After Anastasia finished the bowl of porridge, Elliot came in to accompany her. Not long later, she fell asleep under his consolation, and Sophia entered again to cover her with a blanket and stay by her side.
“Are you her new assistant?” Elliot didn’t recognize Sophia. After all, there were too many people at the wedding.
Sophia hurriedly got up and replied, “Yes, President Presgrave, my name is Sophia Goodwin.”
“In that case, please take care of my wife and don’t let anyone disturb her,” Elliot instructed.
“Yes, sir,” Sophia answered softly.
After Elliot left, Sophia patiently stayed by Anastasia’s side while she slept. Meanwhile, her phone that had been put on silent mode rang, but she didn’t notice that the contact name was Arthur’s. Soon after, it rang again. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen missed calls were displayed on the screen.
Sophia looked at Anastasia’s haggard expression, feeling pained at the sight. Just then, a few nurses started talking at the door. She hurriedly got up and went out, whispering to them, “Mrs. Presgrave is resting. Please keep your voice down.”
The nurses immediately jolted in surprise and hurriedly shut their mouths and left.
In Arthur’s villa, an irritable figure was walking back and forth in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. What was this? The bird that he set free had flown away from him? Why couldn’t he contact Sophia? What was she trying to do? Did she think that he had set her free after what he said last time?
Unwilling to give up, he picked up his phone and continued to make another call, but he still received no answer.
“Sh*t!” He instantly burst into fury and grabbed the car keys from the table, planning to head out.
However, as soon as he opened the door, he saw Martha walking over while chatting with a maid. He hurriedly concealed his irritation and stepped forward with a smile. “Grandma.”
“You’re going out?”
“No, I’m heading downstairs to get a cup of coffee,” Arthur replied as he helped her down the stairs.
“You should spend some time with Emily if you’re free. It’s boring for her to be alone, and you youngsters have more in common.”
“I will.”
“Don’t go out today and have a chat with me. Later, come with me to get my clothes made. I heard that there’s a good boutique here that specializes in making clothing for older women.”
“Grandma, I’ll ask them to come here and tailor your clothes for you.”
“No need for that. It’s a vintage boutique that tailors embroidered clothes, so you can’t cause such a huge fuss.” Martha only wanted to live an ordinary life.
“Sure, I’ll go with you.” How could he not?
In the afternoon, when Sophia finally thought of taking a look at her phone, she found that her phone had run out of power as she had carelessly forgotten to charge it last night. Hence, she could only take her phone to the nurse’s station to charge it, while she came back to the lounge and flipped through a book to pass time. However, she remained clueless to the fact that there were a few more missed calls on her phone, all of which were from an extremely angry man.
After Anastasia woke up, Sophia accompanied her to the funeral home. Harriet had instructed during her lifetime that she wanted to be cremated, so the next step was the cremation process.
Elliot did not let her follow him in, so Anastasia stood outside in the garden and waited with Sophia’s company. As the wind blew, Anastasia’s tears flowed uncontrollably again. She felt bad for Elliot who was inside, and the fact that he had to face all this. At the same time, she couldn’t accept the fact that Harriet was forever gone.
Sophia stretched out her hand to hold hers and handed her a piece of tissue, not knowing how to comfort her.
Half an hour later, Brenda was helped out by her assistant, her face full of tears. Even if she was a strong woman, she still couldn’t accept her mother’s passing.
Anastasia took a deep breath and walked over, calling out, “Aunt Brenda.”
“Anastasia, you have to stay with Elliot tonight.” Brenda sighed. Now, he was the only one who was still inside to see Harriet off for one last time.
Anastasia nodded. “I will.”
After a while, Elliot emerged in the lobby, a black jar covered with a layer of black cloth in his arms. He was dressed in a black suit, his face full of mourning. His eyes were red as his entire person was shrouded in grief.
