Chapter 36 The Dazzling "Family Photo" at the Barbecue Restaurant
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, then Tyler's voice came through, flat and indifferent. "I had the servants make some dishes you like. We'll come back after dinner."
My body trembled, but my heart felt terribly blocked. I could almost be certain that Tyler was having dinner with his family and Ava.
A surge of anger rose inside me, and I asked directly, "Just you guys?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just you, Jasper, and Mom and Dad, right?"
Tyler answered without hesitation, "Who else would there be?"
My heart felt like it was being roasted by some nameless fire, my eyes flickering between light and dark. "Then why didn't you ask me to go with you?"
Tyler paused, then said, "If you wanted to go, you could have come along. I just figured you wouldn't want to go even if I asked."
I was skeptical, because from Tyler's tone, it didn't sound like he was faking it.
I happened to have plans with Clio anyway, so I said, "I'm having dinner out with Clio tonight."
"Clio?" Tyler couldn't remember who that was.
I knew very well that in Tyler's mind, I was someone disconnected from society with no friends, so now that I mentioned having dinner with a friend, this was his reaction.
I didn't explain, just said, "I'm hanging up. You guys go eat."
With that, I hung up directly.
I sat in the café waiting for Clio, already starting to zone out. I lowered my eyes slightly, but my emotions began to surge. Without realizing it, I let out a self-mocking laugh, feeling a dull ache in my chest.
On one hand, using his position as my husband to pressure me into having a married life with him, on the other hand, not treating me as his wife at all.
Tyler really performed shamelessness to perfection.
Before I knew it, I'd been zoning out for a long time, so long that Clio had already sat down in front of me and I still hadn't snapped out of it.
"Sophia? Sophia?"
I suddenly came back to my senses. When I saw Clio looking at me with a suspicious expression, I was a bit surprised. "When did you get here? That was fast."
Clio looked exasperated. "I was stuck in traffic for half an hour, and you call that fast? What were you thinking about? You were so absorbed."
I shook my head, my expression somewhat tired. "Nothing. What do you want to eat? My treat."
"I want to try the new barbecue place that just opened in the mall up ahead. I heard it's really good."
I nodded. "Let's go."
We walked into the mall and found a corner table at the barbecue restaurant. As I was looking down at the menu, about to ask Clio if she wanted stir-fried rice cakes, I noticed she was staring at something behind me. I followed her gaze and saw a group of familiar figures sitting not far away.
I looked more carefully, and my heart went cold.
There was Ava with Jasper sitting on her left and Tyler on her right, while Isla and Gray sat across from them.
They looked exactly like a happy family.
Instantly, Clio's brow furrowed deeply. She slammed the table, her chair making a harsh sound against the floor, and quite a few people around us looked over.
"Cheating so openly like that, if you didn't know better you'd think they were a family. Let me go over there and deal with them."
"Don't go," I said.
Clio was full of rage. "Why not?"
I bit my lip in silence, my knuckles turning white, but my eyes were a storm. Then, I calmly took out my phone and aimed it at them, taking a few photos and recording two videos.
Clio sat back down, gritting her teeth. "Why didn't you go confront them? There are so many people here, we could totally humiliate them."
I was calm to a frightening degree, my lips trembling, my eyes red, but I forcibly suppressed my emotions.
"I have to get divorced."
"You absolutely must divorce him."
"I can't stand him taking Jasper out to be all lovey-dovey with Ava. That's my son! I have to fight for custody. I absolutely won't allow the Thompson family to raise Jasper together with that woman Ava! That's my son!" My emotions were already on the edge of an excited breakdown.
But I still restrained myself from going over to confront them.
Clio looked at me with heartache. She held my hand that was on the table. "How about we change restaurants? There's a really good one upstairs."
I shook my head. "No need, let's just eat here."
Seeing me say this, Clio's face was full of righteous indignation. "Right! They're the ones who should be ashamed! Why should we leave? Let's eat right here! It would be even better if they notice us, then we'll see what they do!"
I don't know if it was because of my emotions, but whenever I'm in a bad mood I feel like eating something spicy, so I directly ordered very spicy barbecue.
Clio could normally handle spicy food, but I rarely ate spicy things. Seeing what I was doing, she was a bit confused. "Sophia, are you... are you okay..."
"What's wrong with me?" I took a bite of the barbecue, my face turning red from the spice, but I didn't drink any water. Instead, I immediately put another piece in my mouth.
"Can't you not handle spicy food?"
I shook my head. "It's fine, not spicy."
Clio's facial expression was somewhat twisted. She looked at me with concern. "Sophia, don't do this. You're scaring me a little. You rarely ate spicy food before."
"It's fine, I like it now."
I ate my meal on my own, not turning around to look at what was happening behind me at all, while Clio kept glancing over there from time to time and reporting back to me.
I knew very well that since they were having dinner with Ava behind my back today, in Tyler's and his family's hearts, Ava was his wife.
I even suspected that their current goal was to get Jasper familiar with Ava as quickly as possible, so that she could naturally replace me, and Ava could truly become Jasper's mother.
"That bastard Tyler is even feeding Ava meat. Why doesn't he just drop dead." Clio was filled with righteous anger, almost rushing over again.
I seemed quite indifferent. This was nothing - when it was just the two of them in private, they'd probably done all sorts of intimate things.
To avoid mentioning them further and affecting my mood, I brought up my plan to start my own law firm, but I didn't mention that Zachary was my business partner.
Hearing this, Clio was so happy she almost jumped up. "Really? That's great! Sophia, I have faith in you. You'll definitely make it big! Your future will definitely be bright!"
The corner of my mouth pulled into a helpless, bitter smile, but my eyes revealed determination. "For Jasper's sake, I have to give it my all."
"Although I don't understand law, just those photos and videos we took definitely can't be used as evidence of cheating. Are you sure you don't want to find some other way?"
I knew what Clio meant, but I still refused. "Even if we really found something, secretly recorded material can't be used as evidence in court unless it's in a public place. Do you think they'd do that kind of thing in a public place?"