Chapter 137: 137

Ashley POV

He was lying on the only bed in the room, still wearing the same clothes he had worn to dinner. There was an IV connected to the crook of his arm and although his face was a little pale, I was happy to see Dad's chest rise and fall slowly and evenly.

At once, Mom darted to his side. I almost thought she would ignore Healer Kim's words and wake him up, but she simply lowered the bedside railing and sank down beside him. She did not touch him, and her face was tense, but I could clearly see the fear in her eyes, a fear that she could not hide even though the love in her gaze was so real and undeniable that I had to look away.

My mouth opened to say something, but then I stopped myself. Just as I was not sure I could accept Jayden's sympathy without crumbling, I doubted she needed the same treatment. I chose to let the silence remain and pulled up one of the two chairs in the room.

"Don't."

I frowned and turned my head. "Mom?"

"You should go home." Her gaze was sharp, but not as sharp as usual. "I will stay with your father until he regains consciousness."

"I want to be here too," I insisted, my voice rising unintentionally. "Those dishes can wait."

"I did not tell you to go home because I wanted you to clean up."

I flinched. Her tone was cold, there was a hint of annoyance running through her sharp voice. It surprised and scared me at the same time because although she was known to be strict, she rarely showed her anger openly.

Seeing my reaction, she quickly pursed her lips before continuing, "I won't force you to leave your father for such a trivial thing. But I apologize. I should not have lost my temper."

"It's okay, Mom," I said softly, genuinely. "But why do you want me to come home?"

"So you can start preparing for Monday morning."

"What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath before answering, "You will be in charge of the company from now on."

My jaw dropped, and my eyes widened. "You can't be serious," I said after calming down enough to form words.

Her eyes narrowed. "That's the first thing you have to learn again," she said. "Your father spoiled you too much. You have to learn how to speak to your elders if you want to be respected by investors."

"I can't manage a company!" I croaked, starting to panic. "I'm only twenty-one years old! I have not even graduated from college yet!"

"It's too bad you could not finish college," my mom said, "but experience is the best teacher of all."

"Still, I can't take over his place!"

"You can't, or you don't want to?"

"Both!" I ruffled my hair in frustration. "You can't expect me to learn everything about being a CEO in forty-eight hours!"

"Keep your voice down," she ordered sternly after giving my dad a slight glance. "And don't think I'm doing this because I want to. I don't want you to ruin everything your father and I have built after your grandfather's passing, but I have no choice. I won't let your father work anymore, and even though I can lead by myself, I can't leave your father alone."

"But-"

"I don't know when he will die," Mom cut in, her voice cracking at the end of the sentence. "I don't know when he might have another heart attack, and now, with the high possibility of him having heart disease... I don't want to let him out of my sight." She wet her lips. "I don't want to lose your dad, but if I have to... I want it to happen the way we agreed. Please, Ashley. Try to understand our position."

I clenched my fists together. Even though I was angry and shocked, I did not let it all out. Because deep down inside, I knew the reason for mom choosing me as the CEO of Red Moon Inc., - if not because it was a good thing, then at least it was understandable.

If I were in her shoes, I would probably do the same thing.

"Okay," I muttered softly. "I get it."

She softened her expression. "Thank you, Ash. I'm truly blessed to have a daughter like you."

I came closer and, after a moment's hesitation, gave her a brief hug. "I'm grateful to have Mom and Dad," I murmured into her hair, barely able to hold back the tears.

Awkwardly, my mom returned my hug before I pulled away. But before I could leave, she held me back.

"And don't worry too much about Monday. Mom will relieve Jared of his other duties, and he will be your temporary assistant. He will be helping with everything."

I tried to sound delighted, though my face felt stony. "Oh, perfect."

After giving Dad a quick peck on the cheek, I walked out of the room. At the reception desk, I bumped into David. His face was full of anxiety, but he seemed a bit calmer once we got in the car as I explained everything. He did not outright oppose Mom's decision, but I could sense his disdain from the way he gripped the steering wheel.

Once I got home, the overwhelming smell of cooking instantly made me sick. Even though I told Mom that the dishes could wait, the first thing I did was clean everything up. After that, I took a shower, trying my hardest to get rid of the smell from the healing center that seemed to stick to my clothes and hair. Without caring how expensive the materials were, I threw the clothes into the washing machine and turned it on.

If the clothes were ruined, perhaps the memories of that place would be ruined along with them.

I kept cleaning the house, even when there was nothing left to clean. I knew I was putting off something I could not avoid. But around midnight, my body was too tired to keep wiping down a table that had already been wiped clean countless times. With shaky steps, I headed for the bedroom only to be faced with something I had been avoiding for the past few hours.

My cell phone.

There were about thirty-five text messages and ten phone calls - four of which left voicemails - from Jayden. At first, I wanted to simply shrug it off. Hell, I could already feel the tears threatening to spill over since my mom's leaving clouded my vision again, and I had to grip my palms to maintain control. Nevertheless, when I thought about how Jayden was feeling, I could not help but open the texts.

Most of the texts were variations of questions about Dad, while a few messages showed his concern for me. The voicemails were the hardest thing for me to take in without crying. His voice, which I used to hear calm and unrelenting, was now heavy and full of worry. And as he kept repeating how much he wanted me to call him back, I could not hold back my tears. I cried silently as I listened to his voice message once more, not wanting to actually call him and let him hear how much I was crying.

Once I felt calm enough and could read what I had written, I sent him a long message containing the story of the visit. I had not expected an answer that night, thinking he must have gone to bed, but he replied right away.

'00.04 - Jayden: Want to talk about it?'

I type a reply right away.

'00.04 - Me: No.'

'00.05 - Jayden: Are you sure?'

'00.05 - Me: No.'

'00.05 - Jayden: Ash...'

'00.06 - Jayden: You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I will be the one to talk. You just have to listen.'

I wiped away the traces of my tears. Sobbing, I curled up under the covers of my bed, unexpectedly feeling extremely lonely. As tempting as his offer was, I wanted no part of it. Partly because I wanted to stop crying and I knew him comforting me would only lead to more water in my eyes. Yet it was also partly because there was still a part of me that could not fully open up to him. It might be silly, but I had a strong desire to portray myself as an independent and emotionally strong person to Jayden, who was obviously having a hard time dealing with his own feelings and thoughts. I wanted him to lean on me for emotional support, and not the other way around.

For Jayden, who grew up in a family where he had been beaten repeatedly over the years, I wanted to be the strongest person in the world.

'00.11 - Me: It's okay. I'm too tired to stay up late.'

'00.13 - Jayden: Okay, I probably won't be able to see you anytime soon due to my schedule, but feel free to call or text me anytime.'

'00.14 - Me: I won't. By the way, what did you want to say to me earlier?'

'00.20 - Jayden: Nothing. Good night.'

'00.21 - Me: Good night.'

I put the phone down and turned off the light after that. Though I was not lying about how tired I was, I found that sleep was escaping me. Whether it was because of the crying or all the stress and anxiety my body had gone through over the past few hours, I had no idea. But one thing was for sure, I wanted to sleep. I wanted to escape what felt like a real nightmare.

My dad was most likely suffering from heart disease and... now I had to step up to become the CEO of Red Moon Inc. And Jared Owen, who still had no idea about my plans to call off our engagement, was supposed to help me.

The man I suspected of cheating on me just like Jayden had, it turned out that his situation was much worse.