Garrison received calls from his parents, asking what he had been up to lately, why he hadn’t been to the company, and how much the company had lost.
How much it lost was his loss, not theirs. Did it have anything to do with them?
At first, Garrison answered their calls, but eventually, he started hanging up as soon as he saw who was calling. Now that he was in charge of the Reeves family, he could do whatever he wanted. If he couldn’t even make these decisions, why did he inherit the Reeves family in the first place?
As for the lost partnerships, he planned to slowly regain them once Winifred was discharged from the hospital. The only headache was that those lost partnerships had gone to Leland Burns.
Recently, Leland also noticed something off about Garrison. He hadn’t managed his partnerships for several months, and one by one, his partners had left him, some even coming to Leland.
Leland was more than happy to take advantage of Garrison’s misfortune. But this behavior wasn’t typical of Garrison. Had something happened?
Since smashing Winifred’s grave, they hadn’t seen each other. Leland never cared about Garrison and never bothered to look into his affairs.
But Garrison had indeed changed after Winifred’s grave was smashed. Could it be that the blow was too much for him?
Leland had planned to investigate but got distracted by other matters.
He received ultrasound images from abroad showing the genders of two children-both boys, six months old. The faces in the images were blurry, like two dolls made of clay; it was impossible to tell who they resembled.
He hoped they would look like Winifred. Over time, Winifred would fade away from memory; even he would forget her face.
Sometimes the photos he held became mere decorations; he could barely remember what Winifred looked like when she was still around.
These two children were related to Winifred-they were her children. Maybe he could find traces of Winifred in them.
Upon learning the children’s genders, he felt a moment of disappointment. Both were boys. Neither was a girl.
Leland consoled himself with the thought that boys usually resemble their mothers.
He turned off his computer and began thinking about names for the children. Holding a pen, he wrote down two male names on a piece of paper.
The elder would be named Wayne Burns and the younger Shawn Burns.
Winifred knew that Garrison was under pressure while staying with her at the hospital and began urging him to attend to his own affairs and not worry about her.
“What will you do if I leave?”
Indeed, without Garrison, how would she manage alone in the hospital? Winifred didn’t think much about it.
“I’ll take good care of myself,” she lied. She couldn’t take care of herself; she had long become accustomed to Garrison’s company.
But she couldn’t hold him back or let him be scolded by his parents because of her. She didn’t want to see the Reeves family suffer losses because of her either.
“Garrison,” she called him softly. Whenever she called him like this, Garrison could never refuse her.
She knelt by the bed and hugged his waist tightly. “I promise I’ll take good care of myself. If I run into trouble, I’ll call you. I’ll wait for you to come back at night. Of course, if you’re busy, you don’t have to come back; just call me and explain so I won’t worry.”
“Can you really handle it?” He feared seeing her restrained on the bed again when he returned to the hospital.
Winifred couldn’t handle stress well. It affected her facial recovery and posed a danger to her brain. Garrison also feared she might recall things better left forgotten due to stress.
He could never fully relax around Winifred; every day he was filled with anxiety over her well-being.
Winifred held onto his waist and looked up at him seriously. “I’m not a child anymore; I’m an adult who can take care of herself. Besides, aren’t there doctors and nurses watching over me 24/7? What could go wrong? Are you worried I’ll cry and make a scene wanting to go home like before?”
She read his thoughts immediately. “This time I promise I’ll stay in the hospital obediently. I’ll wait for you every day. If I can’t handle it anymore, I’ll ask the doctor for a sedative. I’ll take my medication properly and won’t cause you any trouble.”
Seeing that Garrison still looked hesitant, she softened her voice and pleaded coquettishly, “Please agree; I don’t want to trouble you.”
His tense expression relaxed as he pinched her nose playfully. “You say you’re not a child, but who was it last night demanding ice cream and bedtime stories? You wouldn’t sleep without them.”
Winifred didn’t truly want ice cream or bedtime stories; she just wanted Garrison’s attention and affection.
Like a child acting out for parental attention, Winifred did that because she was insecure. With Garrison by her side forever, she felt she could remain a “child” indefinitely without growing up, always relying on him without any worries, but that wasn’t feasible.
Garrison had his own life and responsibilities; he couldn’t always be there for her. She had no right to keep him tethered to her side either.
She wasn’t a child anymore; she was an adult who needed independence-the most important lesson being learning to let go.
Garrison also realized that after months of delay, it was time to return to work and catch up on everything he’d missed.
If he didn’t get back to work soon, it might arouse suspicion among those with ill intentions.
If this led Leland to discover Winifred’s whereabouts by investigating him further, it would be disastrous.
Returning to his “normal” life meant reclaiming business deals from Leland as his first order of business.
Seeing Garrison back in action made Leland doubt whether he’d overthought things. However, looking at Garrison’s overall state, Leland noticed that he seemed much thinner than six months ago though in good spirits, clearly indicating he’d had a rough time recently.
“It’s been a long time! How have you been?” Garrison greeted proactively.
Leland responded with a cold laugh, “Yes indeed! It’s been quite some time! I’m doing well but looking at you-it seems otherwise! Last time we met, I smashed your beloved’s grave. I haven’t seen you for months since then. You aren’t busy rebuilding it secretly, are you? As I said before, you build one for Winifred, I smash one! But if it’s your own, I won’t touch it!”