Exposing the Charade of Deep Affection (PDF)

Chapter 40

Chapter 40 What Do You Speak to My Father?

I stood up after hesitating for a moment and said nothing. Although my mother looked delicate, no one

could change her mind if she had made a decision.

As soon as I walked out of the hospital, I found that it was increasingly cold in River City. The sun rode

high in the sky, but I couldn’t help feeling chilly. I got in the car and started it. Just then, a feeling of

uneasiness came over me.

I hesitated for a moment before following my instinct and getting out of the car. I was worried about my

mother. She must have been very sad about my father’s death. I’d better not leave her alone.

then went back to the hospital.

As my mother was no longer in her chair, I asked a few people about her, and learned that she had

gone to the ward where my father had been. Had she gone to pack up his belongings?

Just as I reached the ward, I heard my mother’s cold voice from inside. She asked, “Ashley, what did

you say to your father?”

Ashley replied innocently, “Mom, what do you mean by that? I don’t understand.”

My mother held back her anger and asked in a deep voice, “Stop acting up! Rudolf was fine when I left

in the morning. You must have said something to irritate him, or he would not have spat out the blood.

The doctor said that he needed to stay calm. Why did you make him angry on purpose?”

Ashley sounded a little aggrieved. She said, “Mom, you got me wrong.

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We did not intend to annoy him. Walter told him I was pregnant and wanted a divorce from Tabatha.

We just wished that he could agree with that…”

There was a crisp slap, and then my mother’s growl. She shouted, “You bitch! You are shameless!”

I stood outside the ward, lost in thought at their exchange. Had Walter said those words to my father?

Why?

My father was ill. How could Walter goad him like this?

My mother got engulfed in hysterics in the ward and started to beat and scold Ashley. I found it

unbelievable. How could Walter say those words to my father?

I regained my senses at the sound of a sharp cry. It was Ashley being pushed to the ground by my

mother and screaming with her hands over her belly.

I was shocked for a moment before I looked into the ward. The blood. on the inside of Ashley’s leg

came into view. Instantly, I realized that something bad had happened and shouted in my mind, “Her

baby!”

Before I could rush in, a man ran past me.

It was Walter.

He ran to Ashley and was about to help her stand up.

As soon as Ashley saw him, she burst into tears and caught him by the corner of his coat. She said

with her face racked with pain, “Walter, help me! My baby…”

Walter’s face turned sullen as he noticed the blood on the inside of her

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leg. In an instant, he picked her up horizontally and shouted out of the ward, “Doctor!”

When he ran past me, his gaze landed on me.

I stared at him and wanted to say something. However, he directly left with Ashley in his arms.

I stood in place watching his anxious back and couldn’t help feeling

upset.

My mother came trembling up to me. She asked with a pale face, “Tabatha, is she bleeding?”

I looked away from Walter’s back and tried hard to maintain calm. I shook my head at my mother.

“Don’t worry. She will be fine.”

My mother lowered her head and said with a sob, “It’s my fault. I failed. to control myself. Tabatha, they

killed your father. How could they goad him like this? He was fine when I left in the morning. He asked

me to bring him a cup of milk, as he had not drunk it for a long time. He was so glad to be out of the

hospital, and kept asking me when you would come and get him. I shouldn’t have left him for a second.

I hate them! I really hope that your father can stay with us for a longer time!”

She almost trembled all over as she said.

I put out my hand to steady her. Her words lingered in my mind. How could Ashley and Walter be so

cruel?

My mother was soft-hearted. Even though she hated Ashley, she didn’t mean to hurt Ashley and asked

me to ask about Ashley’s condition.

Outside of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.

Walter sat in a chair in the corridor with a gloomy face. I went to him and then looked up at the light at

the entrance to the emergency room.

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I felt mixed.

Walter, who had been looking down, seemed to feel someone coming, and looked up. He paused for a

while after seeing me and asked, “What are you doing here?”

I looked at him and didn’t reply to him. After a while, I asked, “Walter, what did you and Ashley speak to

my father in his ward this morning?”

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