When Mike, who answered the call, heard Jane’s voice, he immediately hung up the phone. With just this action, Jane knew that Melissa’s return home was definitely not mentioned to anyone at Pansy’s Old Mansion. Therefore, she must have been hidden away by Patrick.
However, with so many properties under Patrick’s control, where could he have hidden her? This puzzled Jane.
So she made a call to her private detective, instructing him to thoroughly investigate the matter.
Afterwards, she returned to the hospital and saw Patrick sitting alone in a chair, his eyes fixed on the situation inside the ward. He looked affectionate and extremely worried.
This situation made Jane somewhat doubtful whether he was pretending or if she had guessed wrong.
“Why did you come? Didn’t I tell you to go back and rest?” Patrick looked at her with a reproachful tone, mixed with concern.
Jane stared at his eyes intently and asked, “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Patrick chuckled, his hands spread out in a helpless gesture. “What can I say to you?”
“How will you handle your father?”
Patrick asked after a long pause. His response left her disappointed.
“I have already made arrangements. You don’t need to worry about these matters. Someone will come to handle it tomorrow!” Jane’s reply was decisive.
“There are some things you don’t have to bear alone. You can tell me,” Patrick said, placing his large hands on her shoulders. Jane instinctively recoiled, feeling repulsed by the gesture.
Fortunately, Patrick didn’t suspect anything and just thought she was in a bad mood.
“You should go home and rest. You don’t need to worry about anything here. Leave everything to me. If there’s any situation, I will inform you,” Patrick arranged everything properly, appearing like an exemplary gentleman.
Jane even had the illusion that everything that had just happened was like a dream that didn’t really exist.
But the pain of reality had already pulled her back from the dream.
“Let me ask you one last time, is there something you’re hiding from me?” Jane repeated her question, hoping for a genuine answer instead of deceitful results.
“What are you talking about? You must be exhausted these past few days. Go back and rest. You don’t need to worry about the children either; they will be well taken care of,” Patrick replied. Upon hearing this answer, Jane instantly understood. She silently nodded, turned around, and left.
Little did she know that her face was already covered in tears.
Behind her, Patrick let out a long sigh of relief, as if he had narrowly escaped a great disaster.
Back at home, Jane entered her parents’ room and looked at the wall filled with photos and the lingering scent of her parents. The overwhelming grief emerged from deep within her, making it impossible to control her emotions.
She opened the wardrobe and found her father’s often-worn coat and the wheelchair he used every day. Jane quietly sat on the wheelchair, tightly wrapping her father’s coat around herself. She closed her eyes, and scenes of the three of them together in a foreign country appeared in her mind.
Those moments, although brief, were incredibly beautiful.
At least there was no separation of flesh and blood or a great divide between heaven and earth like now.
In this way, Jane sat in the wheelchair, unaware of how much time had passed. When she woke up again, it was already morning. Jane hammered her legs, which had gone numb, and struggled to stand up, wiping away the tears that had already dried on her face.
She looked at the numerous missed calls on her phone, all related to Patrick.
Without even changing her clothes, she hurriedly headed towards the hospital.
It usually took her over an hour to get there, but this time she managed to shorten the journey by 40 minutes. When she arrived at the hospital, she saw her assistant waiting at the entrance, wearing a sorrowful expression.
This sent a chill down her spine, and she hurriedly ran towards the ward.
Before she even reached the door, she heard a wailing sound. Jane stood frozen in place, too afraid to go inside. In that moment, she was scared that she wouldn’t be willing to face the sudden truth and accept the reality that had already occurred.
“Boss, I just received the news this morning. Your mother has passed away!” The assistant, fearing that she couldn’t hold herself together, supported her.
Even Patrick emerged from inside, his expression devoid of any emotions.
He tightly embraced her without saying a word. Until now, Jane was unwilling to accept the reality.
She even held onto the illusion that maybe the diagnosis was wrong.
It wasn’t until she entered the ward and saw her mother’s face covered with a white cloth, surrounded by people sobbing, that she realized everything was real. It was just her deceiving herself.
At that moment, Jane completely broke down, bursting into loud sobs. The pain of losing someone and then regaining them was like a ton of weight pressing against her chest, making it hard to breathe.
People around stood by, trying to persuade her to get up from the ground, while Patrick remained by her side, unwilling to leave. He didn’t say a word, silently accompanying her.
“We discovered the deterioration of her condition this morning and immediately tried to reach you. We thought you were at the company. The surgery lasted almost two hours, but the result was a failure. Your mother died on the operating table.”
This news struck her like a thunderbolt, once again exploding in Jane’s mind.
“Please, don’t say any more,” Jane pleaded to the person beside her.
Silence enveloped the surroundings, only broken by the sounds of sobbing.
“I’ve already arranged the burial site. Your mother will be laid to rest with your father,” Patrick made the arrangements.
But Jane pushed him away forcefully. “My family’s affairs don’t need your concern. You don’t have to bother with it.”
Jane’s cold attitude left Patrick bewildered.
“I’ve said that when we encounter difficulties, we can face them together. Don’t push me away,” Patrick coaxed her like soothing a child, showing no signs of haste.
But it was precisely because of this attitude that Jane grew angrier.
“I don’t need you to treat me like this. From now on, you are you, and I am me. You have your own matters and the people you care about, and I have my own life!”
In front of her mother, Jane drew the line.
“What’s wrong, boss? Please don’t lose your senses,” the assistant thought she was rejecting help from those around him due to excessive grief.
The assistant was still trying to persuade Patrick and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Pansy. Maybe our boss is too heartbroken, that’s why she spoke harshly.”
“Don’t speak for me. Everything I said is true!” Jane repeated her words again, as if each one pierced Patrick’s heart.
“Are you sure?”
“Escort him out!”