Exclusive Memory

Chapter 17 The Shameful Stepsister and Stepmother

Ashley wasn't sure whether Belinda had taken in her advice.

After getting back to the company, she couldn't help but find out the photos and audio tape she had taken in the cafe before. She stared at the computer for a long time and she thought that if Belinda did not expose Sheila's trick, she had to send these to Francis. This method was risky, for it might make Gloria and her daughter suspect her.

Samuel was worrying about his daughter these days. He firstly scolded Francis who gave him a good attitude and said that he would be responsible for her daughter. However, his promises went quiet and there were no further news from him after two or three days.

Samuel lost his temper again at dinner. "Sheila, look what you've done. Is our daughter leftover? And now you all turned to Francis, but he gave us cold shoulders. There was no news from him for days. I felt so humiliated."

Gloria said blandly and tried to comfort him, "Samuel, why don't we have a talk with his parents? They won't disregard their son cause troubles, will they?"

"Shame on you! Yes, I'm ashamed of it. Our families had feuded since Ashley and Francis divorced. How embarrassed to pay them a visit!"

Hearing this, Gloria stepped on Ashley's foot carelessly and said, "Yes. If Ashley hadn't cheated him before marriage, the relations between our two families won't be so strained."

Hearing what he said, Ashley stopped drinking the soup. She took a napkin and wiped the corner of her mouth. "Yes, if I hadn't divorced Francis, my sister would have been his mistress for three or four years."

"Ashley, you always have every reason to cheat before marriage!" Sheila lost the control of himself.

"Come on, stop it. Don't you see that your father is still mad at you?" Gloria came to break the awkwardness.

Ashley looked at her father. Streaks of grey hair had appeared on his head and he would dye his hair periodically. Now her grey hair was growing out, showing that her father was no longer young. She bowed her head and didn't say anything, but she thought, 'if you didn't married her, then you wouldn't need to suffer such unpleasant consequence. You brought trouble on yourself.'

Sheila was not sure what happened to the Xue family. She could feel that Francis had feelings for her, but his attitude towards her was always changing. She was not sure whether it is

because of the failure in his last marriage that had left him a shadow side in his heart. Every time when she mentioned marriage, he always dodged it.

"Daddy, Francis may be quite busy these days and he didn't had the time to talk with his parents. I will ask him when I get a chance." Sheila said.

But Samuel didn't answer her.

The next day, when Sheila went out, Ashley had been waiting not far away. Seeing this, Ashley followed Sheila immediately.

Sheila and Francis met in a cafe between their homes. The coffee shop was two-storied with spacious area. The spaces between guest tables were wide and in the middle they were adorned with various flowers and trees.

Their seat was in a place like a huge birdcage, surrounded by blooming red roses, which made it a great private place.

Putting her phone near her ear, Ashley pretended to make a call and walked to the "birdcage". The roses were quite lush that she was tightly covered by flowers. She pushed aside some leaves and saw Sheila sitting next to Francis and talking with him.

Sheila dressed up very well today. Of course, she was beautiful by herself. Otherwise, she wouldn't be Francis' mistress. Sheila's appearance was quite different from her character. She looked very pure, and even if she had graduated for a few years, she still looked like a college student. She had fair and clean skin, and there was no freckles or acnes on her face.

Sheila was in a peach makeup today, and the orange blush made her showing a hint of implied beauty. Her hair was curled and hanging on her cheek, and her curly eyelashes and peach eye shadows made her a little idle and charming. Besides, she was wearing a slip print dress with a gauzy coat which was completely impossible to hide her fleshy and soft breasts. She looked more attractive in this way.

"Sheila, you are so beautiful." With these words, Francis lowered his head and tried to kiss her.

Sheila turned her head away, "are you going to marry me? I've been pregnant for two months."

Seeing such a beauty was angry, Francis surely felt sorry for her. He held her slender waist, pinched her chin and forced her to look back.

"Of course, I'll marry you. If not, who else would I marry? Hum..."

Ashley looked at them coldly.

Sheila was finally satisfied with this answer. When Francis was about to kiss her again, she dodged and asked, "Then why haven't we heard from you since my father talked to you?"

"My parents are against it. I have to persuade them first." Francis touched her cheek and continued, "They don't believe you are pregnant. Even if you are, it doesn't mean you are pregnant with my baby."

Seeing that she was about to be angry again, he coaxed, "of course I trust you."

Ashley's heart ached again. With a hand over her heart, she took a deep breath with her eyes closed to relieve the pain.

Then Sheila added, "It's all Ashley's fault. Your parents didn't believe me anymore. But Francis, you can't listen to them. It's about our marriage. We need to make our own decisions."

"Yes, I know... Sheila, how about we do a paternity test? I had consulted a doctor two days ago. You have been pregnant for months and we can do this test now. As long as we get the result, they won't have any excuse to oppose."

Paternity test?! Ashley widened her eyes. Sheila was not pregnant at all. How could she do such a test?

Sheila had thought of this, too. She thought for a while and said, "Ok, I agree to a paternity test as long as it can put your parents mind at rest. Well, Francis, give me your sample, I'll go to hospital to do the test."

"Let's go together. How can I let you go alone? People in the hospital will gossip about you when they see you alone."

Ashley sneered. How considerate he was!

Sheila didn't want Francis to go with her to do the DNA test. If he was with her, how could she screwed up the test?

"Francis, you are so busy. I can ask my mother to go with me. It will be more awkward if you go with me." People must think that you suspect my baby isn't yours, and they are bound to gossip."

After pondering for a second, Francis agreed with her and said, "Ok, it's up to you, baby!"

Sheila grinned happily in Francis' arms.

"Can I kiss you now, baby!" While saying that, he lowered his head to kiss the beauty, with intermittent the voice came out between their lips, "after we get married... It would be better. We don't need to... sneak around."

Ashley slowly released the leaves in her hand and walked outside. She pushed the door open and the scorching sunshine came in.

"You can't wait to marry Sheila, so does Sheila likewise. Am I the third person in this relationship? So our love in university disappeared just like an illusion. You and Sheila are true love, aren't you? Am I the truly wicked one?

However, she lowered her head and deprecated herself, 'so what? I will be the wicked one.'

After that, Gloria asked someone to make a fake report for the paternity test. Ashley had preserved all the evidence.

She hoped that these evidences would not be used in the future, and she wished Francis mother Belinda would be alert to stop Sheila from marrying Francis.

Perhaps that paternity test pacified the hearts of Francis' parents. The two families finally agreed to dine together in United Hotel and discuss about their marriage. It was not proper for Ashley to show up, so she disguised herself, pretended to make a phone call, and walked around in the corridor to pry into news.

Ashley thought that the paparazzi skills she had learned in the past half year had given full play to this issue. She hadn't followed any news recently, and she wondered whether Leona would scold her.

While she was thinking of this, a voice suddenly burst out from the originally harmonious room. Then she heard Sheila shouted, "It's not true! Someone is setting me up!"

Belinda cried indignantly, "Don't argue any more. My secretary followed you and your mother. She shot these evidences. What kind of hatred does my secretary have on you to set you up? You forged the paternity test report. Tell me, whose baby are you pregnant with?"

Ashley stopped pacing back and forth. 'Did Belinda commission someone to follow Sheila?' But she had a feeling that it would not be so simple. Maybe the paternity test was just a roundabout tactics of Belinda whose aim was to force Sheila tell the truth. If so, Belinda was really a scheming woman.

There was a moment of silence in the room. At this moment, Sheila was standing in front of the table. Her face was pale and she couldn't say anything.

"Anyway, it's not Francis'." Francis' father Simon added, "Francis, this is the woman you are going to marry. Do you see her clearly?"

Francis was still in shock and disbelief. He didn't expect that Sheila would cheat on him. The reason why he made up his mind to marry Sheila was that he believed that Sheila would not betray him since she had been with him wholeheartedly for so many years.

But now, evidences proved he was wrong.

Samuel was also in the dark about this case. He felt ashamed that he had scolded Francis for not being responsible.

"Gloria, what the hell is it?"

Normally, Gloria was a slick talker, but now she got caught lying, so she didn't know how to respond. Should she cry or apologize?

Standing outside the door, Ashley thought her father was really pitiful. He had brought up two daughters. One of them had an affair before marriage, and the other had been a mistress who pretended to be pregnant and forged a paternity test. Even a TV drama was not as brilliant as her family.

"Francis, that's not the case." Sheila's panic voice came out of the room, as if she had fallen next to Francis.

Ashley really wanted to see how awkward Sheila was now. 'Sheila, you can't stand just because you were being debunked. The pain I suffered when my mother and son were dead, when I was betrayed by Francis and when I was forced to relinquish marital properties to divorce were ten times more than what you suffered now!'

"I'm not pregnant at all!" Finally, Sheila couldn't help telling the truth, "I didn't betray you, Francis. I really didn't, I am too afraid. Ashley was back. I am afraid you fall in love with her again. That's why I come up with this idea to marry you so that I can keep you by my side." Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

The whole room fell into silence. After a long time, Francis struggled to say, "You didn't cheat on me?"