Chubby Mommy: Scheming Daddy, Surrender Now!-Chapter 330: Farewell

After lunch and putting the two kids down for a nap, Ruby Sullivan finally had a chance to be alone with Ethan Sterling.

Ethan picked up a book and began reading on the sofa, Ruby sat next to him, took the book from his hands and set it aside, holding his hand as she squinted and smiled, "Mr. Sterling, don’t you have anything to say to me?"

Ethan smiled and leaned back, squeezing her hand as he asked, "What about you? Do you have anything you want to say to me?"

"I..." Ruby leaned against him, playfully pulled his hand, and tapped his somewhat swollen knuckles, "You should first tell me what’s going on here?"

Ethan tilted his head and gave her a peck, "You already know, why ask?"

Ruby sighed, thinking to herself that if this had happened before, she would have fallen out with Ethan by now. But now, she felt surprisingly relieved inside. Maybe that’s what Nathaniel thinks too.

She wasn’t unfamiliar with Nathaniel; he had a foundation in Chinese medicine, and knew well where to hit someone to make it hurt. If Ethan wasn’t deliberately taking a beating, how could he be left unscathed?

"Why?"

"Impulsiveness." Ethan uttered the excuse, feeling a bit embarrassed.

A man of his age, behaving irrationally over unsubstantiated suspicions and getting violent with his wife’s friend—such actions are impulsive, more befitting a hot-blooded young guy whose temper flares up over a woman.

It was only upon returning and calming down that he realized the problem.

He let out a long breath, "Right now, seeing you cry is unbearable for me." Moreover, you cried so sorrowfully, cried until I lost my bearings, just wanting to find someone to make an offering to.

Ruby sighed too, gently massaging his hand, "Don’t you want to know what happened last night?" She could only guess that Nathaniel would say nothing, otherwise Ethan wouldn’t be this calm.

"I do."

"What if I don’t want to tell you?"

"I’d still want to know."

"Can’t you just not want to know," Ruby softened her tone, her voice carrying a plea, continued to massage his hand playfully, "I don’t want to tell."

Ethan was indeed quite taken with her antics, "If you don’t want to say, then forget it. Although I really want to know, I won’t ask. There’s just one thing I need to tell you."

He looked at her seriously, "No matter what happens, you can always rely on me."

"Okay." Ruby hugged him, feeling immensely content inside.

*

Vivian and her third uncle were in Norheim, preparing for their trip to The Frostfang, with no plans to return to the country for the next two months. To her, The Sterling Estate was no more significant than a hotel; she didn’t care if anyone was staying there.

She had already embarked on a global journey with her third uncle and wasn’t even aware of her daughter’s comeback. She was happy spending every day with her third uncle, and that was enough for her.

Cindy Sterling had long anticipated such a response, so she reached out to her elder brother, whom she hadn’t seen in ages, to take her mind off things even before receiving a reply. But her call revealed that Leon Sterling was back in the country.

After learning Ruby wasn’t in any life-threatening situation, he went to Avalora and ended up staying in Serena, thinking he’d be just a passerby, yet found himself lingering for a year, painting daily by Lake Serena, seeing things with newfound clarity.

Cindy immediately booked a flight there.

Every morning, she helped Leon make breakfast. While he painted, she wandered around, and time seemed to slow drastically, bringing with it an unexpected serenity.

It wasn’t until a week later that she decided to call Nathaniel.

She wanted to tell him that she was doing well, even though it might not matter to him.

Instead, she saw a distorted face on the screen, took a long look before barely recognizing him, "What happened to you?"

"It’s nothing," Nathaniel paused, thinking that maybe talking about it would cheer her up, so he continued, "Got beat up by your brother."

Cindy was stunned for a moment before she burst out laughing, "Serves you right."

"Yeah." Nathaniel also chuckled.

His eye was wrapped in gauze, making him look like a one-eyed pirate, but seeing Cindy laugh so joyfully made him feel like getting beat up had gained yet another worthwhile reason.

Once Cindy had laughed enough, she said, "I’m in Serena, the scenery and air are great here. When I get back, I’ll join a decent management company and start working again. You’ll regret it, just wait and see."

"Do your best," Nathaniel didn’t quite know what else to say, but seeing that she was doing fairly well comforted him.

Cindy heard her elder brother calling her for dinner and hung up the video, happily stepping out of the room.

Some people and things are destined to become part of the past. People need to look forward; they shouldn’t let things that have gone by trouble them.

Leon told her he already planned the theme for his next year’s touring exhibition, which was called Goodbye. In each painting he created here, there’s a little girl’s silhouette from behind, representing his forgetting and his beginning.

On the other side, Sasha Shaw came to the hotel to deliver breakfast to Nathaniel.

Despite the hotel’s buffet breakfast being decent, he craved fish-ball congee from the porridge place near school. Although Sasha jeered, she still woke up early to buy it for him.

"Love you," Nathaniel murmured, sending a cheeky glance as he ate his congee.

Sasha shivered, rubbing her arms, "Could you stop being so disgusting?"

All week long, Sasha had been taking care of him. Despite how thick-headed she might be, she knew what had happened between him and Ruby, but since he seemed willing to suffer rather than say anything, she stopped asking.

Half a month went by before the injury to Nathaniel’s eye finally healed, and on the day he got discharged after a follow-up visit at the hospital, he checked out of the hotel and bought a ticket home.

Sasha was the one who went to the station to see him off.

"You haven’t told Ruby, have you?" Sasha couldn’t hold back from asking as she took him to the entrance.

"No, she probably wouldn’t want to see me."

"After all these years of friendship, what could be so serious?" Sasha furrowed her brow, growing more upset as she thought about it, glaring with suspicion, "Did you do something beastly?"

"Impossible..." Nathaniel lamented, though indeed he had acted in a beastly way, but not in the manner Sasha thought. Towards Ruby, he felt only cherishing.

Even now, he didn’t regret his choice back then; if any regrets existed, it would be his self-doubt and cowardice from those days.

He stepped forward and hugged Sasha briefly, "Take care, I’m off."

Sasha watched his departing figure, suddenly feeling heartbroken, as if this goodbye might be their last.

Back in the car, she couldn’t help herself and sent a text to Ruby, "Nathaniel has gone back home."

After a long while, she received a reply with just one word, okay.

Sasha knew that those chaotic, carefree days with the three of them together were gone forever.