Zoey now finally understood why Lawrence had married Yara, and why the latter cared more for her than Gemma.
She thought Yara was merely trying to curry favor with her at first, but everything made sense now. She also understood why Gemma, who was already over 50 years of age, had only one daughter. Looking at the shredded paper in the trash can, Zoey stood up and frantically flushed the pieces down the toilet in the bathroom.
“I am the daughter of a businesswoman, not the daughter of some useless artist.”
To her, dancing was merely a form of artistic expression. Even becoming a world-renowned dancer was not as practical as being a businesswoman.
Besides, with Gemma’s means, she could use her money to make anyone a famous dancer. Rather than Yara, who was now just a housewife, Zoey believed only Gemma deserved to be her mother. Having sorted out her thoughts, Zoey called Yara back in. Her face returned to its usual pretense of warmth. “Mom, I’ve thought it through. From now on, I will be a good daughter and take care of you.” Hearing this, Yara hugged her tightly. “Those words are all I need.”
“But,” Zoey continued, “this must remain between us. We must not tell anyone else, okay?”
Yara was puzzled. “Why?”
“Gemma has no other children. I’m her only daughter. She said that after she dies, she will leave the entire business to me. If she finds out the truth now, she definitely wouldn’t want to leave the company to me.” Zoey’s reasoning sounded convincing. Yara also found it logical. After all, when Zoey had been born and handed over to Lawrence, he had told Gemma that he had found the baby and that her biological parents were unknown. That was the only reason Gemma had agreed to keep her. “Okay.” Yara agreed.
…
When Yvette went for her prenatal checkup the next day, Xavier insisted on going with her.
“Don’t you have work?” she asked.
“I took a leave,” Xavier replied.
“You keep taking leave every few days. Is your boss okay with that?”
Yvette was increasingly skeptical about the authenticity of his job.
“We’re a charity organization. The salary isn’t high to begin with. Also, it’s not easy to find someone as capable as me, even though I’m visually impaired,” Xavier answered earnestly.
Yvette had seen Xavier at work before. She knew that he was much more focused than others. Typically, he would complete tasks in a third of the time it took others.
Even now, although he couldn’t see, his memory was far superior to that of most people. He rarely forgot places he had been or things he had encountered. At home, he functioned just like anyone else.
“Alright.” Yvette had no further arguments.
After arriving at the hospital, they first met with Noah before Yvette went for her checkup. While she was getting examined, Xavier stayed with Noah.
With his head propped on his small hands, Noah looked at Xavier curiously. “Mister, do you know where Daddy went? I haven’t seen him for a long time. I miss him.”
By “Daddy”, Noah meant Claude. The last time Xavier had seen Claude, he had almost beaten him to death. Claude wouldn’t be returning anytime soon, if ever. “No idea. He’s probably dead,” Xavier stated calmly.
Noah was taken aback. He hadn’t expected Xavier to say such a thing to a kid.
Was Xavier really suffering from amnesia? Noah remembered that only the Xavier without amnesia would be so sharp-tongued that he would curse people.