Myra was puzzled. Did Sean come up with some new trick just to try to contact me? However, she decided to pick the call up after she heard what Sebastian said. “Hello?” She frowned as she spoke into the phone.
A light, breathing sound came from the other end of the line. It sounded as if the other person didn’t know what to say, or it could also be that the person was contemplating whether to say anything at all. For some reason, Myra felt an uneasy feeling in her chest. She somehow sensed that the other person wasn’t Sean.
“Hello? Who is this? Is there a reason you’re calling me?” Myra continued to speak on the phone, but the line was cut the moment she finished her sentence. She froze when her words were met with the beeping sound of the call being ended.
“Who was it?” Tony asked.
She shook her head as she stared at Tony and Sebastian confusedly. “I don’t know who it was. The person ended the call without saying anything.”
“That doesn’t make sense. She said that she wanted to speak to you earlier. Why would she end the call after she managed to contact you?” Sebastian shook his head before he shot the couple a glare. “You guys didn’t go around bullying someone else’s daughter, did you?”
“Do we look like we’d have the time to do such a thing?” Tony gave his grandfather a look of amusement.
To that, Sebastian scoffed before he headed off for the stairs. “What an odd thing to happen…” he mumbled as he left them.
Myra found the situation rather odd as well, but she didn’t overthink about it. She figured that the person would call her again if there were an emergency. On their way upstairs, both Tony and Myra received a call from Cameron; he had phoned one of them before the other. Both of them didn’t have to exchange words to know that neither one of them would pick the call up. They didn’t care if Cameron had actually met Sean that day; both Tony and Myra felt a strong sense of contempt for Cameron regardless. They figured that Cameron was trying to see if he could fish for any benefits from Sean before he returned to the both of them, but how could Cameron expect everyone to be so generous with him?
Just before Tony and Myra got into bed, Tony pressed a key into Myra’s palm. It was a vintage-looking key with complicated, jagged patterns that made it look exquisite. There was a light blue crystal dangling from the keyring, and the crystal looked gorgeous as it glowed under the light.
“What’s this?” Myra asked. Why is he giving me a key out of nowhere? She eyed the key for a while more and found herself liking it the more she looked at it. More importantly, she was glad to receive such a gift as it was rare for Tony to buy her any jewelry. However, she had been mistaken—the key was more than an accessory.
“I want to take you to a place tomorrow.” Tony simply smiled without giving her any explanation.
“You’re acting so mysteriously. Did you prepare some sort of surprise for me?” she asked in a playful tone. He simply beamed without saying anything else. “Did you actually prepare a surprise for me?” She was shocked by his silence.
“You seem really energetic today, huh? Why don’t we do some healthy, bedtime activities then?” He narrowed his eyes to give her a cheeky look, and she had a bad feeling about what he was about to do. As expected, he no longer waited for her reply, for he merely pinned her onto the bed before he flipped over and got on top of her.
His gaze darkened as his voice grew hoarse when he said, “Why don’t we roleplay a situation where a female robber troubles a meek schoolboy?”
She glared at him speechlessly.
…
The young girl ended her phone call before she gazed at the mini-garden in front of her. She was sitting out on the balcony of a small hospital. Her eyes were red and swollen; it was evident that she just had a crying fit. The streetlamps had been turned on outside, but the light didn’t reach onto the balcony, so her figure seemed like it was about to be eaten up by the darkness around it.
“Your mother’s awake, and she’s looking for you, Olivia. You should go visit her.” One of the nurses hastily approached her when she caught her sitting there alone. There was a hint of pity in the nurse’s eyes.
The young girl responded with a dry cough and a nod before she hurried off into the toilet. She pulled out some foundation that she had sneakily purchased, and she applied it all over the red skin that surrounded her eyes. Then, she cleared her throat before she strode over to one of the wards.
She pushed the door open to reveal a shared ward with three beds lying in one row and a passageway in the middle of the room. Soon, the girl walked over to a rather young-looking woman before flashing the woman a smile. “You’re finally up, Mommy. Are you hungry? Do you need water? I’ll go get you some water.”
“It’s fine.” The woman reached out for the young girl’s hand as she looked at her surroundings. “Why did you send me to the hospital? I only fainted because I was too tired. It wasn’t a big deal. We shouldn’t waste our money like this. Let’s go home now.”
The young girl hastily pressed her mother’s shoulders down when she saw that her mother was trying to get out of bed. After that, she gave her mother a smile that seemed too mature coming from someone of her age. “The doctor said that there’s some excess blood in your brain that has to be removed. It’s not clear how this occurred, but you’ll faint again if you don’t undergo surgery. Your mind might even be impacted if you choose to delay it for any longer. But it’s not a major surgery, and it won’t cost a lot of money, so we can just go home after your surgery is done.” The girl put on a perfect and well-composed expression.
The young woman froze upon hearing this. She reached up to touch the right side of her head; there was a spot that she had accidentally hit when she bumped into something a while ago. I didn’t hit my head too hard, but I guess I’ve been feeling some pain after that accidental bump. Was that the cause of the excess blood in my brain? I’m surprised I actually fainted today. But regardless, it’s still costly to get surgery nowadays, and… we don’t have a lot of savings left.
The woman frowned. She was afraid to get herself a proper job as she was worried that the man would hunt them down. All she could take were part-time or one-off jobs that didn’t provide her with much money. She only had enough for her daughter’s school fees, their daily expenses, and rental fees for the house. They had moved into this town for nearly a year then, and they felt much happier than they did in Springdale City, despite the financial struggles they faced there.
I might have no choice but to look for that man if I’m going to need a large sum of money, but… I don’t want to return to my old life. I was able to live a simple life with my child back when I didn’t know anything about that matter, but I have been in a constant state of pain and agony ever since I found out about it. I don’t want my daughter to return to the suffering she had to endure when she was younger… “Did the doctor tell you how much the surgery would cost?” the woman asked the girl.
“Don’t worry. The doctor said that it would only cost around 2,000 to 3,000. Don’t worry about the money, Mommy. We’ll be able to afford it. We can leave after you’re done with the surgery, okay?”
2,000 to 3,000… The woman heaved a sigh of relief. “Alright. Can you arrange for the doctor to get the surgery done as soon as possible? The cost of staying an additional night in the hospital is a lot. Each night will add a few hundred to the bill. I have to pay for your piano class fees soon, and I don’t even know if we’ll have enough money left for that then. I’ll just have to find another part-time job if we don’t have enough. We’ll be able to pull through…”
Olivia Stark felt warm liquid gathering in her eyes, but she brushed her tears off while maintaining her calm demeanor. “We have enough, Mommy. You should rest a while longer. I’ll go speak to the doctors.”
“Okay. Remember to tell the doctors that I want it done as soon as possible.” The woman reminded her once more.
