Christopher comnted, "Hmm, sounds expensive." He patted a kid sitting next to him, not even making out who it was, and said with a smile, "Seems like daddy has been very good to you guys."
Alia: "..."
She rolled her eyes speechlessly, only then rembering this guy’s mory was stuck in his teenage years.
They probably didn’t even have this car back then, right?
No wonder he didn’t know.
On the road, Benny Palr called.
"We’ve already left, on the way back to Imperial Garden. Did you go to the hospital?" Alia answered the call, heard that Young Master Palr had missed them, and couldn’t help but smile, "Why didn’t you say you were coming over beforehand? Okay... we’ll see you later then, bye-bye."
After hanging up, Alia looked at Christopher, her clear, ringing voice tinged with laughter, "Your good buddy said he’s prepared a discharge present for you. He was thinking of delivering it to the hospital, but since we’ve left, he said he’ll bring it to the house later."
Christopher didn’t react much after hearing this.
Seeing his indifferent look, Alia said discontentedly, "Hey! Soone is giving you a present, and you’re acting like they owe you eight hundred million."
His tone was indifferent, "In my current state, I can’t see, I can’t move, what use do I have for gifts? Besides, given his character, it’s not likely to be anything good."
It would probably be sothing deliberately ant to irritate him.
"You really are..."
The woman couldn’t even think of the words to describe him, so she gave up midway through her sentence.
That this weirdo, ungrateful, venomous, and irascible, could make friends was truly a miracle!
Christopher ignored her dissatisfaction, but was curious about sothing else.
"When did you beco so close with Benny Palr? Every ti you see each other, there’s always laughter and joy." This thought crossed his mind without much hesitation, and he just blurted it out.
Alia was sitting opposite him, looking down at her phone, replying to WhatsApp ssages.
At first, she seed not to have heard clearly and looked up to ask, "What laughter and joy?"
The man’s face grew colder, "I’m talking about you and Benny Palr."
She was even more confused, "What about and Young Master Palr?"
Christopher seed to be irritated by her, his cool face growing impatient, "What are you doing? You’re not paying attention while I’m talking to you, did you leave the house without your ears?"
Before he could finish, the children chid in, "Daddy, you’re not allowed to be an to Mommy!"
Alia looked at her eldest son, her lips pursed in a suppressed smile, "See that? Now soone will keep you in check—oh, sorry, you can’t see."
"..." Purposely made fun of, Mr. Hart was quite upset.
But, because of the children’s presence, anger was there, but he dared not speak it.
The car grew quiet for a while, then the sullen man suddenly blurted out, "In the future, with other n... be more asured, don’t just laugh and giggle with anyone."
Alia had finished replying to WhatsApp and put down her phone to look at him straight on, her eyes narrowing slightly after a few seconds, and she tilted her head, "Christopher, for a grown man, you’re more narrow-minded than a needle! Isn’t this tedious?"
This baseless jealousy, not only was she not entertaining it, but he also made ceaseless issue of it!
Enough already!
Caught out by the woman’s words, Mr. Hart’s handso face awkwardly turned away, muttering, "You know your own looks... aren’t you afraid of misunderstanding..."
Alia: "..."
What nonsense!
Was she supposed to keep a straight face and act aloof to everyone, just because she was pretty, to maintain a distance?
Would rely smiling be giving the wrong impression, leading to misunderstandings?
With a sneer, she said softly, "I can’t be bothered with you," and chose not to talk to him any further.
After that, only the voices of the man and the children filled the car.
Alia kept her head down, checking her phone, sotis replying to work-related matters, sotis chatting with Snow Fitch.
Learning that Mr. Hart had finally been discharged, Miss Fitch expressed her desire to pick an auspicious day to visit him at ho, wishing him luck in surviving a great disaster.
Alia responded with an eye-roll and sweat-wipe emoji.
When the car got on the private road of Imperial Garden, Alia suddenly rembered sothing.
"Right! You don’t rember the things from these past years, so you probably have no mory of Imperial Garden either, right?"
Christopher said, "Benny said that Imperial Garden is one of my properties, and it’s also where I’ve lived the most."
"Yes, it’s called Imperial Garden Villa. It’s an estate you bought after taking over Seal-Cloud Corporation, and after renovations, it beca your residence. There are five levels in total, above and below ground, covering almost two thousand square ters. There’s a well-manicured garden on the mountain behind, with different flowers blooming throughout the four seasons. On clear days, you can have the caregiver wheel you out to get so fresh air, soak in so sunshine, and sll the flowers."
Christopher listened, utterly unmoved, and simply asked, "During the years we were married, did we live here too?"
"Mm-hm."
"Do you like this place?"
That question...
Alia hesitated for a mont, then cautiously answered, "If we’re just talking about the environnt and scenery, of course, I like it. However, our relationship wasn’t too good those years, so for , this place was..."
Basically, an expansive, luxurious prison.
And she was the canary trapped inside the cage.
Seeing her stop speaking, Christopher’s face grew slightly somber, his eyes serious, "It seems... you don’t have a good impression of this place."
"It’s not that..." she smiled, "Anyway, what’s past is past, I don’t care about it anymore, so coming back here doesn’t feel bad to ."
Christopher quickly followed up, "If that’s the case, why don’t you and the children move in and live with ?"
Given that the mansion had five levels above and below ground, occupying two thousand square ters, it should be enough for a family of five to live in.
Alia Garcia had been cautious in her response just now, fearing that he would make this request.
As expected...
"I’m not considering it for now. This place is too far from my work. Benny Palr’s villa is quite nice — it’s right in the city, convenient for going to and from work, and also close to the kids’ school."
Christopher Hart saw that she had rejected his suggestion without hesitation, and his face imdiately lost its luster, "In any case...no matter what I say, you have a reason to refuse ."
"..."
Alia looked at him as he sulked in self-pity and wanted to say — you’re really acting like a lovesick fool now.
Luckily, she held back.
The Lincoln pulled into the Imperial Garden Villa estate, and the servants inside had already co out to welco them.
Alia opened the door and got out, then turned around to pick up the children, freeing up space for Fuller and the bodyguards to lift the man in the wheelchair out of the car.
It has to be said, with him in this state, traveling really beca an issue; it was impossible without a couple of strong n to assist him.
Aunt Harper had returned to Imperial Garden early this morning, having the servants clean the house spotlessly.
Seeing the Master of the house return after a month-long absence, Aunt Harper happily greeted him, her eyes reddening, "Mr. Hart, you’re finally back! We’ve been waiting for you for days, we thought...we thought..."
"Aunt Harper, look at him, he’s fine, and a man who escapes death is destined for good fortune," Alia interjected quickly, seeing Aunt Harper get emotional.
"Yes, yes, yes! Mr. Hart will definitely have great fortune in the future!" Aunt Harper said with a smile.
Christopher sat in his wheelchair, feeling the wind and the sunlight from the outside world, feeling alive again after his rebirth.
He could sense there were many people in front of him, yet to him, they were utterly foreign.
Alia saw his indifferent expression, marked by confusion and bewildernt, and bent down to whisper, "This is Aunt Harper, the housekeeper of Imperial Garden Villa, and she’s the one who raised Hope."
Hearing that this elder woman had raised his daughter, Christopher’s expression softened and he politely spoke, "Good to see you, Aunt Harper."
Although Aunt Harper had known earlier that the master was now blind and suffered from mory loss, seeing it with her own eyes was still hard to accept.
Alia straightened up and explained, "Aunt Harper, his..."
She pointed to her own head, suggesting that Christopher Hart’s brain was injured and sothing was wrong, "He’s forgotten so mories, so he doesn’t rember you or this place."
Aunt Harper nodded repeatedly, "I understand, I know, it’s alright, as long as we rember Mr. Hart. Mrs. Hart, do co inside! Although it’s relatively warm today, the wind is a bit strong; Mr. Hart shouldn’t catch a chill."
"Okay." Alia responded and lowered her head to the man in the wheelchair, "I’ll push you inside."
Although this wasn’t her first visit to Imperial Garden since returning to the country, Alia felt different today as she stepped in here again.
Regardless of how heartless she had spoken previously, after spending these days together, her attitude and views on Christopher Hart had changed.
Now, their interactions were more like those of long-standing friends.
Moreover, the children had also ford an emotional bond with him, and when the family reunited, they were enveloped in a warm and joyful atmosphere.
So, she no longer resisted stepping onto this land that belonged to him.
"The villa has an elevator, convenient for your wheelchair. But since your body hasn’t fully recovered, try not to move around too much—rest in bed and call for soone if you need anything."
Alia pushed him into the living room, carefully reminding him of these precautions.
Christopher may not have been able to see, but he felt an inexplicable sense within his heart that returning here made him feel more settled and at peace.
If...
If she and the children could also move in, that would be perfect.
"Alia..."
"Hm?"
"Can you co in front of ?"
Alia thought he might be feeling uncomfortable and imdiately walked in front of him, "What’s wrong? Are you in pain anywhere?"
"No."
He lifted his hand, reaching out toward her.
Alia hesitated upon seeing this but, concerned he might pull his wounds, she took his hand nonetheless.
"What do you want to do?"
Christopher held her hand, slowly tightening his grip, his breathing getting a bit rushed, then he lowered his arm.
The woman, her hand grasped by him, had to step closer, her legs pressing against the side of the wheelchair.
"What are you trying to do? If you’re not comfortable, I can take you back to your room to lie down."
"No need, I’m alright..." He caressed the softness of her palm, his movents gentle and slow.
Although Alia had taken care of him many tis these past days, even personally feeding him, they had never held hands with such intimacy.
His clearly overstepping action suddenly made the atmosphere between them ambiguous.
"Christopher Hart...don’t do this..." There were many people in the living room watching them.
"Alia... Look at this place... It’s so big, and I’m here all by myself, it feels so empty..."
"You have a lot of people to keep you company, you’re not alone."
"You know what I an."
"..."
"Alia, you know I can be stubborn. If you’re not here to keep an eye on , I’ll certainly be disobedient, which won’t be good for my recovery."
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