Chapter 40
Angela felt terrified and looked at her mother nervously. When Mrs Cole heard her brother’s words and her daughter’s actions, she raised her eyebrows as she thought about what kind of deal the two had made before Angela ruined everything.
“Uncle, that won’t do. I took the yacht as my payment for keeping the secret for you,” Angela said as her eyes glinted.
She had already decided to go all out. Her mother was stunned.
“What secret? Since when were you able to keep a secret?” her mother asked as she stared at her daughter suspiciously. She felt that paying the two hundred million to get the secret was worth it.
“Exactly. We might as well help pay the two hundred for you to tell us his secret,” Old Mr Cole said happily.
Lennox had always defeated the three old men in chess since he was young. Every time they heard that he was in the city, they were so happy, but at the same time, angry when they thought they could never defeat him. Now that someone had something on Lennox, how could the old men not be anxious to get it?
“Little Angel, tell us. You can keep this yacht for yourself. Let that secret be my birthday gift,” old Mr Nelson said hurriedly as he didn’t want to be left behind.
“I will give you an apartment at Brightside Apartment,” Old Mr Davis said, making it seem a competition.
The other guests were stunned when they saw what was happening and their words. They all knew that there was a young man named Lennox in the Cole family, but the man was so mysterious. On the old men's birthday, he was always present but stayed hidden. They had always thought that it was those families sucking up to his family, as he was from the capital, but today, they were proven wrong. After all, they seemed not to be afraid of angering the man.
Lennox’s eyes darkened when he heard their words and stared at his niece coldly, warning him. The four girls felt someone’s cold glare at them, and they trembled. Even Scarlet was stunned as it had been a long time since she felt that kind of fear.
“Angela, didn’t you tell us your uncle’s secret yesterday out of anger?” Mr Cole asked his daughter suspiciously.
“Dad, another secret,” Angela said as she giggled.
“I already paid you for that,” Lennox said coldly as he felt bothered. He never thought that the girl had grown up to even blackmail him. He had thought that she was still as easy to bully as always, but never expected her to change so much.
“Then why are you telling Mom that she owes you? Today’s outfits and stylings are for the secret exchange. Uncle, don’t play dirty,” Angela said angrily, stunning her parents.
They looked at the outfits the girls were wearing and their makeup and found it unbelievable.
“Angela, why didn’t you call me to ride to your uncle’s cocktails?” Mrs Cole asked, making everyone speechless.
“You still owe me my yacht,” Lennox said coldly.
“I will find ways to pay you,” Angela said as she waved her hand, feeling that with Scarlet at her side, she would be able to pay very soon. Just the thought of it made her excited, and her eyes lit up as she looked at Scarlet.
The old men felt sad when they saw how Lennox had reacted after Angela threatened him.
“Grandpa, you haven’t finished opening the gifts,” Brooke said, and the man nodded his head.
He took Sophia’s gift. When he opened it, he was stunned.
What Sophia had been gifted was one of the many things the Singhs had sent her when she was adopted into their family. Like Scarlet’s rooms, she had hidden cabinets where she had hidden the gifts, thus John never found them despite living there for ten years.
Old Mr Cole hurriedly stood when he saw it.
“A set of teapots from the Yuan dynasty,” he said as he took it. He loved antiques and knew how to differentiate between fake and real antiques.
“She even put some tea leaves here,” Old Mr Davis, who had also walked in, said as he looked at the box.
“Hurry, come make tea for me,” Old Mr Nelson said as he waved at his butler.
“Uncle, my sister taught me how to make tea. Can I do it?” Sophia said as her eyes lit up. It had been years since she had done it, and she wanted to do it.
“Okay, okay,” Old Mr Nelson was so happy that he didn’t mind.
Sophia stood up and took the sets of teapots she had gifted the man and the mug of boiled water that her just been brought. She added the tea leaves to a cup before adding an eighth cup of water. She took another cup and started transferring the mixture. She repeated the process five times before adding some tea leaves and an eighth of water and repeating the previous procedure. As she did that, everyone smelt a floral aroma, making them sniff the air.
She repeated that process five times before decanting the mixture. This left her with the tea in one cup and the wet tea leaves in the mug. She took the tea she had prepared and added tea leaves to it before transferring it to the mug. When she did that, everyone took a deep breath as the tea aroma spread everywhere.
She then took a clean cup, poured the tea into it, and handed it to Mr Nelson, who had been looking at her working.
When they saw the cup in front of the man, the other two old men who were around him were stunned by the golden color and the leaves that had made a flower on top.
“This…this…” Old Mr Davis, who loved tea, started talking, but he stammered as he was so nervous and at the same time excited. He even wanted to take the cup for himself. As if sensing his friend’s behavior, Old Mr Nelson hurriedly took the cup and glanced at Sophia, who was standing at the side.
“Give them a cup,” he said, and Sophia turned to prepare. She had guessed that the other two would want to drink it; thus, she had made enough for three people.
She handed them. They held it with trembling hands. They knew that the tea must be precious for Old Mr Davis to be flushed like that.
When Mr Nelson took a sip of the tea, he was stunned. He wondered whether he was wrong and took another sip. After confirming the taste was the same, he drank more, a smile forming on his face.
His two friends weren’t left behind at all. They also took a sip.
When Old Mr Davis took a sip of the tea, he halted, and he became more excited.
“This is Darjeeling tea,” he said, stunning the other two, Lennox and Angela’s mother.
They had heard of that word.
Mrs Cole stood up immediately.
“Shanaya. Shanaya Signh… is it the same Shanaya, I know?” she asked, making everyone turn to her.
“Sister, yes, it's Aunt Shanaya,” Lennox said calmly and unhurriedly. If it had not been for the picture he had received from Angela, he would also be in the dark and thought that the names were just the same.
The woman felt like she had been hit by lightning.
“She is dead?” she asked in disbelief. She had met Shanaya through her maternal aunt.
“Aunt, you know my mother?” Scarlet asked, surprised.
“If not for the tea, I won’t have known it was her,” Mrs Cole said as she nodded her head.
Shanaya had gifted her parents two tins of Darjeeling tea when she was living with them. One was left at home while the other was divided. She came back with it after visiting her parents, and her father-in-law had even invited her and his friends to drink it. However, they didn’t have anyone who knew how to brew the tea. The tea was always black after they brewed it.
“Dad, it’s the same tea. I came back then. The one which you said that its taste proves that it wasn’t brewed well,” she said as she looked at her father-in-law, who was now stunned.
“You knew Shanaya that time?” he asked in disbelief.
“Aunt Shanaya was my parents' friend. That time, she had been staying at our home,” she said, stunning both Scarlet and Sophia as they never expected such a thing.
Mr Jenkins was stunned as he listened to what was being said. Though he never knew his first wife's background, he always knew that it couldn’t be any ordinary, but he never thought… However, when he recalled that Mrs Cole's family was from the capital and also the Whites, he thought that her family must be from the capital.
“Your family,” Old Mr Nelson looked at Sophia curiously.
“Not from the capital,” Sophia said as she knew what the old man was asking.
“If I am not wrong. Mrs Cole’s parents met my sister when she was new in the capital, right?” Sophia asked, and Mrs Cole nodded her head.
“Yes. She had been living with my family cause she wasn’t familiar with the city. However, she left two weeks after staying there. We have been searching for her since then. We never thought she was too close but still hidden,” Mrs Cole said, feeling that it was a pity.
“It's okay,” Sophia said as she didn’t want the latter to say where her sister was from.
The old men could also tell that she was hiding something. Mrs Cole also sensed it and changed the topic.
“The Darjeeling tea, just fifty grams, costs half a million. My friend, why don’t you share them with us?” Old Mr Davis said, causing a stir among the guests, and they started talking.
“Get lost,” Old Mr Nelson said as he hugged the tin of tea leaves, and his other hand held the cup of tea.
“I shared mine with you back then, so you should share also,” Old Mr Cole said, making the man look at him.
“You only invited us to drink the tea. You have drunk my share today,” Old Mr Nelson said stubbornly.
“Grandpa, why don’t you open Scarlet’s gift? Maybe there is another treasure in there,” Angela said as she was so curious. Everyone in the room was.