Chapter 34
*So the problem is me.” Matilda cupped Jolene’s little face, making her look at her. “Listen, I don’t like kids who just give in to everything. I like kids who stand up for themselves. Your feelings matter. What you need matters.
“No matter who it is, if they pick on you, you fight back right away. Then you tell the teacher they started it. That’s called defending yourself. Jolene, you can’t just be nice all the time-you need a few thorns too.”
Allen watched Matilda in the rearview mirror. It was the first time he’d ever seen her this gentle and motherly. She gave off a calm, warm presence that put people at case.
Jolene nodded hard, her nose still sore. She had grown up without a mom, and whenever she saw other kids getting spoiled, hugged, and kissed by their mothers, she missed having one terribly.
She didn’t know exactly what a mom should be like, but she knew it wasn’t like those women she’d seen abroad.
When she met Matilda again at the cemetery, she realized the mother she wanted would be beautiful, cool, someone who smiled often, held her, and comforted her gently.
Jolene wrapped her arms around Matilda’s waist, buried her face in her chest, and quietly let her tears fall.
After her shower, Matilda couldn’t stop thinking about Jolene’s tear-streaked face. It made her ache inside.
Lola’s arrogance and bossiness gave her a pounding headache. Lola was her own daughter, with twisted values. As a mother, she should’ve been guiding her. But now, she couldn’t even control her, let alone question her.
The doorbell rang. Matilda figured it might be Allen. She glanced at her clothes-nothing wrong-then opened the door.
“Where’s Jolene?” she looked around and asked.
“She’s asleep,” Allen said.
He’d brought his own slippers and switched into them at the door, holding a bottle of fruit wine in his other hand. “Thanks for talking to Jolene in the car today, but I’m worried it might’ve left you feeling complicated.”
He wasn’t wrong. Matilda had told someone else’s child to fight back against her own daughter. She couldn’t help feeling guilty.
“I really like Jolene. You’ve raised her well,” Matilda said, reaching for the fruit wine. She was troubled and wanted a drink.
“My dad made it,” Allen said. “Try it. If you like it, I’ll get you a couple more bottles.”
Matilda thanked him and set the wine on the bar counter, then went to grab glasses while Allen washed his hands.
“Are your parents also in Itera City?” she asked when she came back with the glasses.
Allen was already seated. “Yeah, but they live pretty far away.”
“It must be tough-working and raising Jolene on your own,” Matilda said.
“Actually, Jolene was easy to take care of. After she came out of the NICU, she just ate and slept. Very well-behaved,” Allen replied.
Matilda froze mid-pour. “NICU?”
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Chapter 34
165 voncivera.
Allen let out a low hum, his eyes fixed on the glass. “She stayed in the NICU for five whole months after she was born. The fact that she survived and turned out this healthy-it’s a miracle.”
Matilda placed a glass in front of him and kept one for herself. “Can I ask about Jolene’s mother?”
Allen lifted his eyes slightly, hesitating. He wasn’t Jolene’s real father, and he didn’t even know who her mother was.
All he knew was that Edwina had protected Jolene fiercely, even unclaimed, and the pediatrician had said she wouldn’t live.
He had taken a gamble, bringing Edwina’s body and Jolene back to Itera City.
At that time, he’d even run into Matilda at Domburgh Hospital-she was also someone Edwina had saved.
Allen thought about it. If Matilda found out Edwina had saved her, it might weigh on her, so he swallowed the truth.
Instead, he said, “She’s gone. She passed away after giving birth to Jolene.”
Matilda’s heart trembled. She didn’t know what to say, so she downed her glass of wine in one gulp. One glass wasn’t enough -she had two more and ended up dizzy.
She told Allen she needed the bathroom, but when she came out, she collapsed onto her bed and drifted off.
Half-asleep, she felt something soft and warm brush across her face like water. It tickled and wouldn’t go away.
She grabbed it with both hands, rolled over, and tucked it under her face like a pillow.
But it was rough, like it was covered with tiny pebbles, and it hurt against her skin.
She frowned and tossed it aside. Then, suddenly, a warm touch landed on her forehead. It came so quickly she barely had time to register it before it was gone.
Someone whispered in her ear, calling her name, “Matilda, Matilda-”
She mumbled back, “Mmm… I’m here.”
That person said something familiar, “I fell in love with my downstairs neighbor. It was love at first sight.”
When Matilda woke again, it was only five in the morning.
She thought the fruit wine Allen brought was delicious, but the alcohol content was too low. It hadn’t even kept her asleep until her six o’clock alarm.
The rain had stopped. She washed up, changed into workout clothes, and went for a run.
The worst part of working in the semiconductor industry was that all materials and technical documents had to stay at the company. Once she left, she couldn’t access anything.
So while running, she could only listen to tech news highlights. [Crossen Technology’s CEO and head of R&D, Brandon, announced the restart of the X3 imaging chip design.]
Matilda stopped, panting, and replayed the news twice more. The more she listened, the more she wanted to slap herself.
That X3 chip tech was her work. But because she had thought of herself as Brandon’s wife, she’d put the patent under Crossen Technology’s name. Now it had come back to bite her.
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She peed out her carphones, crossed her arms, and stared at the road, her mind racing as she tried to figure out her next
Post then her phone bussed-a message from Brandon: I’m at the main gate of Maple Heights. Come out now and sign the Avellamander pers
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