Chapter 843: Chapter 843



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Amanda and Andrew came home from school in the evening. Amanda sat by Jayden’s bedside and folded a paper crane with a piece of colored paper, “Our art teacher taught us this.”

“Yes?” Jayden stroked Amanda’s hair, “Have you mastered it?”

“Not yet. Our teacher’s is prettier,” Amanda seemed focused on folding her paper crane.

“I think you’re going to master it.”

Amanda looked up and said, “Grandpa, I’m going to fold a lot of these.”

“Why?” asked Jayden.

Jayden was leaning against the headboard. He looked pale and weak.

“Legend says that if we fold a thousand paper cranes with all our heart, it will bring blessing and good luck to the one we love. I wanted to give you a thousand paper cranes to make you recover faster.” said Amanda earnestly.

Jayden felt warm. Amanda had gotten better at making people happy, “Where did you hear that from? Don’t learn all that nonsense.”

“Our art teacher told us that when she taught us how to fold paper cranes, is she teaching nonsense? Then I won’t listen to her and I won’t do my homework anymore.” Amanda was smart. Jayden said in a loving tone, “No, I was wrong. It’s not nonsense.”

Amanda blinked and looked at Jayden earnestly, “Grandpa, I will pray hard for your speedy recovery.”

Jayden had nothing he couldn’t let go. His three grandchildren were his only concern. He wanted to see them go to school and for Victoria to give birth alive, but he didn’t get to see all those events.

“I’ll go hang it by hand,” Amanda used a thin thread to hang the paper cranes on the curtain.

Dolores came in with Joshua in her arms. She quickly came to Amanda’s aid when she saw her climb into the chair to hang the paper cranes on the curtain, “Be careful.”

“I’m fine. I’m all grown up now,” Amanda got down and asked Dolores, “Mommy, did you bring Joshua to come see Grandpa?”

Dolores nodded, “Yes, your little brother misses his grandpa.”

“Hey,” Amanda pinched Joshua’s cheek, “His cheeks are soft.”

Dolores pulled Amanda’s hand away, “Don’t pinch his cheek. He’ll drool.”

Amanda pouted and left the room.

Amanda saw Matthew as she left the room and was about to close the door. She called out to Matthew in a sweet tone, “Daddy.”

Matthew answered and said, “Go play with your brother in the living room.”

“I don’t want to play with him. He’s a pain,” Amanda headed back to her room.

Andrew was a smart kid. There were only two people in the house who didn’t know what was going on with Jayden: Amanda and Joshua. Andrew felt sad. He used to be a quiet person, and now he didn’t even want to talk.

Amanda said that Andrew was acting to be mature.

Andrew ignored Amanda’s comment.

Matthew closed the door and walked over to Jayden’s bed. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Dolores.

Jayden didn’t like carrying Joshua after he got sick. Jayden’s illness wasn’t contagious, but he was still worried that the bacteria he was carrying would affect Joshua’s health.

Joshua was so small and had weak immunity.

“Why did you bring him here? Get away from me,” Jayden stopped Dolores.

Dolores said, “Matthew and I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Jayden glanced at Matthew.

“Matthew and I have decided to send Joshua to Armand and Theresa. They will adopt him,” Dolores said.

Jayden looked down for a moment. Then he glanced at Joshua. Jayden said, “He’s your son. You must make the decision. I have no comment.”

Jayden reached out his hand and Joshua immediately caught his finger.

Then, Joshua laughed.

“It’s for the best.”

Jayden was sick, but he knew it was for the best. He understood why Matthew and Dolores had made that decision.

“You are their only daughter. Joshua will take your father’s last name and take over the family business. It’s a good thing. I didn’t get to meet them when they were alive, but I might be able to help you give them a message if I meet them in the afterlife.”

Jayden sounded soft and weak.

Melancholy filled the air in the room, especially when Matthew and Dolores heard the last sentence Jayden said. They chatted for a while until Jayden told them he felt tired. Then Dolores and Matthew left the room so Jayden could rest.

In the middle of the night, Dolores rolled over and discovered that the other side of the bed was empty. Dolores opened her eyes and saw a man standing on the balcony through the sheer curtains. Dolores got out of bed, put on her slipper and took a jacket out onto the balcony. She put the jacket on Matthew’s shoulder, “Why weren’t you in bed?”.

Dolores could see Matthew’s face in the soft moonlight. He had a complicated face.

Matthew took off his jacket and put it on Dolores. He took her hands and said, “I can’t sleep. Come with me, please.”

Dolores promised Matthew. They stood on the balcony without saying anything. They showered in the moonlight.

“Did you feel reluctant to say goodbye to Joshua?” Dolores looked at Matthew, “If you like children, we can have another one in the future.”

Matthew took Dolores’ hand tightly and said, “You can’t afford to have another. I don’t need another child. Andrew and Amanda are enough for me. They are our firstborn. I have no regrets.”

Having a boy and a girl was already the best thing that ever happened to them.

“I know what you did was for me. You arranged for Joshua to take Lennon’s last name, and you allowed him to take over JK to keep my family’s business going. So that everyone would still remember my family”-Dolores looked down and stroked the back of Matthew’s hand. “Getting Armand and Theresa to adopt Joshua would do nothing but add them to the list of people who love Joshua. That’s not a bad thing.”

That was always easier said than done.

“Let’s go back to bed,” Matthew led Dolores back into the room.

Matthew found it hard to fall asleep even as he lay in bed. Things about Joshua and Jayden kept swirling around in his mind.

There was one other person who couldn’t sleep either.

Jasmine was still feeling nauseous these days. She didn’t have much food for dinner, yet she felt nauseous. Jasmine wanted to try to throw up, but it wasn’t working. The nauseous feeling kept lingering and she couldn’t sleep with it.

Jasmine went to a clinic earlier in the morning. The reason she didn’t go to the hospital was that there was always a long line at the hospital. Also, she was hired as an intern by a company, and she can’t be late for work, or they might dock her pay. Besides, it would also leave a bad impression on her for being late for work.

There weren’t many people at the clinic that early.

Jasmine told the doctor her symptoms: “I’m nauseous, but I haven’t vomited. I also have loss of appetite and didn’t feel like eating.”

The doctor asked, “Have you experienced this before?”.

Jasmine shook her head, “I have always been healthy.”

“Have you been staying up late lately?” the doctor asked.

“No.”

“It may be the nausea and loss of appetite caused by gastroenteritis,” said the doctor, “I’ll give you some medicine.”

Jasmine replied, “Sure, thank you, doctor.”

The doctor prescribed some kinds of medicines for Jasmine and she put them in her bag. She bought a cup of warm soy milk on the way to the office and took the medicines with her.

Jasmine was not late for work.

Jasmine had just started her internship, and she had been assigned some simple tasks like photocopying documents and pasting forms. However, she didn’t feel any better after taking the meds.

Jasmine thought that maybe it was because she had just taken the medicines and they had not yet taken effect. So she continued taking the medicines after lunch.

Jasmine’s condition did not improve in the afternoon when she got off work. Elaine called her to invite her to dinner.

Jasmine felt exhausted after a long day at work. She didn’t feel like going.

Elaine told her, “You’re not my best friend if you don’t come.”

Jasmine sighed. She knew Elaine well. Jasmine had no choice but to go, or Elaine wouldn’t talk to her for a long time.

“The noodles here are nice,” Jasmine and Elaine met in front of their school.

Elaine took Jasmine’s hand and headed for a restaurant.

“I haven’t been here in a while,” Elaine pulled Jasmine towards the restaurant and said to the boss, “I want two bowls of noodles and a pancake.”

“Sure, just a minute.”

After a while, the boss served them two bowls of noodles. The noodles were thin. They had some grated potato, thinly sliced beef, cilantro and shallots. It turned into a delicious, fragrant bowl of noodles after pouring the hot soup.

Elaine almost drooled, “Ah, it’s so tempting.”

Jasmine loved the noodles here. The fragrant bowl of soup, the noodles and the pancake were delicious together. However, Jasmine didn’t feel like eating them at all.

Elaine stuffed some slices of meat and noodles into her mouth. It was a great satisfaction to be able to eat something she liked. She felt blessed. “Jasmine, why don’t you eat?” Elaine took a bite of the pancake and asked Jasmine when she had a mouthful of food.

Jasmine replied, “I don’t feel well. I’ve lost my appetite.”

Elaine swallowed the food and asked again, “What’s the matter with you?”

“I feel nauseous. It didn’t get better even after I took the medicine,” Jasmine suddenly covered her chest. She was feeling nauseous again.

Elaine opened her eyes, “Jasmine, are you nauseous, are you pregnant?”

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