hapter 25
ne failure didn’t affect Hailey’s determination to win Terence’s heart. She continued following him round after his birthday.
annoyed him to no end, and he tried to find an excuse to make her leave him alone. However, before he ould do that, she fell sick after days of pushing herself too hard. She looked ashen as she lay in bed,
eak from her illness.
ora wanted to have a maid care for her, but she used her fever as an excuse to be shameless. She sisted on having Terence care for her, which made Nora gnash her teeth angrily.
he smacked Hailey and said, “What right do you have to ask him to care for you when there’s nothing etween you two? Take your medication if you want. If you don’t want it, you can just lie here and wait for le fever to subside!”
fter that, she left the tray of food and medication on the bedside table and got up to leave. Just then, ne ran into Terence, who was entering the room.
I’s fine, Nora. I’ll care for her,” he said.
ora glanced at him and sighed. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, Terence.”
he left and shut the door behind her. Terence sat by Hailey’s bedside and laid out a foldable table on the ed. Then, he put the food on it.
he looked at him pitifully. “Terence…”
e crossed his arms, looking aloof. “You’re only having a fever, not a broken arm. Feed yourself.”
s left with no choice but to start eating. As she did so, Terence suddenly said, “Hailey.”
he turned to look at him. He said, “You know what? I was also burning up on the night you left me to go
Matthew. No one was here to care for me, though.”
e’d just learned about Hailey being pregnant and had wavered in his determination to leave. But it was so that night that he realized the time Hailey had conceived didn’t match the dates they’d slept together.
sat was when he’d started suspecting the child wasn’t his. Sure enough, Hailey had shamelessly asked m to be the father of her and Matthew’s child after discovering that he knew the truth.
was an insult to him–despite wanting to patch things up with him, she still thought he was nothing
ore than a bootlicker
he could ignore the safety of her unborn child to leave for her first love’s sake. If she’d stayed and bened that door, she would’ve found Terence ashen–faced while reading her medical report.
erence, I. Hailey paled. She had no idea he knew everything. She thought he could accept everything bout her because of how much he loved her, even when he knew the child wasn’t his.
had never occurred to her that Terence would fall out of love with her and give up on everything that ad to do with her.
‘m telling you this because I want you to stop with your martyr act,” he said. He’d been through much lore than she had. What did the torment she was experiencing now matter when compared to his?
erhaps Terence’s words had made Hailey see sense–she started taking her medication per the doctor’s structions. Less than two weeks later, she was back to following Terence around.
his didn’t last for long, though. They were interrupted by a phone call.
Richard seemed to sense that he wasn’t long for the world and wanted to be buried in Golde City. He’d once been a soldier in the war and deeply loved the place. Now, he wanted to be laid to rest in a place where his comrades had also been buried.
The Rainers didn’t agree with his decision, but his mind was made up. He refused to change it no matter how everyone tried to persuade him. Left with no choice, Harold and Nora decided to go there with him, leaving the company and family in Hailey’s hands.
Before leaving, Richard summoned everyone to his side so he could speak to them one last time before leaving. Soon, it was Terence’s turn.
“Terry.” Richard smiled and beckoned at Terence from his wheelchair.
For some reason, Terence’s nose prickled at the sight. He remembered the first time he’d met Richard. He’d just arrived from the countryside at the time and was afraid of all the new things around him. He’d stood in a corner, not even daring to look around.
Richard had beckoned him over to his side. From then on, no one had dared to bully him anymore.
Terence sat beside Richard and held his hand. “Grandpa.”
Richard gave him a fond look. “You’ve had it hard for the past five years.”
Terence couldn’t stop the tears from welling in his eyes at that. Richard continued, “I know Hailey doesn’t have a good temper–allow me to apologize on her behalf.”
Terence shook his head but couldn’t get any words out. Richard sighed. “At least you won’t have to force yourself to live with her after the divorce now. You won’t have to put up an act to make me happy.”
Terence’s eyes widened in shock. “Grandpa, how did you…”
ph. Your act is only enough to trick yourself. Besides, how can you still put up with her after ything you’ve gone through?”
Terence hesitated. “But…”
“No buts,” Richard cut him off. “I know you were all creating the illusion of a happy family so that I wouldn’t be upset. I was happy to see everyone together, but it was at the price of your happiness.
“Now that I’m older, I only want to see my descendants happy. I don’t necessarily want them to cling to me. If you’re worried Halley won’t leave you alone, I can take her to Golde City with me.”