Luna slammed the phone down, strode out of the hotel, and hailed a taxi straight to the hospital.She was fuming throughout the trip, unable to understand Joshua's point of view. Was he simply too much of a workaholic, or did he simply choose to ignore his health?He barely had the time to rest, yet he chose to help Tara—a cousin whom he was not even related to—with her 'problem'.She could not believe this man. He had four children to feed, yet he continued to take his health for granted. What would happen if he fell ill? Would she have to take care of five people then?Besides, it was one thing to do this, but another issue entirely because he had failed to update her on the situation or at least tell her he was not going home.If she had not called him, she would still be clueless about everything that was going on.Bonnie was right about men; Joshua would never have done this in the past!The more Luna thought about it, the more furious she got.The taxi soon arrived at the
Gunshot wound?Luna froze when she heard this as she stared at the woman behind her.Robyn realized what she had said but could not be bothered to explain, so she smiled and said, "He's fine. Just some minor lacerations."Luna pursed her lips but did not pursue any more information. Instead, she packed the food in the container and handed it to Robyn.Finally, she gave Robyn her number and said, "This is my number. If you need any help, feel free to contact me."Robyn was a little taken aback by this. Although she did not know who Luna was, judging by the clothes she was wearing, she could tell that Luna was a wealthy woman.Were people as rich as her usually so kind?Most people would only apologize and would not even bother to compensate for the spilled food even if they bumped into her. Not only did this woman buy her another meal, but she even offered help should she need it in the future."Alright. I'll be off now. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you need anything." Luna
"It's okay. I didn't save him for his money." John smiled as he reached out to take the cutlery from Robyn.He had been wondering the same thing as Robyn was, but truth be told, he did not regret his decision at all. Although he had gone there for the money in the first place, it had not been his motivation when he leaped in front of the bullet.He had done it without even thinking. Even if he turned back time, he would still save that man without hesitation.Robyn sighed and shot him a rather helpless look. "But John…will you even be able to attend the public bid in your current state?"John turned pale at this. A split second later, he grinned at Robyn and said, "Of course I can. Only my shoulder is hurt, not my brain, so I'll still be able to work as usual and prepare for the bid. Don't worry. Just take care of Anne and Sammie, and I'll do the rest."With that, he glanced meaningfully at Robyn and said, "However…I need you to pretend you're sick."Robyn used to be a nurse and
Could John have been telling the truth all along?At the thought of this, Tara snuck another glance at Robyn.Robyn was a little uneasy at being scrutinized like this. She sheepishly laughed and said, "Nice to meet you, Miss Moore. I'm John's sister, Robyn."With that, she extended her hand to Tara.Tara frowned as she shook Robyn's hand. "I hear you're sick?"Robyn's hand stiffened. She forgot all about John's instructions!She smiled, trying to remain as calm as she could. "Yes. I contracted some weird disease that's making all the organs in my body fail gradually, and I need surgery to live."With that, she turned to shoot John a rather accusing look. "Did you tell everyone? Didn't I say not to reveal too much about my illness?"John chuckled. "Well, Miss Moore is bound to find out anyway as we'll be working together very soon."Tara was a little bothered by this. Joshua had sent her over to take care of John and pry more about his personal life, so how was she supposed to
John sat up in his bed at the mention of the man. He then stared at Tara with a frown. "Is he okay? Unfortunately, I passed out not long after the gunshot incident, so I didn't know what happened to him last night. I do remember that some of your men arrived just in time… Is he okay now?"Although the old man's impulsivity cost him a gunshot wound, he could understand the man's point of view. After being trapped for so many days, it was no surprise he would be utterly depleted and anxious to leave.John could not help wondering if the man contracted any illnesses from his imprisonment, considering he was old and frail.Tara furrowed her brow when she noticed John's concern. John did not appear to be faking his worry.According to Joshua, John did not know the man he saved was actually Gwen's father. Judging from his reaction, Tara knew Joshua was right.Tara smiled and replied, "He's fine. He's just a little malnourished but is recovering well. Unfortunately, he can't come visit y
"I don't need any special treatment." John grinned at Tara. "All I want is the opportunity to participate."Tara furrowed her brow slightly at this but said nothing. Finally, she turned and left the room.To her surprise, she ran right into Luna, who had just gotten off the elevator.Luna, too, was just as startled to see her here.Surely Tara, who was obsessed with Joshua, would be at Moore Group with Joshua at this moment, getting some quality time with her favorite 'cousin'. Why was she at the hospital, then?"Hello, Luna." Tara smiled sheepishly when she saw Luna.Luna frowned and shot her a cold glance. "What are you doing here?"Was Tara here to see Gwen? That did not make sense; she and Gwen did not know each other at all. Why would she visit her?Tara paused, but before she could come up with an excuse, Robyn's voice rang out behind her. "Miss Moore!"Robyn sprinted toward them and handed the card to Tara, panting. "Miss Moore, my brother doesn't want to accept this gi
"Um…"Before Tara could respond, however, Robyn piped in. "Didn't I tell you my brother suffered a gunshot wound? Well, that's because he was protecting an old man last night."They both got kidnapped, and the man was about to be killed by the kidnapper. If my brother hadn't leaped out and saved the man just in time, he would've been dead by now."Miss Moore here is a relative of the man and came to thank us."With that, she brandished the card in front of Luna and added, "She wanted to reward us in return for my brother's kindness. We desperately need the money, but my brother insisted we not accept it. He didn't want to feel like his kindness was taken as an act of ulterior motives."Luna froze when she heard this. She furrowed her brow, glancing at Tara. "That 'relative' of yours is Gwen's father, isn't he?"Luna was well aware of what happened the night before. Since Joshua's men had rescued Andy the night before and Robyn's brother had gotten shot on the same day, it did not
Luna froze in shock for a long time.Finally, she regained her composure and grabbed Robyn's arm excitedly. "Are you saying that your brother was the one who saved the man everyone had been searching the entire city for?"Robyn did not expect this reaction from Luna at all. She took a small step backward in fear and nodded. "Yes… Yes."Why was Luna so excited to hear this?She furrowed her brow and asked, "Miss, do you…know my brother? Or are you somehow related to the old man from last night?"Luna was just about to say yes to both questions when Tara piped in. "Of course she's related to the old man. She's my cousin-in-law, which makes her a relative of the old man your brother saved. She's just excited to meet the man who saved his life."With that, she glanced at Luna. "Isn't that right, Luna?"Luna froze for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I'm just happy he's safe and sound now."With that, she turned to stare at Robyn once more. "How's your brother doing now?""He's fine."
At that, he looked at Gwen. "Actually…"Steven found himself unable to finish his sentence. After a long while, he shook his head and smiled. "Forget about it.""Steven…" Gwen looked at him, and her tears fell.Her heart was not made of stone. How could she not know Steven's feelings toward her?She was silent for a long while. In the end, she stood up and slowly walked over to Steven with arms opened wide. "Give me a hug."Steven hesitated for a while, but he still stood up.They hugged."Gwen." Steven hugged her thin figure. "I have to meet you earlier in the next life so I can compete fairly with my brother."Gwen nodded with tears streaming down her face. "Okay."They thus hugged once more. Minutes later…"He's gone," said Stefan.Tears kept falling.They hugged for a while longer before pulling apart. Gwen looked at Stefan with her tear-stricken face. He had tears on his face as well.She bit her lips and reached out to wipe his tears. "A—Are these tears…yours or his?
The next day, Rachel flew from Merchant City to Sharnwick City to diagnose Anne's condition. Theo tagged along as well because he had another identity, Rachel's boyfriend."According to the report, Anne's condition is slowly recuperating." Rachel was relieved after assessing the report. "Although she is very weak, she is going to get better with lots of rest."There is nothing wrong with her vocal cords too. It could be a psychological thing that makes her lose her voice. A knot in her heart that causes it." She looked at Luna, then at John. "Considering all factors, I think that knot is Luna."Rachel continued, "John, I know Luna is the root cause of all these bad things. Being away from Luna, Joshua, and other people is going to guarantee a safer life for you and your family. But have you thought about it from Anne's point of view? Other than you and Sammie, she has her own life and her circle of friends. Never has she blamed Luna for what happened, yet you forced her to leave Lun
It was almost a miracle for Anne to willingly leave the house just to visit him!Robyn, meanwhile, sobbed at the sight.The nurse who accompanied Anne to the ward was puzzled. What was going on with these people?She snuck her phone out of her pocket and took a photo of this surreptitiously. Then, she sent it into the nurse's group chat with the caption, [What a strange family I met today.]The nurses in the group chat began gossiping about this. One of them tagged a fellow nurse named Daisy and said, [Hey, isn't this the guy who saved the old man you're looking after? What a hero!]Daisy was, at this moment, walking into Andy's room to help him change his wound dressing. She saw the message but was not able to type on her keyboard to respond, so she recorded a voice message instead. "Yes, that's the man. What's wrong with his family? What are you guys talking about?"As soon as she finished her sentence, she lifted her head and finally realized that Andy was not there.Instead,
Anne stared at John for a long time before forcibly smiling and told him in sign language, "Robyn didn't return after so long, so I got worried and came by to check on her.""Daddy, Aunt Robyn, are you two hugging?" Sammie asked, blinking innocently as she raised her head in curiosity.John and Robyn turned pale at this.It was understandable for such a young child like Sammie to misinterpret them as hugging, but what would Anne think of this?John leaped off the bed and staggered toward Anne. "Anne, it's just a misunderstanding…"However, he was still so weak that his legs could not hold up the full weight of his body at all, and he almost crumpled to the ground.Quick-witted Robyn managed to catch him before he could fall, but this gesture appeared once again rather intimate to both Anne and Sammie. Sammie furrowed her brow and asked rather indignantly, "Are you hugging again? Daddy, how can you hug Aunt Robyn like this when you've never even hugged Mommy and me like this befor
When the nurse pushed Anne to John's ward, she overheard John and Robyn fighting from the door. The fight was about how John was anxious to return home because he was worried about Anne and Sammie.However, as someone who used to work as a nurse, Robyn knew John should not leave the hospital after being shot by a gun. At least, he needed to stay in the hospital and be observed for 24 hours to make sure that he was fine before leaving the hospital. If an infection happened, John's body would crash easily and he would become weak just like Anne.In the ward, John frowned and talked with a serious tone, "I'm really fine. Get me my clothes so I can go upstairs to thank Miss Andie and go back home immediately. If Anne knows that I'm hurt, she is going to worry. She will easily be suspicious since you haven't gone back home for a long time. What if she worries about me and brings Sammie to the hospital to look for me? Can you bear yourself even just thinking about it? She's weak and Sammie
Sammie's soft and cute babyish voice melted Stefan's heart immediately. It had been quite some time since he actually put a smile on his face. "Hi, there. What's your name and how old are you?"Sammie tilted her head to look at Stefan's handsome face and smiled sweetly, "I'm Samantha but everyone calls me Sammie."Then she did not forget to introduce Anne to Stefan too. "This is my Mommy. Her name is Anne."At this point, Stefan had given all of his attention to Sammie and did not notice Sammie mentioned that her mother's name was Anne. He pinched Sammie's cheek and said, "Your Mommy is not feeling well. You have to be a good girl and take care of her, do you understand?"Sammie nodded seriously and said, "I will.""Alright, sir. I will bring them to where they want to go," the nurse saw Anne signing to her anxiously. She smiled and said, "Don't worry. I will take good care of them."The promise from the nurse gave an assurance to Stefan that they would be well taken off. He smil
This was the first time Anne brought Sammie out. Ever since she escaped from death, she became a different person—a recluse and was afraid of the sun. This situation became even worse after she became mute.The last time she left the house was two weeks ago when she had to go for surgery.However, she worried about John. In the morning, Robyn told her John was hurt and needed to stay in the hospital to rest. However, she had a hard time believing what Robyn said.After spending so many years together with John, Anne reckoned she was the one who knew John the most. If it was a minor injury, John would never want to stay in the hospital. He cared too much about her and Sammie, so he never dared to let her worry about him. Therefore, it just did not sound reasonable if John would stay in the hospital because of a small injury.Furthermore, Robyn had not returned home since the morning, which was nearly three hours since she left the house. After much consideration, she decided to call
Tara fell silent upon hearing this. She bit her lip nervously and shot Gwen a tentative glance. "I didn't mean to offend you, Gwen…" "I know." Gwen let out an exhale and interrupted Tara before she could finish, "I know you meant no harm, but I can't deny that this is something I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around. In the future, neither of you—even you, Luna—should bring this up again." Her love life was such a mess that not even she could unravel the ties, much less expect other people to understand. Tara pursed her lips and did not reply. Luna stared at Gwen in silence for a while before finally saying, "But you have to face this eventually, Gwennie. After all that you've been through with Luke, all of us hope for nothing but the best for the two of you. Even if you avoid it now, you'll have to face the truth eventually. Otherwise, are you planning on spending the rest of your life in this complicated relationship with Luke? Can you bear the thought of not being
Stefan was mildly amused by the look on her face. He extended his arms out in a gesture of defeat and said, "I never intended on ratting you out to Joshua. You three spoke about these secrets in my presence." With that, he shot Andy a rather helpless look. "Don't you agree, sir?" Andy was surprised to be called out all of a sudden. "Of course!" Although Gwen and Luke had been together for a long time, Luke had never much cared for maintaining good relations with his future father-in-law. He always thought his relationship with Gwen did not concern anyone else outside of the two of them. Combined with the fact that Andy had done some hurtful things to Gwen in the past, Luke grew even more disdainful of his future father-in-law. Because of this, he had never given Andy as much as a second glance throughout their relationship and rarely ever addressed him directly like this. The truth was, Stefan had already called out to Andy once before, during their rescue mission the day befor