Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
The two of them continued with their walk. Eustace felt unsure about how to broach the topic of having children with Danika. He’d decided to wait a few more years before having children, but what if Danika didn’t hold the same opinion? Because of that, he wanted to discuss the matter with her and make sure they were both on the same page.
“Danika, what do you think about having children?” Eustace finally decided to take the bull by the horns.
As he brought up the topic too abruptly, it caught Danika off guard, and she was unsure how to answer. “Um…I think we’re still young and shouldn’t rush into having children too hastily.”
She thought Eustace was hoping to have children as soon as possible, so she looked kind of troubled when she gave her answer.
“I think the same way too,” Eustace quickly responded. He didn’t intend to have children so soon, either. Though he didn’t dislike children, he didn’t exactly like them very much either. In any case, he was sure that his feelings toward his offspring were definitely incomparable to his intense feelings for Danika.
Danika heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing his reply. “Really? That’s great! I thought for a moment you were going to pressure me into having children.”
“No way, Danika. How could I do that to you? Besides, I honestly think it’s not the right time to have one. Even if I did hope to have children, I wouldn’t force you if you don’t want to.” Eustace smiled wryly-he wasn’t the type who enjoyed forcing others to follow his whims and fancies.
With a happy smile, Danika leaned against Eustace’s shoulder. They stood there quietly, watching the sun slowly disappear into the horizon. The scenery was a sight for sore eyes, and so were the newlyweds who stood under the setting sun.
Some distance away from them, a photographer took out a camera and captured the captivating scene. He hadn’t the foggiest idea that he would win an award for this photo later on.
Watching the sun slowly set, Danika started to feel sentimental. No matter what fate or destiny threw at humans, ultimately, they were the ones in control of their own lives. In her and Eustace’s case, they were joined in holy matrimony in the end because they both loved each other.
“Eustace,” Danika suddenly spoke up, turning her head to look at him.
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
The sun sunk into the coastline, but there was no need to lament its departure because tomorrow, it would rise again, welcoming another hopeful new day.
Extra: Stephanie and Leonard’s Wedding
Stephanie and Leonard’s wedding took place two months after Danika and Eustace’s wedding was held. Ultimately, they chose to have their wedding on a small island in Clusia. It was more convenient for everyone to attend that way.
They didn’t invite many people-just their family and friends.
At that moment, the sun was shining dazzlingly on the island.
Danika’s eyes were fixed on the wedding ceremony taking place ahead. Witnessing the ceremony conducted by the priest, she felt genuinely happy for Stephanie. Danika was glad she’d finally found her happiness.
Then, she instinctively shifted her gaze over to Paul, sitting across from her. His eyes were on Stephanie and Leonard too. Besides a slight frown, he didn’t show any other emotions. Upon seeing him in a relatively calm state, Danika breathed a sigh of relief.
Actually, Danika was rather concerned that Paul might kick up a fuss that day and cause trouble for her best friend. However, it seemed that he had come to terms with the situation and reconciled with the fact that he couldn’t change anything.
As the ceremony came to an end, the wedding reception followed right after. Considering that there were only a small number of guests, Stephanie decided to hold her banquet in the open air. This gave her wedding a unique feel compared to conventional weddings normally held indoors.
“Congratulations, Steph!” Danika said, beaming widely.
Stephanie approached her after changing into another gown. Right then, her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed a bit bashful. “Well, Danika, now that we’re both married women. We can’t visit nightclubs anymore.”
“Stop spouting nonsense, Steph! Even when I wasn’t married, I never went to nightclubs with you.” She immediately had to clarify herself, seeing how Eustace’s expression clouded over. Stephanie was clueless to make such a remark.
Stephanie chuckled lightly. “Sure, sure. You didn’t go with me. I went by myself.”
“No more going to the nightclub in the future,” Leonard chimed in right beside them, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. He pulled Stephanie into his arms, his words carrying a hint of warning.
Stephanie shrugged helplessly. She knew more than anyone that Leonard disliked those places the most. “In that case, you better behave. If you anger me, I’m sure there are countless handsome guys out there lining up and waiting for me.”
“Ugh! You…” Leonard felt exasperated with her antics.
Danika laughed and said, “Don’t listen to her nonsense. She rarely went to those places.” 1
“Whose side are you on, Danika?” Stephanie glared at her, appalled that her best friend was siding with Leonard.
With a knowing smile, Danika replied, “I’m helping you weed out any possible causes of conflict with your husband. No need to thank me.”
Stephanie stuck her tongue out at Danika childishly, thinking that Danika’s input was unnecessary. She believed that Leonard wouldn’t really argue with her over such a trivial and harmless joke.
After that brief conversation, Leonard went off to attend to the guests, while Stephanie started wolfing down the food with Danika. “The mousse cake in this restaurant is fabulous! It’s the main reason why I chose this place.”
“You chose this place because it had delicious cake?” Danika was perplexed by Stephanie’s way of thinking. “Basing your decision on this alone is a tad simplistic, don’t you think?”
“In the past, whenever I attended weddings, the issue of utmost concern for me was whether the food there was good. Now that it’s my turn to have a wedding, of course I have to choose a place that serves the best food!” Otherwise, not only would the whole event be unenjoyable for her guests, she wouldn’t be thrilled about it, either.
Danika gave up on debating with her. The wedding was about to end, so dwelling on the topic further wouldn’t serve much purpose.
They ate some of the exquisite little cakes together. It was as Stephanie had said-they tasted incredibly good. This resulted in Danika being unable to eat anything else later in the evening.
“Danika, can we still be as carefree as before after getting married?” After having their fill of food, Stephanie and Danika lay on beach chairs.
Unexpectedly, Stephanie chose to ask such a deep question when they were in their most relaxed state.
Danika pondered her question seriously for a while before giving her answer. “As long as you marry the right person, you’ll definitely be able to have that.’
“Right.Js that so? Do you think I’ve married the right person, then?” Stephanie asked.
Danika looked at Stephanie, noticing the lingering smile on her face. “Yes.” “Really? That’s fantastic!” Stephanie burst into peals of hearty laughter.
Extra: Zack and Janet’s Wedding
With Stephanie’s wedding out of the way, it was Zack and Jane’s turn next. They were also very eager to get their wedding done as soon as possible without wasting any more unnecessary time.
Danika didn’t help much during Stephanie’s wedding-she’d taken care of everything herself. Zack’s wedding was an entirely different matter altogether. As a fellow family member, Danika had to help with everything related to her adoptive brother’s wedding. n.ove.lx.o Somehow, she was even busier now than when she held her own wedding.
She wasn’t the only one who was busy. Being the older brother, Gilbert was naturally the busiest among them all. Whenever Danika saw him, she couldn’t help but think that after Zack’s wedding, he might really retreat to Mount Wallington to become a Catholic priest. Her mood instantly soured when she thought of that.
“Gilbert, are you really sticking to your previous plan for the future?” Danika asked tentatively, feeling a little unsettled.
As he was busy with the wedding preparations, he nodded reflexively without giving it much thought when he heard Danika’s question. “Yes, I’ll be starting my own life after Zack’s wedding.”
He was reluctant to wait another day. Mount Wallington awaited him, and he would have a new life after going there.
Danika felt helpless upon seeing how resolute he was. She wanted to say something to dissuade him, but she knew very well that she could not change his mind. In the end, she could only give up.
“What would it take to make Gilbert change his mind?” she wondered. But no matter how she racked her brain, she couldn’t come up with an ideal solution.
The next day, Zack and Janet’s wedding was held without a hitch.
Zack took the opportunity to thank Danika and Gilbert on stage. Danika was quite excited. Upon seeing Zack tie the knot with the woman he loved, she had a peculiar feeling. She swelled with pride as she watched Zack accomplish a major life milestone.
In contrast, Gilbert remained calm throughout. Outsiders didn’t know what was going on in his mind, but Danika was perfectly aware of his state of mind.
After the wedding reception, Danika tried to locate Gilbert in hopes of persuading him not to see through his plans again. But Gilbert had already left the wedding venue before she could find him.
Eustace was right by Danika’s side the whole time and knew how anxious she was. “Danika, it’s clear that Gilbert has made up his mind. No matter what you say, it’s not likely for him to go back on his decision.”
Although he found Gilbert’s sudden decision quite baffling as well, he respected his choice.
“I know it’s hard to convince him, but I can’t just do nothing and let him become a priest, can I?” Danika didn’t intend to go down without a fight.
Eustace was silent for a while before speaking up again, “I think the only thing that can keep him here would be Marigold’s child.”
No matter what, that child was his biologically, whether he admitted it or not.
When Danika heard that, her eyes lit up immediately. “Yes, the child! How could I have forgotten?”
She recalled the dates and realized it was almost time for Marigold to give birth. With that in mind, Danika dialed Marigold’s number. However, when the call connected, the news she received from the other side wasn’t optimistic. Danika rushed to the hospital without delay.
The child had just been born, not because it was due, but because Marigold was in a critical condition. Therefore, an emergency cesarean section was performed to extract the baby from her womb.
When Danika and Eustace arrived at the hospital, Paul was already waiting at the entrance of the emergency room. He was the only one on Marigold’s list of emergency contacts, and he didn’t know about the situation until the hospital called him. He put everything aside and rushed over after receiving the call.
‘ What happened exactly? She’d been fine all this while. How did she get into such a critical condition?” Danika had to ask. Though Paul seemed distraught at the moment, she needed to know as much as possible about the situation at hand to come up with a solution or a contingency plan.
Gilbert and Marigold (1)
Paul didn’t feel to need to hide anything from Danika. He proceeded to explain the whole situation. He then started to blame himself. “Gilbert had warned me before, reminding me that Marigold’s condition wasn’t good and asking me to check on her, but I didn’t think much about it or take it seriously. If only I’d gone to see her, the situation wouldn’t have become this dire.”
Marigold had a brain tumor compressing her intracranial nerves, which led to intracranial bleeding. Due to that, her situation was extremely critical right now.
Paul wasn’t the only one feeling immense guilt for his neglect toward his sister, Danika blamed herself too. Marigold had come to her previously, complaining of intense headaches. Although Danika had suggested a brain CT scan, Marigold chose not to do it in the end, fearing it might adversely affect her baby.
Now, it seemed there were already signs back then. If she’d been more proactive in getting to the bottom of her condition at that time, perhaps things wouldn’t have come to this.
Even so, Danika could guess the ultimate choice Marigold would make as a mother. Even if she had discovered the tumor back then, she wouldn’t have chosen to terminate her pregnancy in order to undergo treatment.
As Danika thought about Marigold’s unfortunate circumstances, Paul suddenly looked at her and said, “Aren’t you a neurosurgeon? Don’t they all praise you for your outstanding medical skills? This kind of tumor removal surgery should be a walk in the park for you, right?”
“Paul, you should calm down first,” Eustace said, shielding Danika behind him.” Danika doesn’t know how Marigold’s condition is right now. How can she perform surgery on her?”
Danika came back to her senses. Looking at Paul, she replied, “Rest assured. I would definitely do my best in this surgery even if you don’t remind me to.”
After that, Danika left and went off to ask the medical in the emergency room about Marigold’s condition.
As for the child…They were all unable to spare the child any extra thought at the moment.
Danika had an idea. She quickly sent a message to Eustace, asking him to inform Gilbert to come over. Even if the surgery were successful, Marigold would be unable to care for the baby due to her health condition. As the child’s father, Gilbert should take responsibility during such a situation.
Although they’d already agreed on the financial support and he’d given Marigold the money, the situation was different now. Danika hoped that he would come and take care of his child. Other than that, she asked Eustace to arrange a paternity test for the child and Gilbert. They needed to know whether the child was really his.
After making all those arrangements, Danika entered the emergency room.