Chapter 30 – Divorced! Now What to Do?

Bethan was startled, scrambling off of him, blushing profusely. Then, she hurriedly walked to the side and picked up the album. Brettley sat up, watched her holding the photo album as if it was a precious treasure, and frowned slightly,

“What were you doing just now?”

At his question, Bethan panicked, but quickly calmed down. She held the photo album tightly in her hands before she smiled and looked at him,

“Today the servant said that there was a photo album of your wife in the attic. Nellie heard her and wanted to see it, so I came to look for it.”

Her excuse was valid and fool-proof. Brettley frowned faintly, and reached out his hand towards her. Bethan handed him the photo album. The man looked down and flipped through it. It turned out to be Bethan Peterson’s photo album.

“I never knew her photo album was still in the attic.”

Bethan smirked slightly,

“Your ex-wife has been away for so many years. It is normal for you to forget where her things are.”

With that, she raised her hand and grabbed the edge of the album,

“Mr. Morrison, it’s getting late, I’m going to rest now.”

Brettley frowned and pulled her hand away, ”

Tomorrow I will pass the album to Nellie myself.

“ Since he already said so, Bethan had no reason to insist on taking the album. She respectfully bid him goodnight, and turned and left. Outside the door, she breathed a sigh of relief.

He ought not to have noticed anything out of the ordinary… Standing in place, Brettley looked at the direction in which she left, his eyes dark. That night, the lights in the study were lit throughout the night. Brettley sat in a chair, looking at the woman in the photo page by page. At times, she was young and beautiful, at times charming, and other times cool and arrogant. Looking at Bethan in the photos, Brettley discovered for the first time that she had so many different emotions. But, in his impression, she had always been gentle and silent, conducting herself appropriately according to the situation. Even her death was quiet and silent… He looked at the photos for a long, long time, and finally sighed deeply.

“Bethan.”

The man rubbed his fingertips over the woman’s face in the photos,

“If you were there, what would you do with Cynthal today?”

Cynthal had always been Bethan’s favorite family member, and the one she worried about the most. Even if they were born to different mothers, for many years, Bethan and Cynthal were even closer than biological sisters.

When she moved from Bronze City to Banyan City after they got married, she purposely brought Cynthal over with her, setting her down in Banyan City, and even arranging for Cynthal to be his personal secretary.

The man closed his eyes.

Today’s affairs, all the clues led to Cynthal, he could see it clearly. But… Cynthal was, after all, Bethan’s sister that she cared about the most. When she left him back then, she didn’t even mention him in her suicide note, but she explicitly told him to take good care of Cynthal. In the darkness, the man opened his eyes, his pain and struggle clearly reflected within. The next day.

“Aunty…”

The moment she woke up, Nellie quickly grabbed the corner of Bethan’s shirt, her watery eyes filled with expectation,

“You promised me yesterday.”

Bethan paused. Just as she wanted to explain the whereabouts of the album, the door to Nellie’s room was opened. Brettley, dressed in smoky gray pajamas, stood at the door,

“Nellie, come with me.”

Nellie took a step back subconsciously and turned to look at Bethan.

“Go ahead.”

Bethan squatted down and tidied the little girl’s clothes, smoothening her messy hair,

“Your mother’s photo album is in your daddy’s hands.”

Nellie pursed her lips, raised her feet and followed Brettley to his study.

“Wow!

“ On the sofa in the study, the little girl held the photo album that was even bigger than her face, and flipped through it page by page. Previously, she had only seen her parents’ wedding photos. In the photos, Bethan wore the same expression throughout, but this album was a completely different story! The little girl couldn’t help but sigh,

“So she used to look so good!”

What she said made Brettley frown slightly,

“Doesn’t your mom look like this now?”

“No!”

Nellie replied excitedly,

“Mommy always said she used to be beautiful, I didn’t believe her, but it’s true! She was so beautiful!

“ The man paused. After a moment, his deep voice rang lowly,

“Then what does your mommy look like now?”

Nellie blinked, then realized she had misspoken.

She didn’t dare to face her father, turning her face to the side,

“Mommy, right now, she’s…“ Before she could finish her sentence, she spotted Bethan who was standing at the entrance to the study. The little girl’s voice cut off in her throat. Brettley turned and glanced at the woman standing in the entrance, his displeasure apparent in his voice,

“ You have something to say?“

“Yes.“ Bethan’s face remained expressionless.

“The servants downstairs said breakfast is ready and asked when Nellie would go down and eat.“

“You can eat first if you’re hungry.“ He glanced at her, irritated,

“Once Nellie and I are done, we’ll go downstairs by ourselves.“

“Alright.“ She smiled and nodded, then turned and left without a hint of hesitation. After Bethan left, Brettley shut the door to the study, turned and continued questioning Nellie.

“You were saying, what does your Mommy look like now?“

Nellie paused, raised her head and looked at him,

“ Mommy…she looks ugly now.“

She tried her best to recall what Bethan looked like originally,

“Her face is terrible, full of scars, with bandages wrapped around her head all the time. All you can see was her eyes. Sometimes when the bandages have been removed, you can see the various scars…“ As she was talking, she trembled unconsciously,

“ Anyway, she looks so ugly…“ When she had just learned how to talk, Bethan’s face wasn’t as perfect as it is now. Every time she saw her mother’s face under the bandages, she would be so terrified she couldn’t sleep throughout the night. Every time she lost sleep because she saw her mother’s face, her brother Nigel would hold her in his arms carefully,

“Nellie, she’s our Mommy, the one

who is the closest to us, who loves us the most, in this whole world. No matter what she looks like, we can’t be disgusted at her, we can’t be afraid of her, do you understand?“ Back then, the confused and lost Nellie didn’t understand what Nigel was saying. But later, after Neil told her about what Bethan went through, she finally understood. Back then, Daddy was the person Mommy was closest to. He was even more important to Mommy then Mommy was to Nellie. But it was because of him that Mommy became like this…

With these thoughts in mind, Nellie raised her head, her gaze that was resting on Brettley turned cold and distant,

“Daddy, now that Mommy is ugly, would you still want to find her?“ Brettley couldn’t help it and sighed at her question,

“No matter what she looks like, she is still my wife.“ With that, he raised his hand and stroked Nellie’s hair,

“Your mother…did she send you back alone, because of her looks? Because she was afraid?“ Nellie nodded,

“I think so. Mommy said, she doesn’t want to see you. If its’s not because of me, she had nothing to do with you anymore.

“ Brettley’s eyes gradually dimmed. He knew that there must be a reason why Bethan left him back then.

After three years of marriage, he admitted that he was never a loving husband.

She married him because she loved him deeply, affectionately, but he never gave her any response, so her feelings for him finally wore off.

But, even so, he didn’t believe that she would betray him, let alone that she would commit suicide in a thunderstorm, leaving behind nothing but a single note, moreover while she was pregnant. She loved children so much, she would not insist on driving to the bridge to commit suicide, disregarding her child’s health. There must be some other reason. But right now, Bethan dared not show up because of her disfigured face, and Nellie was a six-year-old kid who didn’t understand anything. He wanted to figure out what happened that year, but his task was similar to finding a needle in a haystack.

Thinking of this, he sighed in relief, raised his hand and patted Nellie’s back,

“If you can reach your mommy, tell her that I have something important to tell her and ask her to contact me.”

Nellie pursed her lips and didn’t say any more. Seeing her look of distress, her father decided to let her off the hook. He picked her up and went downstairs to have breakfast. In the dining room downstairs, Bethan was sitting in a chair and sending a message to Neil. Seeing Nellie come down, she quickly put away her mobile phone, sat next to Nellie, and carefully served her breakfast.

“Aunty, don’t just feed me, eat some yourself.”

Nellie picked up some salad and put it in Bethan’s bowl,

“You’ve lost weight recently.”

Bethan smiled gently, and continued to spoon food into Nellie’s bowl,

“You need to eat to grow, don’t worry about me.”

The two ladies, young and old, took turns feeding and caring for each other, looking like a mother and daughter pair who were very close to each other.

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