Michael’s ebony eyes were fixated on me, his gaze glinting with barely banked fury. Seeing that, I knew that he was on the verge of blowing his top.
“You’re the only one who knows whether you’re a libertine, and that has nothing to do with me.”
Hastily averting my gaze, I screwed my eyes shut after saying that and feigned sleep because I didn’t want to debate that matter with him anymore.
Despite my closed eyes, I could sense that Michael’s gaze remained pinned on me. Nonetheless, I didn’t dare open my eyes and could only pray that he would go to sleep quickly.
A long time passed before he finally shifted his gaze away and closed his eyes to sleep. Perhaps it was because I had angered him earlier that he slept with his back to me without touching me.
While a sliver of distress slithered into me, I felt that it was a good thing at the end of the day. After all, it was far better than being thoroughly ravished by the man.
In the next few days, Michael was rather cold to me. To top it off, he hadn’t been to Birchwood in two consecutive days, making me wonder whether he had gone to the other woman’s place.
It was presently late at night, and it was the third day he had been absent. I was at sixes and sevens, held captive by the dread that he had truly gone to seek other the other woman.
I wanted to phone him, yet I dared not do so. Instead, I agonized over the matter all alone.
Argh! This is so frustrating!
Just when I had finally snapped and started pacing in the living room, my cell phone rang out of the blue. I swiftly snagged it up in hopes that it was a call from Michael.
But when I glimpsed the caller ID, dejection settled in because it was a call from my mother. On second thought, thrill flooded me.
“Mom, you’re finally giving me a call!”
Ever since Steven’s incident, she had never once phoned me. And every time I did so, she always rejected the call. Hence, I was over the moon when she suddenly rang me up right then.
“Are you free now? If you’re not tired, come over and help to take care of your brother. Your father and I are both up in years, so we can’t overtax ourselves.”
On the other end of the phone, my mother’s voice was still a touch frosty, but it was already a great improvement from before. Elated, I promptly replied, “Sure! I’ll go over right away!”
Even after hanging up the phone, I was still feeling very much excited. Striding to the hallway, I grabbed my jacket and left in a hurry.
I hailed a taxi to the hospital. It was very late by the time I arrived at the hospital, so a deathly silence hung in the corridors. My mother was sitting at the head of the hospital bed when I reached Steven’s ward, wiping his face with a towel.
“I’m here, Mom,” I greeted cautiously after walking over to my mother.
Trepidation gripped me that she would again treat me to a frigid expression as she did a few days ago.
Upon hearing my voice, my parents’ eyes alighted on me in concert. After Stevens’s incident, uneasiness consumed me whenever I was confronted with their gazes.
After casting me a placid glance, my mother expressionlessly handed the towel to me and ordered, “Since you’re here, come and wipe your brother’s face.”
Her reaction surprised me, but I was inwardly glad. While she was apathetic toward me, she no longer flew into a rage the moment she saw me.
Taking the towel from her, I sat down in front of Steven and carefully wiped his face.
“Aren’t you tired to come over to the hospital at this hour after having worked the entire day?” Steven queried.
The look in his eyes as he stared at me was detached, but his animosity of the past was gone.
“Nope. My weariness doesn’t matter as long as you recover speedily.”
It was the first time my family was ever so amiable to me. To that end, I actually felt a tad perturbed and uneasy. Their drastic change of attitude was so sudden that I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was amiss.
“Just visiting Stevie today is sufficient. You should go back earlier to rest. During the weekend, you can come over and help to take care of him.”
My mother then came up behind me. It was the first time she ever showed concern for me.
Surprised, I jerked my head back to gape at her as I wondered whether I had misheard her. Is she really showing concern for me? And is she really not going to push all the blame on me anymore?
All these years, I had only ever heard grumbles and reprisals from her. For that reason, I was both jubilant and incredulous upon hearing such regard all of a sudden.
“I’m not tired. You must be tired after taking care of Stevie in the hospital for so many days. How about you find a place and rest for a bit? I’ll take care of him tonight.”
My mother had begun showing regard for me, so it was good news to me. As I clocked her haggard face of late, my heart clenched.
Just when she was about to reply, the door to the ward was abruptly pushed open. I thought it would surely be a nurse who was here making her rounds considering the late hour, but my expression instantly froze upon glimpsing the person who came in.
Michael? Why is he here? And why would he come to Steven’s ward?
“Mr. Shaw.”
The instant Michael appeared, my mother immediately greeted him with a smile, hurrying over to him with a fawning expression on her face.
Shock besieged me when I saw that she was acquainted with Michael. It was his secretary who came on his behalf back when he gave my family money then, so I couldn’t figure out how she would know him. As such, I grew all the more bewildered.
“How do you know Michael, Mom?” I stared at my mother and asked in puzzlement, snapping back to my senses after a long moment.
“Anna, I didn’t know that you’re acquainted with such an affluent friend like Mr. Shaw. He came to the hospital today and told me that he’ll bear your brother’s hospital bill and also help him find the best physiotherapist.”
While saying that, my mother’s eyes shone as her smile grew even wider.
It wasn’t until after I had heard that did the puzzle slot together. I finally realized that my family’s radical change of attitude toward me was all because of Michael.
At the end of the day, it was because Michael was my friend and only offered to help my brother financially for my sake. Ultimately, my parents only cared about Steven and were amiable to me to secure the funding for his subsequent treatment.
My eyes turned red, and my heart twisted in agony. If that’s truly the reason, then I’d rather that she’d never changed her attitude toward me!
“Mom, is that why you changed your attitude toward me?”
I regarded my mother with tears shimmering in my ears. Inwardly, I still harbored a glimmer of hope, hoping against hope that she truly cared about me instead of it all because of my brother.
“Well, you wanted me to treat you better, no? Why are you so fixated on the reason when you’ve now gotten your wish?”
Confronted by my scrutiny, my mother’s gaze became shifty. She didn’t answer my question directly, but the meaning of her words was plain as day.
