Let Life Surprise You ✔

24. Doubt

Too dumbfounded to react, I stare at her from the restroom mirror.

"What kind of game are you trying to pull?" Diandra asks. The mix of sadness and resentment in her eyes sends a chill down my spine. I turn around as she walks toward me slowly like a lion approaching its prey. My figure is significantly taller and more athletic than hers, yet it doesn't intimidate her one bit.

"I beg your pardon?" I reply.

"What is your real intention behind all of this? Do you need money? Or position for your career in this company? Or do you want his last name? Or is it just a fun game for you?"

"I'm not sure I'm following you."

Diandra scoffs. "Please, we don't have time for this. Don't beat around the bush."

"And we don't have time for riddles. If you can tell me what bothers you, then we can maybe find a solution for that."

"You put Ashton in a very difficult position for whatever reason. That's what bothers me. Using your daughter to corner him, really?"

I frown, still stumbling into every word she throws at me. She just doesn't make any sense. "Using my girl to corner him? What are you talking about?"

"Our relationship is stuck because of a daughter that came out of nowhere, begging for his attention."

"I beg your pardon?" My mouth is hanging open, taken aback by her bluntness.

"Very well played. And you knew it well that he's a good man who would never abandon a child who has his blood running in her veins. But don't you think you're taking this too far, Charlotte?"

My fingers clutch the edge of the wash table so tightly that it is almost painful. "Look, I don't know what your problem is and what situation you two are having at the moment, but I know I never cornered him into anything. The only time I forced him to be there was when my daughter needed blood supply. I had no choice. What kind of mother would do nothing when she saw her kid was in danger?"

Her eyes soften in a split second. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Instead of replying to her sympathetic line, I cross my arms over my chest, still on full alert, ready for her next blow. This woman has just stormed into this restroom like a whirlwind and accused me of doing something absurd. Has she gone nuts? Or is she high?

Diandra paces back and forth across the room, her heels clicking against the marble tile, echoing painfully in my ears. "You know I didn't blame him or give him the cold shoulder when he told me he had a kid. It just pained me to see how it hit him like a truck. Did you know he never wanted children? And now he's forced to accept reality and take action as any responsible adult should–"

"Again, I never forced him–"

"–yet it wasn't enough for you. You pushed him even further, and now he feels trapped between his obligation to be a father and your demand to cut me out of his new battle."

"What do you mean by my demand to cut you off?"

Diandra stops short and looks me straight in the eye. "You're not letting me meet your child. You" —she points her forefinger at me— "made him choose between me and your daughter. That is low, Charlotte, even for you. You can't stop a man from pursuing a relationship with the ones he cares about, in this case, me and your daughter."

I groan out of frustration. "I never made him choose! That's not my intention at all!"

"We all know he's handsome, rich, powerful, and women want to get their claws into him, you included. But please, get real, this isn't uni life anymore, this is real life that requires maturity. You need to know that your childish attempt to have him for yourself is rather silly."