"How is that possible?" Nearly finished with her dinner, Rachel put down her chopsticks and stared at
the other woman. "Celia's still young. Besides, she doesn't know me very well. You've known me for
many years, and you already know what kind of person I am."
"I know that you are not angry," Lea replied. "Go to the hospital tomorrow and have a good talk with
her. I guess she has been feeling down these past two days. After all, one cannot choose their family."
Lea felt a little sad about the situation, but she took note of Rachel's strange reaction. She had her
head bent down, so her expression was hidden, and she didn't say anything.
Lea was about to ask her when Henry's ringtone played on her mobile. As it turned out, Rita wanted to
sleep but was looking for her mother. She refused to sleep regardless of Henry's powers of persuasion.
Now, she was crying so hard that her voice was almost hoarse.
After all, her daughter was her priority, so Lea had to give up the topic. She hurriedly picked up her bag
and said on her way out, "Remember to talk to Celia."
Rachel thought that it was not that simple.
To her, it seemed like the leak of information was not accidental, but was done on purpose. If the leak
originated from someone who had overheard something and spread it through the grapevine, then
there was nothing to worry about.
The thing was, she was afraid that it was the Ji family who did this.
Their intent was apparent—they wanted to warn Celia and let her know she could never enter the Ji
family. At the same time, they wanted to completely sever the relationship between the Xu family and
the Fu family.
Rachel couldn't keep the shiver that traveled down her spine.
The next day, the first thing Rachel saw when she entered her office that morning was a gift box on her
desk with a card on it.
She opened the box and saw an apology note with a hand-draw cartoon character bent at the waist in
apology. Although the note did not contain the name of the sender, she knew from a single glance who
sent it.
There was a pot of cactus inside the gift box, the type of plant that people usually just placed on their
desks without any nurturing necessary. Looking at the two items, Rachel smiled. She glanced toward
the nurse station outside the door and found Celia, who was patiently guiding a patient's family.
Time always passed very fast whenever Rachel was busy. After looking over half of a long report in one
sitting, she stretched her arms over her head and got up to pour herself a cup of coffee before
continuing. Suddenly, the office door was opened from the outside, and Celia stepped in with a
steaming cup of fragrant coffee in her hand. With a pleasant smile, she held out the cup toward Rachel
and said, "I thought you might need coffee. Enjoy."
"You're not angry anymore?" Rachel didn't take the cup on purpose. She crossed her arms over her
chest and looked at Celia indifferently.
Celia smiled awkwardly and blushed. "That time, I misunderstood you and got mad. Rachel, I know you
should be mad at me, but please don't be."
Rachel slowly reached out to take the cup and took a sip. "This is really good," she praised. She gave a
small smile to Celia. "I'm not angry anymore. You can go back to work now."
In life, quarrels and misunderstandings were inevitable. Granted, it would make people feel miserable,
but once the misunderstandings were cleared up, the sense of joy that they usually got was
unparalleled, making people feel like life favored them, after all. Rachel felt that way at that moment.
With a renewed burst of energy, she went back to her work, which was starting to become tedious
earlier.
However, her good mood dimmed somewhat when she thought of Jonathan's words about what the Ji
family was capable of doing. The distance between her and Celia was more or less widened.
The setting sun was gradually disappearing over the horizon. Celia thought about how Rachel turned
her down when she asked her to join her for dinner.
She wondered if Rachel hadn't forgiven her yet. If she had forgiven her, wouldn't it be better for her to
have company for dinner, as Jack was away on a business trip?
Unconsciously, she picked up her rice bowl and started dumping the contents on the table using her
chopsticks.
Seated across the table from her, Bertha glared at her angrily, slammed her chopsticks on the table,
and yelled, "Don't waste food if you're not going to eat it!"
Celia paused for a moment and then resumed what she was doing. She replied in an indifferent voice,
"I've paid the living expenses."
Bertha sneered, "So? You think you're a big shot now? In the end, you've been jilted. God knows how
many years you will have to stay here."
Celia raised her head and glared at her, "What did you say?"
Bertha said, "Are you playing dumb? Today, my friend told me that that rich boyfriend of yours who
supposedly fell in love with you was just stringing you along. He has a fiancee from a family of equal
social rank as his!"
Celia was slightly taken aback, but she collected herself and replied with a sneer, "That's right, our
family isn't on par with theirs."
She did not just say this to Bertha—she was also trying tell herself that somebody from a rich family
like Marcus couldn't possibly be serious about a nurse like her who came from a humble family. She
wasn't good enough for him.
Even so, she found it difficult to end their relationship.
That night, Marcus called her as expected. He told Celia that he was downstairs and asked her to
come down to see him. Celia wanted to hang up the phone, but she ended up changing out of her
sleep clothes into a decent outfit. She stood in front of the mirror for a long time before going
downstairs.
Marcus looked even more haggard than he did the last time they met.
He didn't have time to shave off the stubble on his chin. As soon as he saw her, he quickly stepped
forward and drew her close in a fierce hug. He took in a lungful of her unique scent and felt some of the
tension in his body drain out.
Celia felt some distress at his exhausted appearance. "Marcus, if you're feeling too tired, then you
probably shouldn't have come at all."
"I'm not tired,"
Marcus said firmly as he gently stroked her hair.
Rachel felt so sleepy that she almost did not feel someone push at her.
She opened her eyes and saw a familiar face.
"Rachel, are you awake?" a deep and mellow voice asked.
Turning over on her other side, Rachel mumbled, "I'm still asleep."
Today was Saturday, so she didn't have to go to work. Last night, she allowed herself to watch a movie
until two o'clock in the morning, and she had planned to sleep in until noon.
Standing by the bed, Jack stared down at Rachel, who had her hands tucked under her head and was
curled up in a fetal sleeping posture. He couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight she made.
He lowered his head and kissed her gently on the forehead. "I'm back. Can't you get up for a bit to
greet me properly?"
With her eyes closed, Rachel flung her arms carelessly around Jack's neck and blindly sought out his
lips for a kiss. Then, she fell back on the bed and went back to her sleeping position. "I'm still sleepy,"
she mumbled drowsily, "I'll greet you properly later, when I'm awake. Okay? Good boy." She was
already asleep by the time she had finished speaking.
Jack looked at her in helpless adoration.
The original plan was for him to stay for a week to deal with the business in the United States.
However, he felt that a week was too long, so he forcefully compressed all of the week's work into a
few days. Then, he left those people behind and came back ahead of time.
He hadn't slept for nearly twenty-four hours and his eyes were bloodshot. Looking at her sleeping so
soundly, he took off his clothes and lay beside her. Soon, he drifted off to sleep.
It was almost twelve o'clock at noon when Rachel woke up completely. She suddenly felt as though
Jack had returned, but she smiled self-deprecatingly when she recalled that his business in the US
would take a week. She must have missed him too much, so she had an illusion that he had already
come back.
She was about to get up when her eyes fell on Jack, who was sleeping soundly beside her. She
couldn't contain her cry of surprised delight. "You're back!"
"Yep." Jack hugged her with his eyes closed, a soft smile on his lips.
In the next instant, he rolled them over so that Rachel was pinned under his body. The tip of his nose
touched hers. Jack opened his sleepy eyes and said in a lazy voice, "You should be responsible for
waking me up."
There was a hint of romance in the air, and it was as if the sun was shy to see it and quietly hid behind
the clouds.
When everything went back to normal, Rachel looked at the man who was smoking cigarette leisurely
lying beside her and frowned. "Didn't you promise not to smoke in front of me?"
"I forgot."
Jack put out the cigarette, held her in his arms, and stroked her hair away from her face. He then asked
in a low voice, "Has anything happened recently?"
Rachel found herself shaking her head, but she thought for a while and finally told him what happened
to Marcus. She punched him on the chest and asked in a wounded voice, "Why didn't you tell me that
his father is the mayor?"
"That's not my story to tell,"
Jack replied, and his eyes darkened slightly. "He has always regretted being born to such a family. You
have no idea how much pressure he's under."
The atmosphere suddenly became a little heavy. Jack pulled on his night robe and said, "Well, don't
worry about it. I will deal with it myself."
However, before he could deal with it, the call from the Ji family came by chance.
It was Marcus's father, Larry, who called, asking to meet up with Jack to discuss something. Although
he didn't mention any details over the call, it was obvious that Larry wanted to discuss Marcus'
relationship with Celia.
After Jack ended the call, Rachel watched as he began to take out the clothes and head to the
bathroom to change. Hesitating, she stood behind him and finally said, "Jack, I'll go with you."
Jack, who was shaking out a dark suit, raised his eyebrows and asked, "What for?"
"I want to hear what he is going to say to you. What do you think? Is it okay for me to come with you?"
Rachel smiled and winked at him.
He patted her head. He had no reason to refuse her request.
The private meeting hall was located at the foot of the mountain. It was well decorated and divided into
small rooms, which offered excellent privacy to the establishment's patrons. Jack mentioned to the
concierge that he was meeting up with Larry there.
Behind Jack, Rachel walked into the innermost private room and pushed the door open. A middle-aged
man in his fifties was seated inside. The man's hair was neatly combed behind his head with hair gel. A
pair of thin glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, but the glasses failed to block the man's shrewd eyes.
He was wearing a black suit, which indicated his meticulousness and seriousness at any given
occasion.
Jack reached out his hand and smiled. "Uncle Larry, it has been a while."
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