The Year She Stopped Being Crazy for Him novel Chapter 55

"Alright." Yvonne hung up and looked at Natalie. "See? He still cares about you. If there's an issue, just talk it out."

She lowered her eyes, ultimately saying nothing.

Natalie and her grandmother headed straight for the hospital.

Grandpa Lemuel lay quietly in the hospital bed, his face a pale, ashen gray. His lips were dry and white, his eyelids drooped loosely, and faint wrinkles gathered at the corners of his eyes. Even his breathing was so shallow that the rise and fall of his chest was barely perceptible. Only the faint puff of air from his nose proved he was still alive.

The moment Yvonne stepped into the room, tears slipped down her face. She stumbled forward, barely catching herself on the edge of the bed.

Natalie rushed to support her. "Grandma, don't worry. The doctor said he still has a chance to recover."

Even though that chance was statistically negligible, some hope was better than none.

Yvonne shook her head, her eyes red. "How did it come to this? I fell ill, and now my old man is down too. What a sin. To throw away the gratitude of being raised... it's all his fault!"

Thinking of what happened that day made Natalie's heart ache with fury too. "Grandma, I've already filed a police report. It's going through the system now."

"My old man and I always treated our children equally, but in his eyes, we were playing favorites. For a child to turn out like this... it's because I failed to raise him right."

Natalie hugged her tightly. "Grandma, you did the best you could."

She wiped her tears. "Are you handling everything here by yourself? Did you call your aunt Tilda?"

"She's busy with work, so I didn't tell her." Natalie omitted the fact that her aunt had hung up on her multiple times.

"That won't do. You can't deal with all this alone. Absolutely not," Yvonne said, reaching for her phone.

Figuring her aunt had a right to know, Natalie didn't stop her.

But the call went unanswered.

Natalie spoke up, "She's swamped. Her phone is probably on silent."

Yvonne sighed. "This is too hard on you, sweetheart. I'll try her again later."

Natalie hung up immediately, her breathing heavy.

Yvonne frowned. "Who is Gardenia?"

Natalie forced a smile. "I don't know. Probably just a coworker."

Satisfied with the answer, Yvonne didn't press further.

...

On the drive back from the hospital, Natalie opened a news app and caught a live report regarding the Research and Technology Expo.

It turned out Hassan wasn't lying—Gardenia's robot really had been sabotaged. The culprit was caught on the spot and immediately gave up the mastermind.

Shockingly, the mastermind was a highly respected figure in the tech community. If this person wasn't disqualified, they would have been the clear favorite to win the popular vote.

Natalie stared at the article, frowning. Something felt off.