“Rita?” Grandpa Jim looked at the girl sitting beside hissickbedwith worriesfilled in his eyes. “Be careful!
You waist has not recovered and you should stay on the bed.”
“But I miss you so much.” She acted like a spoiled child, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“You are a good girl.”Grandpa Jim compromised with affection, but turning around, showed a stern face
to Liam.
“You should take a better care of her. If she didn’t recover well and soon, you’ll be punished with the
family rules.”
Then Grandpa Jim turned to her and helped her stand up immediately, “The floor is so cold that you
shouldn’t sit there. Come and sit beside me.”
Feeling his overwhelming tenderness, Rita almost shed tears.
Being alive again, Grandpa Jim still doted on her.
“Rita?”
Noticing she was in a trance, he called her name again.
She recollected her thoughts instantly and sat beside him.
On that day, they had a long conversation. Only when she was with him, Grandpa Jim burst into
laughter instead of being solemn.
The conversation lasted so long that it consumed Grandpa Jim’s energy so he was visibly weary.
She stood up in a hurry and helped him walk to the bed for a rest.
“It seems that I don’t have much time left. I got tired so easily.” Lying propped on the bed, he sighed.
Hearing this, Rita became anxious, frowning at him, “It’s not true! Don’t say that, please. You’ll livea
long life.”
Grandpa Jim smiled quietly with dismay in his heart.
He knew his body more than anyone else, realizing that he would die in the near future.
Grandpa Jim looked at her with contemplation and tried to tell her something, opening his mouth but
finally he said something else, “Ask Liam to come here. I want to talk to him.”
“Grandpa, I think you had better sleep for a while first.”
“Sleep…” He’s afraid that he would not wake up forever if he slept. But knowing that she would be
unhappy if he told that to her, he just smiled with love, “I will forget what I want to tell him.”
“Ok, I get it.” She promised since he was so determined.
Before she left the room and informed Liam, she helped put the quilt on him.
“Grandpa, what’s wrong?”
Leaning on the bed, Grandpa Jim glanced at the cold man with mixed feelings.
“How are you and Rita?”
“Very… well.” Liam said plainly.
“I am sick but I am not blind. I can see that you kissed so reluctantly that day.”
Grandpa Jim frowned, and kept scolding, “Be honest to me. What’s wrong with you two?”
Grandpa Jim guessed out what happened by his speechlessness.
Then he gave a deep sigh, “You’ve hurt her so much that she is unwilling to forgive you.”
“I know.”
“You know? I think you should make more efforts to please her to let her forget the past.”OGrandpa Jim
paused and continued seriously, “However, if she refuses to forgive you and makes up her mind to
leave, I hope you won’t stop her. Just let go.”
Hearing this, the man with a poker face showed someemotion.
Being aware of Liam’s change of feelings, Grandpa Jim looked up at the sky, murmuring to himself and
seemingly to Liam as well,
“She has tried her best to love you and therefore lost her happiness. I hope that she will lead a happy
life in the future.”
At the first floor, looking at Grandpa Jim’s room at the second floor, Rita was holding back her tears but
finally failed. Her tears dropped down, “My dear grandpa…”
“Rita?”
Together with the voice of confusion sounding behind, footsteps were heard.
Rita wiped her tears away and turned back to see Michael walking in with a medical kit. “Hey, Michael,
why are you here?
“My professor asked me to check Grandpa Jim’s health.” He took a glance at her waist, frowning, “Why
didn’t you stay in the hospital? You wound…”
“It doesn’t matter.” She smiled mildly.
But her smile made him stupefied.
It didn’t matter? He could well remember that she feared of pains.
There was a summer when she and Lillian barked their skin during climbing a tree naughtily and she
burst into crying with a twisted face due to the pain.
And now, not only did she never say that she was painful, but also she could speak of the wound
smiling. A couple years later, she was no longer the girl who was so vulnerable and seemed to become
tougher.
He looked down to find anointment from the case for her, “Be careful. You still need to apply the
ointment to your waist, which can help remove the blood stasis. I guess that you almost run out of the
former one, so I want to give you another.”
At the sight of the ointment, she was a little amazed.
She never expected that he would be so clear about the use of her ointment.
But it might be usual for him as a doctor to remember this. After all, they themselves prescribed the
medicines and ointments and therefore must remember the doses.
Thinking of these, Rita was not puzzled.
She took the ointment, “Oh, thank you so much. My ointment has been run out and I am going to take
more from you. Now I can save the time of going to the hospital.”
“My pleasure.”
“Mr. Burke, why do you bring the ointment of removing gores? You are just to give Grandpa Jim a
simple check.” Holding a plate of fruits, Mrs. Davis was curious at the sight of the ointment in Rita’s
hand.
He bit his lips and lied to her casually, “As a doctor, I have a habit of bringing all kinds of medicines and
ointments with me in case of need.” In fact, he brought Rita’s ointment on purpose.
“Oh, I get it. By the way, these days I have little appetite for any food. Do you have any pills for it?” Mrs.
Davis asked innocently.
“I am sorry. Today I forgot bringing it.”
Mrs. Davis was speechless, confused by his answer.
So was Rita, just considering Mrs. Davis unlucky this time.
But their conversation was witnessed by Liam.
He looked at Michael with eyes narrowed to a line, apparently hostilely.
Meanwhile, Michael noticed Liam.
At the glance of Liam’s coldness, he didn’t ignore but faced it.
They battled silently face to face as if two powerful currents were in war, which would bomb this place
at the next moment.
“Liam, does Grandpa Jim have time now?” Michael showed him the machine, saying something first,
“He needs to have a check today.”
“Well, come upstairs.”
“OK.”
Michael nodded and went to the second floor with his medical kit.
Considering that she might be helpful to them, Rita followed.
Because she paid all the attentions to Grandpa Jim, she didn’t notice that the two men behind her were
hostile to each other.
Standing at the door, she asked gently, “Grandpa, are you awake? Doctor Burke came here to offer
you a physical examination.”
However, nobody answered. It seemed that Grandpa Jim didn’t hear what she said.
So she raised her voice to ask again, “Grandpa?”
But there was no response. She was puzzled and opened the door only to find Grandpa Jim lying
quietly on the bed as if he was asleep.
Stepping on the floor more mildly, she bent down to give him a gentle push, “Grandpa?”
Grandpa Jim didn’t reply and his hands on his chest slip down.
Looking at Grandpa Jim who had no reaction, Rita couldn’t keep her smile and became surprised.
She put her finger in tremble under his nostril to check his breaths but feel nothing. Her tears dropped
down her face immediately and her body nearly fell down. “My dear … grandpa!”
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