Chapter 122 As a Woman, She Needed Tenderness!
Grace watched Frank, noticing how anxious he seemed.
She found it amusing.
She thought Juniper was silly for liking Frank and herself foolish for believing the Cavendish family would let a pregnant Juniper go.
Grace took a couple of steps forward, stumbling. She heard her own shaky voice. "Frank, she's carrying your child! She didn't plan to tell you; she just wanted to go to a small town to have the baby with a relative by her side."
Grace looked up, tears streaming down her face. "She never meant to ruin your marriage. Even when you paid $8 million to buy out her right ear, she didn't make a fuss! Frank, she accepted these injustices not because she was numb, but because she had so little! No family, no lover. Just this child! Do you know how happy she was when she found out she was pregnant? She talked about the baby every day. She was so frugal but said she'd hire two tutors for the child at five because she couldn't teach and didn't want to mess up the kid's learning."
Frank's voice was rough. "Where's the child?"
Grace leaned against the wall and moved forward. As she passed Frank, she choked out, "The child is gone! The doctor said Juniper might never wake up."
"What do you mean?" Frank grabbed her hand so hard it hurt. But this pain was nothing compared to the pain in her heart!
She hated Frank's indifference, she hated the Cavendish family's cruelty. She looked at Frank and spoke words that cut deep. "She might become a vegetable! Frank, she won't affect you anymore, nor will she affect the cooperation between your two families. You can live happily with Thalia now! Isn't that good news for you?"
Frank took several steps back. He suddenly covered his face, his voice hoarse and broken. "I didn't know she was pregnant! Grace, I didn't mean to, I..."
Grace closed her eyes slightly. "You want to say you love her, right? Frank, you couldn't protect her, so what love are you talking about? Because of being with you, she lost her hearing forever, lost her child, and might never wake up! These are the costs of being with you!"
Grace said no more and walked towards the hospital room.
Behind her came a flurry of footsteps; Frank was forcibly taken away by a dozen bodyguards to complete his unfinished wedding.
Grace didn't look back.
Because the indifferent Frank would never abandon his family to protect Juniper.
In the hospital room, Juniper lay quietly, like a lifeless puppet.
Grace, with tears streaming down her face, wiped her body over and over again.
She choked as she spoke to Juniper. "Wake up! Please wake up! If you want a child, we can do IVF! As long as you wake up, everything will be possible. I'm begging you to wake up! Juniper, you always said you had no family around. I am your family; I can't live without you. We promised to be together for a lifetime!"
Grace said many things to Juniper, but Juniper didn't respond. Juniper's hand rested on her abdomen. Perhaps she sensed she had lost the child and didn't want to wake up.
The moon finally set, and as dawn broke, Clara arrived.
Clara brought a bowl of soup, intending to nourish Juniper, but seeing her still unconscious, she couldn't stop wiping her tears. "The Cavendish family is too ruthless! They leave no room for survival."
Grace held Juniper's hand, motionless.
Clara also felt sorry for Grace. "You haven't slept all night. Wash your face and go get some rest. I'll watch over her. If she wakes up, I'll tell you immediately."
Grace shook her head. "Clara, I don't want to leave! I want to stay here with her. She must be very scared right now."
She said this and started crying.
Clara wiped her tears. "Alright! But at least wash your face and grab something to eat. You need to take care of yourself first!"
Grace nodded, gently touching Juniper's hand with affection.
Clara turned away, deeply saddened.
Grace quickly washed up and headed to the cafeteria on the second floor.
As she reached the elevator, she heard someone call her name.
Turning, she saw Lucas.
Lucas, in a white coat, leaned against the window at the end of the corridor. The wind messed up his hair, giving him a faintly melancholic look.
He looked like he hadn't slept all night.
Lucas was the chief physician of the hospital, quite prestigious. He had taken good care of Juniper, and Grace knew this. She walked over and thanked him softly.
Lucas looked at her deeply.
Grace had lost a lot of weight, her frail shoulders trembling slightly, but she was still holding on.
Grace knew he couldn't understand why she was so good to Juniper.
She stood there, looking out at the spring dawn, her voice low. "When I was 16, I was kidnapped once. Juniper was with me; she was taken too! I was spoiled and scared, crying all the time and refusing to eat the buns those kidnappers threw at us. They took the buns away."
Grace choked up. "Juniper put down the bun she was about to eat and hid it in her clothes. She said the bun was terrible, as hard as a rock! We were hungry for a whole day and night. Juniper took out the bun and asked if I wanted to eat it. I was starving and said we should share it. But Juniper lied, saying the bun was awful and that she would eat two plates of meat when we got out."
Her voice trembled. "For two days and nights, she gave me the only bun! When we were rescued, Juniper was so hungry she passed out and took a month to recover! Lucas, Juniper is not just a friend; she's got a spot in my heart like nobody else!"
Lucas said nothing more. He walked up to Grace, gently wrapped his arm around her trembling shoulders, hesitated for a moment, then held the back of her neck, pulling her close to lean on his shoulder.
Grace clutched his white coat, crying in a suppressed manner.
"She has nothing! Nothing at all!"
Lucas's voice was soft. "I know! But she still has you. She has something to hold on to; she will wake up."
Perhaps out of pity, he couldn't help but kiss her forehead.
Grace was stunned for a moment. She instinctively leaned back but ultimately couldn't avoid it.
The warm, moist kiss was like his constant feelings for her—tender and restrained.
He hadn't confessed, but how could she not understand his intentions?
In such a vulnerable moment, she needed tenderness. Lucas's presence slightly soothed her pain, bringing her a bit of comfort.
Downstairs at the hospital, a black Rolls-Royce was parked.
The window was half-lowered, and Henry, dressed in a classic black and white suit, leaned back in the driver's seat, smoking lightly.
He watched the two embracing by the window upstairs. He saw Lucas's restrained kiss, and Grace didn't push him away.
Their tender embrace held the comfort of shared pain and the unique ambiguity between a man and a woman.
Henry could see that Grace's heart was softening!
Both are unmarried; they will surely come together to form a new family if given time. Eventually, she'd move on, forget how passionately she once liked him, forget the pain their marriage brought her, and in the end, her heart would only have Lucas.
Henry's Adam's apple moved slightly, and suddenly his fingers hurt. Looking down, he realized the cigarette had burned his finger. He stared blankly at the red mark, his fingers trembling slightly.