“Why didn’t you answer the phone, you brat?!” Gary exclaimed angrily as soon as he saw Cristofer.
Gary had already been upset with Cristofer for not picking up the phone, and after hearing about Yohan’s new father, his mood worsened. Consequently, he vented all his frustration on Cristofer, grabbing a cup and hurling it towards him.
Cristofer didn’t attempt to dodge, and the cup struck his forehead forcefully, causing the coffee inside it to splash onto him.
The next moment, blood streamed down his forehead.
Seeing Cristofer injured, Gary felt distressed and asked in a deep voice, “Why didn’t you dodge?”
With a calm look, Cristofer wiped the blood from his forehead, cleaned the coffee stains on his clothes with a tissue, and then walked over.
“Grandpa, I’m relieved to see that you are still so energetic and have great strength,” he said in a relaxed tone.
Gary said snappishly, “Just save it! Come here. You haven’t seen the kids for a long time, right?”
“Mr. Hans, hold Yvonne in your arms. She’s growing fast and weighing more than the last time we met,” Luke offered as he came over with Yvonne in his arms.
Cristofer took a look at Yvonne but didn’t take her over from Luke’s arms.
“I’m carrying this. It’s inconvenient for me to hold her,” he said as he showed them the box in his hand.
Hearing this, Gary felt a sudden surge of anger again and yelled, “Your right hand is occupied, but your left hand is not. What’s wrong with you? Is your arm fractured? Aren’t you even willing to hold your daughter?”
Without explaining anything, Cristofer just said, “I’ve got stuff to do, and I have to go now. Grandpa, this electric massager is for you. I’ve also bought some other things for you and Vincent will bring them to you later. They’ll come in handy in the future.”
“What do you mean by this? You won’t come here anymore? It’s okay that you don’t come back to see me. But won’t you even come to see your children anymore?”
“Estelle will take good care of the children. I don’t need to worry about them,” Cristofer stated calmly.
“How could you say that?” Gary, irritated, pounded the table and howled, “You are their father! How could you shirk your responsibility and let Estelle raise them alone?! Shame on you!”
Cristofer didn’t say anything, letting Gary vent his anger.
After a while, he said with his head lowered, “I’m going to get married soon.”
“What?”
“I said,” Cristofer paused and took a deep breath, “I proposed to Gretchen. I’ll get married soon.”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Grandpa,” Cristofer looked into his grandfather. “I’ve been looking forward to marrying her for six years. I won’t give up on her.”
Trembling with anger, Gary said with a darkened face, “So, you came here just to tell me this news today?”
“Yes.”
“Fine!” Pointing at the door, Gary growled, “Now that you’ve finished your words, you can get out of here! From now on, you are not my grandson anymore. Just live a good life with that bitch as you want. You’ll regret it!”
Cristofer straightened his back and declared, “I won’t regret it. But if I don’t marry her and spend the rest of my life with her, I will regret it.”
“You…”
For fear that anger would elevate Gary’s blood pressure, Luke stopped Cristofer immediately. “Mr. Hans, please stop. Old Mr. Hans hasn’t fully recovered. Please don’t make him angry…”
“Luke, don’t stop him. Let him say whatever he wants!”
“Old Mr. Hans…”
“Are you going to disobey me? Don’t stop him! I’d like to know what’s so good about that bitch that he even abandoned his wife and children for her!” Gary roared.
The two children were scared by their quarrel.
Yvonne burst into tears while Yohan ran toward Estelle and held her tightly. With his eyes full of fear, Yohan peeped at the adults timidly and then immediately turned his head, not daring to look at them anymore.
While patting Yohan’s back to comfort him, Estelle saw Luke unable to pacify Yvonne, who kept crying, so she said, “Uncle Luke, let me do it.”
Luke then puts Yvonne into Estelle’s arms, saying, “Yvonne always likes smiling, and I seldom see her cry. It’s so heartbreaking to see her crying so sadly…”
“Even Luke cares about your daughter more than you do!” Gary gnashed his teeth. He was so furious that he threw his crutch at Cristofer.
The crutch flew towards Cristofer and hit him on the left arm.
His body shook slightly, and he gritted his teeth. Blue veins stood out on his temples, and droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the penetrating pain in his arm to subside.
After a while, Yvonne’s crying turned into sobbing.
Yohan raised his head from Estelle’s arms, held Yvonne’s little hand, and coaxed her in a gentle voice, “Yvonne, don’t cry. Dad is not here. But don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
Perhaps it was because of the telepathy between them that Yvonne gradually stopped sobbing.
Estelle then stood up and said, “Grandpa Gary, I’ll take the kids back first. They were scared by the quarreling.”
“You may stay here. The one who should leave is not you,” Gary said with a frown.
Then he gestured towards the door and continued, “Cristofer, this is your final chance. If you insist on marrying that woman, then leave this place immediately and never return! However, if you apologize to Estelle and promise to treat her and the children well in the future, I’ll let go of the past and forgive you.”
“Grandpa Gary, we really…”
Before Estelle could finish her words, Gary interrupted her and looked in her direction, “Estelle, don’t say anything. He must make a choice today!”
Hearing this, Cristofer smiled bitterly and said, “Grandpa, I have my own difficulties. There’s something that I really can’t tell you.”
“Why can’t you tell me? What’s your secret then? You are afraid that I won’t let you marry that woman, so you don’t want to tell me about it, huh?”
“Grandpa, I’m sorry, but I really can’t disclose all the details to you. Please forgive me. I can only assure you that I had my reasons for everything I did,” Cristofer said sincerely.
“Nonsense! You really piss me off…”
Seeing that the two of them were about to quarrel again, Yvonne pouted and was about to cry again.
Holding Yohan’s hand, Luke walked to the door with Estelle and urged, “Estelle, you may take the children back first, or they will be frightened again.”
Holding her daughter with one hand and holding Yohan’s hand with the other, Estelle took a deep look at Gary and Cristofer, who were still in a deadlock, and couldn’t help but sigh.