Now that she had finally gotten that wish, Bethan suddenly felt an urge to cry. However, she knew she could not cry in front of everyone like that, so she sniffed and lifted her head, stifling her tears.
As soon as she raised her head, Bethan came face-to – face with Alice –the woman who looked exactly like how she used to look.
At that moment, Alice’s lips were curled into a triumphant smirk, laced with a hint of contempt. “
How is it? Does it taste good? I made it myself, you know.”
Bethan bit down on her lip. She knew that Alice could not have made this herself.
Bethan turned around and glanced at Natasha, who stood at the side. Natasha just so happened to be looking at her, and their eyes met.
Natasha scoffed and tilted her head away, her eyes full of contempt. “What a waste of good soup! “
Alice sighed and grabbed Natasha’s hand. “Mom, please don’t say things like this. The whole reason why Bethan is in the hospital right now is because of work. She put in too much effort into work and overexerted herself, so making her soup is the least I can do.”
With that, she shot Bethan a disdainful glance. “Am I right, Bethan?”
Bethan bit down on her lip but did not say a word. She felt like someone churned her heart with a knife.
She finally got to taste her mother’s cooking but could not display her delight for fear of exposing herself.
Her birth mother stood right before her. However, not only did she ignore her, but she was also showing her affection toward someone else–an imposter.
Alice caught sight of the anguish in Bethan’s eyes and smirked. She had planned all that on purpose.
Alice had visited Natasha in the morning and found out that Bethan Peterson loved drinking Natasha’s soup whenever she was sick. Therefore, Alice convinced Natasha to make the soup and brought her parents along to visit Bethan.
She wanted to make Bethan miserable. She longed to see the agony in Bethan’s face when she realized she had no one to turn to.
Since Bethan had destroyed her home and landed her father in prison, Alice was determined to let Bethan have a taste of her own medicine. She wanted Bethan to feel the same pain she went through.
Not only that, but Alice planned to turn Natasha and Joseph, Bethan’s birth parents, against her!
The worst suffering a person could feel was the pain of having their loved ones turn against them.
Alice wanted Bethan to realize that she should not have returned to Banyan City in the first place. Since she had given up being Bethan Peterson, she should not have returned!
As soon as she thought of that, Alice could not help but smirked. “Bethan, do you have anything you want to eat? I can make you some food. Although I’m not a good cook, my mom can help.”
She gently held Natasha’s hand in hers before adding, “Isn’t that right, Mom?”
Natasha smiled at Alice fondly, then shot Bethan a cold glare. “I’ll be glad to teach you how to cook, but I think it’s a waste for her to be eating this… She doesn’t deserve it!”
Joseph nodded in agreement. “That’s right. Alice, you’re too kind. This woman started out as a maid at Blue Bay Villa, then went to work at Morrison Group. Everyone knows what she’s after! Only you would still want to be friends with her, despite knowing what her true motives are…”
Brettley could not help but frown when he heard that.
He glanced at Bethan, who was still holding the unfinished soup, and said, “Finish it quick.”
Bethan sniffed, lowered her head, and continued drinking the rest of her soup. Beads of tears fell into the bowl, and Bethan could taste the saltiness of her tears mixed into her soup.
Fortunately, no one paid attention to her at all, apart from Brettley. Therefore, no one noticed she had cried.
After Bethan finished the soup, she grabbed a piece of tissue and wiped her tears away as she pretended to be dabbing some sweat on her face.
Meanwhile, Brettley gracefully picked the bowl up and placed it back inside the food container. He handed the container over to Alice and said, “Thank you for coining. I’m sure Bethan appreciates it. She’s finished the soup, and I think you all should go home now. She needs to rest.”
Alice glanced at him. “Brettley, aren’t you coining home with us? It’s already noon. Shall we bring my parents out for a good meal?”
Brettley noticed that Bethan was still surreptitiously wiping away her tears and smiled at Alice. “Maybe next time. Your parents are going to be staying in Banyan City for a while, aren’t they? There’s always next time. I have some work stuff that I need to go over with Bethan, so you guys should go get lunch without me.”
Alice pursed her lips in indignation. Then, after she tried to convince Brettley to no avail, she finally left along with Natasha and Joseph.
As soon as the three of them left , Brettley closed the door and strode over to Bethan. He handed the box of tissues on the table over to her and said, “What’s wrong? Why are you so upset by what they said? It’s not like their opinions matter anyway.”
Bethan took the tissue from Brettley and wiped the tears from her face. “I don’t care what they think, ” she sobbed softly.
It was not the first time Natasha and Joseph had misunderstood her.
“I just… “
Bethan sniffed and tilted her head up to stop the tears from falling. “I just miss my mother.”
Brettley’s entire body stiffened. He frowned and turned around to look at her. “You miss your mother?”
“Yes.”
Bethan nodded. “Whenever I got sick, my mother would always make me chicken soup. She said chicken soup is good for our body, so I’d get well quicker if I drank a lot of it. When I was a kid, I didn’t like drinking chicken soup, and she’d always spend a long time convincing me to drink it. I ended up liking it as I grew up, but I couldn’t drink it anymore.”
With that, she heaved a deep sigh and added, “Drinking the soup that Mrs. Morrison cooked for me just now…reminded me of my past. I couldn’t help crying a little. I’m sorry you had to see that, Mr. Morrison.”
Brettley frowned. He fixated his penetrating gaze on Bethan’s face as if trying to figure out if she was honest.
Bethan sighed again and placed the tissue box aside, then lifted her head to look at Brettley. “That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about this anymore. Mr. Morrison, you mentioned that you had some work stuff you wanted to go over with me, didn’t you? Let’s talk about it now.”
Brettley’s brows furrowed. He knew that Bethan was trying to get rid of him.
Bethan knew full well that he only used work as an excuse to reject Alice’s invitation. That was why she said that to him to make him leave if there were no work-related issues to discuss with her.
However, there was indeed something he wanted to discuss with Bethan. “Quinn Group, as well as the hacker, stopped attacking Morrison Group since yesterday. Does this have anything to do with you?”
Bethan paused. She had forgotten about that matter, but since Brettley had brought it up, Bethan realized there was something she had wanted to tell him but had not had a chance to do so.
Bethan sighed and replied, “Do you mind coming with me to Swan Lake Residences? I have something I need to tell you.”
The information that Malcolm had sent her was on her laptop. When she went home yesterday morning, she had left the laptop in her apartment. Therefore, she needed Brettley to come with her so she could show him the contents.
Brettley glanced at her pale face. “Can the hospital even discharge you in this state?”
“I’m fine.”
Bethan smiled at him. “I ate two bowls of soup, and they even gave me an IV drip. I won’t faint anymore.”
Bethan’s eyes became crescent-shaped slits when she smiled, and it gave her face a soft and gentle look.
Brettley was temporarily mesmerized by her smile. He could not put his finger on it, but somehow, every time he caught sight of Bethan’s smiling eyes, he would be reminded of Bethan Peterson.
Bethan Peterson had the same tender look in her eyes. Brettley’s heart always softened whenever he saw that, and it made him feel like pulling her into his arms.
However, there was no longer any trace of this soft glimmer in Alice’s eyes. Maybe it was because her personality had changed.
Bethan noticed how Brettley stared at her blankly, so she frowned and repeated, “Mr. Morrison, can we go now?”
Brettley finally came to and nodded in response. Then, he strode over to the ward next door to summon a nurse.
The nurse sent Bethan down to the hospital entrance and helped her into Brettley’s car. Lucas sat in the driver’s seat. He turned around to glance at Bethan and took in her sickly look. “Are you sure you don’t want to rest a little longer?”
Bethan shook her head and closed her eyes, leaning against the seat.
Brettley sat down next to her and cast her a glance. “
Let’s go.”
Lucas immediately started the car.
Swan Lake Residences was quite a distance away from the hospital, so Bethan got to rest for a while. Her head felt heavy, and when they pulled up in front of Swan Lake Residences, she had already fallen asleep.
“Sir…” said Lucas in a low voice. “Should we wake her?”
Brettley glanced at the thin, sallow woman next to him and sighed. “Let her sleep a little longer. “
He contemplated for a moment before he finally took off his jacket and draped it over her.
Time then trickled by.
By the time Bethan finally woke up, it was already evening.
She could smell the faint, distinctive scent that belonged to Brettley and hear the click-clack of someone’s fingers on the keyboard.
Bethan frowned and opened her eyes with some difficulty.
The first thing she saw was Brettley’s sharp and chiseled side profile. He was doing some work in the car, his laptop propped up in front of him.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.