Cristofer then said in a much softer tone, “In the future, when you need to make a choice, you should be rational, analyze the situation, set priorities, and then make the right choice.”
“Got it, Dad.”
“Good boy,” Cristofer smiled at him and added, “Your Mom is right. As your Dad, I shouldn’t lie to you. I’m sorry.”
Yohan was a little stunned when he heard this. Excitedly, he said to Cristofer, “Dad, now, you sounded as before!”
“What?” Cristofer was confused.
“In the past, you always taught me what I should do and what I shouldn’t be taking things happening to us every day as examples.”
“When did I do that?” Cristofer asked, raising his eyebrows.
At the same time, Cristofer thought to himself, ‘Since you were born, I haven’t spent much time with you, let alone educating you with small things every day. Yohan, why did you say so?’
“When we lived in the Rose Garden. Dad, did you forget about that?” Yohan pouted his lips.
“Rose Garden? Where is it?”
Yohan was stunned and speechless. “Dad, have you forgotten Rose Garden? We used to live in an apartment in Rose Garden. It was our first home. When we lived there, you gave me a white puppy as a gift, and I named it Marshmallow. By the way, where is Marshmallow now? Have you been taking care of it after we went abroad?”
Cristofer looked at Estelle in the rearview mirror and saw her expression change a little.
But then she was expressionless again as if she didn’t hear the conversation between Cristofer and Yohan.
Seeing her tired look, he guessed she didn’t sleep well last night.
‘How is Marshmallow now? Did Mr. Lopez adopt it?’ Estelle wondered.
Looking away from her, Cristofer started the car and drove slowly to the Grand Hotel of Hadale City.
On the way back to the hotel, the two children played games on the iPad.
Cristofer asked Estelle, “Where is Rose Garden? Is it the neighborhood you and the children lived in before?”
“Yes.”
“Rose Garden…” Cristofer suddenly remembered that he had heard of it before. “It’s an old neighborhood, right? I’ve never been there before.”
“Yes. It was built many years ago,” Estelle answered.
“Then Mr. Mysterious… used to live there with you. right?”
“Yes.”
“The apartments in the old neighborhood are small and don’t have many rooms. You… Did you sleep in the same bedroom with Mr. Mysterious?” Cristofer asked.
When he spoke, he stared fixedly at Estelle in the rearview mirror so that he wouldn’t miss every change in her expression.
Hearing his question, Estelle fell into silence and didn’t answer him.
Cristofer got the answer from her silence, and his face darkened instantly.
Tilting her head, Estelle stole a glance at him and then saw that he was clenching his jaw with his lips compressing into a thin line. And the cold expression on his angular face showed that he was annoyed.
“Why are you looking at me?” Cristofer suddenly asked.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Estelle quickly turned her head and looked out of the window.
‘Hadale is really different from before,’ she thought when looking at the scenery along the road.
When Cristofer and she were young, they would go down this road every day they went to school.
At that time, they had just been together for a few months.
Cristofer bought a cool black bike to go to school with Estelle every day.
And every morning, he would ride the bike to the Hudson’s House. He would throw small stones at the window of Estelle’s room to remind her it was time for school, which was their secret signal.
Hearing the sound of small stones hitting the window, Estelle would know that Cristofer had come and run downstairs happily.
After picking her up and putting her on the rear seat gently, Cristofer would straddle the bike, ask her to put her arms around his waist, and then pedal off.
And soon, they would come onto this road, which was not spacious.
“I remember that both sides of this road used to be planted with beautiful common bombax flowers,” Estelle suddenly uttered.
Hearing this, Cristofer also looked out of the window. Then he said, still with a hint of displeasure in his tone, “Common bombax flowers are beautiful, but their petals falling on the ground and being trampled again and again will make the pedestrians’ shoes and the road dirty. To keep the city clean and tidy, the government decided to replace the flowers with banyan trees several years ago.”
Estelle nodded, continuing to admire the scenery.
Banyan trees could be seen almost everywhere in Hadale, so Hadale was also called Banyan City.
The huge banyan trees had long drooping branches, looking like beauties with long hair.
“By the way, you just said that there is an update about looking for a liver donor for Christina. Have you found a suitable donor?” Estelle asked.
Glancing at her from the rearview mirror, Cristofer asked, “Is it just because of this that you agreed to let me pick you up, right?”
“Or what?”
“I thought it was partly because of our… previous relationship that you didn’t refuse me.”
“It’s meaningless to be nostalgic for our past,” Estelle explained.
Hearing this, Cristofer sneered, looked away from her dumbfoundedly and focused on driving.
Looking straight ahead, he said, “The hospitals in Hadale have done organic matching for Christina and all those who have the same blood type as her.”
“What’s the result? Is there any suitable donor? Is the donor willing to donate the liver?” Estelle asked anxiously.
“No,” Cristofer answered with a frown, “Up to now, there is no suitable donor. Christina has a rare blood type. The chance of success of organic matching is too slim. Even the organic matching between her and her family may not be successful, let alone strangers. Looking for a suitable donor for her is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Then what should we do now?”
“I’ve asked my men to expand the search scope. Since we can’t find a suitable donor in Hadale, we’ll try to look for that in other cities.”
Hearing this, Estelle felt depressed and leaned back against the backrest of the seat with her shoulder drooping. Then she nodded helplessly and said, “This is the only way now.”
“May I know why Christina is unrelated to you by blood, but you are still willing to save her at all costs? Is it just because you pitied her and can’t bear to see her die?” Cristofer asked.
“I’m not that selfish, but there’s some other reason that I want to save her.”
“What’s the reason?” Cristofer asked.
Estelle didn’t answer him.