Natalie hoarsely asked, "Are you doing well?"

Lydia Fletcher promptly replied, "Very well."

She answered too quickly.

As if she had always kept the answer ready, knowing Natalie would inevitably ask, hence she prepared to answer the moment she was asked.

Natalie’s heart tightened.

She didn’t know what kind of answer she truly wanted from Lydia.

Doing well, or not doing well.

She feared Lydia wasn’t doing well, yet hearing Lydia say she was doing well unexpectedly stirred a wave of resentment.

How could someone who abandoned their own child be doing well?

Why?

Lydia also took her coffee and took a sip, looking at Natalie’s expression, speaking calmly: "You seem disappointed. What’s the matter? Me doing well makes you uncomfortable?"

Natalie abruptly raised her eyes to look at her, the red at her eye corners spreading to her eyes.

The hand beneath the table clutched tightly, nails digging into her flesh.

"Look at you, all dressed in designer labels, living like a spoiled lady must be nice. That’s good. Let it be."

Once she finished speaking, Lydia stood up.

"Where are you going!" Natalie instinctively spoke, her voice hoarse and trembling.

Lydia looked at her indifferently, "I have some matters to attend to."

"What matters? Where are you going? I can," Natalie gulped, "I can give you a ride."

At these words, Lydia scoffed, "No need to show off having a car to me. Our mother-daughter bond ended when I gave up on you back then. Let’s just consider today as if we never met."

Lydia then turned and left callously.

Natalie felt pierced through her limbs by an arrow, nailed to the chair, only able to watch Lydia’s cold silhouette disappear from view.

Just like years ago.

Lydia never looked back then, and didn’t today either.

"Little Ear."

Not until someone gripped her shoulder did Natalie’s icy body thaw.

She looked up at Isaac, a tear, two tears, many tears, falling rapidly in large drops from her eyes.

Isaac held her tightly, his eyebrows stained with a hint of fierceness.

Natalie nestled in his embrace, crying silently.

After returning home.

Natalie felt languid all over.

Isaac held her as they lay in bed, tucking her in.

"Want to eat something?"

Natalie shook her head, closing her eyes.

Isaac sat by the bedside with her, waiting for her to fall asleep before quietly leaving.

In the living room.

He dialed a number.

"I need you to find someone. Lydia Fletcher. She should be in Janton now."

*

Natalie awoke, and it was dark outside.

She sat up, not knowing for how long she had sat there when the door opened and Isaac walked in.

"Awake. Want to eat something?"

Natalie looked at him for a long time, then nodded.

Isaac picked her up and took her to the dining room, where a delicate spread of four dishes and a soup awaited.

"Did you make this?"

"Takeout." Isaac ladled a bowl of soup, placing it before her, "Want me to cook for you?"

Natalie shook her head, slowly drinking the soup.

Isaac watched her, his handsome face steady.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed.

He picked it up, glanced at it, his eyes flickering slightly, before setting the phone down and serving her a piece of meat.

——

The next day, Natalie returned to work at Beckett Group.

While reviewing documents, her phone rang.

She glanced at the caller ID, a strange number she didn’t recognize.

She intended to ignore it.

But something suddenly flashed through her mind.

She immediately grabbed the phone, pressing it to her ear.

And indeed.

On the other end was a familiar yet distant cold female voice: "It’s me."

At that moment.

Natalie felt her throat go dry.

She opened her mouth, took several seconds before finding her voice, "Hmm."

"Are you free today? Want to have a meal together?"

Yesterday at the airport, Lydia was clearly intent on drawing lines between them, so indifferent.

How could her attitude change in just a day?

But Natalie was too caught up to ponder further.

The subconscious longing for her mother made her unable to decline Lydia.

"Okay."

"Alright, see you later."

"Hmm."

After hanging up, Natalie stared at her phone in a daze.

She still found it hard to believe.

"Knock knock."

The office door was knocked on, Isaac walked in.

Their gazes met, and he noticed the gleam in her eyes, asking her, "What’s up?"

Natalie licked her lips, her voice uncontrollably tinged with excitement, "She, she just called me and invited me to dinner."

"Your mom?"

Upon hearing Isaac’s question, Natalie fell silent for a moment, then softly replied "Hmm."

Isaac came over, leaning against the desk, "What’s the matter? You don’t want to have dinner with her?"

Natalie’s voice was slightly awkward, "No, it’s not that. Just, just..."

"What?"

"I don’t know." she sighed, her expression slightly confused, "It feels a bit strange."

Isaac’s eyes flickered, he reached out to stroke her hair gently, "Perhaps your mom had her reasons back then, a necessity to leave you."

Really— is that so?

Natalie wasn’t sure.

All she knew was from the moment her biological mother abandoned her, nobody loved her anymore.

*

In the evening, Natalie and Lydia met at a restaurant.

Natalie had reserved a table in advance.

Yet when they were seated, she noticed Lydia’s slightly uncomfortable demeanor.

Though the restaurant had no dress code, patrons here were generally not ordinary folks, Lydia’s flea-market attire stood out despite her attempting to act naturally—it was futile.

Natalie’s heart ached at the sight, during their meal she asked Lydia, "Are you free tomorrow?"

Lydia instinctively wanted to say she wasn’t, but reconsidered, looked up at her, and said she was.

Natalie casually suggested, "Shall we meet for some drinks tomorrow?"

"Okay."

After dinner, Natalie offered Lydia a ride, and Lydia didn’t refuse.

She stayed at a cheap hotel.

Natalie had the driver pause at the entrance, watching Lydia alight and enter, before instructing him to drive away.

The next day, at the mall.

After drinks, Natalie and Lydia naturally went shopping.

They entered a luxury boutique.

A sales assistant came to attend to them, after a few words began praising them for their beauty and grace.

Natalie picked out several outfits for Lydia, as she pondered how to persuade Lydia to try them, Lydia had already voluntarily followed the assistant to the dressing room.

Natalie instantly felt relieved, a bit happy.

In the dressing room.

Lydia looked at the expensive clothes on the rack, dialing a number.

"How much longer must I put on this act of mother-daughter affection!"