Husband With Benefits-Chapter 831: Suspicion

"Have you spoken to Caius in these past few days?"

Lily looked up from the noodles she was slowly twirling around her fork, her father’s unexpected question catching her off guard. They’d been sharing lunch together for the past few days, a somewhat new routine, but their conversations had barely gone beyond polite small talk and weather updates. And now he wanted to talk about Cai? She wasn’t entirely sure how much he knew of her current relationship with Caius, or what his opinions about it were, but she did know one thing—she wasn’t about to let his thoughts sway her one way or another.

"Not spoken to," she replied, keeping her tone neutral. She didn’t feel any need to clarify that she and Caius had actually been texting each other almost constantly. That was personal. If they wanted to know more, they’d have to ask directly. Just because she’d chosen to have a few meals with them didn’t mean she was ready to forgive, forget, or pretend the past didn’t exist.

Her mother snorted at her answer, but Lily let it slide, keeping her expression impassive. It amazed her how much she had internalized Caius’s own philosophy. He’d once told her that while things could certainly bother him, he tried not to let his emotions be dictated by others’ actions. He focused on his own peace of mind, rather than letting other people pull him off balance.

In the past, sitting down to a meal with her parents would have been unthinkable. The constant tension, her father’s tiptoeing around her mother’s icy stares, and her mother’s disapproving glances across the table would’ve grated on her nerves within minutes. In truth, those dynamics still got under her skin, but she found it easier now to remind herself that however they felt—that was their issue, not hers.

"

Like her, her father ignored her mother’s derisive snort, his gaze remaining steady on her, which made her wonder what exactly he was trying to understand. Did he think he needed to lecture her about dating a guy? If so, she would have to tell him he was about ten years too late for that. But for now, she answered carefully, her tone as neutral as she could keep it. "Close enough."

An uneasy silence settled over the table, lasting a few minutes as her father seemed to be weighing how to proceed. She could sense his hesitation, see it in the way his fingers fidgeted with the chopsticks on his plate.

"Have you... stayed in touch with him... since then?" he finally asked, his voice quieter now. She nearly snorted. It was tempting to pretend she didn’t understand the question at all, make him clarify but instead, she spared him the discomfort.

"If you mean since Jasmine’s death? No," she replied plainly. "He’d cut off all of us. And after I left you both, I wasn’t exactly going to go looking for him." She shrugged. "I ran into him a few months ago. It was a coincidence."

Her mother snorted again, louder this time, while her father only nodded, quietly digesting her words as he turned his attention back to his noodles, leaving them to eat in silence once more.

The reprieve lasted all of three minutes.

"You’re dating him." Her mother’s voice cut through the quiet with an accusing edge, a challenge as clear as day.

Lily shrugged, not taking the bait. "Yes."

Her mother’s reaction was immediate, her face twisting with a mix of anger and disbelief. "How can you be so shameless?" Her voice rose, the accusation hanging heavily in the air. "On the one hand, you refuse to even acknowledge your own parents over what you call our ’apparent’ neglect. But when it comes to Cai, you don’t seem to have any problem using Jasmine to your advantage."

Lily felt her jaw tighten, her patience wearing thin over the repeated comparison. Her response came out sharper than she intended, but she held her ground. "I’m not Jasmine to him, Mother. He doesn’t see me that way."

Her mother scoffed; the disbelief apparent. "Oh? And how exactly do you know that?"

Lily paused, setting her fork down deliberately, her gaze steady as she looked directly at her mother. Pushing her plate away slightly, she took a calming breath before responding.

"Because he knows the difference between me and her. He understands it, which is more than I can say for some people." She gestured at the plate in front of her. "Jasmine used to love thin noodles like these," she continued, her voice steady but edged with resentment. "I always hated them. But this is all you’ve been ordering since I started joining you both for lunch. Not once have you thought to ask what I might actually like."

The silence that followed was thick, uncomfortable. Her father looked down at his plate, his fingers twitching slightly as he gathered his thoughts. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked up at her, a tired kind of regret etched across his face.

"We were... wrong, Lily," he began slowly, his voice low, almost hesitant. "I know it may not be easy to believe, but I didn’t come here with any intention other than to reconcile, to make things right between us." He paused, his gaze softening as he took in her expression. "I’m sorry if we hurt you by making assumptions. I know we’ve made mistakes, and I want you to feel free to point them out if we mess up again." His voice grew thicker. "I didn’t realize until now that we hadn’t just lost Jasmine... we lost both our daughters."

Lily felt a pang of something she hadn’t expected to feel: sympathy. Her father’s words, though a bit clumsy, struck a chord. She’d lost her family over Jasmine’s death too and that was the truth. She gave a small nod, feeling oddly touched. "Okay," she murmured, her voice softening. "I’ll try to do that."

But her mother, who had been watching them with a steely expression, gave a cold, derisive laugh that shattered the fragile understanding forming between them.

"If you think he sees you as anything more than a way to pass the time and get over the past, you’re only fooling yourself," her mother said flatly. " And the truth will prove itself soon enough! He hasn’t really called you since he left has he? I can see from your face that you think its okay because you are messaging and all, but soon, those would dwindle too and then you will know! You were nothing but a holiday fling to him. Convenient."