Chapter 778 As Long as You’re Okay, That’s All That Matters

Chapter 778 As Long as You’re Okay, That’s All That Matters

Standing outside the Italian restaurant with a bitter smile, Juniper knew she had nowhere to go. She decided to leave the alley and catch a cab home.

After all, the baby mattered more than anything or anyone else.

The alley had grown even quieter now, and Juniper felt a little scared without thinking about it, walking with hurried steps.

But even with all her caution, danger came without any warning.

When Juniper was less than 60 feet from the end of the alley, a group of street thugs came straight at her.

She could tell they were trouble, so she pressed herself close to the wall.

But the thugs saw she was alone, and before they even passed her, bad intentions took over.

"Hey beautiful, hold on a second!"

The leader blocked Juniper's path, grinning with a crooked smile as he waved his crew over.

Juniper's heart jumped when they cut her off.

In the blink of an eye, five or six people had surrounded her.

"What do you... what do you want?"

Her heart was pounding, and she had no idea what these people were after.

At first the thugs just wanted to flirt, but when they got closer and saw Juniper's big pregnant belly, their faces fell with disappointment.

"What rotten luck, running into a pregnant woman in the middle of the night!"

The leader complained, then reached toward Juniper with a threatening look.

"Hey, they say meeting a pregnant woman brings bad luck. Shouldn't you pay us back for that?"

Their complete unreasonableness frustrated Juniper. How was this any different from robbery?

"Fine, I'll give you money. Just let me go."

For the baby's sake, Juniper didn't want a direct confrontation.

She went along with it and took all the cash from her wallet.

But when the thug grabbed the money and held it up to the dim light, his face was full of disappointment.

"This is all you've got?"

He frowned, then looked more carefully and noticed the necklace around Juniper's neck, which looked like it was worth something.

He'd already taken her money, so one more necklace didn't matter.

The thug smiled greedily and reached out to grab it.

Juniper didn't know what he was going for. When she saw him reaching toward her, she shoved him away and ran.

The thug hadn't expected her to make a break for it. His face twisted with anger as he shouted orders to his crew.

"Go after her! Don't let that pregnant woman get away!"

Hearing the furious shouts behind her, Juniper was terrified.

Driven by a deep instinct to protect her baby, she ran with everything she had.

But being pregnant had taken a serious toll on her speed and stamina, and she hadn't gotten far before the thugs caught up.

Smack!

The leader slapped Juniper across the face, grabbed her by the collar, and snarled, "You think you can run from me? Were you going to call the cops?"

There was no way out. Juniper didn't know what to do.

The repeated shocks and scares were too much. Her vision went dark and she passed out.

Meanwhile, Samuel finally wrapped up filming just before ten o'clock.

He skipped the late-night dinner the crew had planned and drove straight home.

Walking through the front door of the villa, Samuel found the living room completely empty.

"That's strange, did everyone go to bed this early?"

He muttered in confusion and had just started up the stairs to check on Juniper in the bedroom when his mother came out of another room.

"Mom, you're still up? How come you're not watching TV downstairs?"

Samuel greeted her the way he always did.

Hearing her son come home gave her the opening she'd been waiting for.

"Don't even get me started. Watch TV? I've been too busy dealing with Juniper's attitude!"

Dione took the chance to talk badly about Juniper, exaggerating everything and then dropping the most important piece of news.

"It's completely outrageous. Not only does she have no respect for me, she just up and left the house this evening without a word, and she still hasn't come back..."

"Mom, what are you saying? She actually left?"

Before she even finished, Samuel's face went pale with shock.

Seeing his mother give a dismissive shrug, Samuel turned and went straight to the bedroom to check.

The room was empty, just as he feared.

Samuel couldn't stand still. Without even a word to Dione, he rushed outside to look for Juniper.

Back in the alley, after the thugs had taken everything from Juniper, she came to and found herself in a hospital.

The smell of disinfectant hung in the air, and the white sheets were almost too bright to look at.

She opened her eyes, her gaze confused and lost.

A doctor walked over, and seeing that Juniper was awake, smiled and said, "You're up. A young man brought you in a little while ago. He was young, but he had a bit of a limp."

A young man with a limp?

Juniper froze, wondering if the person who'd brought her here was Alden.

Could Alden really have been the one to save her?

She felt surprised, and at the same time, a little sad.

"Doctor, did he say when he'd be back?"

Juniper couldn't help but ask. She had no idea where Alden had gone, or whether he'd show up again.

"I'm not sure about that..."

The doctor finished speaking, did a quick check on Juniper, then turned and left the room.

The room was quiet. Lying in the hospital bed, Juniper's mind started to wander.

Ever since Alden had left without a word that last time, she hadn't heard anything from him.

Today he had appeared out of nowhere, and then vanished again before she even woke up.

She couldn't figure it out. Was Alden deliberately avoiding her, or was there something he couldn't bring himself to say?

His leg still hadn't fully healed, had it?

After thinking it over for a long time, she still had no answers. She pushed the question of where Alden had gone to the back of her mind for now.

She let out a quiet sigh and rested her hand on her rounded belly, feeling the baby move with tiny, gentle shifts.

"As long as you're okay, that's all that matters."

Juniper whispered to the baby, and felt a small sense of comfort settle over her.

Thinking back to the terrifying scene in the alley, she was still shaken. If she hadn't been brought to the hospital in time...

She didn't want to think about what might have happened.

A faint smile touched the corners of her lips. Juniper closed her eyes, hoping to sleep a little more, when Samuel's face suddenly appeared in her mind.

Even now, he probably hadn't noticed she wasn't home.

She thought quietly to herself, guessing that Samuel must be with Rainey.

Were they spending the night together?

The thought hit her like a sharp pain in her chest.

Especially Rainey's arrogant, taunting words over the phone, which made it clear that Samuel had moved on.

A deep sense of loss wrapped itself around Juniper, like a net pulling tighter and tighter until she could barely breathe.

If that was how things were, did she even need to go back to the Lin house?

Her mind was a mess. She drifted off to sleep with all these thoughts swirling around.

Not long after, noise suddenly came from the hallway.

Juniper opened her eyes and, half-awake, thought she could hear a nurse talking to Samuel.

The sky outside the window was still dark. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming.

Then the door to the room was pushed open from outside.

Juniper snapped fully awake. Samuel walked in, looking worn and dusty from the road.

It really was him.