Ch. 161..170
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 161
There was a knock on the door, and Juniper was so frightened that she almost jumped out of her bed. She then asked angrily, “Who is it?”
The person outside the door did not speak, and it took a while for Ariana to open the door and walk in, looking a little worried. “Juni.”“
Seeing that it was her mother, Juniper took a deep breath, suppressed the uneasiness and displeasure in her heart, and said in a soft voice, “Mom, is there anything urgent? I have some work to do right now. If there’s nothing too urgent, let me get my work done first.”
Ariana walked up to Juniper and took her hand. “Juni, be honest with me. Hesper Rivera just ran into an accident in Salt City. Do you have anything to do with it?”
Juniper did not expect her mother to be so perceptive. Since she was a child, she had always been a well- behaved and obedient child in everyone’s mind, and she was the center of envy of all girls of the same. age, so she would never admit to committing such a murderous act.
“Mom! How could you think of me as such a person?!” Juniper turned her head away. “I might love. Rickard, but I’m not insane.”
Ariana cast a profound gaze at her daughter and then sighed. “Forget it, I’ll just pretend that you’re not the one behind this incident. But, Juniper, will you look back and see what you’ve done so far? Can you
tell me where the daughter that I’ve always been very proud of has gone? And all of this just for a man?”
“Mom!” Juniper flung Ariana’s hand off her arm and said impatiently, “If you still suspect me, then I have. nothing else to say to you. Rickard was my lover in the first place. Hesper is the one who used disgraceful means to marry Rickard and become his wife later on. And they’re currently divorced, so it’s only normal. for me and Rickard to reconcile. I don’t think I’ve lost my pride. If you have nothing else to say, you can leave already, I’m working here.”
The two did not end the conversation on good terms: Ariana looked at the closed door and shook her head.
“I just hope that Juniper won’t sink deeper and deeper.
The morning passed extremely quickly when she had to deal with work all day. Hesper then gave herself a well-deserved break in the early evening, lying on the hospital bed and watching short videos while waiting for Matthew to arrive.
The door of the ward was pushed open at that moment. However, Hesper was not facing the entrance of the ward and had to turn over. It was not easy for her to turn over with the wound on her back, so she could only try to turn herself over very slowly.
“You arrived quite soon. I thought it’d at least take you half an hour to get here.”
“I arrived quite soon?”
An unexpected and familiar voice sounded from behind her, and Hesper’s eyes instantly widened. “Isaac? Isaac!”
“You b*tch, my son is still lying on the hospital bed and has yet to regain consciousness, yet you’re here, lying in bed and playing with your phone with peace of mind?”
Julie stepped forward and grabbed Hesper by her shoulder blades. Hesper yelled out in pain.
Isaac rushed in as soon as he heard Hesper’s voice. Seeing the scene in front of him, he immediately. stepped forward and pulled Julie off Hesper’s body, subduing the middle-aged woman on the ground.
“Ms. Lane! Are you okay?!”
Madam Duval had pressed down onto Hesper’s wound, who could feel the scabbed wound opening again, and the pain was excruciating.
“Dislocate her arm…”
When Julie heard Hesper’s words, she was about to yell, but then she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.”
Crack–!”
‘The b*tch’s man actually twisted my right arm out!’
“Ah! Hesper… Hesper Rivera, have you lost your mind?! Do you know who I am?”
Hesper gritted her teeth, enduring the severe pain coming from the wound, as she supported herself to sit up and glared down at Julie.
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“I think you’re the one who’s lost your mind. Do you really think I’m still the Hesper Rivera who you could deal with however you like?”
Hesper’s gaze was filled with resentment, and her face was extremely pale due to the severe pain.
Julie was taken aback by her murderous look, and the agonizing pain in her arm served as a great reminder to her that Hesper was no longer the pushover she used to be!
“Rickard is still lying on the hospital bed and hasn’t woken up yet. How dare you treat me like this, you b* tch? Do you even have a heart?!” Julie cursed.
Hesper listened in silence for a while and then sneered “Did Rickard bleed a lot? And is his injury serious?”
Julie was frightened by Hesper’s sneer and dared not speak out, for fear that Isaac would dislocate her other arm. She then heard from Hesper. “No matter how serious his injury is, will it be as severe as what I experienced in the past when you disguised the doll as Renfrew and threw it off the building, baiting me to jump down after it?”
Isaac had never heard Hesper talk about these past events in person, but with only one sentence, he could already imagine the scene where Hesper jumped down from a tall building in order to protect her
child.
“Did he bleed as much as I did on that day?”
Hesper could still feel pain up till today, and it would get even more unbearable on cloudy and rainy days, to the extent that she could not walk properly as every step would feel like she was walking on the tip of a knife.
These were all thanks to the Duvals and Juniper, which made Hesper dream about torturing them countless times.
Julie could forget about what they had done to her in the past, and Sophia would do so too. Anyone could forget about those actions and schemes!
But she, Hesper Rivera, would never forget.
“I haven’t gone after you ever since I came back only because it wasn’t your turn just yet.” Hesper stared into Julie’s guilty eyes with her dimmed gaze. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely give you a taste of your own medicine. It’s just that it’ll be ten times or even a hundred times worse.”
“Okay, now throw her out. Matthew is coming soon and I don’t want him to worry.”
Once Hesper gave the order, Isaac carried Julie, who was too frightened to speak, out of the ward, and then took a left turn in the corridor, but that was when he ran into Matthew, who had been standing at the door for who knows how long.
“Mr. Lane.”
Isaac pushed Julie forward, and she immediately ran away holding her dislocated arm.
Matthew’s gaze looked calm and he opened his mouth after a short while. “I’ll go in later… Summon the doctor here to attend to Hesper’s wound.”
“Yes, sir.” Isaac turned around and went to look for the doctor, knowing that Matthew had heard everything that Hesper said.
Everyone who worked for the Lanes could see how much Matthew loved Hesper. They also knew that she
had suffered a lot and even almost died in the past, so they understood that it must not have felt good
back then.
Matthew indeed did not find this matter recorded anywhere in the system. After all, a woman jumping off a building was not a trivial matter. So, all news about this matter must have been deliberately suppressed and removed, and it was obvious that Rickard must have something to do with that process.
‘Rickard Duval…”
Matthew clenched his fists, and after a while, when he got his emotions and expression under control, he opened the door, and walked into the ward.
He knew that Hesper had her own pride, so even he would not be allowed to interfere in her path of taking revenge.
“Matthew, you’re here!” Hesper guessed that Matthew would be here soon, but she did not expect him to
arrive so soon.
‘Thank God Isaac already drove Julie away earlier. Otherwise, Matthew would have to witness the whole farce from beginning to the end.”
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Matthew responded with a hum and walked forward. Seeing Hesper’s pale complexion, he forcibly suppressed his rage.
“Grandpa cooked some soup for you himself and kept telling me to watch you finish it before leaving you to yourself.”
Hesper’s eyes widened, and she bargained, “The thermos is so huge. Just how much soup did he cook? I’ll turn into a ball after finishing it!”
Looking at Hesper’s coquettish smiling face, Matthew sighed, stretched out his hand, and rubbed the top of her head. “Then you’re to give Grandpa a call and tell him that you’re not going to finish the soup. Anyway, this is the task he assigned to me; if I were to fail to accomplish it, he’ll definitely nag me over the years to come.”
Hesper laughed. “I’ll tell Grandpa that you speak ill of him behind his back.”
The two chatted for a while before Hesper remembered that there was something more important that they should talk about.
“The person staying in the next ward saved my life. She’s also an orphan, and she struggles a little in the intelligence department. The person who raised her…” Hesper lowered her gaze, feeling a little unbearable to continue. “That person died in the earthquake. She really has no one to rely on now. Could you help me find a reliable doctor for her to see if her disease can be cured? As for the payment, just deduct it from my income over the years.”
‘No matter what, Twiggy will always be the person who saved my life. I can’t just leave her out there to die. If she can recover from whatever illness that’s bothering her and regain a normal IQ, she would at least be able to survive in the future.
“Okay.” Matthew agreed, and then suggested all of a sudden, “But I think you should entrust this matter to another person. He has more connection in this field than I do.”
“Who’s that?” Hesper did not even realize it for a split second, and when she thought of Nathaniel, her expression turned a little helpless. “Matthew, stop trying to make a match out of the two of us. Others might not know about our relationship, but you should know best!”.
“Nathaniel is indeed an excellent man. I regard you as my younger sister; that makes you the young lady. of the Lanes, so the engagement naturally counts.”
Matthew mentioned Nathaniel out of the blue only because he wanted to test Hesper’s reaction.
After all, Hesper had taken a liking to Rickard for so many years, and he realized that Rickard’s attitude towards her had changed so much over the years. That man even saved Hesper’s life in Salt City without hesitating or worrying that he himself would actually get hurt in the process.
It was hard to guarantee that Hesper would not be moved by him again.
Hesper scratched her forehead in distress, and then said, “Nathaniel is indeed a very good friend, but we’re just friends. I don’t have any romantic feelings for him.”
“As for how Nathaniel treats me… He treats everyone the same way, so I’m sure that he doesn’t like me.”
Seeing that Hesper was simply worried about him bringing the engagement up and not because she was falling for Rickard again, Matthew changed the subject without a trace and did not mention Nathaniel
again.
“Uncle Wilfred has been grounded by Grandpa. It was not reasonable for him to suggest that you risk your
life by traveling to the area stricken by the earthquake. Even the directors back in Emperion can’t say anything about the decision.” Matthew claimed. “I still stand by what I said earlier. Never put yourself at
risk.”
Hearing the seriousness in Matthew’s tone, Hesper nodded solemnly. “I know it’s my fault. I’ve already gone back and forth through the gate of hell twice in my life. The first trip taught me to let go of a certain someone, and the second trip taught me to take care of myself.”
Listening to what Hesper had to say, Matthew was slightly stunned. He then saw Hesper lay back down in pain. “My wound hurts so bad. If I knew that you heard everything, I wouldn’t have put on a show!”
“How did you know?” Matthew was a little helpless
Hesper replied, “The moment you came in, your gaze already looked weird. It’s just that I didn’t want to expose you before.”
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Hesper really did not want Matthew to know about those embarrassing past events. After all, the past had already passed, and one had to look forward in order to move forward in life. But it would not matter too even if Matthew were to find out about it.
Every person would go through ups and downs in life, and Matthew was the person who reached out to her and lent her a helping hand when she was at her worst.
Looking at Hesper, who seemed extremely carefree, Matthew could only rub her head. “Get Isaac to stay in front of your door at all times so that no random sh*tsack can hurt you again. And where’s Renee? I don’t think I’ve seen her ever since you got hurt this time around, not even once.”
Regarding her suspicion that Juniper had hired someone to push her into her demise in Salt City, Hesper had not mentioned it to anyone yet. She even hesitated and avoided answering Isaac’s questions when he asked her about the incident, and she had not brought the incident up again.
It was not that Hesper did not trust other people to look into the matter; it was just that the more people. who knew about the incident, the easier it was to alert the culprit, so Hesper only told Renee to investigate young men that had a mole right under their right eye.
“There are other tasks that are keeping her busy. Besides, the number of people who are here taking care of me won’t accelerate my recovery.”
Matthew would always lose his rationality when it came to issues that were related to Hesper. Finding it a little amusing, she said, “After this incident, things should remain rather peaceful for a while more back in Emperion. I know you also took on some of the pressure on my behalf, so you should take this short. break to relax a little.”
The two chatted about work for a while until the doctor came in, wanting to change Hesper’s bandage. That was when Isaac had no choice but to lead Matthew out.
After changing the bandages, Matthew was already long gone, without even bidding his sister goodbye.
“He just leaves as soon as he finds the chance. That’s just how busy he is.”
Staring at the soup on the table, Hesper shook her head helplessly, then took a photo and sent it to her grandfather.
“Matthew has brought me the soup. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely grab a good rest these few days!”
Ernest was not someone who had these electronic devices on him all the time, so he did not reply to her text message immediately. Hesper had already gotten used to that, so she put her phone aside and continued to go through the reports.
“Ms. Lane…” Isaac hurried in from the corridor. “Young Master Renfrew has gone missing!”
“What?”
Myriade: Where are you going? Turn on your GPS. The phone that your dad gave you has been locked, so I can’t connect it myself.
Carrying his small backpack, Renfrew stood on the side of the road and waited for the traffic light to turn. green with other adults. After seeing the news, he frowned, immediately turned on his phone’s GPS, and came out searching for his mommy.
Renfrew: I’ve asked, and my mommy is staying in a hospital in the city. I’m sure that I’m heading in the right direction.
Myriade: But why do I feel that you’re going in the opposite direction?
Renfrew stood among the adults, and attracted the attention of several ladies nearby– Who would not fall for this fair, slightly chubby, and adorable child who was wearing a tiny suit?
Seeing Myriade’s words, Renfrew lifted his head, took a glance at the road sign, turned his head to the side, and saw the ladies who were observing him secretly. He then walked over generously.
“Hello, Ms. Strangers, do you know where is Genecity’s General Hospital located? I need to get there to find my mother.”
Renfrew opened his large eyes and looked up at the women. The people standing next to them melted from his cuteness, not to mention the ladies who were already observing him secretly before that.
“You have to take a bus from the station over there. It won’t be near if you choose to walk there!” One of the women squatted down so that Renfrew could look at her horizontally. “It’s too dangerous for you to walk there by yourself. Where’s your daddy?”
Hearing Rickard being mentioned, Renfrew gave off a hint of dissatisfaction through his expression, and he responded, “He’s been hospitalized too, and he hasn’t woken up yet.”
Renfrew’s tone made it sound like he did not like his father, but everyone automatically thought that Renfrew was a poor child whose parents had run into an accident and had no one to take care of them.
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 165
“Hello, hello? Can you hear me?”
The Bluetooth earphone that Renfrew had on suddenly sounded, and the voice that came through belonged to the worried Myriade who had not received a reply to her message, but it was only a mechanical voice. “Don’t talk too much to strangers. There are a lot of children who are getting kidnapped and sold to foreign countries now, and don’t forget that you’re Rickard Duval’s son, so you’re worth a fortune.”
“Thank you, young lady. I know how to get there now.” Renfrew thanked the ladies, picked up his small backpack, and walked away along the roadside under the shade of trees.
Myriade: Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you to take a taxi than to ask around for directions? Just give me the license plate number when you get in the taxi.
Renfrew: Okay, Ms. Myriade!
On the other side, Hesper was already on the brink of losing her mind, while bodyguards of the Duvals had already been searching for Renfrew in the areas around the Duvals’ residence. However, there was no sign of the kid at all. Hesper’s wound had just opened today, so she could not get out of the hospital bed at all; she could only sit on the bed and wait for updates.
Looking at how anxious Hesper looked, Isaac comforted her. “Ms. Lane, don’t worry too much. Our men are already searching everywhere. Young Master Renfrew will be safe and sound.”
Hesper rubbed her temples. This feeling of complete powerlessness was not something that she would
encounter often.
“I just contacted Benji and the assistant working for Mr. Duval too.”
This was something Hesper did not ask of him, so Isaac felt a little guilty when he disclosed the
information.
But seeing that Hesper did not seem to blame him, he continued. “He pulled all the surveillance footage. recorded by the cameras in Duvals’ residence and realized that those surveillance cameras were all hacked for a split second, so there was no footage that shows Young Master Renfrew leaving the villa.”
“They’d been hacked?” Hesper frowned. “Didn’t they try to recover them?”
Of course, Benji was the one who knew about Renfrew’s disappearance earlier than the others; however, since Rickard had not woken up yet, Julie was still in the hospital, and Sophia was not decisive enough to make any decisions, he could only take matters into his own hands.
“When he found out that the young master had disappeared, he immediately handed it over to the technicians of the Duvals, but they still couldn’t recover the video.”
‘So the other party’s ability isn’t something to be trifled with, and they seem rather well-prepared for this whole situation.
Hesper’s eyes dimmed.
‘If someone really took Renfrew away, all we can do now is to look for him around the city. However, this would feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, and it would definitely not yield any.results.”
Rickard was in a coma at this moment, so nobody knew what they should do and where they should go.
“Send me the surveillance footage. I’ll send it to Nathaniel.”
The hackers working under Nathaniel were all well-known in the world. Before Hesper returned to
Genecity, he had repeatedly told her that if she were to encounter any problems that could not be solved, she must take the initiative to contact him.
Originally, Hesper did not want to trouble Nathaniel. After all, they were just friends, but they also shared an engagement bond, which made things even more awkward. In addition to that, although they had been getting along well, she still did not think that she should be troubling him with such a trivial matter.
However, Renfrew had always been the most important person to her.
“In addition, we found out that Young Master Renfrew has been wanting to visit you recently, but Madam Duval and Ms. Duval grounded him.”
“Grounded?” Just as Hesper sent the footage to Nathaniel, there was already a hint of hatred on her face. ‘Renfrew is my son and Rickard’s. No matter what, they’re not in a position to manipulate him.
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Sophia was lying on the king-sized bed in her room and scrolling through her cell phone uneasily.
‘Renfrew’s disappearance isn’t a trivial matter. When Benji came over to pull the surveillance footage just now, he got to see how mother and I have been treating the kid these few days, and his gaze changed almost instantly. It’s impossible for Benji not to tell Rickard about this kind of thing. That is to say, Rickard might be in a coma now, but when he wakes up and hears about how we’ve been treating Renfrew, he’ll surely give us hell.”
What happened before this had not even passed yet, and regrets were already accumulating in Sophia’s
chest.
‘What good has it done me by managing to make that little brat feel upset?”
Sophia was still caught in her thoughts when she suddenly heard a noise coming from outside the door. She shouted annoyedly, “What’s up with the noise? Do you people need to be reminded of the rules? Sawyer, Sawyer?”
As soon as Sophia stopped shouting for the butler, a group of people broke into her room from outside.
“Who are you?!”
Renee took a glance at Sophia and raised her hand expressionlessly. The people behind her walked up to Sophia and picked her up.
“Who are you? Are you crazy!” Sophia struggled desperately, but she was no match for the bodyguards at all, so she could only scream like a pig that was about to be dragged into a butchery. “Put me down now! Do you know who I am? I’m Rickard Duval’s sister! And this is my home!”
Renee gazed at Sophia, who did not even forget to boss her around while she was cursing everyone. present, and a trace of disgust flashed across her eyes that were sitting under the glasses.
“Take her away.”
The servants of the Duvals’ residence stood obediently at the edge of the corridor and watched as Sophia was being taken away, not daring to utter a single word.
Because Benji had already called here just now, saying that these people worked for the former Mrs. Duval, they were not allowed to get into any form of conflict with those visitors.
All of them saw how Sophia had been treating Renfrew these days, and it was impossible for them to still not understand why that was happening to her.
Sophia was driven to a place with her head covered. She was crying and screaming throughout the whole journey before they finally arrived at the place.
“Soph, is that you Sophia?”
Hearing Julie’s voice, Sophia’s mental defense shattered completely, and she shouted, “Mom! Are you there? These people are crazy! Please save me, please get Rickard to come and save me!”
Julie was abducted when she was in the hospital, waiting to get her arm popped back into her shoulder, so she naturally knew that these men worked for Hesper.
They were left in a small detached house, which was located very far away from the urban area. If one did not have a car, they would not be able to go elsewhere. Julie originally did not understand what Hesper wanted from her this time, but she understood immediately after she saw Sophia.
‘Hesper has found out that we’ve been grounding that little brat!”
“Does the disappearance of Young Master Renfrew have anything to do with you?”
The hood on Sophia’s head was taken off, and she was thrown onto the couch with Julie. She could only stare at Renee and the bodyguards standing behind her
“Renfrew has disappeared?” Julie’s heart skipped a beat and she looked at her daughter. “Is Renfrew missing?”
“Yeah…” Sophia nodded and murmured, “I don’t know what’s going on either… He just disappeared from the house by himself. He was already gone when the servant opened the door to his room to bring him
food.”
“You can’t just blame this on us. We only locked him up. We didn’t beat or scold him, and we even offered him food and drink. So what does it have to do with us now that he’s disappeared?”
Sophia tried to quibble, but Renee sneered. “You two are just beyond salvageable.”
Julie’s expression dimmed.
‘Even if I don’t like Hesper or Renfrew, he’s still Rickard’s son, the young master of the Duvals. If something were to happen to Renfrew when we were being left in charge of the house… Let’s forget about Rickard first. I don’t think we could even get through father’s side unscathed!
Seeing that the two of them probably did not know about this matter, Renee turned around, went outside, and called Hesper to report her findings.
“You’d better hope that nothing happens to the young master.”
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The bodyguards on the side picked the two of them up and threw them to the ground. “You two should kneel while you wait. This would make you look more sincere, wouldn’t it?”
Julie and Sophia hugged each other, knelt on the ground, and trembled. Everything seemed to have gone back to three years ago. It was just that the people who were kneeling on the ground had changed.
Hesper did not have the time and energy to waste on the two of them, so she only taught them a small lesson. Apart from that, Renfrew had not been found yet, so she was not in the mood for doing anything.
Sure enough, Nathaniel found something really soon and called Hesper.
“What? Renfrew went out by himself?”
Hesper did not expect it to be like that, but Nathaniel sent a video to her almost instantly. As soon as she tapped on it, she saw that Renfrew was packing his backpack and had even changed into a decent suit
and bow.
Nathaniel chuckled softly on the phone. “He looks like a little gentleman, and he looks a lot like you.”
Before Hesper could even react to the video, someone knocked on the door of her ward.
“Excuse me. Mommy, are you in there?”
‘It’s my boy, it’s Ren!”
Hesper ignored the wound on her back, got out of bed and opened the door. “Ren!”
“Mommy!”
Seeing that the little boy in the video was now standing in front of her, Hesper was extremely anxious and exasperated. She immediately reached out to pinch Renfrew’s little cheek. “Do you know how worried I was? How could you sneak out of the house by yourself? Do you know how dangerous the outside world
can be?”
Renfrew was taken aback by Hesper’s words and did not know how to react for a split second, but Hesper hugged him tightly in the next second.
“…Mommy?”
Hesper’s hands were shaking, and Renfrew felt the fear that his mommy was feeling. Although he did not understand the reason behind her emotions, he stretched out his little hand and rubbed Hesper’s head as if he was comforting her.
‘Mommy’s wound is on her back, so she can’t be hugged or patted on the back.”
Renfrew pursed his lips and said softly, “Mommy, it’s my fault. I’ll definitely not do this again in the future! I just missed you, but they won’t let me visit you…”
Hesper’s racing heart finally returned to normal, and she also realized that she seemed to sound too aggressive just now, so she lifted her head guiltily and rubbed Renfrew’s cheeks.
“I’m sorry, mommy sounded so fierce just now.”
Renfrew shook his head solemnly. “I know that it’s my fault, Mommy, so you don’t have to say sorry.”
Since he was a toddler, his daddy had always taught him how to be a man, and his great-grandpa had ways spoiled him. So this boy, who had been perfectly protected in a comfortable environment, had
per caused someone to worry about him and experienced the feeling of being blamed.
‘So this must be the feeling of having a mommy!’
Hesper then called Benji and told him that Renfrew had been found.
Benji breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news, but he could not help but give off a wry smile.
‘Among all the Duvals, who would really worry about the young master apart from Mr. Duval Sr. and Mr.
Duval?’
Now that Rickard was in a coma, he did not dare to tell Ernest about the young master’s disappearance. So, Benji was the only person who was really relieved after all that hard work.
‘If something were to really happen to the young master, I’d be the first person to die after Mr. Duval wakes up.’
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After five days of being in a coma, Rickard finally woke up.
༤ ༩
All inspections showed that Rickard’s condition was very stable. Benji could finally sit down and catch a breather.
While Rickard was unconscious, he had to continue to run the company. Otherwise, if the news were to spread through the entire city or even the whole country, the company would crumble into pure chaos.
“How is Hesper doing? Has she woken up?”
The first thing that he did after opening his eyes was to ask about Hesper’s condition, which was within. Benji’s expectations. So, he reported everything that had happened to Hesper over the past few days to Rickard.
Knowing that Julie went to Hesper and made a huge fuss again, Rickard rubbed his eyebrows wearily and asked, “Where is she now?”
Benji cleared his throat and remained silent.
“What happened?”
Facing Rickard’s suspicious gaze, Benji lowered his head and said truthfully, “Ms. Lane abducted Madam Duval from the hospital and sent someone to the Duvals’ residence to capture Ms. Duval too. I didn’t dare to send anyone out to stop them, and I still haven’t found their location over the past few days. So… I don’t really know where they are now.”
This outcome was something that Rickard had not thought about, but after spending some time with her, he started to understand Hesper’s personality bit by bit.
Although it was difficult for her to let go of the grievances that she was holding against his family, Hesper had never been the kind of person who would go around, looking to cause some trouble.
“What did my mother do again?”
‘That incident is something that can’t stay hidden forever.”
Benji felt his head aching. He sighed and thought about when he could apply for a few days’ worth of annual leave and temporarily get himself out of this kind of work environment where he had to worry about everything, inside out.
‘Ever since Ms. Lane came back to Genecity, Mr. Duval’s personality has changed as if he’s a different man. Back then, he was only a little elusive, but he’s how not only an elusive but also a capricious man.. Whenever it comes to anything that relates to Ms. Lane, he could become a man of no principles at all.”
After reporting all the things that took place around the family in the past few days, Benji escaped from the ward wearily.
“Benji?”
Isaac was walking towards him. Although Rickard and Hesper’s relationship was rather complicated and knotty, their work contacts and other personal affairs could not be completely separated, so Isaac and Benji had since become a little acquainted.
Benji walked over and said, “Mr. Duval has woken up.”
That was not surprising to Issac. If Rickard were to remain unconscious for a few more days, many things would become even more difficult to deal with. Looking at the disheveled and exhausted look on Benji’s face, Isaac felt a little sympathetic toward him. “Alright, I’ll go back and report this to Ms. Lane. You
1
should get back to what you were going to do now.”
The news of Rickard regaining consciousness left no effect on Hesper. At least when Isaac told Hesper the news, he did not see any fluctuations in her mood.
“Nice, right on time. Now that he’s awake, Renfrew won’t be mistreated by the Duvals anymore.”
Renfrew had been staying with Hesper these few days. However, the hospital was not a good place for kids to stay over a long period of time. Aside from that, Hesper could not take care of Renfrew in her current state too, so keeping the little kid here with her was never a long term solution.
Speaking of the Duvals, Hesper recalled that Julie and Sophia were still locked up in the detached house. Renee had not sent her any message’s so far, so she had also forgotten about the matter.
“Release them and send them back to the Duvals. If Grandpa were to find out about this, he’ll definitely be worried.”
Ernest had always been the person that Hesper could not lay her finger on the most in the entire family. Ernest was the person who treated her best before she met Matthew and Arthur; he was also the relative who had raised her for more than a decade.
‘If I could’ve waited until Grandpa returned to the Duvals’ residence back then… I’d never have ended up in such a miserable situation. It was only a few days away.’
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 169
‘However, it’s useless to hold onto the past.”
Hesper’s wound would not scab and recover. The doctor was so infuriated with her that he ignored her identity and almost pointed to her nose and started reprimanding her.
In order to help maintain the doctor’s blood pressure, Hesper decided to take good care of her injuries. and promised that she would not move around again.
During this period, Isaac saw Rickard standing at the door of Hesper’s ward several times. He did not know what he was thinking about, but he did not open the door and enter.
Naturally, Isaac would not hide such matters from Hesper. After all, he had already told her what Rickard asked him not to say the other day, let alone such a trivial matter.
“…Just let him be.”
Hesper had been wondering.
‘He was so proactive before the accident took place, so why didn’ he show up after he woke up from his coma? It turns out that he snuck over to my ward from time to time just to have a look, but he doesn’t have the guts to show up.’
Of course, Rickard was not afraid of appearing in front of her but hesitant.
Recently, he had been thinking of Hesper when she was chasing after him back then. In fact, Hesper was not as annoying as he thought at that time.
And since Ernest told him to look after her, it was only natural for him to treat Hesper a little differently
now.
‘Hesper has always been a very introverted and quiet person. She’s like a sharp stone whose edges and corners have been sanded and smoothed, and one can only know how stubborn she can be by spending time and getting along with her. It’s because of various reasons that she has to conceal her true self and try to portray herself as a peaceful and quiet lady.
‘If she hadn’t gotten into my bed, slept with me, and coerced me into marrying her and making her Mrs. Duval back then, I would probably have taken her in as my younger sister and taken care of her up till today.
‘Thinking about it now, apart from this wrongdoing, everything else that I thought she did was deliberately staged by others to frame her. My prejudice is the sole reason why she is who she is today.’
“Rickard Duval.” Hesper opened the door of the ward and looked at the man in front of her expressionlessly. “How much longer do you plan to stand there? You might not feel ashamed, but I do.”
That was when Rickard returned to his senses and realized that he had gone to Hesper’s ward again.
I didn’t…” Before Rickard could finish speaking, Hesper had already dragged him into the ward.
The interior design of the wards was the same; there was a small couch to sit on.
Hesper still had a few stacks of documents that she needed to go through, so she did not talk to Rickard but went back to bed and continued working.
In order to ensure that the wound would not open again, Hesper moved very slowly. Rickard wanted to stride forward to help her out, but she avoided him.
Hesper did not say anything, and Rickard did not speak either. The two each occupied one corner in the
ward. Hesper was dealing with work while Rickard was watching her.
Mommy… Daddy?”
In the evening, Isaac brought Renfrew over to visit his mommy, but the first thing that caught his eyes as soon as he entered the door was his daddy and mommy sharing the same space.
Hesper raised her head when she heard his voice and realized that time just flew by when she saw Renfrew. She could not help but feel a little surprised.
It had been so quiet all this while, so quiet that Hesper thought she was the only person in the room, and she did not expect that so long had passed.-
Rickard was also pondering about things deep down, and Renfrew’s voice was the alarm that pulled him back to reality.
He never thought that he and Hesper could spend so long together without disturbing each other; it felt amazing.
Seeing this scene, the happiest person was Renfrew After all, every time his mommy and daddy came. together, they had always been at each other’s throats. And although he was only a child, he could still see that they were only playing pretend to coax him.
But both his daddy and his mommy were great parents, so he did not want them to quarrel.
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 170
Before Zikmund came to the hospital with the documents that Rickard wanted, he still could not help but laugh at Rickard on the phone.
“Bro, when was the last time you put yourself in such a messy situation?”
Zikmund only dared to do so because of Rickard’s physical condition and the fact that they were only talking to each other over the phone; there was no way that he could do anything to him. That was why he was leaning against the couch and laughing his heart out at this very moment.
“Bro, look at you. When Hesper was your wife, all you did was ignore her. Now that she no longer wants anything to do with you, you in turn want to court her instead. Or should I say that you’re a true man? You only want a woman who doesn’t want to be with you.”
Rickard listened to Zikmund’s ridicule with an expressionless face and then replied indifferently, “I wonder if he’s dismissed the idea.”
“Rickard Duval! You can’t even take mockery heads on now, can you?”
Rickard turned over a page and stated, “If you don’t mind it, I can help you persuade your grandfather into sending you to an army base to earn some life experience right now.”
Since he was a young boy, Rickard had always been the child that all parents wished their own children could be. Many childhood friends of his were rebuked very often when they were kids because of Rickard’s existence, and Zikmund was no exception.
Zikmund’s grandfather liked Rickard very much too. But little did he know that Rickard was actually a very ruthless and evil-minded boy.
“I lose, and you win, you bastard.” Zikmund chuckled. “So what’s the situation now? Has Ms. Rivera really rejected you?”
Speaking of Hesper, Rickard stopped working for a while before continuing. “I’m not courting her.”
“What? Why would you delay it for so long?”
Rickard was speechless for a split second. “Zikmund, as for your grandfa…”
“Okay, my bad, my bad, it’s my fault.”
Zikmund originally thought it was fun to watch Rickard struggle a little in his private life, but at the end of the day, they were still very close friends, so making fun of him was one thing, but helping him secure his ex-wife was another thing; it was not something that he would joke about.
“Alright, I’ll go visit you later, so you can tell me more about you two, and I’ll help you come up with ways to court her.”
“I might not excel in any other abilities when compared to you, but I’m relatively confident in my courtship skills.”
Hearing this, Rickard picked up the handset and asked, ‘When will you arrive?”
“Huh?” Zikmund was caught off guard for a second. “Firstly, you need to spend more time with her. Although you two have been couples for ages, you only upheld a basic marriage relationship back then. You never got along normally, did you?””
Zikmund smacked the desk. “You have to find a way to get Hesper to spend more time with you. Why don’t you take full advantage of your son? He’s a total head start that nature has provided you with.”
Hesper took a closer look at the neatly dressed boy in front of her, then saw Rickard, who was standing behind the little rascal with an inexplicably awkward expression, and could not help but frown.
“Didn’t I tell you that Renfrew is still young? His body immunity system is still not fully developed, so he can’t come to the hospital all the time. So can you tell me why you keep bringing him here?”
Before Rickard could speak, Renfrew had already stepped forward and held Hesper’s hand.
“Mommy, don’t scold Daddy. I’m the one who wanted to see you.” Renfrew patted the muscles on his arm that were non-existent. “I’m very healthy, so I won’t fall sick!”
Rickard played along with Renfrew’s excuse. “Renfrew insisted on coming. I couldn’t stop him.”
Renfrew heard his daddy’s betrayal once again, and while Hesper was not looking, he cast a contemptuous gaze at his own daddy.
‘You’re the one who obviously wanted to see Mommy, so why would you put the blame on me?!’