For the next couple of days, Clarissa brought Catherine on a city tour as planned. They couldn’t really do much due to Catherine’s physical condition, so Clarissa could only bring her for walks at places with beautiful sceneries.
As the weather was extremely cold in D City, they would only spend the morning outdoors and the rest of the day resting at home.
Matthew was busy most of the time, but he would still find time to take a walk with Catherine or at least have dinner with her, much to her satisfaction.
Maybe dating Clary has changed him and made him a much more caring and responsible man… I suppose I don’t have to worry about her after all…
After that, Catherine then spent a few more days resting and catching up with Clarissa.
At the same time, Ellie had heard about Catherine’s visit and dropped by to hang out with her as well.
While the three of them were having a chat at Zen Highlands, Catherine even showed them how to square dance and got Julia to join in.
Just as they were having a great time, Catherine’s phone rang, and she excused herself to take the call.
Thinking it was probably an old friend calling to check in on her, she answered it happily, only to have her smile disappear a few seconds into the call.
“No, I’m not going! Just go back the way you came! You guys aren’t children anymore, okay? Why don’t you ever think before you act? I said, no…”
“What’s wrong, Grandma?” Clarissa asked.
Catherine gave her a reassuring look as she continued, “You guys did this to yourselves. Don’t ever call me again!”
She hung up the phone after that and seemed to be in a bad mood.
Ellie and Clarissa exchanged glances, and the latter was quick to ask, “Grandma… Was that Aunt Gloria?” Only Aunt Gloria would be able to upset Grandma this much!
Catherine let out a deep sigh and looked at her. “I bet they’re up to no good again. Let’s just ignore them and carry on with the dance!”
“What did they say, Grandma?” Clarissa asked anyway.
Catherine hesitated for a bit before saying, “They’ve just arrived at the train station in D City, and they want you to go pick them up because they haven’t found a place to stay.”
Noticing the sneer on Clarissa’s face, Catherine quickly added, “Forget about them, Clare. I’ve told Gloria that she is no longer my daughter, so they’re on their own now. Besides, they’re not kids anymore. They can just find themselves a room in a hotel or something. Come on. Let’s just get back to our dance!”
The four of them then carried on with the square dance, leaving Gloria and her husband cursing angrily as they made their way through the crowd at the station.
“How could Mom be so cruel to us after all I’ve told her? I bet that b*tch Clarissa must’ve said something to her! She’s just as annoying as her mother!”
Jacob frowned impatiently. “That’s enough, Gloria. Ranting about it won’t help. Let’s just go see Mimi for now.”
“Mimi? That little sh*t refused to see us the moment she heard we were coming! Said she didn’t want us embarrassing her! What’s the point in going to her?”
“Damn it! How dare she do that to us after all the money I’ve spent on providing her with the best?” Jacob shouted angrily.
“Don’t say that, Honey… Mimi told me that her friends are all very rich, so we’d just embarrass her if we were to go see her. You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you? This is all Clarissa’s fault, not Mimi’s. That ungrateful b*tch… She’s forgotten about everything I did for her…” Gloria said as she and Jacob made their way out of the station.
They eventually found themselves a room in a nearby hotel. After unpacking, they gave Mimi a call and met up with her later that day.
It wasn’t until they saw her appear in a pretty dress that they felt a slight relief.
“Oh, my god! You look so pretty, Mimi! Moving to a big city really does wonders for you!”
Mimi smiled smugly. “Mom, Dad, have you guys visited Clarissa?”
Gloria got mad the moment she heard that and began ranting about Clarissa all over again.
My parents are so useless… And here I was, hoping to meet her and that rich fiancé of hers… Mimi thought to herself after listening to what Gloria said.
“Didn’t I tell you two to go after Grandma? She’s soft-hearted, so she’s bound to help you out with a bit of crying here and there!”
“I did! Have you forgotten how many times I’ve cried in front of her? Heck, I even prepared a bunch of gifts for her, but that didn’t work either! That b*tch Clarissa must’ve brainwashed her or something!”
“Grandma must be staying with her at that Tyson guy’s place right now… I can’t believe you two came all the way here only to stay in some cheap hotel room! You guys are so useless!”
Gloria hung her head in shame from how lowly her daughter thought of her.
“You got a better idea?” Jacob asked.
“Well… Mom isn’t feeling well, right? Go see a doctor at the hospital or something. I’m sure Grandma will soften up when she finds out that her daughter is sick!” Mimi said after giving it some thought.
“Yes, that’s a great idea! I’ve been having a really bad stomachache lately, so we could use this opportunity to get it checked out!”
The three of them headed over to the hospital the next day for a simple check-up, only to find out that Gloria had uterine fibroid.
Gloria was so shocked by the news that she nearly fainted on the spot. Mimi however, felt somewhat happy as she skimmed through the medical report. A tumor in the uterus is quite a big deal! There’s no way Grandma wouldn’t be softhearted now! On top of that, this is all real, so we don’t need to falsify anything to make them come over! This time, I won’t let Clarissa and that rich man of hers get away!
With that in mind, Mimi gave Catherine a call and just kept crying until Catherine asked her what happened. She then told Catherine all about Gloria’s tumor as well as the hospital they were in.
Catherine was indeed shaken up by the news and rushed over to the hospital with Clarissa.
Although skeptical, Clarissa chose to keep her thoughts to herself. We’ll find out if they’re telling the truth when we get there…
It took Gloria quite some time to calm down, even after the doctor had reassured her that the surgery was low-risk and had a high recovery rate.
The doctor then pulled Jacob aside and told him about the potential risks and the need for further examinations before the surgery.
However, when Catherine and Clarissa arrived, Mimi broke down in tears as she told them what the doctor said in a much more exaggerated manner.
Catherine felt her heart ache at the thought of her possibly losing her daughter after having lost her son.
Clarissa, on the other hand, was completely calm as she asked Mimi, “So, you said it was a tumor? What kind of tumor is it? Where’s her medical report? What did the doctor say?”
Mimi knew there was no hiding it from Clarissa, but that didn’t matter as she came anyway.
She showed Clarissa the medical report and continued crying towards Catherine, “The doctor said she needs surgery, but we can’t get her a ward as the hospital is short of beds at the moment. They would only let us use this bed in the corridor because Mom fainted from the pain earlier. What do we do now, Grandma?”
“Don’t be afraid, Mimi. I’m sure your mom will be fine.”
Catherine then turned towards Clarissa and asked, “What do you think, Clare? Should we get her treated back at W City?”
“We can’t do that, Grandma! The doctors over there aren’t as good as the ones in D City! If something goes wrong with the surgery, my mom would…”
“Enough with the crying already!” Clarissa shouted coldly at Mimi.
“You’ll help Mom, won’t you? I know we have our differences and all, but her life is at stake here! Please help us, I’m begging you!” Mimi begged her with a pitiful look in her eyes.
Clarissa frowned. “We’ll arrange for her to stay in the hospital for the time being. Come on, let’s go check with the staff at the counter. There’s no way they wouldn’t let her be hospitalized. Grandma, you wait here with Aunt Gloria.”
She then dragged Mimi along with her to clarify with the counter staff. Although Mimi had lied about the hospital being short of beds, that turned out to actually be the case and would take a few days before they could try to free up a bed. With the situation being in her favor, Mimi simply continued to cry helplessly while waiting for Clarissa’s response.
Right that moment, Clarissa couldn’t care less if she was putting up an act, as Gloria was indeed proven to be sick.
“Mimi, go back and keep Aunt Gloria company. I’ll see if I can work something out.”
Mimi nodded and did as told.
After she left, Clarissa then let out a deep sigh as she called Matthew for help.
By the time she got off the phone and rejoined the group, they had already finished the hospitalization procedures and transferred Gloria into a ward with three other patients in it.
The doctor then explained once more to everyone about the low-risk surgery and high recovery rate, which helped relieve the tension significantly.
“Thank you, Clare…” Mimi said all of a sudden in a seemingly sincere manner.
Gloria chimed in as well, “Yes… Thank you so much, Clary…”
“That’s right! This is all possible thanks to Clary!” Catherine said gratefully.
“We should be thanking her fiancé too, remember?” Mimi added.
Hmm… She does sound like she genuinely wants to thank him… Clarissa glared at Mimi as she thought to herself.
