Chapter 23

Chapter 23:.

Stella snapped back to reality at the sound of Adrian’s voice.

Seeing RK had made such an impact on her that she momentarily forgot the main issue.

Rene Kingston… And Adrian was still in the room. She had kept her son hidden for six years, and now he was standing right in front of this man.

Stella felt her heart rise in her throat.

Adrian, realizing that no one had answered him, continued in his innocent voice. He turned to look at Stella and asked, “Honey, who is that guy?”.

“Hey, Adrian…don’t call him uncle,” Stella quickly corrected.

Hearing Adrian call him uncle, Grace made a disgusted face. In her mind, RK was likely to be Adrian’s stepfather in the future, and it was not good for him to call RK uncle so lightly.

He looked at Adrian and started to say, “Adrian, it’s your big…”.

“Adrian, he’s just a friend of my grandmother’s,” Stella quickly interrupted, cutting Grace off before she could finish.

Grace looked at Stella quizzically, wondering why her granddaughter was so quick to intervene.

But then she reconsidered, thinking it wasn’t a bad idea to introduce Rene that way. In the end, she merely added, “Adrian, you can call him Uncle René. Don’t just call him Uncle.”

“Ohhh,” Adrian replied, not understanding how complex the situation was. He continued to sit on the small stool next to the hospital bed, swinging his legs and nibbling on his apple.

Then, looking at RK, he said politely, “Hello, nice to meet you, Uncle Rene.”

Her big blue eyes met RK’s. Her small face, smeared with a little milk, stared unblinkingly at RK.

RK heard his voice and raised his eyes to look at Adrian. His gaze remained fixed on the boy, deep and calm.

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For a minute, the two pairs of blue eyes stared at each other.

But for Stella, that minute seemed like an eternity….

Did you notice something? Adrian looks so much like him… But no, surely you hadn’t noticed, had you?

Stella’s mind churned with countless thoughts and she prayed, “Don’t. Don’t…. Don’t let him know. Please, God…”

After a while, RK merely nodded and let out a small “Hmm.” There was a half-smile and half-silence in his eyes. But Stella knew… this smile was no comfort.

Seeing that he wasn’t saying much, he relaxed a bit.

He didn’t seem to notice anything… but his heart was still pounding.

Grace saw that their first interaction was not bad and asked RK to sit next to Adrian. She thought this would help cultivate their bond as stepfather and stepson.

But Stella, standing behind them, felt as if she were having a heart attack….

His heart was racing, as if it were about to burst out of his chest. It was as if he was living a horror movie and felt a tingle of fear.

Stella feared that the man had found some clue…. But the truth was that RK just sat next to Adrian and looked at Grace calmly, without looking at Adrian again.

Stella just hoped that she hadn’t found anything….

As for Adrian, he kept looking at the tall, handsome man sitting next to him, his little face full of curiosity as he sipped his milk through a straw. His innocent gaze was fixed on RK.

RK eventually caught on and looked back at Adrian. Embarrassed, Adrian quickly turned his head away and pretended to eat.

The others thought it was cute. It seemed like they were cultivating a relationship with their eyes, but to Stella-

His heart cried out, “Look what you’ve done. You’ve ruined the whole atmosphere.”

Grace, however, interpreted the interaction differently. Perhaps Stella was too shy to tell the man, whom she had just met on a blind date, that she was a mother. Maybe she wanted to develop the relationship first.

After thinking this, Grace did not mention Adrian again and turned her attention back to Stella and RK, eager to introduce them.

“Stella, this is Rene, the man I’ve been telling you about. He is a very kind man. For the past six years, when you were away, he has been taking care of me.

Not only that, but he has also covered all my medical and hospital expenses. He even visits me twice a week and calls to check on me when he is free. His calls are as frequent as yours.”

He praised it with all his heart.

But after hearing all this, Stella merely replied, “Oh…”.

Stella looked at RK and said, “Mr. Kingston, thank you for taking care of my grandmother all this time. I will ask the hospital to calculate the expenses you have paid and I will pay you back in the future. Once again, thank you.”

His words were distant and polite.

Grace, feeling as if she had just been doused with cold water, stiffened. Her lips, which had been smiling, stiffened.

He continued to wink at Stella, signaling her to stop talking.

Grace wanted to change the subject, but RK was the first to speak.

“There’s no need to return the money,” he said calmly. “There’s no need to be polite between me and Miss Richards.”

Stella’s eyes snapped open.

His words suggested a familiarity that did not exist, or at least should not exist.

When Grace heard his words, she sensed some ambiguity.

She looked at them in surprise and asked, “Do you know each other?”

“We’re not familiar,” Stella quickly replied.

But RK, sitting across from her cross-legged, looked at her coldly and said to Grace, “We know each other quite well.”

His voice was calm, with no trace of emotion. It was impossible to know what he was thinking.

“Who knows you?” spat Stella.

RK looked at her. His voice was still calm, but his eyes were deep and dark. This time, when he spoke, there was a subtle menace in his tone.

“After what happened between us years ago, do you still think we don’t know each other? Or do you need me to remind you of old memories?”.

At his words, Stella’s face reddened with anger.

Old memories?

Was he referring to his past? Was there something else?

How dare he bring it up here, in front of his grandmother?

She wanted to lash out at him, but restrained herself, not wanting to anger Grace.

If it weren’t for his grandmother’s health, he would have given her a spanking right there and then.

Grace, after hearing RK’s response and seeing that he wasn’t asking her to reimburse him for medical expenses, thought there must be some kind of relationship between them. She found their conversation endearing, like that of a young couple flirting. She was not worried.

No matter what Stella said, Grace wouldn’t believe her.

He smiled and said, “It is good that you know each other. Only after getting to know each other will you be able to understand each other better in the future.”

Of course, Stella knew very well who RK was: not only was he her sister’s fiancé, but he also had a child with an unknown woman.

Since she knew too much about him and how complicated his life was, it was impossible for anything to happen between them.

She had come to the hospital with the intention of personally thanking the man who had cared for her grandmother. But after seeing him…

Everything became a mess. Stella didn’t want to have any more contact with him.

Grace, thinking that Stella was not good at blind dates and had lost her charm, looked at RK and said, “Rene, you see how she is. She’s stubborn, so please be more tolerant of her in the future.”

In the future? Her grandmother was thinking too much.

Stella was quick to say, “Grandma, you’ve got it wrong. Mr. Kingston already has a…”

“I’ll cut her some slack,” RK interrupted softly, without giving her a chance to finish.

What did he mean, was he promising his grandmother to be with her?

God, how could this man be so shameless, pretending to be single in front of his grandmother when he had a fiancée?

She wouldn’t even let her grandmother talk to her about him…. She couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to get out of there before she exploded.

Getting up, he said, “Grandma, I have something to do. I have to go home.

“I’ll leave now and come see you tomorrow.”

She didn’t want to stay in the same room as that shameless man, especially in front of her grandmother. She felt she was losing her composure.

“Stella, how can this be, didn’t you say you would have dinner with me at the hospital?”

Grace winked at him and even pinched his hand, trying to hint at it.

But Stella, stubborn, didn’t listen. She pushed Grace’s hand away and said, “Grandma, I have something to do, so I can’t have dinner with you tonight. I’ll have dinner with you tomorrow.”

“If it’s something important, I won’t stop you. But let Rene take you home.”

And without waiting for Stella’s approval, Grace turned to RK and asked, “Would it be convenient for you to send my granddaughter home?”

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