“You might not have been educated much, but don’t get superstitious because of it. Ill omens don’t
exist. It’s just incapable people blaming their suffering on the people around them. You’re a good
person. If I hadn’t met you back then, I would have died. Then you saved me again last night. You’re
someone who’s given me life twice over. How could you say that you’re an ill omen? I’d be dust if it
wasn’t for you.
“As for my father, just think of it as retribution. When he was young, he was involved in quite a bit of
skullduggery. You probably don’t know about this, but do you think it was just my mother being hurt?
No, he hurt a lot of people. He’s in the state he’s in now, and even though it was caused by this
incident, you could treat it entirely as retribution for his sins. When I went to see him today, he asked
me if he could make up for it while he was still alive. He wanted me to forgive him, and see him more
now that his legs are crippled. Do you know what I thought back then?”
Elsie had been down to begin with, but hearing Wilson’s words and his mention of his father, her heart
ached.
She reflexively asked.
“What did you think?”
“I thought of the years my mother cried and suffered every day. I thought of all the people who’d been
hurt. I thought of my mother bloody on the ground, and her look of relief as she died. I only have a
twinge of pity for my father, but not a bit of filial emotion. Some damage can’t be reversed. And it’s not
that I’m supposed to turn around and forgive him just because he regrets it, and that he’s in a low state
now.
“Don’t burden yourself with this. Think about it. You saved those children. Now they won’t be tortured
anymore and they can live normal lives. That’s something you should be happy about. That’s
something you should remember.”
“I never realized you were this good at comforting people.”
Elsie couldn’t help but say that as she smiled. She always felt like Wilson was blunt with his words.
Sometimes, it made her hard to voice her troubles. But with her this depressed today, the man was
comforting her so patiently. Her mood finally lifted slowly.
“I just don’t want you to burden yourself with what happened last night and blame yourself for it. It’s
never had anything to do with you, and you were always a victim. Then you became a hero over what
happened at the orphanage. Always remember that you saved a lot of people. If people take revenge
on you over it, remember that they’re just scum. Heroes, though, or never forgotten.”
That made Elsie even happier. She hadn’t thought that what she’d done would be considered heroic by
Wilson. Her eyes reddened, and she choked up a little.
“Nobody’s ever praised me like that. I always felt like I was useless. All this time, I was thinking of
finding something I liked to do to earn money with, but I never found anything. I even felt like I was just
wasting my days away and having you all take care of me. Just a waste of space. Thank you for saying
all that to make me feel better, Wilson. Can you hold me? I want to hear your heartbeat. I think that has
to be the warmest heart in the world.”
As she said that, Elsie saw Wilson stand there unmoving, his expression complicated.
Was he refusing her again? Elsie lowered her head.
“Never mind. If you don’t want to, you can go. I want to be alone for a while.”
But then Wilson walked up and sat at Elsie’s bedside, giving her a hug.
Elsie was a bit shocked in the beginning. Then she wrapped her arms happily around the man’s chest,
placing her ears over his heart, listening to it thud.
She really did feel like it was the warmest heart in the world.
In the afternoon, Georgia and Elsie decided to take a walk in the hospital garden.
After all, it was too boring inside.
But when they took the kids out of the room, Georgia just so happened to see Aston and his parents
leaving the hospital.
She’d been dealing with too much at once recently, and hadn’t paid too much attention to what was
happening with Aston.
Anaya wasn’t here this time, and when the two sides met, they greeted each other, smiling.
This was the first time Robert saw Aston’s parents. He smiled at them and greeted them as aunt and
uncle.
Laurie and Carr were clearly mild-mannered, and their smiles at Robert were very gentle as well.
“I hadn’t thought we’d be meeting you for the first time in a place like this. Now that you’re married to
Georgia, you count as family with us Powells, so you’re going to have to come for a formal introduction
at a meal sometime.”
At Carr’s words, Robert nodded. Laurie spoke up.
“We’ve seen some of what’s happened online, and we were supposed to come visit you yesterday, but
there was some business we got mired in. Do you need the Powell family’s help, Georgia, Robert? The
way I see it, someone’s targeting the two of you.”
Georgia hurriedly shook her head, smiling.
“We’ve found who’s behind this already, and it’s not too difficult to deal with them. But we’ve only just
cleared it up, and it’ll take some time to teach them a lesson.”
At Georgia’s words, Laurie and Carr relaxed.
Aston, though, turned to Georgia, his mouth running.
“There’s been all sorts of things that happened to you after you came back from overseas. Are you
going to quit working at MU? Going to live as a rich wife instead and get hurt time and time again, then
mocked nline for it?”
As Aston said that, Georgia jolted in surprise first.
Laurie was already warning him at his side.
“What are you talking about? Is this stuff you’re supposed to say?”
Robert didn’t look too pleased. Last time they saw Aston, he’d already felt that this man’s words were a
bit barbed. Now it seemed like he was getting worse.
Seeing that Robert was about to speak, Georgia tugged his hand hastily, then shot a mild smile at
Aston.
“I really don’t think you’re being very mature, Aston. Everyone comes across difficulties in their life. If it
was just for you, you just got abandoned by your girlfriend. You have no idea how much I’ve been
through. I’ll continue with my dream, of course, but sometimes, some things are more important than
dreams.
“If, shallowly, you think that I’m enjoying my life as a rich kept woman and planning on giving up on my
dreams – if the year that we’ve known each other is enough for you to speculate about me like this, I
feel like there’s some things I don’t need to explain to you. Go back and rest. I hope that when you
return to work, you’d stop starving yourself, going without sleep, and otherwise abusing your body. At
the very least, when you’re sad over a woman, think about how sad your parents feel when you’re sick.
“Are you proud of being hurt over a woman? Taking care of the people around you and not letting them
worry is what’s really worthy of respect.”
return to work, you'd stop starving yourself, going without sleep, and otherwise abusing your body. At
the very least, when you're sad over a woman, think about how sad your parents feel when you're sick.
“Are you proud of being hurt over a woman? Taking care of the people around you and not letting them
worry is what's really worthy of respect.”
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