Chapter 323 The Undecided One


    Frances froze with surprise for a second when she spotted Katherine, and then proceeded to scowl.


    Even at a disgraced stage of her life, she decided to still regard Katherine as inferior.


    Katherine, on the other hand, was all smiles. “Was it Mr. Grant I spotted talking with you a minute


    earlier? Why did he leave so early? Did you two have a fight?”


    Frances, not wanting to engage, was about to walk away when Katherine giggled. “Why are you still


    riding in the Grant family car when you’re no longer a part of the family? What, they gave you custody


    of the car when you dividedmon property or something?”


    Frances stopped in her tracks. Opening her eyes wide, she demanded, “What are you babbling on


    about?”


    Katherine looked practically joyful as she ignored Frances’ question to say, “A certain someone here


    used to mock me all the time for not deserving the title of Marshall’s wife. Well, look how that someone


    ended up herself. Banished from the family, in addition to being old and frail – how terribly sad indeed.


    I’m young and childless, so I probably still have a shot at this marriage thing, but how is someone much


    older – in fact, someone who is already half buried in her grave – supposed to get herself a husband, I


    wonder?”


    Frances looked icy cold. “Don’t sass me, youngdy. And stop with the lies you tell.”


    “Lies?”ughed Katherine, “do you honestly think you can keep it a secret?”


    Katherine turned around to check out Frances’ car before leaning casually on it. “That’s rather


    unoriginal of you, isn’t it, trying to keep your separation from Mr. Grant a secret, just like what Marshall


    and I did? Didn’t yourdyship herself reveal my divorce from Marshall? I never want to owe anything


    to anyone, and more importantly, I don’t want to be owed. We’ll get even if I reveal your divorce from


    your husband, don’t you think?”


    Frances looked thunderous. “Don’t you dare.”


    “But of course I do dare,” said Katherine with a loud chuckle, “my deardy, of course I dare, especially


    for you!”


    Pursing her lips, Frances remained silent, not knowing what to say in this situation. There was, indeed,


    nothing that Katherine dared not do, not with her not-a-care-in-the-world personality.


    Watching Frances closely, Katherine felt bored. Frances had lost all her fight so it was not fun picking


    on her at all now.


    Consequently, Katherine said, “ra misses you a lot and has said that she’ll visit you at the Grant


    residence one of these days. So watch out for that.”


    “ra wants to visit me?” said Frances, surprised.


    “Yup. She misses you dearly,” answered Katherine with a mock smile as she stood upright, “and she’s


    completely unaware of your divorce with Mr. Grant. I wonder how she’ll react when she finds out. I’m


    almost looking forward to it, to be honest with you.”


    Frances frowned and didn’t bother to respond.


    Katherine took another good look of her ex mother-inw sneeringly before she turned around and left.


    Frances remained where she was for a good while before she finally got into the car, but she didn’t


    drive away immediately. Instead, she fished out her phone to call ra.


    ra was in her office when she received the unexpected call, and she picked up quickly. “Hey auntie.”


    “Hi ra,” replied Frances with a smile, “are you busy at the moment?”


    ra said no, she wasn’t, before asking Frances how she had been and telling the olderdy she


    missed her.


    Frances was somehowforted by the sound of ra, whose tone was gentle as usual. With nothing


    better to do, Frances asked, “I’m out shopping today. Do you think you can meet me here, ra


    honey?”


    This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.


    “Yes, sure!” answered ra with no hesitation. “I’m heading out right now, since I’m free at the


    moment.”


    Thus Frances gave her an address that was not far from the Hendersons’ office building, adding that


    Frances herself would be right over.


    When she hung up, Frances let out a huge sigh of relief. Ever since the divorce was finalized, the


    Henderson folks had not treated her with anything resembling kindness, and Mr. Grant didn’t seem like


    he was going to rethink the decision anytime soon. Even Katherine, the peasant girl she’d always


    looked down upon, had the audacity tough at her. Only the lovely ra remained as respectful to her


    as ever.


    Frances drove in the direction of the Hendersons’ office, but ra arrived at the café earlier than her.


    ra caught sight of Frances the minute thetter woman walked in. “Hi auntie!” ra greeted, waving


    a hand.


    Frances marched over to her. “Wow, look at you in your fancy pantsuit! I’ve never seen you like this


    before. You give off strong ‘business elite’ vibes.”


    rabed her fingers through her hair. “You tter me, auntie. I only look like a business elite, but


    there are in fact a lot I don’t understand about business. I may need to ask Marshall for help from time


    to time.”


    Frances nodded in agreement. “If there’s ever anything you need his help with, feel free to call him and


    ask for it. Feelings will only develop when you get to be around each other longer.”


    ra bit her lips. “I actually wanted to visit you at the Grant residence the other day. Marshall’s pretty


    busy these days, I think, since he never seems to return my texts. So I wanted to call on you all.”


    “Well,” replied Frances, “Marshall was indeed busy for the past couple of weeks, so please don’t me


    him. He should be more avable now.”


    ra nodded her head. “How about you, auntie? How have you been? Marshall told me that you were


    living with your parents because there were things you needed to attend to. Is that right?”


    Looking down with her lips tightly pursed, Frances only spoke after being silent for quite some time.


    “Yea…yes, I was busy with some things.”


    In the meanwhile, Katherine was feeling giddy with delight after confirming the Frances and Khalid


    divorce, so she bought a whole load of stuff from supermarkets and went back to the store to prepare


    for the opening with Margaret. Since it was the first time for her to run a business, Katherine was


    naturally nervous.


    Margaret had nned out the different types of products the store needed when Katherine was out, so


    now Katherine was reading Margaret’s list to check off the products.


    While she was reading, she spotted a car parked outside the store. She didn’t give it any thought at


    first, but after a while, the car was still there.


    Curious, Katherine put down the products she was holding and walked outside.


    The car window was rolled down, and the person sitting inside was clear to be seen. Katherine smiled.


    “What are you doing here?”


    It was Peter, recording a video of the store front with his phone. Peter grinned when he heard her


    question. “I wanted to ask about the date of the grand opening so that I could bring you congrattory


    flower baskets. Don’t worry. They will be from me personally.”


    Katherine walked over to stand near the car. “Haven’t picked out a date yet. I wanted to learn the ropes


    of running a business before actually opening the store.”


    Reading the signboard, Petermented, “That’s not a very auspicious-sounding name for a store.”


    Katherine looked up to read the signboard as well. “Sounds rather pessimistic, doesn’t it? Well, that’s


    the point, because life for the most part isn’t filled with puppies and rainbows. Mine is a truly realistic


    name.”


    Peter grabbed his phone a little harder, but didn’tment any further.


    He had of course reported everything he saw at the store back to Marshall, who weirdly was suddenly


    very interested in all things that were Katherine-rted, which had never been the case.


    “Oh, and one more thing,” Peter said, “I actually took a bunch of pictures on our business trip. I sorted


    them outst night at home. Shall I send them to youter today?”


    Katherine finally recalled the pictures he was referring to after some time. “Oh, okay, why not. I almost


    forgot about those had you not mentioned them.”


    Looking at Katherine, Peter said, “you know what, you are looking very free and easy these days.”


    That made Katherine smile. “That’s probably because I’ve let a lot of things go.”


    Because she wouldn’t get the things that weren’t hers even if she didn’t let go. Obsessing over them


    would do her no good but only add to her frustration. Fortunately, she had this epiphany early enough,


    and was able to stop tormenting herself and find the inner peace.


    Peter sighed. “I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but it seems like he is the undecided one


    now.”


    Katherine chortled. “He’ll get used to it. His lordship needs constant attention and admiration.


    Understandably, he hates it when a devoted fangirl like myself quits fawning over him. It’ll get better


    with the passage of time.”


    Katherine considered it further, adding, “But, you know, ra is a nice and timely substitute for me. I’m


    sure Marshall will appreciate her adoring existence after a while.”


    Peter shook his head slowly. “You’re not getting this.”