Jefferson ignored him. He pushed back his chair and stood up. “I need to visit Belle in the hospital. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first.”
Curtis hummed in acknowledgment. “Take a look at how her leg injury is and let me know on WhatsApp.”
Jefferson glanced at him before striding away.
Jasper was dumbfounded upon hearing their conversation and seeing Jefferson leave. “I’m not hallucinating, am I? Did you just send your love rival to take care of your woman?”
Then, after a second of silent contemplation, Jasper said, “The two of you seem to exist in harmony. What’s going on? Are you planning to get into a polyamorous relationship?”
Curtis’ expression darkened, and he tossed his cup at Jasper.
Fortunately, Jasper saw it in time and hastily tilted his head to the side. The cup glided past his ear and crashed into the wall behind him.
Once Jasper registered what happened, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
Curtis snapped, “Shut your mouth if you’re not good with words. No one’s going to complain about how you’re not talking enough.”
Jasper was speechless at that.
After lunch at noon, Rayna started feeling sleepy, so she asked Kristie and Carl to play with each other while she took a nap.
When she woke up, she found Jefferson sitting beside her bed.
“How long have you been here?” Rayna sat up on the bed. Fearing that her hair had turned into a mess while she slept, she tried to comb it with her fingers. “I haven’t been able to do any tidying up of myself in the hospital lately. Am I uglier now?”
Jefferson shook his head and reached out to tidy the strands of hair by her ear. Then, looking right at her, he said, “You’ll always be the most beautiful person to me no matter when and where.”
Regardless of whether those words were simply flattery or sincere, Rayna flushed crimson.
She took the glass of warm water from Jefferson and slowly drank half of it before asking, “Have you been busy in the company? I texted you recently, but you were slow to reply, and you didn’t come to the hospital to visit me.”
“I’m busy. I have many things to work on when you took your leave,” Jefferson said as he peeled an orange. “If you’re bored, I’ll come to the hospital to keep you company from now on.”
“No, it’s fine,” she quickly said. “I have Kristie and Carl to accompany me. I’m not bored. You should just focus on managing the company.”
Jefferson passed her the orange slices. “How’s your leg?”
“I think it’s mostly fine now.” Rayna put a slice into her mouth before pulling away the blanket to show him her moving leg. “I’ve been moving around recently, and it feels fine. But Mr. York said it’s a gunshot injury, so even if it recovers, I still have to stay in the hospital for further observation first.”
“Okay. Just listen to him. You don’t need to worry about the company’s affairs,” Jefferson said before giving her a smile.
When his gaze landed on Rayna’s baby bump, the look in his eyes darkened.
It had only been a while since he had last come to the hospital, but Rayna’s stomach had become much bigger than he remembered.
Noticing that he was staring at her stomach, Rayna caressed it and uttered in resignation, “It’s really big, isn’t it? The doctor said it’s normal for my stomach to be this big at this point of the pregnancy since I’m having triplets. Every time I walk, I feel the weight of my stomach, and if I stand for too long, I feel the strain on my back. I’m guessing I won’t be able to walk by the time I’m seven months into the pregnancy.”
Jefferson sighed, the heartache he felt visible in his eyes. He took another piece of the orange for her. “It must be tough, right?”
Rayna nodded. “It is, but I can still endure it.”
The thought of the babies’ cute faces and them calling her Mommy made the tough time seem worth it.
Jefferson glanced at her stomach and fell silent as he peeled another orange.
He loved her, and he would love her children as well.
Even if the children were not his, he would love them still because they were hers. All he wanted was for her to be happy.
At Jefferson’s silence, Rayna realized she had said something wrong, and regret washed over her.
“Once I’ve given birth to them and recovered, let’s go to Nardor for a holiday.” Rayna held his hand tightly. “I’ve always wanted to go there, but I haven’t had the time to do so. Come with me.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Dear sweetheart novel (Rayna and Julian)