I smiled slightly before taking out some money from my wallet and stuffing it into her hands. “This is enough for them to stay here for some time. The extra cash is for you to help me take good care of them. You’ll get more next time.”
As soon as the woman received the money, her smiled was so wide that her entire face scrunched up, as she continuously nodded and said some nice, reassuring words.
Since I had taken out all the cash I had on me, I looked at Ashton. He smiled back at me helplessly as he retrieved his wallet from his blazer and passed it to me.
I smiled at him before opening his wallet to take out all his cash, then handed it to Sasha’s mother. “Mrs. Brooks, take this money first. We’ll be back to visit you sometime later. Just give me a call if you need anything else.”
She repeatedly declined, “I can’t take this money. You’ve already been kind by paying the rent for us, so we can’t take any more money from you. Please take it back, Mrs. Fuller.”
I shook my head and replied, “Just take it. The two of you can use it to live well here. I’ll only feel better if you accept the money. Otherwise, I won’t feel at ease. Just take it and live a better life with Mr. Brooks. Don’t worry; things will definitely get better in the future.”
Looking at the tears on her face constantly flowing down, I did not know what else to say. I merely said some kind words to her before I left with Ashton.
When we were back in the car, I could not help but let out a sigh.
Ashton looked at his watch, then to me. “What do you want to eat?”
If he had not reminded me, I had almost forgotten that we had not eaten anything since morning. Thinking about it, I could not help but look back into the dark path.
Ashton seemed to know what I was thinking, for he said, “Don’t worry, I’ve already gotten someone to send over some food. Just put everything aside for now and think about what you want to eat.”
After some time, I replied, “Let’s go get and have stew. It’s already quite late, so let’s eat somewhere nearby.”
His smile carried a hint of helplessness as he squeezed my cheeks. “After busying around the whole day, do you even remember what you originally intended to do today?”
I nodded. “Let’s go to the hospital when we have time. There’s no need to rush these few days.”
He gave me a light kiss on the cheek and replied in a helpless, pampering tone, “Let’s grab a bite then!”
Ashton was busy for most of the following days. As it was November, Fuller Corporation had to prepare a quarterly business report and plan for next year’s developments. Resultantly, he left early for work and returned home late almost every day.
Although I no longer worked at Murphy Corporation, the resignation procedure still had to be handled accordingly. I had originally wanted to have dinner with Nora, but when I was finally done with my work and gave her a call, she said that she had already gone to A City.
I could tell that Nora had something she wanted to say, but she did not want to talk about it over the phone. As for Louis, since nothing was found, they had let him go.
As Louis was getting old, he liked to be in lively atmospheres. Thus, after he came out, he kept calling us over for a meal.
Soon, it was Friday afternoon.
John and I had agreed to go to Stovall Residence for a meal. I had originally wanted to ask him about the situation with Hannah, but since he seemed reluctant to talk about it, I did not probe any further.
I got myself ready and changed into some warm clothes at home. I then headed over to Fuller Corporation, planning to go to Stovall Residence with Ashton.
After I parked in the underground parking lot, I gave Ashton a call. However, even after a few calls, he still did not answer any of them. Since he was probably busy, I stopped calling after that and flipped through my phone while waiting in the car.
Just then, my phone vibrated and a notification popped up about a new message on WhatsApp. I was stunned as I looked at the message. It was from Hailey.
For a moment, I could not remember who she was. Then, when I eventually remembered her, I clicked open the message. It read: Hi Scar, I’m Hailey.
Scar? I was taken aback. No one had ever called me that before, so I was not used to it.
I texted back: Hello, nice to meet you.
She seemed to be just as bad at socializing as I was because she immediately got to the point and replied: When will you come over to A City? I want to have a chat with you.
I hesitated for a while as I pondered. I had no time to go to A City recently. I replied: I don’t know yet. What’s up? Did something happen?
She only gave a one-word reply before she stopped responding to me. She texted: No!
Although Hailey and I had only met once, fate was a difficult thing to predict. The impression she had given me back then was that of a gloomy, cold person. However, it was weird because I was neither scared of her nor did I dislike her. To some extent, at least she was quite a truthful person.
Bam! As soon as I heard the sound of a car door closing, I put away my phone and looked out the car. Ashton was helping a young girl out of his car.
They both looked injured. The girl seemed to have passed out, and her condition looked quite serious. Meanwhile, Ashton was covered with dust, and there was a scratch on one side of his face.
