Dennis looked at me and remained silent for a long time. The light in the ward was too bright and it hurt my eyes. So | closed my eyes.
| straightly pulled the quilt and closed my eyes to stop looking at anything.
Luna and Samuel came over. They saw Dennis standing beside the hospital bed in dejection, and his whole person looked restrained and gloomy.
Looking at me on the hospital bed again, Luna said, “Why did you spit out blood? Did you find out what was wrong?”
| didn’t respond. Neither did | have the strength to speak. | wasn’t in the mood to say anything.
Dennis looked at them, his eyes were terrifyingly heavy. But he still didn’t say a word, and the long silence was on again.
In the next few days, Dennis would come and check on me at the hospital, so did Luna and Samuel. But it seemed that everyone had chosen to be in silence as if they had made a mutual agreement.
It wasn’t a serious illness, so | was discharged after three days.
Dennis picked me up and took me back to the villa.
| seemed to have gotten used to the silence. Looking at all the familiar objects in the bedroom, | suddenly felt that a third of my life had been so ridiculous.
In fact, there was almost nothing | must take with me if | left. Since | became a member of the George family, it had been Dennis who had bought and set up almost everything for me. | had brought nearly nothing with me then, except for my personal ID and the graduation certificate.
“It's getting late already now. It would not be safe for you to be out alone now. Get some rest first.” Dennis, who was following behind me, said. He then held down my hand and stopped me from packing my luggage.
| pursed my lips, pulled out my hand indifferently, and looked at him lightly, “No, I’m good. Mr. George, thank you for your kindness.”
Dennis frowned, and the gloom on his face deepened. “Clara, do you have to do this? We could have avoided this.”
| laughed, “You are right, we could have avoided this, but why did | end up this way?”
He pursed his lips, the gloom and pain on his face intertwined, “I am sorry!”
“If your apology could bring back my baby and Diana, | would be more than happy to accept it.” His apology sounded so ridiculous as if a killer with the sharp knife in his hand was trying to ease the pain for the victim with a meaningless sorry.
On a February day, it was raining lightly outside, and it was freezing cold
I took back the suitcase from Dennis’s hand.
Out of the bedroom, standing at the door of the villa, I was relieved that it was finally over.
Alex drove over. His hair was cut short. He loaded my suitcases into the car.
He looked at me, “Let’s go!”
Seeing me getting in the car, Dennis stood at the door, his eyes were deep and distant.
This farewell would be a proper goodbye.
The car drove far away, but Dennis was still standing there. Dennis's tall and slender body blurred out more and more in the icy drizzle.
“Maybe things aren’t that bad yet. You don’t need to do this.” Alex said with a warm voice.
I held the divorce agreement in my hand and smiled, “Alex, what happened, happened. But after you get hurt, even when the wounds recover, you could still feel the scars vividly like a thorn stung inside your heart and the pain could eat you alive on those lonely nights. But you wouldn’t see it from the outside until you bleed out to death.”
Was I really relieved?
From my child’s accident to learning about Diana’s death, every time I made excuses for myself. I blamed Luna for everything that had happened. I blamed her with hatred and resentment, and then, again and again, convinced myself to neglect Dennis.
Dennis was actually innocent - There was nothing he could do to save the baby. Neither did he have the chance to care about what had happened with Diana. Even when he had been taking care of Olivia, I kept on telling myself that he was just out of moral responsibility and obligation.
I was not that stingy.
In fact, all of this would be acceptable - As long as Dennis treated me well and took me to heart, I could look past all these!
But I had never thought that all of these would have started from his knowingly plotting the scheme. He knew that Luna and
Samuel were my birth parents. I didn’t resent him for not telling me about that, nor did I resent him for swapping my DNA with Olivia's.
What I couldn’t let go of was that he had known that Luna and I were biological mother and daughter, but he still had given a cold shoulder to let Luna hurt me and witness my resentment against Luna grow day by day.
Dennis could’ve set me free at the beginning. I brought up the idea of us getting a divorce. If he had agreed to divorce in the first place, I would have carried the child and gone to Hensley Town with Diana to find a peaceful place land there to have the baby.
Raising two children would only mean for the rest of my life all I might have to worry about would be money, but at least I would not be like the way I was now - My child died, and so did my best friend. Even worse, I had to carry all of these bad memories for the rest of my life.
I was at the YT Apartment.
Luis was holding Clarie Bear, and his slender body stood at the door. Seeing Alex and me, he paused for a while, and said,
“The food is almost done, let’s get ready and eat.”
After I got inside the house, Luis handed Clarie Bear to Alex and went into the kitchen.
Clarie Bear was a well-behaved baby. Looking at her, a soft spot inside my heart was touched. I reached out and held her, gently pulling her little hand to tease her.
After a while of silence, Alex looked at me and said, “What’s your plan next?”
I thought about it for a while, and then said, “I‘m going to take Clarie Bear to the HL Area.”
After a pause, I looked at him and said, “Can you call the real estate agent for me in the next two days? I would like to sell my apartment here in YT Apartment.”
He frowned, “Are you short of money?”
“No, Iam not! At that time, Diana and I each bought an apartment here, so I only need to keep one for Clarie Bear. After
Diana had sold the bar, she had a sum of money, so she spent it buying a house in Hensley Town. This way, Clarie Bear would have two sets of properties for her future life.
As for myself, I had saved up a lot from the George group over the years, adding to the money I had received when I signed with JD Technology, at least I didn’t have to worry about my future life as well.
After selling my place at the YT Apartment, I planned to go to the HL Area and find a smaller apartment to live in with Clarie
Bear.
Alex was silent for a while, then looked up at me and said, “Is there no turning back between you and Dennis?”
I smiled lightly, not knowing what to say, “I’ve been lying to myself for a long time. I have always dreamed that the baby asked me to save him, and I could even see the red mark on the child’s head clearly. I’ve been deceiving myself over and over again that there was nothing Dennis could possibly do, and he hated this for himself. But Alex, people can’t keep deceiving themselves for the rest of their lives.”
Alex pursed his lips, “What about the Lewis family, and the Kennedy family? Have you thought about them before you walk away like this?”
Clarie Bear’s hands tightened, and she was pulling me to stop me from moving.
Looking at her, I smiled involuntarily. After a pause, I looked at Alex and said, “I didn’t plan to become part of the Lewis family as their birth daughter from the beginning. And for Uncle Link, I think he will understand. As for Leo...”
After a moment of silence, I took a breath and said, “Alex, you know, Dennis and Luna were the closest at that time and Dennis must know about this. Do you think he didn’t know? He should have known that I was Luna’s daughter, and he must always know what Luna had done to me. Perhaps he might have been involved in some of the dirty work. After all, Luna and Samuel are not stupid, how could they not know that the DNA samples have been swapped.”
He pursed his lips and stopped talking.
Spring came early in Newton Town. After a few heavy showers of rain, some trees were budding.
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