Paige quietly pressed his pulse, her gaze darkening.
She let go and shook her head at Enrico, who took the gun back and walked back to sit beside her.
Monteo sits there, his breathing deep and slow for a long time before he says, “I’m getting older, it’s normal that I don’t have many days left to live.”
“…”
Paige looked at him like this, for a moment she didn’t know what to say.
His old man looked spirited, but he didn’t realize that the bottom had gotten so bad that it would be considered good to live through this year’s winter.
“How did you guess? My spirit doesn’t look like I’m going to die.”
At this point, Monteo can still laugh at himself, I don’t know if it’s considered a healer’s open-mindedness.
Paige looked up at him and didn’t answer, only said, “So your real goal isn’t for us to give Gabriel to you, it’s that you’re testing us on Samantha’s behalf to see if we’re a perfect adoptive couple.”
“…”
It was amazing that he even guessed the reason.
Monteo was speechless for a moment; they hadn’t gotten to where they were at such a young age for no reason.
“We coerced you for the sake of the vaccine, in your eyes, we are considered to be of great righteousness; you deliberately said that you wanted to take Gabriel as an apprentice to see if we were so righteous that we would give up our small family, if we did, you wouldn’t take care of us instead.”
Paige spelled out all of her suspicions.
When she heard Samantha say that she had to learn early so that she could stand on her own two feet, she vaguely understood Monteo’s thick heart.
Monteo’s heart aches for the child, but he doesn’t have many days left, and he can’t wait to find a place for Samantha to settle down and look at the family as a family, both because they have the means to adopt a child, and because Samantha and Gabriel get along pretty well and won’t ostracize them.
So Monteo decided to put them to the test.
At that, Monteo raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Back then, her father begged to come to me, got on his knees, and changed the child’s name right in front of me, saying that it would be a great favor as long as I adopted the child.”
“…”
Paige listens in silence.
“But I don’t like it, this child born and raised from the poor, no light in his eyes, living a numb life without a shred of cheerfulness, it’s uncomfortable to look at.”
Monteo shook his head, “And then, I adopted her by ghost, she’s been with me for the past two years and smiles a little, but she’s also only close to me, refuses to go to kindergarten, and can’t play with the other kids.”
That’s why he was so shocked to see Samantha willing to talk to Gabriel.
“She doesn’t know yet, does she?” Paige asked softly.
“She was born in a small place where they say she’s a heavenly grunt who killed her parents and her grandparents and uncles, and if she knew that I’m not going to be able to be there for her anytime soon either, she …”
Having spent so much time together, Monteo shuddered to think what the child might be rambling on about.
“I would like to adopt Samantha.”
Without Monteo having to say anything more, Paige made the decision straight away.
Enrico turned his eyes to look at her and raised an eyebrow, that’s a decision?
“There’s no way we can replace her parents, so we won’t be caring for or disciplining her from a parental standpoint either, that would be a burden on her instead in my opinion.”
Paige sat there, calmly, “But we’ll be in charge of her until she’s an adult, and until then, we won’t let her be bullied, we won’t let her wind up in a normal living environment.”
Enrico sat there, glancing sideways to the side and back to her, “Where are we?”
Why didn’t he see it.
“…”
Paige gives him a look, her eyes just say a few words: do as you’re told and shut up.
“…”
Enrico stopped talking.
Monteo looked at Paige with some surprise; if Paige had said, how well she would do, he’d have been a little anxious instead, but the way she said it, he could tell that she’d given it a lot of thought.
Perhaps, in the moment she guessed, that was the intention.
Still, he asked, “Because of the Ferris wheel virus?”
Hearing this, Paige let out a bitter laugh, “Honestly, the moment I pressed on your pulse, I didn’t know how to ask you to participate in the research anymore?”
After all, his body had been deficient to such an extent …
“I’d like to go to The Capital,” Monteo volunteered.
“…”
Paige frowned slightly.
“My own body, I know myself, I can still hold out for a while.” Monteo solemnly said, “If I’m lucky enough to be able to research a vaccine before my eyes close, then my life will be worth it.”
Healer, the Way.
Paige stood up from her position and bowed respectfully toward Monteo.
Monteo looks at her and smiles for a while, “I’m relieved to have Samantha in your hands.”
“…”
Enrico gives a cool look away.
Now, what happened to “the guys”?
…
When she got out of Monteo’s place, Paige’s mind was a little mixed, not sure if it was because Monteo didn’t have long to live, or because of Samantha’s rocky fate.
Paige called over to The Capital so they could get ready for Monteo’s arrival, and after hanging up, she wondered if this was even a successful raid?
“Where are we?”
Enrico’s nonchalant voice landed in her ear.
Paige retrieved her thoughts and turned her eyes to the man beside her, “Enrico … us?”
Enrico’s large palm came directly over her head, his handsome face forced itself into her eyes and he ground his teeth, “Adopting a child for me, how dare you?”
“I even dared to have a child for you.” Adopting a child was nothing.
“…”
Enrico was speechless.
“I’ve made it clear to Monteo that I won’t be adopting Samantha as a parent.”
Paige said, “Between the two of us, we have very little time to even spend with Gabriel, how could we dare to spend time with another child in the name of parenthood, so how about taking care of Samantha like we took care of the group of kids on Wind Island?”
It wouldn’t be hard for them to do.
“So why don’t we just find her an adoptive family?”
Have to take care of it yourself?
At that, Paige’s gaze settled, “She already has a concept of her parents, and that’s wonderful, forcing her to recognize another set of parents is making her erase her memories, and given her nature, I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
Growing up with a wonderful image of the word parents is a good thing, like her, it’s been over 20 years and she’s only now twisting and turning to correct the bad memories of those two words in her bones.
“…”
Enrico didn’t expect her to think so deeply and couldn’t help but stare at her, “Paige, I’ve realized you’re really good at being a mom.”
Paige looked into his deep set eyes and alarm bells went off in her mind, “What do you mean?”
“What do you mean?”
Enrico pinched her ear, his deep eyes staring at her impishly, “So fit to be a mom, how about having two more?”
“…”
Paige absolutely squirted if she was drinking water right now.
She asked a little stiffly, “You want to?”
She wasn’t ready.