Chapter 2

When Benji's funeral was over, I headed to the hospital right away.

Rosalind Lane's son, Kenneth Young, resided in a VIP ward. His arm was bandaged, and he could be seen chatting with Rosalind and Joshua animatedly.

Joshua's expression crashed instantly the moment he saw me. He hurried out of the ward afterward.

"Who told you to come here? Kenny's condition has just stabilized! Don't cause trouble for us, now!"

"Joshua Tucker, your son is dead, and yet all you care about is another woman's son!" I roared at Joshua hysterically, earning shocked looks from Rosalind and Kenneth.

Joshua's expression darkened even more. He pushed me further away from the ward before warning me, "Watch your mouth, Eleanor Miller! It's difficult for Rosalind to raise her son on her own! What's wrong with me lending her a helping hand as the principal?

"Besides, Benji was the one who had been bullying Kenny all these years! He had slashed Kenny's arm, you know! What makes you think you have the right to cause a ruckus at the hospital, huh?"

I could memorize every single word that made up Joshua's hate speech toward Benji.

Rosalind and her husband had already gotten a divorce. That was why Joshua took care of her all year round.

To think that my own husband took care of another man's ex-wife so diligently despite the fact that we never got a divorce.

Kenny's father had abandoned him. In return, Joshua took the father's place and showered him with paternal love.

Benji's father might still be alive, yet his prolonged absence from his life made him no different from being dead.

There was a time when a window in my house was broken during a winter month. The cold wind kept blowing into the house the whole time.

But at that time, Joshua was busy learning new recipes for Rosalind and Kenny. He told me to find a builder to repair the window and that he didn't know how to repair it. I was also told not to rely on him to deal with everything in life.

When I fell sick, I insisted on showing up at work. At that time, Joshua had taken Rosalind to another region just to attend a conference. In a way, the business trip became a leisure trip for them as well. He had told me not to be jealous of Rosalind.

Even when it came to the teachers' rankings, my rank would be below Rosalind's. Joshua's excuse was that he needed to be fair as the high school principal. Therefore, he mustn't be biased toward me.

Whenever he returned from business trips, he'd buy Kenny toys and gifts. Because of that, Kenny often showed off everything in front of Benji.

Benji was so angry that he destroyed the only gift Joshua had given to him. However, he got punished by Joshua instead.

Rosalind's son was a two-faced devil. He put up an obedient façade on the outside, but he was secretly twisted on the inside. In fact, he was always one of the people who constantly bullied Benji.

But Joshua refused to listen to my side of the story, nor did he believe my words. On the contrary, he was brainwashed by Rosalind and Kenny into thinking that Benji was the bully instead.

Every time they accused Benji of bullying them, poor Benji would end up with scars from Joshua's harsh disciplinary punishments.

Such cases had happened so many times that it became a norm.

As I gazed at Joshua's enraged expression, I felt like chortling all of a sudden.

"Fine. If you don't want me to show my face at the hospital, you should sign the divorce papers, then."

I passed the divorce papers to Joshua. They had already been signed before I came to the hospital.

Instead of accepting the papers, Joshua slapped them away before glaring at me angrily. "Eleanor, are you done? You can forget about threatening me with a divorce!"

He thought I was forcing him to return to my side. But the thing was, I didn't want to spend another second around him.

"If you refuse to sign the papers, I'll get a lawyer to start the divorce proceedings—"

Suddenly, Kenny's shriek of pain drifted from the VIP ward. "Josh, my arm hurts!"

Joshua rushed back to the ward instantly. A moment later, his gentle and loving voice filled the room.

"Be a good boy now, Kenny. I'm here. There's no need to be scared."

As I stared at the trio in the VIP ward who resembled more like an actual family, I felt the urge to laugh hysterically on the spot.

Had Joshua used such a tone to speak with Benji, Benji wouldn't have felt so disappointed and helpless before breathing his last.

To think that I had chosen such a man to become my husband… To think that Joshua was actually Benji's father…

Benji, this was all my fault. A man like Joshua shouldn't have become your father…

I picked up the divorce papers and chucked them into the ward. After that, I left the hospital without even sparing Joshua a glance.