Chapter Nine - Kay Estate

Lara, noticing everyone turning to her, walked closer to the driller and looked at the stone.

She was shocked to see that it was a waste; the green color earlier wasn't even bigger than a fingernail.

"But why?"

Seeing the look of despair on her face the people around her were considerate and swallowed their laughter until they were a few feet away from her.

Lara took the little green 'jade' and wrapped it in her hands.

"Miss?" The attendant called her to attention after seeing that Lara was lost in thought.

"Thank you" she whispered and walked out of the warehouse and took her car.

"Rebirth luck, ha, more like bad luck"

She drove off the location and headed to the coffee shop.

She was welcomed by a different waitress and escorted to her usual seat.

She ordered Lemonade and a chocolate cake.

After the waitress served her, she took out the 'jade' and placed it on the table. The more she looked at it, the angrier she became, and unconsciously, she started stabbing her cake with a angry face.

The teenager seater on the next table carefully moved away and occupied another table scared that Lara might just take out her anger on him.

Unconsciously even the servers stared clear of her when they saw her look.

There she was, thinking she was gonna get some rare jade and highly increase her net worth, but boy, was she wrong.

At first, she was happy to get a heightened memory, but then she couldn't use it at will; following the previous night, she would have severe headaches and even faint.

Thinking of this, she imagined the cake before her as her worst enemy and viciously stabbed it again and placed a piece in her mouth, making sure to chew very hard on it. But that also didn't end well as she bit her tongue in the process.

"Again, another bad luck," she thought, recalling her experience the first time jade hunting, which had gone wrong.

A ding from her phone brought her back from her thoughts.

She picked up the phone to see a message from Lucas. He informed her that his grandfather had called for a dinner and he wanted Lara to join them.

Instinctively, she wanted to reject them, but then she thought back that since she was planning on improving their relationship,p, she should go with him.

Lara arrived at her home by 5 and saw Kiera and her dad already there.

She greeted them and was about to go to her room and get ready when her dad informed her that Grandpa Kay had invited their entire family to dinner; she nodded and told them that Carlos had already informed her.

Lara entered her room to see a dress already spread out on her bed; seeing that, she immediately knew that it was Kiera's meticulous care and smiled.

Soon, she was ready, and the entire family headed to the Kay estate.

Upon reaching the estate they were welcomed by a large number of cars heading up the hill that had only one house. Even though there were many cars, in just a few minutes, they reached the front door and got out of the car.

Carlos and Kiera went ahead leaving the two young miss' to fend for themselves.

"Lara " a soft but excited voice called from behind her.

Lara turned around to see Mara; she opened her arms, and the teenager hugged her.

"I missed you" she started grumbling to Lara and waved when she noticed Evelyn standing close by.

Lara looked at the young girl and rubbed the tip of her nose, feeling ashamed of the little girl's accusation. If she remembered correctly, she had intentionally avoided the little girl following Amira's advice.

In the past life, she was also the reason why this bubbly little girl had committed suicide.

She smiled bitterly to herself, held the little girl's hands, and headed inside with Evelyn walking right behind her.

She looked at Mara excitedly, talking about her day, and swore in her heart that she would not make the mistakes of the past life and give this little girl a pea, useful, happy life.

...….

In the study, Grandpa Kay was seated in his chair looking at an old picture, his lips curved up, a small smile on his face.

The picture was of him and his best friend, Grandpa Brown; they had fought together during the civil war, which had almost escalated to international boundaries; thousands had died, and it took 30 years for their country to recover from it.

They had fought together, their main aim being to protect any and every survivor they could save. They had successfully created a safe zone but a traitor from within had cost them so many lives, himself almost becoming one of the victims but Grandpa Brown had saved him which had cost Grandpa Brown a bullet to the chest, and due to the insufficient medical care at the time he had died a year later, leaving a widow and a toddler- Carlos.

Ever since then, he had vowed to protect his friends and family, and he did until little Carlos became a big man and started his own business and turned it into an empire.

When Carlos finally became independent, the boy was a player and ended up having two daughters whilst still a bachelor; he only agreed to marry 10 years back when he realized that his two daughters needed a mother figure.

When his son had suggested that he betrothed his grandson to Carlos' elder daughter, he was ecstatic and immediately informed Carlos and asked the two in question.

Earlier, she received a message from his grandson that he and Lara were planning to have their wedding in less than two months.

To celebrate this good news, he called for a dinner and invited the entire family to it.

"General, everyone is waiting mg on you," A young man informed him, bringing him back from his memories.

This young man was the new butler of his estate, his former butler having retired some time ago. Not to be fooled by his young age the young man was quite capable.

" Let's go," he said after carefully placing the picture back into the top drawer, which only included tokens from his time serving in the military.