After Divorce Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant (Leonica and Gabriel)
Chapter 52

They bowed upon seeing her and then one of them turned around and knocked on the door, informing Arvan of Leonica's arrival.

"Let her in!" He announced, missing the way Chloe shut her eyes and silently sighed from behind him.

The moment the door was opened and Leonica stepped in, Daisy's small figure rushed her away. She was just about ready to embrace the small girl when she ducked underneath her arms and flung herself into Ashely, who despite his age, skillfully caught her.

"Ashely!" She exclaimed, hugging her new best friend tightly, while Leonica blinked in surprise and slowly lowered her arms. "Where did you go? You haven't been in class for the past few days, so I thought you've moved schools, are you coming back now?" She quickly bombarded him with several questions.

While Ashley scrambled his brain, trying to answer one question before another was forced on him, Arvan quietly settled beside Leonica, joining her in watching the two.

She took notice of his presence, turning to flash him a smile, before turning back to gaze at the kids, mind still somewhat frizzled about Daisy's action.

It was obvious that Ashely was the more liked one when it came to she and him, but at least, Daisy should have said a 'hello' to her rather than just going straight for her son. Despite it sounding childish, Leonica was somewhat hurt by her actions.

Seeing the unintentionally pout on her face, Arvan held back a chuckle and shifted his weight from one leg to another, once again gaining her attention, before he asked. "Ashely hasn't been going to school? Did something happen?"

"No," she lied with a smile. Arvan was simply a friend, there was no need to drag him into her messy affairs.

"Is that so?" He mused while nodding, not seeming a hundred percent convinced.

Leonica swallowed thickly and nodded her head. "Yeah. But that aside," there was a pause as she thought of ways to arrange her words that wouldn't make her sound... sketchy? "Do you perhaps know of any school in Norway that isn't funded by...Bryce Empire, of the Bryce family in general?"

"Ah, that's a tough one. Norway's educational system is mostly supported by the Bryce family. "He stated the obvious, unintentionally causing Leonica's mood to deteriorate. Sensing this, he quickly added. "But I'm sure there's at least one out there." He comforted. Leonica nodded her head. "You're right."

"Yeah, but, are you really sure everything's okay?" He asked, golden yellow eyes following her fidgety movements.

This time, it was Leonica's turn to shift her weight from one leg to the other and fiddle with

the hem of her shirt-gown under Arvan's gaze.

She was unsure of what to say.

Arvan was an intelligent man, she was sure he could sense something was off and yet, he was giving her an easy out, allowing her the choice of whether or not she wished to share the problem.

And for that, Leonica was grateful.

"Well, enough about that," Arvan changed the topic, much to her relief, and glanced at the duo who had just finished their chat and was now playing together. She followed his gaze, mind trailing off to her thought space.

A school in Norway that wasn't being back by Gabriel's influence... replaceing something like that was going to be hard, no, difficult.

But she was determined to keep Ashely out of Gabriel's reach, especially after their last

encounter.

She was willing to go to any length to achieve that. If she couldn't replace a school that wasn't being backed by Gabriel, then she'd simply just build one. Money wasn't a fucking problem to her.

But what was, was the fact that Gabriel still possessed some of her company's shares.

If she wanted to build a school for Ashely that was clean of Gabriel's influence, then she'd need to completely take back her company.

For the next couple minutes, the two adults chatted idly. While Chloe processed his final discharge papers.

-parál Encounter

Once the entire procedure was completed, they all checked out of the hospital wing-

On their way out, movement of a family silhouette caught Ashely's eyes.

Turning to face the direction, a grin spread across his face and he happily called out.

""Gabriel!"

Gabriel? Leonica's head whipped in the direction of Ashely's stare, spotting the male in particular who had stopped at the sound of his name and was now staring their way. Ah shit, was he every fucking where?

"Gabriel," Ashley called out once more, grinning wider.

"Ashely stop that..." Leonica tried to warn, however, halfway through her statement, Ashely had began sprinting in Gabriel's direction.

However, much to her surprise, Gabriel turned away from Ashley, fishing out his phone from his pocket and pressing it to his ear, as if he was attending to a call.

He

was avoiding Ashely, Leonica saw this. She was meant to feel satisfied and happy, after all, that was what she had told him to do. But watching as her son's steps slowed and his features visibly became droopy, upset, she couldn't help but feel bad for the boy. 'Ashely, come to mommy. Come here." She tried to coax him back, taking the first step towards him when suddenly, his body began to tremble and before neither she nor Gabriel knew it, he busted out crying.

The sound of his cries, brought Gabriel's steps to a halt.