Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness novel Chapter 131

"Who let this woman in?" Nelson demanded furiously as he stepped into the room. "Nurse! Take this woman out of this room, and make sure she never enters again!"

His shouts woke Melinda, and she slowly roused to the picture of something that seemed to have come out of a melodrama.

"What do you have in your hands? How dare you touch Soaring Group’s documents so easily?! Do you think you’re a part of the company or something?!"

Nelson was still berating Emily, glaring back and forth between the woman and his grandson. He was clearly disappointed, and beyond furious.

He was still the head of the family, as well as the family business, damn it! This woman had some nerve to get her hands on such important files; no one outside of the company should have even laid eyes on those papers.

Jonas was looking on helplessly, but kept his silence. Emily, meanwhile, had a horrified expression, and the documents shook in the air as her hands trembled nervously. Melinda rose and walked over to the bed, then calmly took the papers from Emily and placed it on a nearby table. Then she went to Nelson and helped the old man towards one of the seats.

"Didn’t I tell you it was nothing to worry about?" she chided Nelson softly. "You shouldn’t have come all this way." The old man only grunted.

A nurse came close and took hold of Emily’s elbow, urging her to stand and walk out the door. The actress turned to Jonas with a pleading look. "Jonas."

But he was looking at his wife, and nobody was really paying attention to Emily. Well except for the nurse who was now pulling at her. And Nelson.

"What do you want?" he shouted at her. "Do you want me to call security to get you out of here? You’d better get out of my sight while I’m still being patient!"

Emily’s face flushed in mortification. She was a celebrity, after all. If they weren’t in the VIP section of the hospital, there would no doubt be a crowd taking photos or videos right now, immortalizing her moment of humiliation for the world to see.

Nelson’s reputation reached far and wide, and this hospital was caught among his vast network of connections. The nurse, along with its many employees, dared not displease him.

As the door closed behind their unwanted visitor, Nelson snorted to express his displeasure. Jonas noticed, but it was his wife he addressed. "You must be tired after everything that happened. Why don’t you return with Grandpa and take a good rest? I’ll be all right. The nurses will take care of me."

Melinda opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Nelson interjected. Apparently the old man was full of energy at the moment.

"Indeed, you must be exhausted. That’s why I had Mary bring some of your necessities here. You’d be clean and comfortable as you take care of Jonas. It’s far too inconvenient for you to keep going back and forth, not to mention tiresome as well."

The wily patriarch would never pass up an opportunity to get these two alone so they could spent some time with each other without interruption, doing things that couples were supposed to do.

There was a knock on the door just as he had finished speaking, and Mary entered carrying a bag that contained Melinda’s clothes. She also had with her what looked to be a picnic basket, which was filled with food.

"You often forget the basics whenever you’re busy." Mary smiled as she handed them to Melinda. "Please take good care of yourself before you take care of Mr. Gu."

"Thank you, Mary." Melinda laughed softly, because the servant wasn’t wrong. Nelson left soon after that, and with Gavin and Mary with him, the young couple didn’t worry much about their grandfather.

In truth, Melinda was starving, and as soon as they were alone again she propped open one of the food packages Mary had prepared. There were many of her favorite dishes and snacks, and among them was a container of shrimps sautéed in butter, which was her favorite.

She plopped on the chair by the hospital bed, and started to merrily chow down her shrimp. Seeing her blissful face as she chewed, Jonas scoffed and turned his back on her.

"What is it?" Melinda mumbled over a mouthful of food. "Do you want to eat some, too?" Jonas turned to shoot his wife a look of mock disgust. "Too bad you can’t have any," Melinda taunted, and bit into another forkful of shrimp.

Jonas wanted to devour something, all right, but it wasn’t the shrimp he wanted to sink his teeth into. The memory of their episode in the cinema flashed briefly before his eyes, and whatever small fire burned in his chest quickly dissolved.

He remembered her reaction to his advances. He sighed wearily, and resigned himself to watching Melinda eat without any consideration to his state.

Jonas was confined in the hospital for three days. Even though he was discharged, the doctor advised for continuous medication.

Melinda had considerably thinned over this period, because, as expected, she looked after Jonas at the cost of her own well-being.

Queena greeted them as they arrived at the mansion, and her heart ached when she saw her daughter-in-law’s gaunt features. She scolded Jonas as they stepped into the living room, telling him off for not taking proper care of his wife.

"But Mom," Jonas said good-naturedly, "I was the patient." Besides, even though he was bedridden, he had still taken care of many business matters, and Melinda had assisted him greatly.

In the days that followed, husband and wife would often be cooped up in Jonas's office, poring over company documents. Pretty soon they were spending most of their time in Soaring Group offices instead of at home.

Queena was loathing to wear Melinda further in this manner, but her daughter-in-law was undeniably competent in dealing with the matter.

Additionally, she could see that the relationship between her son and his wife had greatly mellowed out, and she was sure that spending more time alone with each other had played a big hand in that.

In any case, Melinda’s work was flexible when it came to time and location anyway, so Queena let the young couple be.

Eventually, though, the older madam grew lonely, and she began to coax Melinda to go out shopping with her, or dine at restaurants.

This was one of those days, and they were in the living room this time, with Melinda huddled over at the couch with a couple of the company’s folders.

"Mom," Jonas was telling his mother. "Don’t pester her so much. You’ll find it very difficult to make her go outdoors in the winter, I’m telling you."

At the couch, Melinda nodded eagerly in agreement. Even now she was swaddled in a makeshift blanket burrito. All she really wanted to do during winter was sleep all day at home. "Oh, all right," Queena huffed. "But she’s better off here than in the office. And you need to come home more often, too, even if only for dinners! I will have William supervise you."

Queena was sure that if Melinda wasn’t around, Emily would not pass up the opportunity to pounce at her son, and that last bit of instruction was her way of making sure Emily didn’t get any chances. She beamed then, quite proud of her quick thinking. Jonas guessed her thoughts so easily, and he immediately agreed, chuckling softly to himself.

Queena kept on with her mock lamentations. "Oh, goodness. Mellie has been taking good care of you for such a long time. She deserves a long, languid break. Like, say, a weekend at a hot spring resort in the mountains." She gave her son a pointed look as she let her words drift off, and Jonas quickly took the hint. He cleared his throat and masked his own eagerness at the idea.

"All right, all right," he said impatiently as he rolled his eyes. "Is there anything else you wanted, Mom? Because if there isn’t, then I’d like to go upstairs now and get some rest."

"Is that the tone you should be using when you talk to your Mom? It’s really true what they say, that sons are never grateful or cute!"

Queena walked over and sat beside Melinda. She threw her hands around the younger woman, blanket and all, and squeezed. "Having a daughter is so much better."

"Mom," Melinda said as she returned the embrace. "I’ll be your darling child from now on. Forget about such an ungrateful son." Then she deliberately shot her husband an irritated look.

Jonas laughed heartily at their display, and shook his head as he walked upstairs to their bedroom.

He was mentally going over the plans for the hot spring even as he loosened his tie, and in a matter of moments, he was firing rapid instructions at William over the phone.