"My stomach..."
"I'll call the doctor!" Evelyn exclaimed in a hurry. Sheffield grabbed her hand and quickly explained, "No, no. I'm just hungry. You've obviously never taken care of a patient. I haven't eaten anything in days, so of course, I'm starving!"
Evelyn was a little embarrassed. Indeed, she had never taken care of anyone in the hospital before. She shook off his hand and made a call. "Bring some food suitable for a patient. Yes, liquid food."
After she hung up, Sheffield grabbed her hand again and stared at her fingers. There was just a colorful Cat's Eye ring on her finger. "Where is the ring I gave you?"
"I threw it away." She annoyed him on purpose.
"Eve, tell me the truth," he pleaded.
Looking at the ring on her finger, Evelyn smirked. "It's true. I thought you wouldn't wake up, so I threw it away. I was going to find someone else to buy me a new ring."
Pouting at her, he put his hand around Gwyn to prevent the little girl from falling from his lap. "Eve, I'm injured," he said in a distressed tone.
"I know."
"Tell me why you are angry."
"I'm not angry!" She was just…a little sad.
"I'm sorry for whatever I did. But look at all these wounds. Please don't be mad at me right now, okay?" He released her hand and showed her the infusion tube on the back of his hand. Evelyn heaved a sigh and went in to scoop up the kid into her arms.
"Gwyn, come to Mommy. Let your dad get some rest."
Sheffield had slept for seven days straight and was in high spirits; he felt no need to rest any further. "I'm fine. Come to me, Gwyn."
Evelyn was genuinely worried about his health. He had just woken up. She was afraid that he would tire himself out easily if he continued to play with Gwyn. So, she decided to keep the baby away from him for a while.
However, the little girl stretched out her arms and leaned towards Sheffield, almost falling out of her arms. Evelyn was startled and quickly gathered her tightly. She then carefully put the kid next to the man.
This time, Sheffield made sure to hug his girlfriend too. With his left hand around his daughter and right hand holding Evelyn, he said, "Evelyn, thank you for giving me such an adorable daughter."
He still felt like he was in a dream. After all, he had a lovely daughter who was more than a year old all of a sudden.
He was a father!
The next day, Carlos and Debbie came to visit Sheffield. It was still early, so Sheffield was asleep when they arrived.
The noise from the door woke him up. Hearing someone come in, he slowly opened his eyes. Before he could greet them, Carlos strode towards him like a whirlwind and slapped him on the head.
The hit was not painful, but Sheffield was left dumbstruck. "Uncle Carlos, what...?"
"Uncle? Have you ever heard of a father-in-law helping his son-in-law get rid of other women for him?" Carlos bellowed. Sheffield was stunned for a few seconds, but then assumed that the old man was talking about Gillian's matter. Apparently, she had caused some trouble in ZL Group the other day. So, he replied with a flattering smile, "Oh, Dad! You're my dad."
"Cut the crap! I don't have a son who is as shameless as you!" Sheffield was much more brazen than Matthew.
He sat up with a smile and changed the subject. "Uncle Carlos, I didn't tell you that I'm Star Anise, and you didn't tell me about Gwyn. So, we're square now, okay?"
Carlos leaned closer to him. "We're square? Dream on! You extorted more than a billion from me! In what world do you think you can get away with that? Since you are in the hospital, I will not bully you right now. Once you recover, I will beat you back into the hospital!"
Debbie tugged at his sleeve and defended Sheffield. "Didn't we reach an agreement regarding how we would treat Sheffield? Why are you acting like this again?"
"I didn't come to any agreement. I just get really angry when I see him!"
Sheffield snickered at their little banter and then apologized, "Uncle Carlos, will you forgive me for everything that has happened so far?"
Before Carlos could respond, Debbie cut in, "Look. Sheffield's being really nice to us. Don't be so stingy!"
'Stingy? Me?' Carlos was too angry to even say a word after being scolded by his wife. He decided to vent his anger on Sheffield as usual. "Don't pretend to be nice in front of my wife! You are always so proud and arrogant in front of me, but you pretend to be sweet when my wife is around."
"It's not like that, Uncle Carlos. I really want to marry Evelyn. I want to be your son. Please don't make things difficult for me anymore," he pleaded.
"Just saying that isn't enough. You have to show your sincerity."
Sheffield remembered something that Carlos had wanted a long time ago. "How about a teapot made out of azure mud?"
It worked! Carlos' curiosity was aroused immediately, and his eyes sparkled. "You have one?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Well, let me see the azure mud teapot first." Carlos didn't want to promise anything so easily.
He didn't want people to say that he had married off his daughter for a teapot!
"No problem. I assure you that it's genuine." Sheffield finally had a chance of getting things right with Carlos and he was not about to ruin it.
Sheffield got bored of staying in the hospital after a few days. Evelyn tried her best to make him stay for two more days, but after that, he insisted on leaving no matter how much she persuaded him.
And so, Evelyn picked him up from the hospital, along with Gwyn.
Sheffield's apartment was newly decorated. Gwyn looked around curiously.
Wherever she went, Sheffield followed the little girl like a lackey. When she showed interest in something in his house, he would explain what it was to her in detail.
And he kept asking Gywn to call him "Daddy." She had called him that a thousand times already since he had woken up! Evelyn was bored of hearing it.
Now again, the happy father said to his daughter, "Gwyn, call me 'Daddy' and we'll all stay here tonight together. Sound good?"
Gwyn looked around his bedroom and cast a scornful glance at him. "Small."
'Small?' Sheffield glanced around his bedroom, which covered more than forty square meters. Gwyn thought that this was small?
He groaned, feeling frustrated with himself for not noticing it before. "All right! If you call me 'Daddy' again, I'll buy you a bigger house! What do you say?"
"Daddy!" she said again with a wide smile.
Even though he had heard her calling him "Daddy" a thousand times already, he was still pleased by it every single time. "Sweetheart, I'm gonna take you to see a big house tomorrow!"
"Okay!"
Standing at the door to the bedroom, Evelyn shook her head resignedly. "There's no need for you to buy a new house. This is enough."
He disagreed without a second thought. "No way! My daughter claims that the house is small, so we have to move into a bigger one. It's decided." His apartment was about two hundred square meters. He had been living here alone comfortably, but it was not big enough for a family.
On top of that, he didn't feel that this apartment was safe after the incident. He didn't want to put his wife and daughter in any danger.
Evelyn didn't argue. She was loved and well-protected by Carlos, so she knew very well how a loving father would spoil his daughter without a care in the world. She realized that Sheffield was also a slave to his daughter, just like Carlos.