Archer, William, and the others eventually left the hospital ward. Arthur was the only one who remained to accompany Gavin.
Arthur stepped forward and offered, “Mr. Saunders, would you like to have a glass of water?”
“No,” Gavin refused while shaking his head.
Arthur pondered for a moment upon seeing the weary look on Gavin’s face. “Mr. Saunders, I have serviced you for decades and humbly became your right-hand man. However, I have been wanting to tell you about something but could not find the right words to say it. I shall finally voice out my opinion today.”
“What is it?” Gavin asked while glancing at Arthur.
“Well, it relates to both President Saunders and Raelyn. I do understand your disappointed feeling towards your son. However, he is not at fault if we put our feet into his shoes. You adore Raelyn so much and would give her the very best since young. You have paid more attention to her compared to President Saunders if I am being frank with you.”
“They are equally my children. I am strict to Archer as he is my son and ought to bear the responsibility of managing the family business one day. On the other hand, Raelyn is my daughter and need not to carry these burdens. Hence, there is no fault in me for treating her much lenient than Archer.”
Gavin sighed and continued, “You’ve been working for me throughout these years and would be aware of Raelyn’s past. Her mother had a hard time after giving birth to her and was unable to get pregnant anymore. Raelyn is my only daughter and the youngest child in the family. Her immune system was weak ever since she was little and I would subconsciously pay more attention to her.”
“It’s understandable for you to love her as she is your child. However, I do not think that she is grateful for the things that you have done for her. Well, I shall take an incident that happened last time as a start. The company was in a difficult situation but she chose to turn a blind eye to it. She demanded you to provide her with financial capital just to establish her own company. You do remember how challenging it was for the company at that time, don’t you? President Saunders is only a few years older than her but sacrificed himself just for the sake of the company. Remember how much weight he had lost? He was the one who brought back the company to life!”
“I am not ignoring Archer’s effort as the company is under his care after all. I just wanted to help Raelyn for just a bit as she is unfortunately married to an unrefined man. I do not want her to be the laughing stock of others.”
“You assisted her more than once, right? She had taken three hundred million of funds from you as a start. Do you recall how much more that she had demanded from you? I’m well aware of the exact number just so you know.”
Gavin was out of words to retort back. Arthur continued speaking, “Mr. Saunders, she would not have treated her sibling like this if she is appreciative of this family. She firstly schemed against your son with Savannah’s help. She then chose Valeria as her next target. Miss Saunders was clearly aware that Valeria and William were in love with each other. However, she chose to turn a blind eye and allowed her daughter to do such a shameless act. How do you think that President Saunders would feel about this?”
“It’s true that Raelyn is at the wrong, but…” Gavin choked on his sentence. No one would easily forgive such a thing!
Arthur reminded him, “I do think that she does not view both you and President Saunders as a family. She would only think of you when she is short in cash. She is married to Devon for so many years and would only buy you presents when she needs your assistance. She would not get you anything during the festive session, am I right?”
“Well… I am not a fan in receiving gifts,” Gavin did not want to admit it.
“Mr. Saunders, you are wealthy and can buy anything that you want. However, a decent child would respect and adore his parents, right? Have a think about your son and your daughter-in-law. You would receive tonics and presents from Mrs. Saunders very often. Valeria would also instruct the bodyguards to pass you something that she has bought for you every now and then. Not forgetting Raymond who will always buy your favorite pastries and fruits upon visiting you. It’s not about the value of the gift, but about the kind gesture instead.”
Gavin was speechless as Arthur was absolutely spot on. Raelyn would always ask him for favors, be it with regards to money or other matters. She would not make the effort to visit him or get him something when she did not require his assistance.
He was not aware of it before Arthur had finally decided to voice out his opinion. Gavin then thought about the treatment that he had received from both families of his children. He inevitably realized that Raelyn and her daughters were like parasites. They would demand things from him and forget about him as soon as their objectives were met.
Arthur continued, “Mr. Saunders, let’s just imagine things for a while. You are not part of the Saunders family and not a wealthy man. You are an ordinary elderly who needs financial assistance from your children. Do you think that Miss Saunders would take care of you?”
Gavin remained silent as he was unable to come up with an answer to reply Arthur’s query.
“You do recall what you have said during the donation at the welfare institution last time, right? How pity of the homeless elderly and some were even abandoned by their heartless children. You wondered why their children would not want to take care of them. Some of them even had the guts to selfishly acquire their parents’ pension as their own. How different are you compared to them when you have retired from managing the company? I should remind you that Raelyn is an adult. What separates her from the heartless children that show no respect towards their parents?”
Gavin was speechless upon hearing Arthur’s honest opinion. He closed his eyes and lay down sideways. He needed to have a deep think about it.
Valeria was feeling moody on her way back from the hospital. “Honey, what on earth is grandpa thinking? He is clearly aware of the disgusting things that Raelyn had done. Why is grandpa still siding with her?”
“He may perhaps be still convinced with Raelyn’s nonsense. Well, we might also not understand his actual feelings at all. The bond between a father and a child is indescribable and Raelyn is nevertheless his daughter. He can’t bear to do nothing and watch his child end up into such a mess.”
“What if he still insists to be on Raelyn’s team?”
“It would not have much impact as things have already happened this way. Do you think that Raelyn and her family are able to turn the tables around?” William was not bothered by it.
“Well, there is a possibility to a certain extent. You see, Raelyn does not back down and still intends to come between us and grandpa. She would not give up easily and would continue pretending as a victim. She still has hopes to make a comeback.”
Valeria frowned and continued, “Raelyn is no longer influential and is also experiencing a financial crisis. Is she just in for the money since grandpa is also unable to pull some strings for her?”
“Honey, you’ve improved a lot!” William gave her a thumbs-up and praised her.
“Raelyn is such an awful person! She still hasn’t repented and continues to carry out her evil plan. I can’t let things go her way! She would be unable to get a penny from us!”
William chuckled and said, “We can’t say anything if your grandpa still provides her with cash. Just let him do things as he wishes and we shall not meddle into it. We can then save ourselves from trouble and avoid your grandpa from fainting again just like today.”
“Pfft, are you assuming that I’m not on the same page as you? Grandpa is as healthy as a horse and he is just pretending to be sick! He just wants to make my father feel guilty for arguing with him this morning. I have to up with something to settle this problem.”
The notification bell of Valeria’s phone had rung as soon as she finished speaking. She took a glance and realized that it was from Thomas, “Valeria, I just arrived at B City. Where should we meet?”