a wife's regret // chaelisa

chapter 10

a.n. yo yo yo im back ill try to update more tbh i feel guilty ive j been reading idk its been so hard for me to get back into converting  but im back guys idk how regular the updating will be but i hope to finish it before the new year after this story who knows if ill convert more stories but glad to be back again missed yall thanks for waiting i appreciate it :)) <33

Lisa had to go in to the office the following morning—the day of Chaeyoung's Big Date. She hadn't done so in months, but she and Jennie had an urgent meeting with a very important client and the man had requested Lisa's presence. As she was the business's CFO and Vice President of Marketing, Lisa knew that it was time to pick up the reins of her life again. She had responsibilities to Jennie, their employees, their clients, and to herself. It was time but it was just unfortunate timing. Celeste was down with the flu, Chaeyoung had a test, also her all-important date was that night, and Lisa wasn't about to bail on this motherhood business just because things got a little sticky. She hadn't even told Chaeyoung about this meeting, but she figured that Chaeyoung had coped with much worse crises over the past couple of years, so she could deal with this one all on her own.

That meant taking Ella into the office and she was in a terrible mood. She dressed her in her prettiest pink frock, promising her all kinds of treats if she just did this one thing for Mama today. She didn't need her hearing to know that she was muttering a whole lot of "Ella no want tos" into her hair as she tied the laces on the tiny red sneakers she'd insisted on wearing with the girly little dress. She'd relented on the shoes because she was getting pretty sick of trying to reason with her. Bad parenting, she knew, but it was a matter of picking her battles, and she was running late. She was also terrified of losing her temper with her while there was no one else around and wanted to get out of the house and to the office as soon as humanly possible.

By the time Cal—who also acted as his driver these days—parked the car in the underground parking lot of the huge building in Central Cape Town, which hosted BLACKLABEL Jewellers Inc., she was exhausted and feeling more than a little harassed. Petulant, angry tears were seeping down her daughter's rosy cheeks, and she could more than imagine Ella's nagging crying. She knew her well enough by now to know when Ella was acting up and when she was just being difficult.

"Ella." She hoped her voice was firm enough. "Stop crying. You're going meet some nice, new friends." Ella was shaking her head in response to her promise, and she could read Ella's lips well enough to understand that she didn't want "new fwends." She groaned and dropped a kiss on one wet, chubby cheek.

"Of course you want new friends." Her plan was to drop Ella off at the company's day-care center. Quite a few of the young executives who were present stopped in their tracks to stare as she made her way through reception. She nodded at them abruptly, not caring for the open-mouthed shock they were all displaying but knowing that herpresence, especially with a toddler in tow, would fuel gossip for months to come. They were naturally curious because not many of them had seen her since the accident; also God only knew how much noise Ella was making. Jennie loomed in front of her and grinned as Jennnie's eyes dropped to the fractious child on Lisa's hip.

"Hello, Ella," Jennie smiled down at her, signing so that Lisa could catch what she was saying. "Why so grumpy?" Jennie reached over and tried to tug the resisting child into her arms. Ella refused to go, burying her wet face against Lisa's neck and tightening her small, surprisingly strong arms around her shoulders. Lisa met Jennie's amused eyes and groaned.

"A little help, if you please?"

"Hey, mine isn't old enough to throw tantrums yet." Jennie shrugged, dropping her hands into her trouser pockets and rocking back on her heels. "I have no idea how to deal with this."