Chapter: 22

"What do you want me to do?" Bethany, too tired to control herself, raised her voice. "My father never cared about us. He might as well be dead. If anything happens to you, I'll be an orphan!"

Realizing she crossed the line, she took a deep breath and gently rubbed her mother's hand. “Mom, I promise I'll pay him back, okay?"

According to their contract, their marriage would last a year; she had to repay him by then.

Seeing the exhaustion on Bethany's face, Marie could only let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "This is all my fault. I'm such a huge burden to you!"

Marie knew that convincing her daughter to stay away from men wasn't the answer. After all, Bethany would have to get married sooner or later, but still, Marie couldn't shake her fear of men. What if Bethany ended up getting hurt by a man, just as Bethany's father had hurt her?

"You're not a burden, Mom," Bethany said, her tone softening considerably. "The doctor said you might be able to get out of bed and walk after the surgery. When you recover, you'd cook for you, okay? I miss your cooking so much!"

"Okay." Marie relented, but then a thought suddenly occurred to her.

“Ask your boyfriend to come here; I want to meet him.”

Feeling guilty, Bethany averted her gaze and busied herself with peeling an apple. "Oh, I don't know. He's so busy with work these days."

“Is that so? Your father was also so ‘busy’ back then-"

“Mom!" Bethany interjected. "Not everyone is like Dad, you know."

Deep down, she trusted her gut feeling that Jonathan wasn't that kind of person.

To Marie, however, it sounded like Bethany was merely defending her boyfriend. She frowned, her expression hardening as she refused the apple Bethany offered.

As the daylight faded, Bethany realized she had to leave.

Her mother was settled, and she needed to return to work the next morning, so after Marie fell asleep, Bethany quietly left the hospital.

Stepping outside, she took a deep breath of the cool evening air, then hailed a taxi and headed to Jonathan's house, just as he had instructed.

As soon as she got out of the taxi, her phone rang.

She fished it out of her bag and pursed her lips at the unknown number flashing on the screen.

“You home yet?" Jonathan's deep, magnetic voice was so distinct that it was easy to recognize.

“Yeah, I just arrived actually," Bethany replied.

"I'm stuck at work, so I'll be back later. You can go in first."

After a slight pause, he added, "the key code is BH0825."

When Bethany heard the familiar string of numbers, she was momentarily stunned. "Okay," she finally answered.