Howard was a talkative person, especially when it came to his two sons. He didn't have a good
relationship with either of them, so he would talk at length to diffuse the awkward atmosphere.
One of his sons was Bill, the child he had with his ex-wife. Bill had been taken abroad at a young age
by her, so Howard hadn't had much contact with him. However, she had brought him up well, so even
though Howard rarely talked to him, Bill had grown up to be an obedient son.
On the other hand, his current wife's son, Mark, whom he treated like his own son, treated him like an
enemy.
No matter how well Howard treated Mark, the letter always kept a distance from him.
In spite of this, he was still partial to his stepson.
Although he did pity Bill sometimes, he had already grown up well past the age of needing someone to
rely on.
So, Howard wasn't too worried about Bill and had decided to just let nature take its course.
But he also felt that he should take this opportunity to show his affection to Bill, which he had seldom
done.
After all, they had barely even spent any time together.
Howard felt like he could mend their relationship by doing that, but in fact, he was just doing it to
comfort himself.
There was no gratitude in Bill's mind for his father's sudden affection to him. On the contrary, he felt
very uncomfortable.
However, he had been taught from a young age to respect elders, so he carefully concealed the
impatience that he felt and didn't let it show on his face.
This was the very reason that he had tried to signal Andy to divert Howard's attention to Rachel.
However, Andy had misunderstood him and took her outside instead, leaving him all alone with his
father.
His father was still rambling to him non-stop.
Bill really didn't want to hear all these unnecessary words from his father, but he had no choice.
'Well, if I'm forced to listen to this bullshit, I might as well make myself comfortable first,' he thought.
With a wave of his hand, he invited his father to sit down with him.
Howard sat down on a nearby chair. It was only then that he realized that Rachel and Andy had left the
room.
After hesitating for a while, he continued his conversation with Bill without asking where Rachel and
Andy had gone.
For Bill, his father's show of affection was too much to bear. After a short while, he stood up to make
some tea.
He dawdled next to the teapot for a while before slowly walking over with two cups of hot tea. Howard
took one of the cups from his son and gave him a pleased look.
The expression in his eyes disgusted Bill. Fortunately, for the next few minutes, Howard was too busy
drinking tea to continue rambling on.
With his head down, Bill fiddled with his cellphone. He looked at the time and realized that eleven
minutes and eight seconds had passed since his father had begun talking to him.
'When is he going to leave?' he wondered impatiently.
He was still trying to come up with a way to make his father leave when the latter suddenly asked, "Bill,
do you have a girlfriend?"
Bill, who had just taken a sip of tea, choked and coughed violently after hearing his father's question.
Howard instantly stood up and patted him on the back. "What's wrong? Why didn't you drink it slowly?"
Bill hadn't meant to choke on his tea, but he was glad that he had somehow distracted his father from
that nonsensical conversation.
Just then, Howard's mobile phone rang, and he walked outside to answer it.
Bill was still holding the table, coughing intermittently as he tried to catch his breath.
The walls in this hospital were thin,
so Rachel and Andy, who were in the lounge, had actually heard the father and son's conversation,
including the last part which had made Bill go into a coughing fit.
Rachel had just randomly picked a chair and sat down, but Andy had cautiously moved a chair close to
the door and sat there.
Then, leaning against the door, he had quietly eavesdropped on the conversation between Howard and
Bill.
His cute actions amused Rachel to no end.
Especially after hearing Howard's question and Bill's cough,
Andy had almost burst out into laughter.
But in the end, he had controlled himself and just beamed at Rachel with wrinkled eyes.
Then, he pointed to the ward and shook his head as if to make fun of Bill.
Rachel had immediately recalled what Andy had said the day before —that Bill was still single.
She couldn't help thinking that he was an unusual old man.
It was not until Howard left the ward to answer the phone that Andy opened the door and walked in with
a smile on his face.
Rachel followed him too.
Bill finally stopped coughing when he saw Andy coming towards him with a wicked grin.
He already knew what Andy was laughing at, but before he could grumble about it, Andy said, "I guess
he's not bad. He's concerned about your marriage at least."
'Is this how all old people are? Always nagging, matchmaking, and so on,' Bill thought glumly.
He was about to respond, but when he saw Rachel behind Andy, he swallowed his words at once.
Then, he just waved his hand at Andy as if he didn't want to bother with a response. After his coughing
fit, his handsome face turned completely red on top of the red spots that he already had.
Feeling self-conscious again, he stood up. "I'm going to wash my hands." It was the first excuse he
could think of.
Andy couldn't help thinking that maybe the washroom was too clean; after all, Bill always went there to
hide.
A few moments later, Howard returned to the ward. He looked around and asked casually, "Where is
he?"
"Washroom," Andy replied indifferently.
Howard cleared his throat and held up the phone in his hand. He seemed to be a little embarrassed as
he said, "Andy, I have something to deal with back at home. I have to go now. Please take care of Bill
for me."
Andy smiled slightly. "I have always been taking care of him. You don't need to worry about it."
The look on Howard's face froze for a second, but he quickly recovered and nodded. "Thank you."
Andy responded with a light snort.
Rachel, who was listening to the whole conversation, really admired the way the old man treated
people he disliked.
After he finished talking to Andy, Howard turned to Rachel and said, "Mrs. Fu, you left your belongings
in my house last night. My driver has just arrived. Would you like to come down with me to get your
things, or should I ask the driver to bring them up?"
Rachel thought that it was time for her to leave. There was no need for her to linger here anymore.
Was it really necessary for her to wait here for their thanks? So, she nodded happily and said, "I'll come
with you."
Then, she turned to Andy. "I'm leaving. See you."
Andy opened his mouth to say something but hesitated. He turned around and looked in the direction
of the washroom, wanting to call Bill to say goodbye to Rachel.
Besides, he had intended to treat this kind girl to a meal.
However, this was neither the right time nor place to do so, and there was no reason to keep her here.
When Rachel saw Andy look at the washroom, she immediately knew what he must be thinking.
But she really didn't need this grand show of gratitude. All she had done was casually help them in her
capacity as a doctor. Besides, Andy had also helped her.
Andy sighed. "Okay. After Bill fully recovers..."
Rachel interrupted him and said in a low voice, "You really don't have to be so polite. I know what
you're thinking. I'm really moved. We're friends, so you don't have to be so formal."
Hearing this, Andy smiled warmly at her.
After saying goodbye to him, Rachel went downstairs with Howard.
Howard didn't know much about this woman whom Jack had only publicly introduced recently.
However, he had seen Jack and Celine together several times in the past.
He had always recognized the difference in their appearance and temperament, but apart from there,
he had never concerned himself with the gossip surrounding Jack.
In his circle, there were all kinds of gossip, which was normal for rich and powerful people.
If not for the banquet the day before, Howard wouldn't have given a second thought to Jack and all this
gossip.
But the problem was that two incidents had happened on his turf yesterday.
One, a guest had stabbed someone at the banquet.
Two, another guest had saved his son, who was also his benefactor.
And the funny thing was that both these guests had something in common —Jack.
Howard felt that Jack had put him in a predicament.
After all, he had to show his gratitude to Jack's wife since she had helped his son, but at the same
time, he needed to deal with the trouble that Jack's ex-girlfriend had caused.
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