Gerald looked away before saying, “So, you’re saying that you’re not affected by what she said? About how you should be more understanding of me wanting to be a father since you’re not pregnant even after we’ve been married for so long?”North looked down as Gerald coolly brought up what Reina had said. Her voice was tiny as she said awkwardly, “Yes.”“Are you very upset at what she said, Mrs. Howard?”“Aren’t you affected by it at all?”Gerald’s gaze was cool. “Why should I be?”“Don’t you want a child?” North asked.Gerald’s gaze became soft. He was surprised that this was what North was so caught up with.“Do you like children, North?”North did not expect that she would be asked this question. She stumbled over her words. “I-I don’t know.”Gerald could see that North was troubled by this, so he did not keep pursuing the issue. He simply laid out the possibilities.“If you like children and want some, then I’ll try my best.” Gerald paused before continuing, “If you don’t l
Forget it. It did not matter to North whether Gerald would wear it. However, it would make no sense not to give it to him since she had already bought the belt.Back at Royal Sights Residences, North waited for Gerald to return home.However, he did not give any sign of coming back even after she waited past 10:00 p.m. He did not even answer his phone. It was rare for Gerald to be so hard to reach. North could not help but feel a little worried.Just then, North’s phone rang with a call from Erika. “What’s going on, North? The rumors are going wild online. Where are you?”North did not understand. “What rumors?”“Haven’t you seen them online?”North shook her head. Meanwhile, Erika got even more anxious. “Someone snapped some shots of Gerald and Reina at a hospital. Reina was there for a natal check-up. Gerald’s car arrived even before she stepped inside. Now, the fans shipping them online have gone nuts. They keep saying that Gerald and Reina are flaunting their love.”“Which
After the doctor finished speaking, he looked at North in delight. “Dr. Parsons, what are you talking about? How could Mr. Gerald have the time to answer Mrs. Howard’s call right now?”A nurse covered her mouth and chuckled. “Mr. Gerald is spending time with Ms. Reina. He’s much too busy to bother with someone so unimportant.”The doctor sounded gracious as he said, “You can’t say that. Mrs. Howard rushed over in the middle of the night. If she runs home with her tail between her legs after failing to see Mr. Gerald, wouldn’t that be awful? We should at least give Mrs. Howard a chance.”After saying that, the doctor feigned a kind smile. “Don’t listen to her nonsense, Mrs. Howard. Even if Mr. Gerald is focused on taking care of Ms. Reina, he can’t be so busy that he can’t even answer a phone call. Ms. Reina is important, but you’re his wife.“Maybe there’s still some space for you in Mr. Gerald’s heart?”North was not a fool. Naturally, she could tell that these people were sett
North was stunned by how fake Dr. Parsons was being.The nurse spoke up softly. “Mr. Gerald, you know that Dr. Parsons did everything he could to save… the patient just now. He forged on all this while. But now that he’s just left the operating room, he got mocked by Mrs. Howard about being a quack. Is it wrong that Dr. Parsons tried his best to save the patient?”Gerald’s gaze darkened. “I apologize on North’s behalf. I hope you’ll still do your best in treating the patient from now on.”Dr. Parsons was gracious. “Don’t worry, Mr. Gerald. I am a doctor. I don’t blame Mrs. Howard for this.”North’s eyes went wide. What was going on? Why was Gerald apologizing to Dr. Parsons?A strange, bitter feeling rushed up within her. Before she could wrap her head around what was going on, Gerald grabbed her hand. “What are you doing here?”North’s gaze burned. “Why did you apologize to Dr. Parsons for me?”Gerald could guess that there had been a conflict between North and Dr. Parsons earl
Bowery Private Hospital was huge. North wandered around for a long time, but she failed to find the parking lot. Instead, she had somehow gotten lost in a garden.It was the middle of the night, and there were only a few street lamps there. As such, she decided to sit on a step by the road and stew in her anger.It was February, so the night was very cold. North had been in a rush to get out of the door, so she had only grabbed a jacket to put on. She could not help but shiver as a cold breeze blew.Yet, when she thought of Gerald, an inexplicably fiery anger leaped up! She could not believe that she had even bought Gerald a gift. She should not have gone to the trouble of doing something so caring!North kicked a pebble hard. Her eyes stung.After so many years, she had never wavered in her goal. She wanted to ruin Reina’s reputation. She wanted to expose the truth of what had happened four years ago, including all of the murder attempts, false accusations, and set-ups.Each one
North let out a frigid huff.Seeing that North was still upset, Gerald chuckled. “Dr. Parsons is a burns doctor. Even if Reina had come to the hospital, she would have gone to a gynecologist. Sam was the one who got hurt, so we sent him here. I didn’t know that Reina’s ward was also on the seventeenth floor.”The angry look on North’s face froze. “W-What?”Wait, what was going on?Right then, North noticed that there was a plaque by the side of the garden path. It had the names and pictures of renowned doctors at the hospital. On it was Dr. Parsons’ picture. It said that he was in the burns department. A lump formed in North’s throat.Gerald’s gaze turned dark. “We were doing an inspection of one of the manufacturing locations under the Deep Pool Corporation. There was an explosion, and Sam got hurt. Since it was an emergency, we sent him to Bowery Private Hospital. Colt said that Dr. Parsons is one of the best burns doctors here.”North found herself speechless. She did not kn
“What are you doing here?!”North beamed. “Where should I be if not here, Ms. Patricia? Do you think I don’t have the right to come to the wards of this hospital?”Patricia’s expression twisted. “Who allowed you in here?!”“Come to think of it, a doctor asked me that just now at the door. He thought that I shouldn’t be here.”North swept her hair aside. Casually, she said, “But Gerald found out that Dr. Parsons had only tried to stop me from coming in because he’d been paid to do so. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be the one who paid Dr. Parsons, would you, Ms. Patricia?”Patricia’s expression turned stiff. “W-What nonsense!”Seeing this, Reina spoke up weakly. “Patricia never left the ward. Where would she have found the time to pay off Dr. Parsons? North, you must be mistaken.”Reina sounded extremely resigned. “Oh, North, you shouldn’t be like this. Patricia is Gerald’s mom. You shouldn’t be questioning her like this.”With Reina backing her, Patricia became more confident. She
North was delighted. She took Gerald’s wrist and said, “Alright. Let’s go home, then. I’m sleepy.”Reina was devastated as she watched Gerald and North holding hands. Jealousy nearly seeped from her eyes.How shameless North was! Reina was currently admitted to the hospital, so Gerald should rightly be spending time with her. But North just had to shove herself into the situation!Reina suddenly covered her chest and frowned. She coughed. “Patricia, my tummy—”Patricia shrieked. “Reina, are you okay?! Call a doctor, quick!”A few doctors quickly came inside. One looked at Patricia’s face before saying deferentially, “Ms. Reina is fine. It’s just that her emotions are affected. She just needs some cheering up.”“That’s right. The best-case scenario would be to have the baby’s father spend more time with her. A pregnant woman should always be kept happy.”Patricia immediately turned around. “Did you hear that, Gerald? Shouldn’t you stay and spend time with Reina when she’s in such
He moved his wrists and frowned.Did North sleep for the entire day? Was she disoriented?North sat by the bed with nothing to do. She watched as time passed. Strange, why wasn’t she awake yet? Was she that sleepy? Could it be that the advanced exam questions were too difficult and she did not want to wake up?North could not help but think about the questions. Hmm… they did not seem very difficult. She had thought of a solution!Indeed, people had endless potential when they were dreaming. They could even come up with answers to such difficult questions!North was afraid that she would forget and wanted to wake up quickly, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not wake up. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but she was still in the room.North frowned and muttered to herself, “What’s going on…?”Gerald looked at her silently.He also wanted to ask what was going on.“North, do you need my help?”North hesitated. Even though it was a dream, she was still a littl
North exclaimed in surprise.It turned out that Gerald could be sarcastic too!Gerald did not give Patricia any time to react. He was just short of chasing the entire Bracken family out.While the Bracken family was leaving, Gerald heard Mike grumble, “Mom… If you knew this was going to happen, why didn’t you adjust your act earlier!”Patricia was furious. “I did all of this for you. How could you fall for Gerald’s tricks?!”“But Gerald was right. They suspect that I’m not Paige’s son because of you!”…Giselle’s smile became more and more sarcastic. When the Bracken family disappeared, he said, “Accompany me pay respects to Paige. Also, get someone to clean Glass Manor inside and out.”He wanted to get rid of the bad vibes the Bracken family had brought in.…A few days later, when they returned to Royal Sights Residences, the Bracken family actually stopped causing trouble.North was about to graduate, and she had one final exam. She saw the class group chat exchanging adva
“Why? Do you think that I’ve forgotten how Paige died?”Giselle never expected that this shameless family would have the audacity to make an issue out of Paige’s death.“You make it sound so simple. Even if Patricia dies today, you would never disregard her last wishes. Is everything you do for the good of the Bracken family?“Still, the only person the Bracken family has ever had to sacrifice was Paige!”Virgil snapped, “Nonsense! I’m Paige’s biological father, how could I…”Giselle sneered. “Stop putting on an act. You didn’t look for your daughter when she was missing. You didn’t feel sorry for your daughter when she returned. You kept asking her to tolerate the adopted daughter. When she was sick, you even stopped her treatment so that she would die and let your adopted daughter marry her husband.“Virgil, I’m sick. I’m not dead yet, and I haven’t lost my memory. If this happens again, I’ll destroy the entire Bracken family!”Giselle looked at the bodyguards she had brought
The surroundings suddenly fell silent.Virgil found it hard to breathe. “Let go! Are you crazy?!”“I’m asking you a question. Where is Paige buried? Tell me!”Virgil’s brain was deprived of oxygen. Without thinking, he roared, “How would I know? Let go, you crazy woman!”Patricia screamed, “Madam Giselle, what are you doing? Let go of him. Do you want Dad to die?”Gerald’s second uncle also shouted, “Madam Giselle, why are you doing this to us? Don’t treat your husband like this!”“You don’t know? You don’t know at all, do you?” Giselle ignored everyone. She looked unremorseful. She scoffed.“You claim to be severely depressed about your daughter’s death,” Giselle retorted. “Despite that, you actually don’t know where your daughter’s grave is!”As soon as she finished speaking, the entire place fell silent.When Virgil realized what he had just said, his face turned pale and he stopped screaming. He trembled as he spoke to Giselle hatefully. “You did this on purpose…”That wa
Mike said weakly, “North, we paid our respects to my mother before we went out today. We didn’t say anything because we were afraid that Grandpa wouldn’t be able to accept it.”As expected, Virgil clutched his chest and looked like he was about to faint.Patricia cried out, “Gerald, are you satisfied now that your grandfather is trembling in anger? We’ve kept it a secret for so many years. Despite that…”Everyone sighed. So, that was how it was.It was indeed Ms. Paige’s death anniversary today. However, the old man had fallen into a state of depression from the intense guilt. He then mistakenly thought that his daughter had passed away in May.As his family, Patricia and Mike could not bear to make the old man feel more guilty. Thus, they maintained the facade.In fact, they would pay their respects to Paige every year.This made sense. After all, Virgil was old and could not stand such harsh emotions.The people from the Bracken family jumped on this chance to scold Gerald. “
Everyone was dumbfounded. North was really bold!North blinked. “What’s wrong, Mr. Virgil? Why are you so angry? Did I say something wrong?”“What nonsense! Paige is my daughter! How could I intentionally let her die?!”North widened her eyes. “I didn’t say that you intentionally let her die! It’s just that the Bracken family didn’t like her and looked down on her. The medical staff didn’t care about her either. In the end, they didn’t even treat her and let her die.“I know. It’s not your fault. After all, you were so busy. How could you have the time to take care of a daughter you don’t love?”Virgil clutched his chest. “What nonsense…! Shut up!”“North!” Patricia screamed. “Gerald, are you just going to watch her anger your grandfather? Your grandfather’s health isn’t good…”“What did I say wrong?”North sighed. “Look at what Mr. Virgil said. Ms. Paige passed away at the end of May, so why didn’t he treat her for two whole months from the end of March to the end of May?“Th
Mike knew that he had fallen into North’s trap and was speechless!He was so anxious that his expression changed. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and huge beads of sweat dripped down. “Um… I…”“Mike!” Patricia saw that the situation was not good, so she hurriedly interrupted Mike and pulled him behind her.Then, she took a deep breath and pretended to be helpless and upset.“Gerald, what nonsense are you talking about?! We’re family. If you have anything you’re upset about, just tell me. There’s no need to cause trouble at the banquet and make an issue out of Paige’s death anniversary!“We’re all Paige’s family, and Dad is also Paige’s biological father. How can we not know when her death anniversary is?“Paige’s death anniversary is at the end of May. It’s not today at all. You… You’re too much!”Virgil looked aggrieved. He nodded and said, “That’s right. Paige’s death anniversary is in May. Gerald, I know you don’t want to give up her inheritance. Moreover, I didn’t fo
Everyone’s eyes fell on Gerald.Gerald looked up slowly and said calmly, “Ms. Patricia, why did you choose today to hold a banquet for Mike?”“It doesn’t matter what day I chose!” Patricia roared.“So, you did choose the date.”Gerald looked down at Patricia from above. His cold gaze made Patricia suddenly feel suffocated.Her “son” had a murderous look in his eyes. “Any other day would have been fine, but not today.”Patricia hated the look in Gerald’s eyes the most. Why was he so arrogant? Why was he looking down on her? Why was he like that b*tch?She screamed, “Gerald, I’m your mother! Mike is your brother! It’s fine if you don’t love me, but you keep finding fault with me. What right do you have—”“Today is the anniversary of Paige’s death.”Gerald interrupted her.Patricia’s face turned pale, and the words that she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. The scene instantly fell silent.What did Gerald say? What day was it today?Today was the anniversary of Paige’s d
Patricia felt a lump in her throat. “You…”“Connor, come out.” North interrupted her.Then, a group of people dressed in black walked out of nowhere and played mournful music. Connor walked in the middle and placed a memorial tablet on the table.Everyone looked at the memorial tablet curiously, wanting to know whose memorial tablet it was. When everyone saw the name “Paige”, they instantly fell silent.North and Gerald paid their respects. Then, they placed the bouquets beside the memorial tablet.Their actions stunned everyone.Had they come to pay respects to Paige?Patricia was trembling. She stared fixedly at Paige’s name on the memorial tablet. She clenched her fists.Paige!Gerald had paid his respects to Paige at a banquet for Mike. Was he crazy?! She was so unlucky! Paige was already dead, but she was still the center of attention at Mike’s banquet!After paying her respects, North turned around. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to pay your respects?”