Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
Elspeth interrupted her and continued, “Now that you’ve given birth to a child, I’m going to give you a great gift.”
“What kind of gift?”
“I’ve decided to gift you with 15 percent of Azure’s shares.”
Lisa’s eyes widened in an instant. “No, this is not appropriate.”
Elspeth smiled while giving her a reproachful look. “How is it not appropriate? You’ve just given birth to a child, so consider this my gift to you. Besides, you’ve done so much for me, and I haven’t figured out what to give you. I think this is just perfect.”
Owning 15 percent of Azure’s shares would essentially grant Lisa direct entry into the company’s board of directors.
“By the way, I’ve also promoted you to Azure’s vice president,” added Elspeth.
Lisa couldn’t help it as her eyes welled up with tears upon hearing that. “Miss Elspeth, you’ve been so kind to me. I really have no idea how to repay you for this.”
She was truly touched by those words. She lost her parents at a young age and had been struggling to make a living on her own, working hard just to support herself. It was entirely by chance that Elspeth discovered some of her talents and gave her an opportunity, which completely changed her life. She thought that meeting Elspeth was already a stroke of good luck, but she never thought the latter would do this much for her.
Elspeth’s eyes were now slightly red, and she couldn’t help but gently stroke Lisa’s hair. “Cut that nonsense. You’re a wonderful girl, and you deserve all of this. You’ve been with me for so many years and have done so much for me. I still feel that I haven’t given you enough.”
Lisa nodded vigorously.
Elspeth then turned around and waved her fist at Blake. “I’m warning you, Lisa is my sister now. If you ever dare bully her, I won’t let you off.”
Blake shook his head, pretending to look frightened. “How could I? I’d never dare bully her. In our family, she calls the shots. Heck, even my baby comes first before me.”
Everyone around him burst into laughter at his words.
Just then, Yelena interjected, “Alright, the new mother has just given birth and is not feeling well at the moment. Let her have some rest. The rest of us can leave for now.”
The others nodded in agreement before following her out of the ward.
As they reached the door, Blake teased, “Yelena, I never thought you’d actually understand a new mother’s feelings. So, when do you plan on marrying Hank?”
Yelena shot a fierce glare at him. “Why bother so much about this? Who said I was going to marry him?”
Blake clicked his tongue. “Tsk, you’re quite the vengeful girl. It’s been years since that incident happened. Are you still obsessed over it?”
Noticing that something seemed wrong with Yelena’s attitude, Elspeth asked, “What incident happened back then? How did end up like this?”
Blake is implying that Yelena became the way she is now because of a certain incident in the past. What did she go through that led to her current state?
Blake turned his head and glanced at Yelena’s expression. Seeing that she didn’t object, he blurted out with a sigh, “It was all because of Hank. When he heard about the incident in your lab back then, he refused to take the medicine out of guilt. In the end, he even broke up with Yelena. Later on, he finally came to his senses, took the medicine, and started regretting it. Then, he ended up having a hard time winning her heart back.”
Recalling that incident from back then, Elspeth felt rather downcast. It’s true that I went to the lab to make the medicine for Yelena, but Hank was indeed the direct beneficiary of this. It’s understandable for him to feel guilty and refuse to take the medicine. However, Yelena had already experienced the pain of losing me at the time, then her boyfriend broke up with her and refused to receive medical treatment. It was only natural for her temperament to change.
At the thought of this, she patted Yelena’s shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry, Yelena. I’ll straighten him out for you.”
Yelena let out a snort. “I’ve been straightening him out all these years. Don’t worry, I won’t ever let myself get mistreated.”
Elspeth let out a soft chuckle. “Why don’t you tell me how you’ve been straightening him out, then?”
Yelena lifted her chin while darting a glance toward the corridor next to them. “Isn’t he coming this way already?”
Elspeth looked back, and sure enough, there was Hank, hurrying toward them in a suit and tie. He looked rather hurried and travel-worn, but he still had the air of cool elegance about him. “Yelena, why are you here? You didn’t answer when I called you.”
After five years, the man had shed his youthful appearance, changing to the point where he was almost unrecognizable. Moreover, he had lost his inherent arrogance. Instead, he now spoke to Yelena with overflowing tenderness.
However, Yelena replied, “Why should I call you? Haven’t I told you before? Don’t come looking for me as you please. I’m very busy.”
Elspeth was taken aback at the woman’s reply. She thought Yelena might act willfully toward Hank, but she never expected their relationship to turn this sour. After glancing behind her to make sure the couple wasn’t listening, she whispered to Blake, “Have they been like this for so many years?”
Blake had a pained look on his face. “Yeah, it’s been like this for many years. Yelena might have really suffered some serious emotional trauma at the time. She’s never polite to Hank whenever she talks to him.”
“What about Hank? Has he been putting up with this the entire time?”
“Yeah, both of them are willing participants in this relationship. One of them keeps trying to make it up to the other, while the other keeps resisting. It’s okay, though. It’s just the way they are. It’s not like they’re outright saying they’re breaking up.”
Sitting in the front row, Yelena heard Blake’s remark clearly. She turned her head and glared at him angrily, saying, “What nonsense are you talking about? Who told you we were in a relationship? I never agreed to be with him, nor have I ever been together with him!”
Hank seemed unfazed by her words; obviously, he was already accustomed to such statements. “Alright, Yelena, stop it already. My mom wants me to bring you home for dinner today.”
Yelena’s face darkened at once. “Are you using your mother to blackmail me again?”
Despite being unkind to the man before her, Yelena remained polite to his mother, Ms. Balkan. She could refuse him, but she couldn’t reject Ms. Balkan, who was kindhearted and very fond of her.
“I wasn’t blackmailing you. If you don’t believe me, I can show you the text messages she sent me on my phone. She really asked me to bring you home for dinner.”
Yelena let out a snort. “So, you mean you only came to me because Ms. Balkan wanted to invite me to dinner? If it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t have come looking for me, right?”
Hank smiled helplessly. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
Seeing that her act was almost done, Yelena folded her arms across her chest without even batting an eye. “Lead the way.”
He walked ahead, but she didn’t hurry to catch up with him. Instead, she turned around and said goodbye to Elspeth. “Elspeth, Ms. Balkan invited me to dinner, and I can’t refuse, so I gotta go first.”
Elspeth opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but she could only let out a helpless sigh in the end. “Okay, then. Go on.”
“Uh-huh.”
After Yelena had left, Blake heaved a sigh of relief.
“What’s wrong? Why did you react so strongly?” asked Elspeth.
Blake replied with a sigh, “You have no idea. Because I’m married and she’s not, she keeps picking on me every single day.”
Elspeth’s mouth twitched slightly. “She keeps picking on you? How?”
“She makes up some salacious gossip about me, then Lisa would argue with me while she watches from the sidelines.”
Elspeth’s mouth twitched uncontrollably at his words. “Perhaps that’s her only source of amusement during these difficult years.”
Blake was close to tears. “Why do I always end up getting hurt?”
“Alright, just take good care of your wife here. I still have a lot of people to catch up with during this trip back home,” replied Elspeth.
Callum gently took her hand in his, after which he said with a hint of gentleness, “Mom said she wants to see you.”
Naturally, the ‘mom’ he referred to was Helia, Elspeth’s mother.
At the thought of how many years had passed since she last saw Helia, Elspeth had a conflicted feeling. She couldn’t imagine how heartbroken Helia must have been when she heard the news of her disappearance. “In that case, let’s go visit her now.”
Callum nodded and held her hand as they walked outside. “Let me take you there.”
Before long, they arrived at a secluded estate with mansion-style architecture.
Looking at this place, Elspeth found it increasingly familiar. “Why does this place look kind of familiar to me?” she asked. Suddenly, she seemed to recall something, and her eyes widened at once. “Isn’t this the Harley Family’s home?”
Callum smiled. “You’re right. This is the Harley Residence.”
Elspeth fell into a trance, recalling how she had been to the same place years ago to meet Welson. But aren’t we supposed to meet my mom? Why would we end up here instead? Don’t tell me…
As her mind started to race, she didn’t notice a woman running toward her from a distance. When she looked up again, the woman hugged her tightly and burst into sobs. “My dear Elspeth…”
Elspeth looked at the woman in front of her, whose hair now showed some streaks of silver. For a moment, she found herself at a loss for what to feel. “Mom.”
Helia held her for a long time before finally letting go. “You’re back at last! Do you know how hard I’ve been waiting for you? I almost thought you were really gone.”
“How could that be? I’m now standing perfectly fine in front of you, no?” explained Elspeth with a smile. Then, she looked at the mansion in the distance, asking, “Mom, why are you here?”
A faint shade of pink tinted Helia’s cheeks. Elspeth almost figured out the truth without her explaining much. “Are you two back together again?”
Helia cleared her throat. “Ahem… Well, he said he’d loved me for a long time, and it was he who saved my life back then. After jumping off the building, I lost my memory and spent some happy days with him, which led to me getting pregnant with you. Unfortunately, my memory was restored later. I forgot about him and ran away in secret, making him search for me for a long time,” she said. “I’ll tell you something that even I didn’t expect. In fact, we even registered our marriage back then. I was shocked when he showed me our marriage certificates.”
Elspeth didn’t expect the truth behind the story to be so incredible. However, since everything had ended well, she didn’t dwell on it and simply smiled to express her best wishes.
“Alright, let me take you inside to meet your dad,” said Helia. After saying that, she suddenly felt uneasy and looked up nervously at her daughter. I didn’t tell her about my being with Welson, and now I’m about to introduce him as her father. She might have a hard time accepting it.
Elspeth saw through her worries at a glance. “Mom, don’t overthink it. You have the right to pursue your own happiness without worrying too much about others. You’re first and foremost yourself and then my mother.”
Helia couldn’t believe she was actually hearing such moving words. In an instant, tears streamed down her cheeks. “I went through a lot of internal struggles before I chose to be with him. I was afraid you’d have a hard time accepting it.”
“Why would I? As long as you’re happy, I’m getting what I wished for.” Elspeth smiled before pointing at the entrance. “Let’s go inside. Otherwise, someone might get anxious.”
With a smile exchanged between them, they walked hand in hand toward the house.
Upon entering the house, Elspeth immediately saw Welson pacing back and forth at the center of the living room with a hint of anxiety. The moment he noticed her coming in, he stopped in his tracks and looked at her from a short distance. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but was at a loss for words.
In the end, Elspeth approached him with a smile and broke the silence. “Why are you standing here, Dad?”
Just the word alone caused the man, who was usually high-handed and reluctant to express his feelings, to become teary-eyed at once. “What did you just call me? Was I hearing things?”
“Dad.”
Welson instantly broke into hearty laughter. “Hey! My daughter, you really know how to make someone happy.”
At the sight of the father and daughter burying the hatchet with a smile, Helia was finally free of her worries.
They took their seats and began chatting.
Elspeth noticed that both Welson and Helia were looking at her with loving gazes, as if they couldn’t get enough of it. This made her feel rather embarrassed. “Dad, Mom, please don’t keep staring at me like that. It feels quite awkward.”
Helia smiled and replied, “There’s nothing to feel awkward about. Why feel awkward about being looked at by your own parents? You’re really shy, my child.”
Noticing Elspeth’s shyness, Welson withdrew his gaze and asked a serious question. “I already knew about everything you’d been through abroad. Don’t worry. Now that you’re back in the country, I have to make it up to you properly. How about I hand over the Harley Family’s businesses to you?”
The Harley Family’s business? Elspeth rejected the idea without a second thought.
“Dealing with Azure is already stressful enough for me. You should just leave the Harley Family to Yozan.”
Elspeth had not forgotten what Yozan had said to her in the past, and she was afraid that he would despise her for the rest of his life if she had genuinely accepted the Harley Family. Besides, he had willingly called her his sister, so she did not have the heart to compete for the family business with him. Most importantly, she was not interested in the Harley Family at all.
However, it did not occur to her that Yozan was no longer the same man he used to be a few years ago.
“Him?” Welson let out a huff. “All he does nowadays is go on dates. Where would he find the time to take care of my business?”
Cecelia and Yozan… are together? In the four years she had spent abroad, the local economy had not progressed much, but the relationships of the few people around her developed exceptionally quickly.
