The radio host talked about the ten-year-old daughter of an old couple in Ackleton who was suffering from leukemia.
The couple had an interesting backstory. They used to have a son who was in the civil defense force but lost his life in the line of duty.
After mourning his death for a long time, the husband proposed to his devastated wife that they should have another child to assuage her grief. Thereafter, their daughter was born.
Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with leukemia just when they thought they could live out their lives peacefully.
After spending huge sums on her medical bills, the old couple was saddled with debt, and yet, they failed to gather enough funds for their daughter's hospitalization fees the next month.
On New Year's Day, they could only afford to have a simple meal at home to celebrate. It was the same spartan meal that they ate over the last year. In fact, part of it was given to them by their neighbors after the old lady begged them for some.
With tears in his eyes, the pale-looking old man said that he didn't mind being poor or not being able to afford anything. As long as their daughter could be cured, they were willing to sacrifice themselves to that end.
The radio host was a lady who spoke with a melodious voice.
After describing how the surviving family of a deceased veteran was being bogged down by their daughter's condition, she encouraged anyone who was interested in helping to get in touch.
Thereafter, she read out the old couple's address.
As Avery committed it to memory, she found the address to be oddly familiar.
She remembered passing by the area when she was making one of her rounds together with Cecelia.
At the end of the program, Avery suggested to Cayden, “Shall we give the old couple and their daughter a visit?”
Her words slightly stunned Cayden. Even though he took pity on them, he felt that were plenty of others in worse circumstances, and he couldn't help them all.
Moreover, he was a businessman who—for the sake of profit and expanding his company—had forced many other companies into bankruptcy, which was the antithesis of helping anyone. In spite of that, he had obviously donated large sums to charity organizations and for disaster recovery, but all those were for the sake of enhancing the company's corporate image.
Thus, he had never experienced anything similar to the pure sympathy Avery felt and the urge to visit the victim's family.
“Daddy, I want to visit them. The girl is really pitiful!” Rory's crisp voice rang out from the backseat, where she was hugging a beautiful Barbie Doll.
Even though she was mischievous most of the time, she had a good heart from taking after Avery.
Zachary, who was holding a tablet in his hands, stopped playing his game and added in a childish voice, “Hmm. Coincidentally, we can give the girl the monetary gift we received for the new year.”
At that moment, Avery was proud of how kind-hearted her children were.
If it weren't because they were sitting behind in their child car seats, she would have given those two angels of hers a kiss each.
Thereafter, Cayden threw the children a glance when he was surprised by how charitable they were. Given that compassion was something that he lacked, he wondered if Avery's genes were more dominant in them.
With that, Cayden drove their entire family to visit the poor old couple.
However, despite following the instructions of their GPS navigation, the address was in such an obscure place that they failed to find it. Even after driving around the entire morning, there was still no sign of that family.
Spinning the steering wheel around in resignation, Cayden suggested to Avery, “Why don't we just forget it? Sometimes, they like to make up sob stories on the radio station for the sake of entertaining their listeners.”
From his experience, Cayden knew how cruel the world could be.
He had encountered many supposedly sad stories that turned out to be no more than a scam.
Nevertheless, Avery refused to give up.
After giving it some thought, she replied, “What if the story is true? What if they can't even celebrate New Year's Day because of their sick daughter? Why don't we head over to the radio station instead? I'm sure they'll have more details about the location. I can't help but sympathize with the old couple. After having their son sacrifice his life in a fire, their daughter is now suffering from leukemia. I think we should do whatever we can for them.”
With a nod of acknowledgment, Cayden drove to the radio station.
The radio station was a small one. When its staff saw that it was none other than Ackleton's business magnate, Cayden, who wanted to make a charity donation, they anxiously gave their station manager a call.
However, Cayden quickly stopped them because he didn't want the matter to be publicized.
As for Avery, it was the first time she met employees from a radio station.
All this while, she had assumed that there were handsome men or gorgeous ladies behind the melodious voices on the radio. Unfortunately, that fantasy of hers was shattered by reality—everyone at the radio station looked ordinary.
It's clearly better for the faces behind those voices to remain a mystery.
Inside the reception room, the station manager inquired politely, “Mr. Moore, how much you like to donate together with your wife? Our station will report your charity gesture accordingly.”
Although the station manager was aware that Cayden wasn't married, he was sharp enough to discern Avery's status from the twins' facial features and the affectionate way Cayden looked at her. It was evident to him that she was the siblings' birth mother.
While in awe of how beautiful the siblings looked, the manager was intrigued by the gentle and kind-looking Avery.
Holding Avery's hand, Cayden was upset that another man was ogling at her.
He subsequently blocked the manager's line of sight and instructed calmly, “There's no need to report it. We're just trying to do some good.”
After he responded with an awkward smile, the manager didn't say another word as he led them to the old couple's house.
With someone acting as their guide, Cayden quickly located the house in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.
The three of them lived in a pigeon-hole-like attic, where a thick medicinal smell enveloped the entire space.
It had never crossed Avery's mind that a slum like this could exist in a bustling city like Ackleton. As the realization blew her mind, her heart went out to the old couple.
Both of them looked like good people from their appearance. However, their hair had all turned white even though they were only in their sixties.
As for their daughter, Sarah, she was a mischievous yet sensible girl. Although her treatment caused her to lose all her hair, she adopted a happy-go-lucky attitude toward life instead of wallowing in sorrow.
At that moment, the family was boiling a pot of soup, but there were barely any ingredients inside other than a few pieces of cabbage.
Surprised to find out that the story on the radio was true, Cayden whipped out a check for a million and handed it to the old couple.
Initially, the cheque was meant to be a monetary gift for Jacob's only son, Seamus.
Cayden then explained, “Hello, I came here after hearing your story over the radio. This money is for your child's medical fees.”
Stunned by the amount on the cheque, the old couple didn't dare accept it until Avery stuffed it into the old lady's hand.
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