Chapter 292 Smart Aunt Gloria
As she spoke, Gloria studied Rachel’s expression. “At that time, doctors said it was highly likely that he would fall into a vegetative state where he would never wake up.”
“Does that mean you took care of Charlotte before he regained consciousness?” Rachel asked. “Huh?” Gloria paused for a moment before nodding. “Yeah.”
“In that case, thank you so much.” Rachel took her hand. “It’s arduous to take care of a newborn and if it weren’t for you, Charlotte might not have been able to survive.”
“There’s no need to be this courteous with me, Rachel. Charlotte is my niece, so how could I have neglected her?”
“I still wish to thank you, so this glass is for you.” Without saying anything else, Rachel snagged Jolly’s glass and gulped it at one go.
Now that Jolly was startled awake, she mumbled blearily, “Drink! Drink!”
However, as she was unable to stop Rachel in time, Gloria could only watch on and frowned as Rachel finished drinking from the glass. Weren’t we talking about Charlotte? How did the topic change?
“You were doing fine abroad, Rachel. Why did you suddenly come back?”
“You must have heard about what happened to the Hudson Family.”
“A little bit.”
“One of the reasons is that we’ve finally sought revenge for Hans. Another cause is that I’m worried about leaving Charlotte here alone.”
Rachel had never once brought up Justin throughout her speech.
“Well, Justin has taken care of her quite well all these years,” Gloria pointed out. “Although I don’t talk to him a lot, his personality has changed a bit since he lost his memory. You must have noticed it as well.”
As she declined to answer, Rachel instead poured Jolly a glass of water, exhorting her to have a drink of it before sleeping.
After a moment of hesitation, Gloria decided that Rachel still had a cold attitude toward Justin and swallowed the words that she wanted to say.
It was fine since they still had time.
Meanwhile, in the restaurant’s children’s play area, Charlotte went down the slide and into the ball pit. She was clearly thrilled to see Gloria return.
At this point, Samuel looked up from his tablet game to glance at her. “Are you sure Aunt Gloria’s return will do any good? She doesn’t seem very close to Justin either.”
“You don’t know it, but she has her own reasons for doing so.”
“What are those reasons?”
“I don’t know yet,” a confident Charlotte announced.
“How are you so sure, then?”
“Because she’s Aunt Gloria. My smartest Aunt Gloria. She was the one who told me how to deal with Amber so that Amber wouldn’t marry Daddy.”
Any mention of Gloria was accompanied by a starry-eyed look of worship from Charlotte.
Samuel thoughtfully paused. Did that mean Gloria was intentionally pretending to act cold toward Justin?
Gloria and Rachel dined together that evening until it was very late.
By the time Rachel returned home with the two children, the streetlamps in the neighborhood were already lit.
“Thank you,” she soberly thanked the cab driver before leading one child in each hand to head home.
The moment she opened the door, a figure blocked the entrance. “Why are you back so late?” it asked in a low voice.
A confused Rachel looked up through the haze of alcohol at the cold, imposing figure shrouded in shadow. “Who are you?”
The strong smell of alcohol made Justin frown. “How much have you had?”
It was obvious that she drank quite a bit. What she had used to send the cab driver away was merely the last bit of her sanity and sobriety, and now that she was home, the alcohol was rushing to her head and making her somewhat uncontrollable.
After tilting her face to stare at Justin for a while, Rachel suddenly reached out to pinch his cheeks. “I asked a question. Who. Are. You?”
Despite him wanting to push her hand away, she helplessly clung to him like sticky candy.
Perhaps because it was all too comical, but the sound of children muffling their laughter with their hands echoed next to him.
Justin immediately caught hold of Rachel’s wrists and instructed with a stern face, “Charlotte, Samuel, wash up and head to bed first.”
“Take good care of Mommy then!” Charlotte chirped.
Although Samuel looked like he wanted to say something, she had dragged him along with her.
An annoyed Justin chastised, “You were out with the kids. How could you drink so much?”
“Are you lecturing me?” Rachel braced her hands against his shoulders and repeated impatiently, “You’re lecturing me!”
So, he could only change tactics. “Call me next time. I’ll go and pick you up.”
As she waved him away, she stumbled toward her room. “There’s no need. We took a cab!”
“Slow down!” Afraid that Rachel would fall, Justin attempted to catch her.
However, he had only just caught her when she shoved him aside and rushed into the bathroom with a hand over her mouth.
“Blaargh—” Unable to stop her stomach from churning, she hugged the toilet bowl and began to puke like there was no tomorrow.
Upon sprinting after her and being greeted by the ghastly sight, Justin immediately turned and went to grab a glass of warm water for her instead. Kneeling next to her, he told her, “Come, take a sip. Rinse your mouth and spit it out.”
Surprisingly, Rachel did as she was told to. She was so obedient and well-behaved that he practically felt bad for her.
“I know you’re drunk, but do you remember whether the other two arrived home safely?”
“Yes,” she muttered with her eyes shut. “Gloria said she would stay at a hotel instead of coming back. Why did you hit her?”
“Who did I hit?”
“Are you still not admitting it?” Rachel suddenly threw an arm around his neck with so much force that she haplessly dragged him down to the floor with her. “What did my departure have to do with her? You shouldn’t have hit her!”
Thinking that she was speaking in her drunken state, Justin responded, “No, I shouldn’t have.”
“You must apologize to Gloria now.”
“Now?! Can I do that tomorrow instead?”
“Now.”
Since Rachel refused to budge and Justin couldn’t convince her, he agreed, “Alright, I’ll apologize to her now, but let me send you back to your room first.” With that, he carried her to her bedroom.
As he stared at her flushed face after tucking her under the covers, he suddenly felt drawn to her.
Yet, right as he was about to lean in, Rachel suddenly turned over and rolled on the bed for a second before wrapping herself up like a cocoon with her back facing him. Then, she fell asleep.
When he saw that, Justin gave up.
However, before he exited, he adjusted the temperature of the air conditioner and made sure that all of the curtains were drawn, thereafter leaving the room and closing the door after him.
As he did so, he heard the sound of a vibrating cell phone in the bathroom.
Following the sound, Justin discovered that Rachel had left her phone next to the toilet bowl at some point. It was still vibrating with an unmarked number flashing on the screen.
As he bent down to pick up the phone, he frowned once he could properly read the number.
He always had a good memory and knew the number belonged to his uncle, Jason.
Why was Jason calling Rachel at this hour?
As Justin thought about it, the ringing automatically ended before a notification popped up not long after that. It was a short message: ‘I’ve contacted them. Everything is ready. Waiting for your goods.’
And just like that, his hand tightened. Is Rachel working with my uncle?
