Chapter 4

Clara also looked at me with panic. She hadn't expected things to develop this way either.

Seeing she had no reaction and just kept looking at me, Charles pulled her into his arms.

"That's more like it. Tell him to stop stalking my wife from now on."

"Let's go!"

Clara bit her lip, said nothing, and showed no intention of leaving.

Finally, Charles just picked her up and carried her away.

As soon as they left, my mother collapsed heavily on the ground.

"Mom!!"

I quickly crouched down to help her up. She seemed to be holding on to her last breath to say one final thing to me.

"Steve, don't stalk her anymore. It's... not good."

I shook my head, full of guilt: "I didn't. I really didn't."

"From the day at the license office when she said she was going to have Charles's baby, I broke up with her."

I was about to tell her about getting back together with Daisy when she closed her eyes with a look of regret.

No matter how I called to her, she wouldn't wake up. When the doctor told me she was gone, my whole body went rigid.

My mother hadn't even learned about Daisy and me getting back together. How could she just leave?

I lay by her bedside, overwhelmed by guilt, my face covered in tears.

Clara called me. I didn't answer, so she kept calling.

Finally, I picked up.

"Steve, how is your mom doing now?"

"I'm sorry. I really didn't expect to run into your mother at the hospital."

"You have no right to mention her to me."

I practically roared.

"I told you we broke up that day at the license office. I never stalked you..."

"And I told you, we're not breaking up."

"Having Charles's baby is because his mother's health is poor. What's wrong with me giving him a baby?"

"After she has a grandson, maybe she'll perk up and fight off her illness."

"I thought you understood me. I didn't expect you to be so selfish, just like your mother."

After saying this, she hung up.

From then on, she never called me again.

My mother's death made me start to detest Clara, yet she was still waiting for me to contact her.

After I returned to my hometown to handle my mother's funeral, I went out to see the world.

I visited Daisy. She was too swamped with work to get away.

She said things would get better after these few months and asked me to wait for her.

Meanwhile, Clara, who hadn't contacted me for months, suddenly started calling me like crazy.

I wanted to block her, but I knew she'd just use a new number to keep calling.

When I answered, she immediately laid into me.

"Steve, why didn't you tell me you quit your job? You disappeared for months—where did you go?"

I didn't respond to her questions, so she softened her tone.

"Are you still mad about last time?"

"Then I apologize, okay?"

"Just wait a little longer. When the time comes, I'll personally go apologize to your mom."

"No need. She doesn't need your apology."

"You don't deserve her forgiveness either. After all, she always treated you like her own daughter. You loved steak, so she made it for you. You liked pretty dresses, so she saved money to buy them for you."

Bringing up the past, my heart felt no pain, only hatred.

Perhaps because Clara had been separated from me for so long, and afraid of provoking me into never coming back, she kept lowering her tone when speaking to me.

Finally, I hung up on her.

I didn't leave. Instead, I stayed to be with Daisy.

Because she was already pregnant with my child. I was so overjoyed I didn't know how to express it.