Ch. 461..470

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 461

Julian looked at Riley with trepidation and took a step back to avoid his hand.

“You probably don’t know this yet, but Hesper and Rickard are back together now. They’re being lovey-dovey to each other now.” Riley took his hand back. “You’re, after all, just a brother to her, a spare who kept lingering by her side.”

“Shut up.”

Riley played with his hair. “I didn’t make that up. Will Ms. Rivera one day find out your feelings for her?”

Riley turned around and left after saying that, leaving Julian frowning on the spot.

Hesper and Rickard got back together? How could that be possible?

Julian shook his head. After all that happened in the past, all Rickard did to her, why would she choose to forgive him?

[Hesper: Don't you plan to come back in the near future?]

Julian looked down, and after a long pause, he replied.

[Julian: Yes, I have work to do. I heard that you've gotten back with Rickard, is that true?]

[Hesper: Gotten back? Who did you hear that from?]

Julian was relieved when he saw Hesper's reply. Riley just said that to provoke him. He knew after all that Hesper went through, there was no way she would fall for Rickard again…

[Hesper: But I found out recently that I've wrongly accused him of some things.]

[Hesper: I guess it was fate that there will always be misunderstandings between us.]

Something was wrong.

Julian sat on the chair and took off his glasses.

Even though she didn't say she forgave him or that she still loved him, her tone was completely different compared to a year ago. At that time, all Hesper wanted was to take revenge on the Duvals, so she wouldn't even second guess.

So it was true that when he wasn't around, Hesper did fall for him again.

Julian clenched his phone as his eyes turned red. "Hesper… why do you keep falling for someone who doesn't deserve you? What do you see in Rickard? I trusted you with him but how did he treat you?"

Meanwhile, Hesper stared at Julian's message and didn't know what to think.

She thought that Julian would give her some useful hints, but he just asked her about Rickard. She didn't understand why he would do that. If Julian really was controlled by someone, who would have told him about Rickard?

Hesper thought about it and realized that she didn't have a better means of communicating with him.

Nathaniel passed messages between them, and since she was no longer in contact with Nathaniel, that meant they could only text each other.

She sighed and looked out the window.

Summer rains always came out of nowhere. It was sunny before she came back, but now she heard thunder rolling and could see that the sky was turning dark.

Perhaps a storm would soon begin.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 462

Meanwhile, Genecity.

Rachael walked behind Isaac with her head hanging low, listening to the chatter around them.

"She's here again…"

"She comes to see Mr. Lane three times a day. Why doesn't she just learn to manage the company…"

"Alright, we don't want her to hear us."

She pursed her lips in embarrassment and didn't show her sad expression until they got into the elevator, then said in a timid tone, "Zac, does everyone hate me?"

Isaac frowned but he said in a business-like tone. "If you perform well, the rumors will die down. When Ms. Lane first joined the company, she met with more criticism, but she managed to get all the employees on her side." Isaac paused after mentioning Hesper, then changed the topic. "No one really cares about your background; they only care about your performance."

Rachael looked down. "I know I'm not as smart as Hessy. I wish I was because… everyone would be able to accept me a lot sooner."

Isaac didn't want to continue the conversation because he knew that Hesper didn't become the director just by being 'smart'.

She worked hard for three years and learned a lot. She spent countless sleepless nights learning. Isaac was the person who had been by the side since the beginning, so he would know what went on better than anyone else.

In comparison, all Rachael did was look into all the luxury goods and learn to cook and make herself look more beautiful.

Rachael was learning to become a socialite instead of a good heir to the Lane family.

"We're here." Isaac held the doors. "I have some work to get to, so I won't go to the office with you."

She watched as the elevator doors closed. Her jealousy only showed after the elevator left. "Hesper again… One day I'm going to—"

"Oh, aren't you Ms. Lane?"

A mocking voice came from behind and she turned around.

Rachael saw Dianthe standing there and gulped, but her throat was still so dry she couldn't speak.

"If you could talk behind someone's back, why can't you meet me?" Dianthe crossed her arms. She was about half a foot taller than Rachael, so she looked down at her. "I was right. Rachael sounds like a name for someone bitchy."

"…Please don't form your own conclusions. I know you have a good relationship with Hessy, but you can't just slander me like that."

Rachael was angry. Dianthe scoffed as she waved her phone around. The screen showed the recording app interface, and it had been recording for twenty minutes. It was obvious that everything she said was recorded.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Lane, I work for the media, so recording anything is a work habit." Dianthe rolled her eyes. "You seem to be focused on taking Hesper's place. However, it will probably never happen in this lifetime for you… Rachael Lane, before you went missing, all I hated was your personality and I didn't want to question your intelligence. However, I'm doing that now."

Rachael had mental issues since she was a child and hated it when people used her intelligence to attack her. However, Dianthe had the recording of what she said a while ago, so she had to control herself.

"What can I do to get the recording deleted? How much do you want?"

Dianthe flipped her hair and locked her phone.

"You're so boring, but you're the first person who has ever tried to throw money at me."

Rachael knew she messed up when she heard that. Someone like Dianthe wouldn't need money. The last thing someone who was born with a silver spoon needed was more money.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 463

"Don't worry, I don't intend on exposing your true nature because your stupidity is already well-known. There's no point adding more to your glory." Dianthe stood up straight, then leaned closer to her. "But you're such a terrible person, so different from Hesper. If it wasn't because of DNA, I wouldn't think that you're a Lane. Everyone in the Lane family has brains, but you have none."

Dianthe left after saying that, leaving Rachael clenching her fist.

One of Juniper's wedding dresses was ready and Hesper could finally relax.

[River A.: I've emailed pictures of the western-influenced gown to you.]

[Juniper: Perfect, thank you!]

Hesper was thinking that there was no need to thank her, but Juniper soon sent another message to tell her that she loved the dress and invited Hesper to her wedding.

Hesper would definitely attend.

The wedding would be held next year, so there was no point thinking about it now.

Pennleigh waved at Hesper from the door, so she put her phone down and waved for him to come in.

"What are you working on, staring at your phone for so long?" Pennleigh walked over and placed the sample in front of her. "The sample you asked me to arrange for Mrs. Lanning is ready. There are so many of them. Did you get a sudden surge of inspiration?"

Hesper chuckled. "The client is too important."

However, Hesper seeing Pennleigh reminded Hesper of Rickard, so she paused, then said, "Has Rickard left? I'm worried that he might expose my identity the longer he stays in Antellon."

"Rickard?" Pennleigh was delighted. "This morning not too long after we left, he said that he was going back, so I'm guessing he's probably already in Genecity by now."

Pennleigh thought that Rickard would stay for a while longer before leaving but he actually left.

"He left?" Hesper frowned. "I feel like something is wrong."

Even though she was not important enough to make Rickard stay for too long in Fredonia, the attitude Rickard gave her the other day hinted that something big was going to happen. Why would he suddenly leave?

"Hesper… Hesper?" Pennleigh waved his hand in front of her face. "What's on your mind?"

"Rickard…"

"Huh?"

Hesper suddenly realized what she just said, so she paused, then started asking him to leave. "I'm sorry, I have something on my mind right now. I'll speak to you later after I finish work."

Pennleigh was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright, I'll see myself out."

Seeing him turn around, Hesper shook her head. 'What's going on, Hesper? Why are you thinking about random things?'

 

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 464

At that moment…

Rickard sneezed.

"You were caught in the rain yesterday. Do you have a cold?" The help, Mrs. Potter, walked over and handed a cup of tea to him. "Ms. Rivera would probably laugh at you for catching a cold because of some flowers."

Rickard looked at the roses that Hesper put in a vase on the balcony. Roses sold that way rarely survive for long, but Hesper would stare at them every day in the garden.

Rickard stood on the balcony and watched her. He didn't know what was on her mind but could tell that Hesper was happy.

Rickard scaled the wall in the storm to bring the flowers home. Even he didn't believe that he did that.

He drank the tea in silence, then put the cup down and said, "Did you have any updates about what I told you to do? Did you notice any suspicious people in the area?"

"No, there's really good security in the area. I've checked. When Ms. Rivera moved over, there was a threatening package but nothing else happened after that."

Rickard nodded. His eyes turned dark and sharp like a sword.

The biggest reason he chose to stay near Hesper was because of this hidden danger. Hesper was once kidnapped by those people, so before Rickard started an investigation, he already knew why she chose to stay there.

He had to find out who were the people hurting Hesper before he could leave in peace.

Rickard stood up and gave Benji a call.

Hesper soon forgot about what happened in the afternoon, but she had a feeling that Rickard hadn't returned to Halwanest, so Renfrew came to her mind.

"Mommy!"

Hesper would usually only call him during the weekend, so Renfrew was minding his own business. When he answered the call, he was wearing his blue light-filtering glasses that he wore when he studied.

Hesper felt guilty, but trying to find out where Rickard was from Renfrew shouldn't be an issue, so she cleared her throat and said, "Is Daddy home?"

Renfrew adjusted his glasses and then shook his head. "He's not."

Hesper was stunned. She knew it!

"Daddy should still be working at this hour. Why do you ask?" Renfrew beamed.

Hesper coughed twice. "So he's in Halwanest and in his office. Is he not… at Fredonia?"

"Yes. I can get him to call you when he's back."

"No, it's fine." Hesper rejected. "Am I interrupting something?"

Renfrew shook his head and smiled. "You will never be interrupting something, Mommy. I miss you a lot. I hope you can be by my side soon…"

She could tell that Hesper wished that she would go back soon but wasn't rushing her. Hesper lowered her head and held back her tears, then nodded. "I promise that I'll be back soon."

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 465

She would go back to Genecity with her new identity next year and Renfrew would be by her side.

"Alright!" After hanging up, Renfrew relaxed.

His father texted him and told him what to say if mommy called. Hesper was too proud, so if she wanted to get information about Rickard, she would go to Renfrew and make it sound like she 'cared'.

Since Hesper trusted Renfrew, she probably wouldn't suspect anything.

"I'm sorry Mommy. It's too dangerous for you to be alone outside. Daddy finally found you, so he can protect you…" Renfrew looked worried. "I hope you won't be angry at me."

The heavy rain the previous night was the beginning of the rainy season in Antellon.

Hesper rubbed her legs which were in pain. She knew that her legs would hurt with this weather, but when it happened, she still couldn't manage the pain.

"Ms. Rivera, why are you still at work at this hour?"

Hesper looked at Andris through the glass door and shook her head. "I have work to finish up. You go ahead."

"You're so responsible. It looks like it's going to rain cats and dogs soon, so don't leave too late."

No one would know when it would rain better than Hesper. Her legs were the best weather forecast for the past four to five years, but Hesper still nodded because her colleague cared.

"Alright."

Evon walked past her room and saw that after Andris and the others left, she bent down and rubbed her knees. His eyes turned dark.

She had a problem with her legs?

Most of her colleagues had left because of the weather. Hesper finished the final part of her design and rain immediately started pouring outside.

The subway station wasn't far away, but Hesper knew that if she took the subway in her condition, there would be more problems, so she called a cab through an app, but her phone gave an alert for low battery.

Hepser sighed as she packed her things and stood up with the support of one hand. She heard a crack when she walked to the door, and the office fell into darkness.

They had an electronic door lock and it was shut off. Hesper pushed it, but it was locked.

Eustoma's circuit was controlled by the control room. The technician would usually make sure that everyone left before cutting off the power.

Hesper yelled but no one heard her, so her heart turned cold.

On a usual day, it wouldn't be a big issue if she was locked in the office. It would be fine to wait till the next day for the doors to open, but today, her legs were hurting, so her pain would worsen the longer she stayed there.

The technician in the control room knew Hesper. He was a nice older man who was very dedicated to his job. He wouldn't have left anyone in the office.

Holding onto the things at the side, Hesper sat down next to the wall and looked at her knees. They were badly swollen and worse than she imagined.

Without electricity, the air conditioning stopped working. Hesper frowned.

If she stayed in such a humid and hot place overnight, she was going to lose her leg.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 466

"Is Hesper not back yet?"

Rickard frowned and asked Renfrew to give Hesper a call to check on her. However, Renfrew made a few calls but none of them went through.

It had turned into a storm outside.

"Mr. Duval…"

When the help walked in, Rickard already put on his coat and said, "Boil some ginger tea and add more sugar." He left the room after saying that.

Mrs. Potter watched him walk away, sighed, then closed the window of the balcony so that the flowers that Rickard did so much to save would survive the storm.

Meanwhile, Hesper quietly counted the seconds that ticked by. More than an hour passed, so the chances of someone suddenly coming back to the office or the electricity coming back on were very small.

She put her hand to her forehead. Unsurprisingly, she had a fever.

"No… I can't stay here."

Hesper struggled to stand up, then returned to her office to look for some sharp object to smash the door open. Even though it was going to be difficult to explain what happened the next day, that was all she could do.

Fortunately, they had a glass door. Even though it was tempered glass, she managed to break it after hitting the same spot a few times.

The door was locked from the inside, so Hesper managed to get out.

What she wasn't expecting was that it was just the beginning of her nightmare.

She walked half a block but didn't see any cars on the road. Everyone was hiding after getting a storm alert, and since Eustoma was in a less populated area, cars would rarely pass by on a normal day.

The subway station wasn't too far away. Hesper was wet from head to toe, so she didn't mind walking a little more.

She intended to go to the hospital at first, but when she opened her eyes on the train, she was already almost home.

There weren't a lot of people at the station, so Hesper thought that if she took the train back to the hospital, more problems might arise, so she should just go home and take care of her wound by herself first, then call a doctor for a house visit later.

Walking out of the station, the rain was still heavy. Hesper shook her head because her eyes had turned blurry, but in the next second, she fell over.

She was curious why she didn't feel pain, so she slowly opened her closed eyes and realized that there was just rain in front of her eyes and she couldn't see anything. All she knew was someone had caught her.

"…Thank you."

That person seemed to have shaken her but her entire body felt cold. She then lost consciousness.

"Hesper, Hesper?"

Rickard held her in his arms, but since he was looking for her in the rain, he didn't have a lot of body heat, so all he could do was tap on her face. "Don't fall asleep."

Hesper frowned and moaned. Rickard carried her in his arms and went straight home.

"Oh lord. Cme in quick!"

Mrs. Potter prepared a towel. When she saw Rickard and Hesper arriving soaked, she ran over. "What happened? Ms. Rivera… is burning! She has a fever!"

Rickard put her down on the couch and called the doctor. All he wanted was to get home as soon as possible and didn't notice that Hesper had a fever.

All he could think of was the pain she had in her legs.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 467

It rained for the past few days and Hesper wore pants because of that. Rickard carefully rolled up her pants and the sight of her swollen knees made his heart ache.

Rickard frowned and coughed.

"You should change. Let me take care of Ms. Rivera."

Rickard nodded. "Thank you."

Rickard wanted to stay by her and take care of her, but his showing up was out of desperation. He was glad that Hesper was mostly out of it and didn't recognize him.

He wanted to do a lot more for her. He wouldn't go back before taking care of anything that could harm her.

"Benji, look into what happened today."

Rickard let Benji take over the work in Halwanest while he was in Fredonia. Benji took over his new tasks while looking at the pile of documents on the desk.

He wished that Rickard and Hesper would get back together soon so he could go on a holiday.

After hanging up, Rickard took a quick shower and changed into fresh clothes. Mrs. Potter brought Hesper to the guest room that Rickard prepared for her, so it had everything they needed.

"The doctor will be here in three minutes."

"Alright."

Rickard walked to the bedside and moved Hesper's hair out of her face. Even though her hair was blown dry, her eyes were still tightly shut as if she had a terrible dream and that was why she frowned.

The help left them. Rickard gently touched her face, and since she still had a fever, she was warmer than his palms."

"Ren…" Rickard lowered his head and held onto Hesper's hand as he saw tears coming out the corner of Hesper's eye. He quietly said, "Are you really going to take Renfrew away from me?"

The doctor soon got there and gave Hesper a check-up. The fever wasn't a huge issue, but the injury to her legs was.

"She has metal platings in her knee area. I checked them and they might be out of place. I suggest going to the hospital to get a more thorough scan."

"Alright."

Rickard picked Hesper up from the soft bed. She was light as a piece of paper.

"Let's go to the hospital."

Hesper felt herself being picked up. She curled up in his arms like a kitten. She showed her vulnerability when she was asleep.

Rickard chuckled, then sighed.

"How nice would it be if you were like this when you were awake too."

Seeming to hear what he said, Hesper frowned and hit Rickard with her head. Even though it was a gentle knock, it was a warning. She then fell back asleep.

Mrs. Potter tried not to laugh, but when she realized that Rickard was staring at her, her face dropped. "The car is ready."

Rickard coughed twice, then nodded. "If we don't come back today, please bring some food to the hospital tomorrow."

"And I'll be the one who took the initiative?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Potter was curious. In her mind, that was how Rickard would pursue Ms. Rivera.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 468

But now there was a very good chance to redeem himself, so why was he shying away?

Mrs. Potter didn't understand, but that wasn't something she needed to worry about. All she needed to think about was to prepare whatever Rickard asked her to.

The next time Hesper opened her eyes it was already the evening of the next day.

She stirred and opened her eyes. The ceiling looked unfamiliar, so Hesper woke up immediately and propped herself up into a sitting position, but someone held her shoulders down.

"Who— Mrs. Potter?"

She nodded, then sat down and opened up the food container on the table. The smell of soup immediately filled the room. "You were unconscious for half a day. Have some food before you speak."

"Don't worry, I've spoken to the doctor. Your legs aren't in terrible condition and it was fortunate that you were sent here in time." Mrs. Potter paused, then continued. "You can drink the soup."

Hesper paused, then sat up with the help of Mrs. Potter and started looking around.

She rarely fell sick since she came to Fredonia. She would usually ask the doctor for a home visit, so she had never been to the hospital before.

"I… don't remember what happened before I fainted." Hesper took a sip of the soup and tried to recall what happened last night. All she remembered was her almost fainting at the subway station, but someone caught her so she didn't hit the floor.

The person looked like Rickard.

Hesper was silent for a moment when the help nodded. "My employer saw you, brought you home, and realized that you had a fever and your knees were swollen, so you were brought to the hospital.

So it was the kind neighbor.

"Thank you so much. If it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be lying." Hesper felt embarrassed. Her neighbor just moved in and already helped her so much. "Is your employer here? I'd like to thank her."

"…Her?" Mrs. Potter blinked twice, then cleared her throat. "My employer is a man."

"Oh?"

Mrs. Potter didn't know how Hesper came to the conclusion. Hesper paused for a few seconds, then covered her eyes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I always thought my neighbor was a woman. Did he enjoy the cake? I'm sorry for making my own assumptions."

The help shook her head and smiled. "My employer likes you a lot, but he had to work so he couldn't stay. He asked me to stay and take care of you instead."

Hesper nodded.

"I still want to thank both of you. Can you get the doctor for me, please? I'd like to know more about my legs."

"Alright."

The doctor soon got there. Mrs. Potter left so they could have the room to themselves.

"You've gotten a lot better now, but I can't say that your injury was not affected." The doctor pursed his lips. "Your injury is very bad now and it's irreversible. I don't know if you need to move your legs a lot for work, but I recommend using a wheelchair."

Hesper paused. Was it that bad?

Hearing that, Hesper realized she used her legs too often and that caused abrasions. She knew very well that that was something kickboxing would cause, but she had no regrets.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 469

"That's pretty much the situation. I heard that some doctors have run extensive research on this. If you could find one of them, you might be able to get things under control."

"Alright…"

Mrs. Potter turned around and Rickard was standing behind her. The sound insulation wasn't great, so Rickard heard everything that they said.

"Alright, I'm going to leave." Rickard looked down. "Hesper is very sensitive so if I stay any longer, she's going to find out."

Mrs. Potter could tell that something was off with him, but she nodded. She didn't know that Rickard was trying to figure out the chances of Daybreak taking Hesper away if they attacked now.

However, no matter what was the probability, he didn't have time to delay for Hesper's legs.

Meanwhile, Myriade typed a bunch of code into her computer when someone opened the door behind her.

"…Riley?" The lights were off so the room was dark.

Riley was the only one who would interrupt her. Myriade stood up impatiently when she didn't hear a reply and turned around.

"Riley, wh—Psycho?"

The young man stood in front of Myriade but didn't say anything. She took a step back in alert and then heard the man speak.

"I'm not him." The young man's face didn't look like it had boundaries in the dark. Without his personality, Psycho had an innocent-looking face, but Myriade didn't let her guard down.

"Can you prove that you're not? I don't believe anything you and Riley say."

The man sighed. "Neither you nor I would want to hurt an innocent person. Big T is very important to me, but everyone else isn't. I don't agree with his ideas either. This is the first time we've met, but every time 013 came out, you were the one who contacted Big T. I'll remember that."

Myriad didn't fully believe him, but the young man gave her a different feeling from 013, so she softened her expression. "Tell me why you're here."

"Hesper Rivera," the young man said. "Treatment for her leg injuries shouldn't be delayed any longer. If you don't let the doctor and his student go, Rickard might attack us to get them. Everything that Big T did before might just go to waste."

"Why should I believe you?" Myriade's voice sounded doubtful. The man switched on the lights and looked at her. "You can choose not to, but you wouldn't be able to take responsibility for the outcome, would you?"

After plugging in her phone to charge, Hesper saw a bunch of messages from Pennleigh and didn't know where to start telling him.

She broke the door and left, so the office looked like a crime scene. She didn't show up that day and couldn't be contacted, so Pennleigh was worried sick.

[Hepser: Don't worry, I'm fine. I just fainted and my battery ran out, so I didn't see your messages.]

It showed that Pennleigh was typing the second after she sent that and she sighed.

[Pennleigh: You got a lot of help here. How come you suddenly blacked out?]

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 470

There was so much to tell Pennleigh about what happened the day before, but Hesper just gave a brief explanation. Pennleigh called her after reading halfway through it.

"I've never heard of any employees being left behind. I have a feeling that this was done intentionally." Penneligh looked serious. "I'm not going to allow someone to do that."

Hesper suspected that 013 was behind this, but it wasn't his style to be so childish. If 013 wanted to take her life, it wouldn't be that simple.

"I think Evon is behind this." Hesper was blunt. "I can't think of anyone who would want to do this to me other than him."

"But we don't have evidence."

Pennleigh could see the hesitation in her eyes, but he looked down. "The cameras weren't working because the electricity was cut off… You didn't even get an explanation for what happened before this, but now something new happened."

"Who said that I don't have evidence for the previous time?"

Hesper didn't think that Evon would have the audacity to do that and even repeatedly target her. Ever since Hesper joined the company, she didn't cross paths with him a lot. Other than the deal for Elise Lanning, they weren't competitors.

"I thought that we're all from the same company, and since he didn't do anything that harmed me, I would let it slide." Hesper's face turned cold. "However, it seems that being nice to others has come back to haunt me, so I'm not going to just keep quiet about it.

Pennleigh nodded. "Send the evidence to me and I'll take care of it. I promise that Evon won't be there when you get back to the office… How are your legs? I didn't hear you mention that they were in bad condition.

Hesper didn't want to bring up the past. Pennleigh realized that he asked the wrong questions, so he changed the topic. "Now that you're still under the weather, you should take some time off and rest at home. You can take legal actions against Evon if you want to. Even though you don't have evidence this time, he destroyed your property before this, so he's going to pay for it."

Hesper was silent for a moment, then said, "Why don't you leave Evon be for now and we'll talk about this when I'm back? It'll just be a few days."

Hesper never offended anyone if they didn't do anything to her. If Evon really was behind this, she wouldn't just let him get away with it. If it wasn't for her neighbor, she would be in a much worse state. She might have lost her legs too.

After talking about work, Pennleigh hesitated, then proceeded to say, "As for your legs… Come to me if you need help. You know my family has the money, so it would be easier to get things done."

Hesper smiled. "Don't forget that I was once Ms. Lane. I accepted what was going to happen to my legs. I make a living with my brains, so even if I lose my legs, I could get prosthetics."

Mrs. Potter knocked on the door and walked in. Pennleigh looked at her curious. "Was she hired to take care of you?"

"Oh, she's my neighbor's helper. I'm glad she was able to take care of me." Hesper looked at the help. "Is your employer still busy? Even though he probably doesn't need anything from me, I should still give something as a token of appreciation."

"But…" Mrs. Potter didn't know what to do. Rickard asked her to take good care of Hesper and left. He said he would be back in about three to four days, so she wasn't sure what to do.

It wouldn't be easy to fool Hesper, so she was honest.

Pennleigh suddenly felt threatened. He never heard Hesper mention a neighbor before, but now they were already part of her life.

"Alright, I'll see him when he has time then. I really want to thank you for what you did in the past two days."