Whispers of Destiny: His Belated Love novel Chapter 15

Rosemary was left utterly gobsmacked when she got yelled at and couldn't snap back to reality for a moment. She glanced at Pearl, who was staring at her from the hospital bed, and then turned to walk outside the ward.

"What are you on about?"

What was with this “pulling his leg” business?

Maxwell's voice was low and grave, “Where are you now?”

“At the hospital.”

She was about to say his mom was sick, but the man cut her off unceremoniously, “Rosemary, if you're gonna make excuses, at least make them believable. Just yesterday, you couldn't wait to get a divorce, and now what? What kind of monumental illness has you so weak you can’t even get out of bed? Or is this whole drama not really about the divorce, but just you playing hard to get?”

Rosemary knew she wasn't exactly the apple of Maxwell's eye, but she hadn't expected to be this low in his estimation. He didn't even have the patience to let her finish her sentence before he brutally passed judgment on her.

Taking a deep breath to suppress the heartache bubbling up inside, she said, “It's not me; it's Pearl. She's got a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit and was just rushed to the hospital.”

The man on the other end of the phone suddenly fell silent.

“You didn't know, did you?” Now it was Rosemary's turn to sneer, “Your mom's sick, and the maid only remembered to call me but never thought to inform you. In the past three years, do you have any idea how many times I’ve covered filial duties for you?”

The irony of it all was that one time, while she was at work, she got a call from Wendy saying Pearl had gone into shock. At that moment, Maxwell was giving her a hard time, and the HR department, trying to curry favor with him, was kicking her while she was down by refusing her leave. In her urgency, she just skipped work.

Later, without any regard for the facts, Maxwell reprimanded her in front of everyone, “If you can’t handle the heat, go back to being daddy’s little princess. The Templeton Group doesn’t take in trash!”

She was foolish, keeping silent to save his face, never defending herself. To this day, Rosemary remembered the contempt and disdain in the eyes of her colleagues.

Time seemed to stand still, and after who knew how long, Maxwell's indifferent voice came through, “Next time something like this happens, call me.”

Rosemary didn’t detect any softening in his tone, and even if she did, she wouldn’t have dwelt on it - she had been down the road of wishful thinking too many times.

She didn’t respond, just hung up the phone, and loitered in the hallway for a good while before going back in, not wanting Pearl to sense anything was off.

Maxwell arrived swiftly. Rosemary glanced at Pearl, now asleep on the hospital bed, looking so frail as if half her life was slipping away with each illness.

“I need to talk to you.”

Maxwell thought she was going to bring up the divorce again and frowned in irritation, “Whatever it is, we can talk later. Mom's this sick; I don't have time for your games.”

He still thought she was just playing games with him? Rosemary turned to say something but then her eyes landed on a red mark on the man’s neck.

That spot. She couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh; so blatant, still not divorced and already not bothering to cover up his tracks!

She said, “Should I just say it here then?”

Maxwell shot her a fierce glare and stormed out of the ward.

In the hallway, with her hands in her pockets, she faced the stark white wall, “The doctor wants her to have a thorough check-up.”

Maxwell frowned, “What's going on?”

“I don’t know; the doctor said they have to wait for the test results to know for sure.”