Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 46

The whole family, except for their guest, Judy, sat around the dining table together.

All of them had equal servings of pasta.

It was amazing how fast Clara had prepared the food for them all.

She hadn’t taken more than twenty minutes to get everything ready.

And now, the family that had already eaten a while ago had settled around the table and were getting ready to eat again.

"Pardon me, dear. I would have done more than this, but my foolish son didn’t inform me on time." Clara apologised as she watched Judy lift her fork and prepare to eat.

The girl shook her head with a shy smile on her face.

"It’s not a problem, ma’am. I mean, this won’t be the last time I come here, yeah? I will still come some other time, and you will have all the time to host me properly."

Clara flashed a warm smile at the girl before gesturing for her to begin eating.

And with that, they all began digging in.

Placing the forkful of pasta into her mouth, Judy relished the taste, allowing it to simmer across her taste buds.

Her eyes widened in delight.

"Mhm... so good."

Clara smiled proudly before commencing her own meal.

Shoving another forkful into her mouth, Judy turned towards Jayden, who was seated beside her, with an annoyed look.

"Didn’t you say that you were the one who always cooked? How come your mum’s cooking is just as good as yours?"

Jayden blushed in embarrassment as the pasta hung between his teeth, refusing to be swallowed.

Clara looked between her son and the guest for a second.

"For real? Jay? You taking credit for my cooking now?"

Slurp—!

".... Of course not."

Judy shot him a sharp frown before shaking her head and turning towards Clara.

"Get this, aunty. The first time Jayden started working at the factory, he saw me for the first time, and the box he was holding fell out of his hands. His mouth was hanging agape with flies practically fluttering near it."

"Pffff... Hahahaha! Really?" Clara burst out laughing with an amazed look on her face.

"For real, bro? Thought you weren’t freaked by girls, huh?" Jesse asked with a loud chuckle as she sipped on her water.

Jayden couldn’t say anything as his cheeks heated up in embarrassment.

His head hung low.

Judy nudged him with her shoulder.

"Ohoy, handsome. Don’t feel shy."

Clara laughed some more.

Since she had known Jayden, he had never been this shy before.

He looked so flustered and red as a tomato, which only made her laugh even harder.

"Oh my days. I wish Jack was here to see his s...son." Clara stuttered over her own words.

"...."

Silence immediately filled the dining room.

Clara’s fingers loosened, allowing her fork to fall onto the plate with a clatter.

Her hands shot towards her face as she covered her mouth, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Asher froze.

A pang of pain began to eat at his heart.

Jayden looked at Judy for several seconds.

Their gazes met, neither of them knowing what to say anymore.

It seemed that no matter what they did or said, Clara would always remember her husband.

Their plan had never been to make her forget him.

They only wanted to stop her from feeling sad and depressed all the time.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know what else they could do anymore.

They had made her laugh for the first time in days, but that was all.

She had slipped back into her depressed state.

But the very next second, before anybody could say anything—

Judy began coughing violently.

Her hands slammed against the table as it seemed like she was choking seriously.

Jayden shot upright with a shocked look on his face and immediately rushed towards the girl.

Even Asher and Jesse rushed forward to check on her.

"Judy? What happened? What’s wrong?" Jayden called out as he began rubbing her back with a worried look on his face.

But this didn’t help stop her coughing.

Clara had been lost in deep thought for a moment until Judy hit the table one more time, jolting her back to reality.

’Huh?’

She blinked once.

And almost immediately, her mind snapped back into focus as she bolted forward with a cup of water.

"Get away, you fools. Give her space." Clara barked at her children.

They all shuffled away, giving the woman enough space.

Aiding Judy, she made the girl sip the water a few times while simultaneously rubbing her back and hair.

After doing this for a while, Judy finally calmed down.

She heaved a sigh of relief while still drinking from the cup in Clara’s hand.

"You okay?" Clara asked with a worried look on her face.

"Mhm. Thank you, aunty." Judy nodded while silently coughing.

"You need to be more careful, dear." Clara calmly scolded the girl.

"....!!!"

Judy blinked.

Then, her eyes glistened with tears that refused to fall.

Worried that she had upset the girl by scolding her, Clara was about to apologise.

Only for Judy to suddenly shoot forward and wrap her arms around Clara in a warm hug.

"Thank you. You remind me a lot of my mother."

"....?!"

Clara’s eyelids fluttered for a few seconds before she smiled warmly and patted the girl on her back.

"You can consider me your mother. If Jayden does anything wrong to you, feel free to inform me. I’m also your mother now."

Asher used his shoulder to nudge Jayden, who blushed silently.

Judy smiled.

She then lifted her head to look at Jayden.

Holding each other’s gazes, Judy flashed the boy a wink with a wide grin.

"....?!"

Asher caught sight of this, and his eyes immediately stretched wide in realisation.

’It was all a plan? She wasn’t really choking?!’

Now it made sense why she kept bashing the table.

She was trying to get Clara out of her thoughts.

Disengaging from the hug, Judy beamed at the woman before standing up.

"I will go do the dishes." Judy uttered as she began gathering the plates.

Clara wanted to stop her, but the girl shook her head.

"I know what you want to say. That I’m a guest and I shouldn’t be doing this."

"...."

Clara blinked, only for Judy to smile at her.

"You just called me your daughter, right? If you consider me one, allow me to do this. I want to."

Clara shook her head and then sighed in resignation, watching as Judy balanced the plates and began walking towards the kitchen, which Jayden had directed her to.

Leaving the Reid family in the dining room.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!