Chapter 151 Falling Down the Stairs
Arabella managed a bitter smile, her voice weak. "No... I was just too busy to hear the phone ring. I only saw the missed calls now."
Jenny immediately picked up on her unusual tone. "What's wrong with you? Your voice sounds hoarse, and you don't sound well at all."
"It's nothing, just work exhaustion. Haven't been sleeping well." She tried to muster some energy and asked proactively, "Jenny, what did you need to call about?"
"What else could it be? About your mother, of course." Jenny's reply was straightforward, but she suddenly paused, hesitating for a couple of seconds before continuing, "Are you... sure you want to know about this? If you don't want to hear it, I won't say anything. You can just pretend nothing happened."
Arabella thought to herself that after bringing it up like this, anyone would be curious—how could she possibly pretend nothing had happened?
No matter how much she resented that woman, she couldn't change the fact that they were biological mother and daughter.
Besides, fate never played by the rules. Sometimes the more you tried to avoid something, the more likely it was to hit you in the face.
She figured it would be better to know the situation ahead of time, at least to be mentally prepared. If that woman suddenly appeared in front of her someday, she wouldn't be caught completely off guard.
"It's okay, Jenny. Tell me what you know..."
Jenny actually had a strong urge to share what she'd learned. Hearing Arabella's response, she perked up immediately and opened the floodgates.
"Well, this afternoon... I deliberately walked past your old house and saw that car still parked there, so I stood at the gate making small talk. Your mother came out from the living room and invited me in to sit."
"She could tell the house had been cleaned up recently, so she asked if you'd been back. I said I wasn't sure—it's been harvest season, and who pays attention to that kind of thing? She didn't seem suspicious, just said she never expected things to look like this after all these years away, and felt pretty upset about it..."
"So I took the opportunity to ask why she'd gone off to work and then disappeared without any news. She said that when she left, she had no real skills and could only do the hardest, most exhausting jobs that barely paid anything. She was too embarrassed to come back. Later, by chance, she met someone with connections and learned to do business with them. She'd planned to return once she made some money, but ended up getting scammed by her partners. Not only did she lose all her earnings, but she ended up in massive debt—even owed money to loan sharks! Tens of thousands! My goodness, tens of thousands—I can barely imagine that much money!"
As Jenny talked, she started going off on tangents.
Arabella listened to the older woman's words with surprising inner calm.
If she'd heard this story as a teenager, she probably would have believed every word.
But now, having experienced the ups and downs of life, understanding how cold the world could be, and knowing the ugliness of human nature—she found this explanation less than fifty percent believable.
Hearing Jenny begin to ramble, Arabella calmly steered her back on track, "Jenny, she owed a lot of money—then what? Didn't you say she's driving a luxury car now and looks well-maintained?"
"Oh! Right, she is doing well now. She said after being betrayed by her business partner, she met another decent man who taught her the business. She was smart and learned quickly, got the hang of it fast, and her business kept growing until she paid off all her debts and even started saving money!"
Jenny spoke like a storyteller, her voice rising and falling dramatically. "She really has good luck, always meeting helpful people—so enviable! But when I asked why the man didn't come back with her, she didn't answer. I figure..."
Jenny gave an awkward laugh, leaving the rest unsaid, but Arabella understood.
When her mother had left home to work, she'd been in her twenties—young and beautiful. With a little effort, she could have looked just as good as any city woman.
The outside world was full of temptations, and people's hearts weren't pure. It was perfectly normal for men to be attracted to her beauty.
The fact that she didn't dare bring the man home suggested he was probably married, and she was the other woman.
This would also explain why she hadn't returned all these years—she probably felt too ashamed to face people.
But if she'd stayed away all this time, why suddenly come back now?
Arabella voiced her confusion, and Jenny replied with surprise, "I was curious too, so I asked. She said... maybe it's because she's getting older and misses home, and wants to see if you're married and how you're doing... She also said if she could find you and you were willing, she'd take you with her. Says she's got a good business going now and could give you a good life, plus you could help her manage things..."
Hearing this, Arabella finally understood why that woman had suddenly returned looking for her.
She must have run into some trouble outside and found herself isolated, with no one reliable to turn to.
She wanted to bring Arabella back as an extra pair of hands.
In the end, it was still all about what was good for her, not genuine longing for her biological daughter or wanting what was best for her daughter.
The pain in her heart deepened. Suddenly she didn't want to ask anything more. She politely thanked Jenny and once again emphasized not to give out her contact information, then hung up.
Her head was pounding terribly. She could tell she was definitely sick.
People are energized by happy events, but conversely, when faced with devastating news, it can drag down the body too.
She developed a high fever that night. At first she tried to tough it out, but by midnight she felt so awful that she got up to go downstairs for some hot water. She missed a step and tumbled down—
Fortunately the loft wasn't very high, and she only rolled once before hitting the ground.
She lay there dizzy and disoriented, unable to recover for a long time.
Arabella sprawled on the cold floor, suddenly feeling like life wasn't worth living. In that moment, she felt abandoned by the entire world, as if there was no light left in her life.
Living alone was so difficult. When she was sick, no one knew, no one cared for her. She even thought pessimistically that she might die here, and by the time someone found her, her body would already be decomposing...
The floor was too cold. After lying there for a while, she finally became a bit more lucid and struggled to crawl to the sofa.
Her head felt like it was splitting, and her throat burned. Having just moved here, she didn't have any emergency medicine at home. She fumbled for her phone to order some, but at 2 AM, there were no 24-hour pharmacies nearby.
Huddled on the sofa, she felt like she might die at any moment. Normally she might have welcomed death as a release.
But thinking of her two babies who needed milk, remembering Isabella clinging to her shoulder and babbling reluctantly, her heart softened again, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
Left with no other choice, she dialed her best friend Sophia's number.
The phone rang for a long time. Just when she thought it wouldn't go through, someone picked up, and her friend's voice came through, "Hello, Arabella?"
Sophia's voice was drowsy—clearly she'd been woken from sleep.
Arabella felt terrible about it, "Sophia, I'm so sorry for disturbing you in the middle of the night..."