Chapter 162: Daddy’s Paying
Tristan Sterling walked straight to the hospital bed. He looked down at the woman lying there and asked, "Where does it hurt?"
Rachel Royce averted her gaze, avoiding his eyes. She hadn’t wanted to acknowledge him, but when she saw lissa’s big, watery eyes, she finally answered, "It’s nothing."
Tristan Sterling’s eyes darkened as he glanced at her, but he didn’t press the issue. He looked at lissa and said, "lissa, it’s ti to go ho."
lissa puffed out her cheeks, not wanting to leave.
Tristan said, "We can co see Aunt Evelynn again tomorrow."
Rachel chid in, trying to persuade her. "lissa, you should go ho for now."
lissa, rembering what Aunt Evelynn had just said, asked, "Then can I bring Aunt Evelynn breakfast tomorrow? Please?"
Rachel couldn’t refuse the little girl’s kind offer, so she could only agree. "Okay."
lissa said goodbye to Florence Preston.
Tristan carried lissa out of the hospital room and handed her schoolbag to the nanny. The handso, tall man holding the beautiful, adorable child in his arms drew quite a few stares as they walked down the hall.
Florence Preston stayed and kept Rachel company in the room for a while longer.
It wasn’t like Rachel needed any special care.
After a little while, Florence left.
「The next morning.」
lissa arrived at the hospital bright and early.
Rachel had just finished washing up in the bathroom when she saw the man walk in, carrying a thermal container.
"Aunt Evelynn, good morning!"
lissa was wearing a pale yellow dress today, looking like a cheerful little canary. Her joy was so infectious that Rachel montarily forgot about a certain soone’s presence.
Tristan Sterling walked to the coffee table and set down the thermal container.
lissa pulled Rachel by the hand to sit down. "Aunt Evelynn, hurry and eat your breakfast."
Rachel sat on the sofa, looked at lissa, and asked gently, "Have you eaten, lissa?"
"Daddy and I already ate."
Without looking at the man beside her, Rachel opened the container. It was filled with light dishes: pan-fried dumplings, a spinach and egg wrap, and pastries made from yam.
There was also a serving of brown sugar and ejiao egg custard, which caught Rachel’s eye.
lissa pointed to the egg custard and said, "Daddy had soone make this especially for Aunt Evelynn this morning."
Rachel just smiled at lissa and said nothing.
lissa watched over Rachel as she ate, and Rachel fed her a spoonful of the egg custard.
Tristan Sterling leaned back on a nearby stool, his attention fixed on the tablet in his hands.
Rachel finished her breakfast.
She packed up the thermal container, planning to wash it in the bathroom so Tristan could take it with him.
Tristan glanced at her but didn’t say anything.
When Rachel ca out after washing the container, she put it in a bag and said to lissa, "All right, lissa, it’s ti for you to go to school."
lissa said, "Daddy got the day off. I’m going to stay with Aunt Evelynn until she’s discharged, and then I’ll go to school."
Rachel froze for a mont, then looked at Tristan.
Tristan looked back at her and asked, "When are you being discharged?"
Just then, the door to the room opened.
A nurse walked in pushing a dical cart. Rachel still had one more IV drip to get this morning.
As the nurse inserted the IV needle for Rachel, lissa watched from the side, her little face etched with worry. She looked utterly endearing.
The nurse couldn’t help but say, "Your daughter is so adorable. I’ve never seen such a beautiful child."
Hearing the nurse’s words, Rachel just smiled.
lissa tilted her little head up to look at the nurse.
The nurse smiled at her. "There now, your mommy will be all right soon."
lissa nodded emphatically, beaming. "Thank you, Miss Nurse."
"You’re welco."
The nurse couldn’t resist patting lissa’s little cheek.
"So cute."
The nurse pushed the dical cart out of the room.
lissa rested her small hands on the edge of the bed and, with a wide grin, suddenly called out to Rachel, "Mommy!"
Upon hearing that, Rachel’s pupils contracted violently. Her heart felt as if it had been struck by sothing heavy, and a pent-up longing flooded through her nerves like a bursting dam.
The man on the stool watched the scene unfold, his handso face calm.
「After a long mont.」
Rachel finally collected her thoughts. "lissa, why did you call that?"
lissa replied, "Because the nurse said Aunt Evelynn is my mommy!"
"Does it hurt, Mommy? lissa will blow on it to make it better."
lissa had switched to calling Rachel "Mommy" and seed to think nothing was wrong with it.
For a mont, Rachel didn’t know how to correct her.
But in the end, fighting back her own pain, she gently corrected lissa.
lissa’s face suddenly fell. "Oh, okay..."
Rachel felt a pang in her heart, as if it had been pricked by a needle.
When she lifted her gaze, she accidentally t a pair of dark eyes. Rachel’s breath caught. She felt as if she had done sothing unforgivable. The man only glanced at her for a second before lowering his eyes and looking away.
The IV drip finally finished.
The nurse ca back and removed Rachel’s indwelling needle.
The doctor instructed her to rest well for the next couple of days. "I’ve prescribed you a few courses of Chinese dicine to help regulate your system."
"The most important thing is to get proper rest. Don’t be under too much stress and take care of your body. Otherwise, no amount of dicine will help."
Rachel replied, "I know. Thank you, Doctor."
She’d had these pains before, but never as severe as the last two tis, which had required IV drips at the hospital to manage.
It was worse each ti.
’This ti, I feel like it was purely Tristan Sterling’s fault for making so angry.’
lissa chid in, "Thank you, Miss Doctor."
The doctor couldn’t help but pat lissa’s little cheek as well.
"Go pay the bill and pick up the dicine."
With those instructions, the doctor left the room.
As Rachel was about to get her phone to scan the QR code on the bill,
lissa took the bill from Rachel’s hand, walked over to her father, and held it out to him. "Daddy, pay for it."
"lissa," Rachel called out. "Give the bill back to Auntie."
Tristan took the bill from lissa, scanned the code, and paid it. He then looked at Rachel. "Let’s go."
lissa went up and took Rachel’s hand, muttering, "Is Aunt Evelynn angry?"
Rachel said, "No, but next ti, you need to ask Auntie first, okay?"
lissa replied, "Got it."
The three of them left the hospital room.
They walked out of the inpatient departnt.
Tristan’s driver approached them. Tristan handed him the receipt and instructed, "Go get the dicine."
The driver took the receipt and headed toward the outpatient building.
Tristan glanced back at Rachel and said, "Get in the car."
It was ti to take lissa to preschool.
Once they were in the car,
Rachel received a call from Thomas Sterling. "Rachel, Miss Preston said you’re in the hospital?"
"Yeah, it’s nothing serious. You guys are back? Where’s my brother?"
Thomas said, "He’s at the company. I just got back myself."
"We’ll talk when I get back."
"Should I co pick you up?"
"That won’t be necessary for now."
Miles Sheldon was already in the parking lot. After they dropped lissa off at preschool, she would get a ride ho from him.
She would just have to work from ho today.
After the driver returned with the dicine, he drove away from the hospital and headed to the school.
When they arrived at the school gate, a teacher was waiting there to greet lissa.
"Bye, Daddy! Bye, Aunt Evelynn!"
After lissa went into the school,
Rachel, with no intention of saying goodbye to the man beside her, turned and walked toward Miles Sheldon’s car.
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