Dear Jolene

CHAPTER 15

Hey Humans, I'm back, hehe....
Merry Christmas☃️🎄🎁 (belated)
So enjoyyyyyy
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Jo quietly followed Ryan as he guided her to the smaller dining room.

Not liking the awkward silence, Jo thought of striking a conversation, "So Ryan, does Andrew have his lunch there every day?"

"Not really. He's always at the company at this time, but his schedule has been a little messed since the wedding, " Ryan said nonchalantly.

"Oh." The conversation ended there.

After walking for another good 5 minutes, they reached a white wooden door. Ryan opened it gently and ushered Jo in.

The smaller dining room wasn't exactly small. It was just the size of her bedroom. In the middle was a round table filled with 3 bowls of pasta and a separate dish of meatballs and a jug of water (It was the prettiest glass jug Jo had ever seen and had her eyes stuck there more than necessary).

Andrew waved at Jo and pointed at the food, "Dig in!"

Jo gave him a soft smile and took a place right across him.

Andrew turned to Ryan and said, "Thank you, Ryan, you're dismissed. Go have your lunch."

Ryan bowed his head lightly and was out of the room.

He rubbed his hands and said, "There's chicken Alfredo, that one's vegan, and this one's prawn, have whichever pasta you like."

Jo nodded and took a small serving of the chicken alfredo and meatballs.

"So what have you been doing these days?"

"Nothing much," Jo shrugged and started swirling the pasta around her fork.

Andrew stared at her for some time and then said, "I heard you liked the western gardens."

Jo thought back to the lunch table surrounded by flowers and pretty shrubs and smiled, "Yes, it is very pretty and calming."

"We can have a table arranged there for you so that you can have your tea and meals there, only of course if you want that"

Jo was shocked, "You don't have to do this much, I'm happy here."

Andrew sighed and said, "Call me selfish. It's mainly to appease my own guilty conscience because of the way my sons and nephews had treated you on your first day, I should have-"

"You knew," Jo asked softly, but Andrew knew it wasn't a question.

"Jo, nothing happens here without my knowledge, and let me tell you, everyone that sat there, had to earn their place on that bloody table, just how I had to when I was your age."

Jo scoffed and said, "Then why invite me?"

Andrew scrunched his eyebrows and asked, "Who- nevermind, what I wanted to say is that, I know my sons pretty well, and sorry to say this, but you're never getting a place on that table."

Jo was about to say something, but Andrew raised his hand to let her know he wasn't done talking.

"I'm not calling my sons egoistic or arrogant. It's just that they follow my nephews more than required, and they can be a bit... you know."

Jo folded her arms and leaned back on her chair, "The thing is Andrew, I don't care, what makes you think that I even want a place on that 'bloody' table."

Andrew smirked and said, "I know that, but they don't. You must have gotten the feeling that our family isn't like most families. We have traditions, weird traditions, and questionable too, but we take them by heart."