Love the Second Time Around Novel

Chapter 147 A Private Conversation

| had noticed over the past few days that Grandpa did not seem to like Dominic very much. So, naturally, | did

not have a good feeling about the two of them being alone and tried to follow them into the room. However,

Grandpa sternly stoppedat the door.

He even told my parents that we were not to eavesdrop on their conversation. Thus, the three of us were left

waiting outside the door.

| wanted to secretly sneak in after them, but Dad stopped me. He said that Grandpa must have something

important that he wanted to say to Dominic privately.

But what important things do they even have to talk about?

My grandfather was not the kind of man who would say the sthing over and over again. | had actually not

thought much of their conversation, but after what my father said, | suddenly felt curious about what they would

talk about.

| paced restlessly outside the door. After a long while, | turned to my father. “Dad, what do you think Grandpa is

saying to Dominic? They've been in there for so long! Why don’t | go in and see what's up?”

“No, no. You stay put here with me. Do you think your Grandpa is a monster? Are you afraid that your Grandpa

will eat Dom up? You're a grown woman; have a little patience!”

“Oh, please! As if you aren't curious too, Dad!” | muttered to myself, quietly complaining about my father’s fake

composure. He had already downed several glasses of water in his anxiety.

“I think your grandfather must be testing Dom. Anyway, you both should have nothing to worry about. Dom is a

good kid. It'll be fine!” Mom said optimistically.

After waiting for another ten minutes, Dominic finally emerged from the room.

| immediately ran over to him and bombarded him with questions about what Grandpa had said to him. My

parents, too, were listening curiously.

Dominic gently caressed my hair and said with a gentle smile, “Nothing much. He just toldto take good care

of you. Otherwise, he will huntdown.”

“That's it?” | asked incredulously. It took Grandpa half an hour just to say that?

Dominic nodded and replied, “Yep, that's it.”

“David, Helen, please rest early. I'll get someone to pick us up tomorrow morning.”

My parents did not protest; they turned and walked back to their room to get ready for bed.

After they left, Dominic did not say anything more to me. We, too, returned to our room for the night.

When | woke up the next morning, Calvin had already arrived to pick us up.

He sent my parents back hfirst before dropping Dominic andoff at our apartment.

| immediately started busying myself with the draft. After all, | had already taken a few days off from working on

i)

Shannon had calledto pesterfor updates as soon as | had returned to the city.

Dominic, too, had been busy with his own work. We had been hfor four days. Every single day, he would go

out early in the morning and return late at night. In fact, on two of those days, he only reached hat

midnight.

When | woke up that morning, Dominic was already nowhere to be found.

1 did not mind it much; after all, this had becthe norm.

After having stoast for breakfast, | started working on the draft again. However, before | had the chance to

even turn on my tablet, my phone rang. It was Shannon calling.

Truthfully, I did not want to answer her call. | did not want to hear her naggingto submit my draft again.

However, Shannon was a persistent woman. | knew that if | did not answer, my phone would blow up with her

repeated calls. If | turned off my phone, she would huntdown at my house.

However, | had recently moved and she did not know my current address. Nevertheless, | knew that it was better

to deal with her sooner rather than later.

“Hello, if you're calling to chasefor the draft, please know that | am already drawing non-stop. There's no

use for you to pester me! | am not made of magic!” | warned her as soon as | answered the call.

“Huh? Who said | was going to chase you for the draft? | just wanted to ask if you'd like to pay a visit with me

today.”

“A visit? Where?”

| felt instantly relieved to hear that she was not calling to pesterabout handing in my work. However, | was

confused by her invitation. Visit? Where?

Shannon's voice suddenly bechigh-pitched. “Visit Nicholas, of course! Cto think of it, we haven't seen

him in almost two months! Let's go. We'll bring ssnacks with us.”

“That's a bad idea! You know nothing good will cout of us visiting him! Let’s not do that.”

The gossip has finally died down and | don’t want to instigate any more rumors. Besides, Dominic won't be

happy if | went over!

“Really? Don’t you want to see Nicholas?”

“If I really wanted to see him, Id just go online and watch any TV series that he acts in,” | joked.

Shannon seemed ticked off by my silly joke. She said through gritted teeth, “That's not the sat all!”

“Okay, okay,” | said with a smile, trying to soothe her feelings. “Why don’t we go shopping this afternoon? We

haven't spent ttogether in a while. About Nicholas... Let's see him after he’s done filming. Maybe we'll go

someplace low-key and have a meal with him. That'll work, right?”

“Ah, okay then! I do have things that | need to shop for.”

That afternoon, | arrived at the place where | had agreed to meet Shannon and stood there waiting for her. After

a while, | could see her hurrying toward me.

“You said you wanted to shop for things, right? Where do you want to go?” | asked.

Shannon thought quietly for a moment. “Well, actually, | don’t know what | should buy yet. What would be a

good gift for a guy?”

| was surprised by her question. Is she buying a gift for Quinn?

“Are you buying a gift for Quinn? | didn’t know you're still in touch with him.” Cto think of it, I've almost

forgotten about him!

Shannon looked atstrangely. “Well, of course we're still in contact! We are in a... stable relationship, | guess.

His birthday is coming up. It'll be the first tI’m celebrating his birthday with him so | want to get him

something special! Helpthink of the perfect gift!”

How long have they even been dating? She already wants to get him a special birthday gift... Didn't Dominic say

that Quinn isn’t really a good person?

“Shannon, didn’t | tell you to take it slowly? This Quinn guy... Dominic toldhe isn’t exactly a good person.”

Shannon suddenly burst out laughing. “Con! That scumbag has the audacity to say another man isn’t a

good person? That's funny!”

| sighed to myself. | knew she would react that way. If those words had cfrom her beloved Nicholas instead

of Dominic, she would have easily believed him and gotten rid of Quinn immediately!

“So, how far have you and Quinn gone?”

Although | knew that these were modern times and it was common for couples to sleep together, | still hoped

that Shannon had not slept with Quinn yet.

Should Quinn not be a good man, at least he would not yet have taken advantage of Shannon.

“Relax! We haven't gone all the way yet. After all, we just started dating recently!”

| felt instantly relieved.

There was nothing else that | could say since Shannon obviously trusted Quinn wholeheartedly. As such, | turned

my attention to helping her find the perfect gift for him instead.

| secretly decided that | would ask Dominic about Quinn upon arriving hlater that night. I'll find out what

kind of monster he really is!

However, | soon discovered that | did not need to wait so long to ask Dominic—because | witnessed everything

that | wanted to know.