"Yulia, you should shut up." Jonas glared at her. "I don't want to hear anyone talking about this,
especially if it's coming from you."
Jonas could not possibly believe that Melinda was capable of doing such a thing to his face. He had no
plans on keeping the child in the first place. He suspected that the person who was responsible for this
was Holley.
It never crossed his mind, not even once, that Holley would do such a terrible thing when she was
caught in a tight situation.
"She has killed two children but you still defend her!" Yulia growled at her brother. Eyes wide in anger,
she then turned to Melinda. "How were you able to trick both my brother and grandfather to protect you
no matter what?"
Yulia stared in surprise at Jonas. She thought he would get furious at Melinda yet it was the complete
opposite. In fact, he continued to defend the woman.
Melinda was at a loss for words as she turned to face Jonas. She did not expect him to believe her.
This made her feelings for him even more complicated all of a sudden.
Just when she thought that she was all alone and that the whole world doubted her, someone suddenly
stood by her side and firmly defended her.
Ever since Melinda realized what it really meant to be in love, she knew a fact that she felt it for this
man who was currently standing in front of her. Tears soon welled up from her eyes and started to roll
down her cheeks.
She snuffled and hastily tried to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her hand. Finally deciding
to say something since the accident happened, she slowly opened her mouth to speak.
"I didn't do it. It wasn't me," she sobbed.
"I believe you," Jonas answered back. His eyes turned soft as he looked at her.
Suddenly, he hesitantly stretched out his hand to hold her, worried at the same time that Melinda would
reject him. He seemed to be thinking twice on what he was about to do but finally mustered up the
courage to grab her hand. When Melinda held his hand in return and did not try to break free from his
grip, the corners of his mouth lifted up to a small smile as he softly breathed a sigh of relief.
"I believe you as well," Nelson said. "Mellie is a kind girl. I could not imagine her doing such a thing."
Eyes filled with pity for Melinda, the old man went downstairs along with Gavin. His demeanor suddenly
shifted as he turned to Yulia with piercing cold eyes.
He was definitely disappointed with his granddaughter's actions.
"Yulia," he addressed her in an authoritative voice, "I don't mind sending you abroad for a few years so
you could learn some proper etiquette."
Nelson's words seemed to be effective since it apparently made Yulia shut up. She did not utter a
single word after. Melinda felt a little guilty as she glanced over to Nelson. She was aware that he had
always been eager to have a great-grandchild.
"What's the matter? Why do you look so sad?" the old man asked.
As soon as Nelson reached out to her and placed a hand gently on top of her head, Melinda wasn't
able to fight the tears that once again fought to come out. She looked back at the old man with watery
eyes.
"Grandpa," she wept.
Melinda suddenly missed her grandparents. Back home, everything was simple. There were no
accusations or heartbreaks to deal with. All her grandparents did was spoil her like a little princess.
Even when she arrogantly made some mistakes or got into trouble, her grandfather was always there
to clean up the mess for her.
Then he would use his own method to educate her. Leonard was a soldier. His kindness and integrity
had a great deal of influence in Melinda.
"Don't cry, Grandpa is here," Nelson told her in a soothing voice. "If Leonard sees you like this he'll
definitely get angry at me for making his granddaughter sad. I am already old and not as strong as I
was, so help me."
Nelson's words made Melinda homesick but she quickly dried her tears. Her grandfather always told
her that it was no use to let others see you cry.
"Your tears will only cause distress to your family," he always said.
Seeing Melinda in this state made Jonas feel lost. He stood there helplessly as he watched Nelson
trying to comfort her.
"Come on, let me show you some photos of me and your grandfather back from when we joined the
army," Nelson said in an attempt to cheer her up.
Melinda decided to forget everything that just happened and quietly followed the old man to his study.
Jonas was instructed by his grandfather to return to the villa. Nelson also temporarily took away all of
Yulia's electronic devices, which caused her to throw a fit inside her room.
While showing the pictures to Melinda, Nelson smiled fondly as he remembered the old times. It was
evident that he treasured the memories he had with her grandfather during the days when they were in
the army.
"Grandpa," Melinda said and then suddenly hesitated.
"You do not need to hold back, say want you want to say," the old man urged. "If someone mistreats
you, don't think twice about telling me. I will deal with it."
Nelson noticed the hesitance in Melinda's voice as a sign of grievance. Melinda's silence made him
wish that she could act more of a child who did not hesitate to tell grownups anything.
"Grandpa, is the only reason why you treat me so well all the time because you and my grandfather are
good friends?" Melinda finally asked. "You have many other comrades just like my grandfather and
many of them have granddaughters who are much better than me," she continued.
Nelson was surprised for a moment by Melinda's words as she revealed all of her doubts. After a
moment, he started to laugh.
It was true that he had a lot of comrades in the army, but there was only one person who had devoted
his self to him and helped him a lot. The rest of them only wanted to be close to him so that they could
gain some benefit.
"Your grandfather is a person worthy of respect. I owe him my life," he told her.
Nelson then began to reminisce about the old days with sadness evident in his eyes. The memory of
the events during that year was still freshly etched on his mind. Both of them were excellent soldiers,
but Leonard was the best at everything he did.
Ever since they were young, they always competed among one another. Although they had become
rivals, they still respected each other. However, when Leonard saved Nelson's life, their relationship
changed entirely.
"There was one time that your grandfather and I were deployed on the same mission. I was suddenly
caught in the limelight and was discovered by the enemy that almost took my life. I thought that I was
going to die in the field, but your grandfather risked his life to save me. After that, we became very
good friends," Nelson said.
The old man continued, "As time passed, I didn't know anymore who owed who, but what I know is that
I owed your grandfather. Not only did he save my life back then, but he also sacrificed his future to let
me have the opportunity to be able to study and go to college. I would not have been able to own
Soaring Group now if that hadn't happened."
Melinda silently pondered on the old man's revelation. She did not know about this piece of news and it
was the first time she learned about it. Now she finally understood why Nelson treated her so well and
wanted to give her a good life.
For Nelson, everything he had right now was all because of Leonard. If Leonard hadn't risked his life
and given up his own future for him, Nelson wouldn't be who he was today.
"My grandfather didn't tell me anything." Melinda continued to look at the old pictures in realization.
"How could he have told you? I doubt that your grandmother knew about it either."
Melinda knew that her grandfather wasn't concerned with fighting for neither power nor victory. Instead,
he was a man of principle. If anyone ever dared to hurt his precious granddaughter, he would
absolutely show no mercy.
"Grandma must have known," she said.
"Not necessarily," Nelson replied.
Melinda felt that her grandfather loved her grandmother so much that they never kept secrets between
them. Nelson, however, thought that with how he knew Leonard, he would have definitely kept it to
himself until his last breath.
The both of them continued to converse with each other with a lot of things. They were so deep in their
discussion that they didn't notice someone standing by the door of the study, who heard every single
word of their conversation.
Jonas stood there still hidden, silently pondering to himself with what he just heard. He knew that
Leonard was Nelson's comrade, but what he did not know was that the relationship between them went
more beyond that.
He now understood why his grandfather insisted on him marrying Melinda. Whenever he and Melinda
got into a fight, Nelson would always take her side and demanded him to take good care of her. He
didn't understand why Nelson would have gone far as threatening him with his inheritance but now it all
made sense.
Back then, Jonas believed that Melinda had been tricking his grandfather into taking her side. Now, he
realized that Nelson's actions were his own way of repaying his old friend for everything that he had
done for him.
His face was etched with guilt. He had been wrong all this time. Melinda had never deceived anyone. In
fact, she was the one who had no idea the whole time.
Melinda's chat with Nelson left her in a better mood. Finally, Nelson couldn't help but say a few nice
things for Jonas.
Dinner was soon served at the main villa. Melinda gazed at all the food served on the table with
eagerness as she picked up one of each dish in front of her. All of them were her favorite. As she
started to grab a bite, another pair of chopsticks suddenly reached into her bowl with the shrimps she
always loved to eat.
Melinda looked up to Jonas, a bit confused by the sudden action. She noticed him suddenly feeling
embarrassed when he quickly averted his gaze and picked up another shrimp to taste for himself.
Unbeknown to the two, Nelson saw everything that had transpired. He remained silent as a small smile
formed on his face while he enjoyed the scene in front of him.
Melinda stared at the piece of shrimp that was placed in her bowl. This was the first time that Jonas
picked up food for her. She hesitated for a moment, but ended up picking it up anyway. She wasn't
aware that she had been unconsciously smiling the whole time as she happily munched on it.
Since Jonas did not receive any complain from Melinda, he continued to pick up several dishes that he
knew she liked to eat and placed it in her bowl. Melinda silently ate all the food given to her until Jonas
had placed too much that she couldn't help but helplessly look up at him.
"I can't see the rice anymore."
He ended up placing too many dishes in her bowl that it covered up all the rice.
Jonas quickly grabbed some of the food from her bowl and placed it in his, leaving space for Melinda to
be able to eat some rice.
"Why don't you two go out for a walk together, Jonas?" Nelson suddenly suggested.
Melinda didn't like to waste food. Since Jonas had added too much food for her today, she had no
choice but to eat all of it. Feeling a bit fuller than the usual, she rubbed her belly from time to time.
Upon hearing his grandfather, Jonas quietly obeyed. He stood up from his seat and grabbed Melinda's
hand. She wanted to break out of his hold but she changed her mind as soon as she saw the expectant
look on Nelson's face. Excusing herself, she obediently followed Jonas out of the hall.
While holding each other's hand, Jonas and Melinda strolled around the whole mansion. As Melinda
looked all around, she realized that the Gu's mansion was indeed a huge place. There were a lot of
small villas in the area and it took quite a while for both of them to go around the whole area.
There were a lot of people whom Melinda rarely saw. Seeing how Jonas took care of her and held her
hand while they passed by gave these people a hint of the current situation
Now that Jonas had personally protected Melinda and defended her, those who had thought ill of her
should change the biased opinions they had of her.
Melinda did not want the warm feeling she had with Jonas a while ago to end when the two finally
returned to their own villa. She found her feet unconsciously having a mind of their own as she slowly
felt herself approaching him.
"Jonas, why are you not blaming me?" she asked.
Jonas glanced at her, his expression turning soft. "I know that you were not responsible for what
happened. Holly was the one who orchestrated all of this to frame you."
Even though he knew that Holley was narrow-minded, he didn't expect that she would involve Melinda
in it.
"You're acting weird today." Melinda quietly chuckled.
Jonas acted different from the usual. She stared at him curiously, noticing how his eyes were full of
affection as he looked at her. Melinda realized that she liked it and blushed at the thought.
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