'Does she think I'm upset?' Lola raised an eyebrow in thought.
Lola sighed deeply and crossed her legs "What fascinating information. So Santiago invited that woman into his home."
"Were my mother-in-law and my father-in-law aware of this?" She inquired.
"No, they were both surprised when Sir and that lady arrived, and Mrs Rodriguez was delighted with the idea," Laura responded.
'Of course, mother would agree; she would go to great lengths to have an heir.' Lola rolled her eyes as she thought.
Laura kept fidgeting and pursing her lips.
"Is there anything else?" Lola asked, looking at her.
"Ah nothing, I hope I didn't irritate Madam, I know this isn't my business, but I really care about you madam and... I don't want you to get hurt for no reason." Laura stuttered and bowed again.
Lola's brow twitched, placed her hand on her forehead , exhaled tiredly and leaned her back on the cushioned headboard and responded,
"I'm really grateful for your concern Laura, but please don't worry about me, I'm fine,"
'Your concerns about me are unfounded,' Lola reasoned.
"It's fine, Madam," she replied, bowing.
"You may leave," Lola ordered.
Laura bowed once more and strided away, closing the door behind her.
'It's not so much that he brought her into the house by himself as it is that he didn't discuss it with anyone, which makes me more suspicious of the relationship he and that lady share. He'd already planned it. Oh, no wonder he is so fond of Livia; it appears I need to learn more about her. They probably already knew each other, or I'm mistaken.' Lola was thinking as her eyes trailed off from the door to the food on the table.
Her stomach grumbled loudly, and she touched her stomach and said,
" Let's put that aside for now; food is important, and I'm not nauseous anymore, so I guess I can finish my meal now."
She pulled herself up from her bed and dashed to the table and started eating.
***
The following day...
With the contract in hand, the lawyer arrived at the mansion. He went straight to the first-floor living room, where Lola and Santiago awaited him.
As he entered the large living room, Santiago called out to Lorenzo.
" Mr. Lorenzo, come in"
"Thank you, Sir " Lorenzo replied, with a warm smile on his face.
"Please sit," Santiago said, motioning for Lorenzo to take a seat on one of the sofas.
Lorenzo took a seat on the sofa opposite the sofa Santiago and Lola sat on.
"So, Mr. Lorenzo, let's get down to business. Did you bring it with you? "Santiago inquired.
"Yes," Lorenzo nodded. "I have brought all of the necessary documents."
Lola looked at him and extended her hand, motioning for him to hand over the contract. He paused, however, and cast a glance at Santiago.
Lola observed his behaviour and inquired, "What's the problem? Mr Lorenzo, you know I can't sign anything unless I know what's on the inside. I'll need more time to go over every word in the document."
Mr Lorenzo nodded and handed her the contract. When she opened it and saw two signatures on it, she asked Santiago, "Who signed this?"
Santiago sighed and shrugged, "I and Livia had already signed it, we were okay with everything on the terms, all that is left is your signature."
Lola flipped through the pages, finding nothing else but Santiago and Livia's signatures.
'The terms are fine, nothing suspicious about the contract apart from the fact that these was signed without me being present ,' Lola thought.
She set the contract down on the table and turned to face Santiago. He was staring at her intently.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Lola inquired.
"What exactly do you mean?" Santiago replied.
Lola averted her gaze and did not respond.
"I will sign it," she said, looking at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo nodded, pulled a pen from his pocket and handed it to her, "Please accept this, ma'am."
Lola took out the pen and signed her name on the line provided for her signature. She returned the pen to Lorenzo once she had finished signing.
Lorenzo bowed and said smiling ,
"Thank you very much, Ma'am. Now that everything is in order, I will depart."
Lorenzo stood up and walked towards the door.
" I'll see him out," Santiago said, rising to his feet and following Mr. Lorenzo out.
Lola didn't even look at him, however, she closed her eyes. ' Nothing seems wrong at the moment but I will definitely find out what's going on soon. '
After a short while, Santiago returned quickly and said to Lola, "Why don't we move on to the next step now that you've seen and signed the contract? "
Lola stood up and looked at him, saying, "OK, we will go to the hospital tomorrow" and left the living room.
***
The next day...
After they went to the hospital, Santiago drove straight to work, leaving Lola and Livia alone in the car.
Livia pursed her lips and fidgeted as she looked at Lola several times before looking away.
Lola glanced at her briefly , observing her behaviour and asked, "What do you want to say?"
"I wanted to apologise, I didn't mean to be disrespectful," Livia said, awkwardly waving her hand in the air.
Lola sighed and her gaze was drawn to an expensive-looking sterling silver wedding ring on Livia's fingers, 'Did I never notice this ring in her hand? I didn't really look at her previously, did I?' she reflected.
"Are you married, Miss Livia?" Lola inquired, and Livia covered her right hand which she had the ring on and replied "Oh, no, I'm not; do I appear to be married? Hahaha, I just liked this ring and bought it for myself; it's really lovely, isn't it?"
Lola furrowed her brows, and stared at the ring intently, 'the ring appears to be expensive, and she does not appear to be someone who could afford it. I feel like I've seen it before,'
She was lost in her thoughts, trying to recall where she saw that ring.
"You actually spoke to me, I'm overjoyed." Livia chimed in with a bright smile, jolting Lola out of her reverie.
Lola averted her gaze and did not respond.
An awkward silence descended, and Livia's smile faded as she looked away. The car came to a stop in front of the Rodriguez mansion, and Lola said, "We are here," bringing Livia back from her thoughts.
She looked at Lola and then out the window . 'We're really back to the mansion.'
"Uh! Mrs Lola, thank you for accompanying me back." Livia muttered and nodded her head.
"I didn't accompany you because I wanted to, now leave my car, I'm getting late for work," Lola said, without looking at her.
Livia opened the door on her side, exhaled and walked out of the car.
Lola sighed deeply mumbling as soon as Livia closed the door,
"Finally, I can breathe, that woman is getting on my nerves, if I had the chance, I would have thrown her out the day she stepped into the mansion"
The chauffeur turned on the car and drove away. Livia stood there, her usual warm smile on her face, waving at the car as it drove away, 'I will make sure to stay on your good side Lola,' she thought as her smile slowly faded from her lips.
She turned around and entered the mansion.