Anna immediately said, “Okay, stop it. Nobody is bullying me. And thank you, Matthew, for arriving on time to get me out of the awkward situation. Let’s eat now.”
Because Anna was present, Matthew smiled and handed her a dish, saying, “Mom, this is absolutely delicious! Come on, give it a shot!”
Wayne sat alone across from them, staring at them. “I haven’t changed my bandages yet,” he grumbled.
“Let me change your bandages first,” Anna suggested.
Matthew said, shaking his head, “Dad, if you need to change your bandages right away, you should go to the hospital. The fact that you’re so late shows that you’re not in a hurry at all. My mother came here to eat with me, not to serve you.”
“Ouch! That hurts. Are you really my son?” Wayne asked.
Matthew ignored him and continued to introduce the dishes to Anna. He also asked about Tammy’s illness. Then Anna explained to him that Tammy’s asthma had been effectively treated in the United States. But, they returned to England because they wanted her to fully recover.
Hearing that, Matthew exhaled a sigh of relief and exclaimed, “That’s great!”
Anna suddenly thought of Peter’s condition and asked, “So, how about Peter? The chief of the cardiology department said they were going to do a heart bypass for him. But because of his age, we can also just give him medication. What do you think?”
After a few seconds, Anna said, “Peter suffers from a heart condition. Although he has been in the hospital and he’s doing fine, his physical exam revealed that he was not in good health. He will go into shock if he becomes emotional. And sometimes, he won’t even wake up if it gets serious.”
Neither Wayne nor Matthew responded right away. After a brief silence, Wayne handed Anna the juice and said, “We both thought it would be better to operate on him, but he didn’t want to.”
“Well, I quite understand him. Peter’s getting older, so he’s a little nervous and hesitant to make a quick decision. In fact, having this surgery can be quite dangerous,” Anna nodded and echoed.
Matthew said, “Great-grandpa’s concerned about us. He said the surgery was dangerous and that if he died, he wouldn’t be able to see my father’s life after that. He said he wanted to say something to you when you got back, mom.”
Peter had spent half a month in the hospital where Anna worked. She avoided him because she was afraid to see him. Because they had almost been family before, Anna assumed they would get emotional and not know what to say when they saw each other again.
But Wayne’s previous actions had broken her heart. Anyway, she didn’t expect Peter’s refusal to have the surgery to have any bearing on her.
After Anna finished dinner, Maria drove her back to the hospital. On the way, she said, “I’m sorry. The things happened so quickly today, and I’m afraid Mrs. Turner made too much of a fuss. Actually, there have been a lot of rumors about you in the group recently. That’s why I told Matthew. Are you upset with me?”
“It’s okay, I know you’re doing it for me. “
Maria said with a smile, “In fact, I have other reasons for doing so. I was afraid Selina would hold it against me if she found out you were being bullied at the group.”
“She will not. You’ve been looking after Matthew for years, and I appreciate it.”
“I would have been a village teacher in my hometown after high school if Selina hadn’t sponsored me through college. I owe her and her husband a lot for the good life I have today. Everyone has to make decisions, and that was an opportunity for me.”
“Opportunity?” Anna couldn’t help but ask Maria.
“Perhaps you will think I am strange. But now that I have my own home, I can pay for my grandmother’s medical bills in my hometown, and I can give Selina and Joe gifts on their birthdays. I have a good job, and my coworkers respect me. I believe this is the life I want.”
Anna knew she did that to prove her strength but still felt sorry for her. She said, “Have you ever considered that they may have everything prepared for you? They don’t want you to suffer, and they truly consider you to be their daughter.”
Anna knew that when Selina and Joe adopted Maria, they treated her as if she were their child. As a result, they expected her to regard them as her parents. But Maria didn’t listen to them.
Maria said, “I’m not like you, Anna. As a child, I learned that if I wanted something, I had to work for it. When I get something on my own, I feel like I truly own it. I’m afraid if someone else gives them to me, I’ll lose them quickly.”
“So, you have never treated them as your family?”
“That is not what I meant. I was in high school when I was adopted, so I couldn’t deceive myself that they were my family. I needed to look after my grandmother, and I couldn’t abandon her. But I can assure you that I will never forget how kind they were to me.”
Anna looked at her for a moment. She was going to say something, but she didn’t. Finally, she said, “If you know what you’re doing, I’ll be happy for you.”
Selina and Joe used to think the same way. Maria was living in an orphanage when they first adopted her. It wasn’t until they changed her last name that they discovered she had a grandmother. Maria’s grandmother was too ill to care for her, so she lived in an orphanage.
Maria was very stubborn, and she ran back to her home after a few days at Miller’s house. The Millers spent a long time looking for her, only to find her cooking for her grandmother in her home. They gave up the idea of adopting a younger child, leaving Maria with her grandmother. They gave Maria money every month, paid her visits to their house, and continued paying her bills until she finished college.
Maria knew what she wanted to do from the start and how to deal with adversity. She would only tell Selina about anything that went wrong after she had resolved it.
Anna was tempted to ask Maria if she had quit her job at a government to work as a secretary for Matthew because she and Wayne had dated.
In the end, Anna didn’t ask anything, knowing that everyone did everything for their own good. Maria was a kind young lady who sacrificed herself for her grandmother, and that made Anna feel relieved.
A while later, Maria drove Anna to the hospital, saying, “Here you are, Anna. Bye.”
“Thank you. Bye.” Anna said as she got out of the car.
Noel summarized what Mrs. Turner said in the lounge for Wayne.
“Did you take care of this?” Wayne asked coldly.
“Yes, I informed the receptionist that neither Mrs. Turner nor her daughter will be permitted to enter the company from today on.”
“Good. I’ll discuss the group’s shares at the board meeting at the end of the month, and I’ll also formally propose that Rachel Turner be removed from the board. Tell the other directors about it; I need their approval.”
Noel sighed and said, “But I doubt we’ll be able to persuade Mr. Turner because she’s his niece. Miss Turner might make a big fuss if we remove her from her position.”
Wayne rolled his eyes and commented, “She rarely attends board meetings. However, she has been spreading rumors in the group with several board members since we acquired Gabriel Group. Not only that, but I’m going to purchase Shirley Gabriel’s shares.”
“We discussed it before, and you said you wanted to take your time.”
Wayne nodded, “Yes, but I can begin implementing the plan right away. She believes she can do whatever she wants because she owns 20% of the company. But I’m going to show her that the company is not her playground.”
Noel nodded in shock. He hadn’t expected Wayne to go ahead with his plan just for Anna. He thought to himself, Who on earth is Anna? I need to ask Gabe about this.
***
After returning to the hospital, Anna took blood samples in the lab office. Nancy asked, “Tell me, are you serious? What exactly did you say to Joshua? He told his mother said he thought I was his soul mate as the only option for marriage.”
“Nancy, have you had a lot of free time recently? Stop coming here to discuss personal matters with me. If my director sees me chatting with you, I’d be in big trouble.” Anna expressed her resignation to Nancy, who sat next to her.
“It doesn’t matter. I must make this clear to you today. If you like Joshua, you should tell him the truth and go on a date with him.”
“My goodness, I don’t have a thing for him. I did everything you told me to do.”
“I don’t believe you! If that’s the case, why did he insist on having their housekeeper bring me food?”
Anna cut her off, “What? His housekeeper? I thought that was…”
Before Anna could finish, a nurse pushed open the door, alarmed, and asked, “Where is Dr. Brown? Oh, hi, Dr. Moore.”
“She just left for a parent-teacher conference for her child,” Anna explained.
The nurse said, “Someone was yelling outside, and I assumed it was a patient. She kept mentioning that she was looking for one of the lab doctors. I asked who that was, and she said she had no idea. So I came here to tell you.”
Nancy got to her feet and yelled angrily, “They’re insane! I saw on the news the other day that a patient was causing a commotion in a hospital. Come on, Anna, let’s go take a look!”
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.
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