HEIRESS REBORN: MARRYING HER EX-FIANCÉ-Chapter 22: Noah Kingston (1)
What was love in a family?
What was love from a person?
What was love, after all?
From a young age, Noah Kingston had always been curious about many things. As he began to grow and understand his surroundings and the people in his life, that one question stayed with him.
What was love?
Was love as a family what his mother had always given to his younger sister? He wondered sometimes.
Was love from a person what the servants and many have done just to be in his younger sister’s good graces?
This has always crossed his mind during some experiences in his life.
An example was his family.
From childhood, he had always felt like a shadow in his own family.
Unnoticed and unseen.
His mother had always glared at him like a scourge in her life, and never cared for him as her son.
His father had always ignored him since he wasn’t the born as the perfect heir.
His younger sister, perhaps seeing their parents’ attitude towards him, had followed their steps and always regarded him with contempt.
The servants in the mansion had also looked down on him, and never properly served him as their first young master, unlike their flattery treatment towards his younger sister.
The only care that had been appropriately given to him were the doctors from prestigious hospitals that tried to diagnose his body, and the private nurses who had been paid to look after him as a patient.
This kind of life had prompted his first curiosity about love.
Having gotten used to such a life, Noah Kingston struggled to grow up with his sickly body, and gradually closed himself off from his family that regarded him with disdain. The same for the outside world that had always judged him with unnecessary pity as a sickly first young master.
From his perspective, pity wasn’t going to solve his incurable illness one bit, so what was the point of the pity itself?
Besides, there was no such thing as true pity in the kind of society that he grew up as the sickly first young master of the Kingston family.
Those kind of people might query about his health on the outside, but they were snickering in their hearts and feeling pleased that they were living better than someone in a higher status than them.
After Noah Kingston had become of age, he proposed to his parents about living alone as an adult, and unsurprisingly, they went along with his request.
Perhaps in their eyes, he, who would die at any time, didn’t add much value to the family, and so it was better to push him away as far as possible or cut him off like a weed.
Since then, Noah Kingston had lived by himself without ever interacting with his family.
So imagine his surprise when his first cousin had reached out to him on the day of her parents’ funeral.
And seeking for his help at that.
Noah’s relationship with his uncle’s family had always been lukewarm. Neither too caring nor distant. His uncle and aunt had always been very busy, so what could he have expected from the couple on frequent business trips?
He was only a nephew and not their child.
The times he had interacted with them, his uncle and aunt would always inquire about his poor health, and recommend some famous persons in the medical field to him.
That much was better than his family’s dismissive attitude.
As for their daughter, the first child and his first cousin, she held the same attitude as his own family.
Disregarding his presence as a person unknown and unseen.
In contrast to the caring attitude of her parents.
How would he then feel when the same person contacted him for help?
’Hm...’ Glancing around, Noah Kingston was now seated on his wheelchair in the visitor’s lounge of his first cousin’s home.
’How strange....’ He lowered his gaze to the plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of juice on the nearby ornate side table. The sweet fragrance of oranges diffused in the atmosphere of the visitor’s lounge.
It has been a long time since he had received a proper treatment as the first young master of the Kingston family from servants. Even from this mansion without the presence of their employers.
’You’re not as naïve and stupid as before.’ He stared at the twelve-year-old seated in the same room as himself.
To know the attitude of the master, it was best to observe the servants first. The servants in his family had arrogance because of his parents.
The servants in this mansion were polite and respectful without a word. His first cousin must have disciplined them well if they would serve someone with little to no presence in the Kingston family like himself.
What had happened to his first cousin?
Noah suddenly got curious.
’’You seem to have changed, cousin.’’ He blatantly pointed out, acting on his curiosity without hesitation. A small smile lingered on his lips.
Had the death of his uncle and aunt brought about the change in his first cousin?
’’It’s been a while, Noah.’’ She welcomed him, mirroring his smile on her lips.
Noah?
Noah was quite taken aback. His cousin must have really changed to refer him with his name and not cousin with a blatant sneer like the past. Her eyes, that always carried disdain and look down on him, were now regarding him as a person without her contempt.
Her intentions were very obvious if she intended to close the gap between them.
Especially if she was serious about the proposal in that letter.
’’Yes, it’s been a while. I never expected that an arrogant cousin of mine to send a letter. May I ask what happened to my father and his family?’’
Why did you skip them and come to me, the sickly first young master?
’’.....’’ Ayana instinctively understood the rest of Noah’s hidden words loud and clear. His suspicions were valid and normal.
She had been an estranged cousin for years, and now she was displaying an act of kinship between them. If that wasn’t hypocritical of her, then what would it be?
Even if she would be very disgusted with such a hypocritical act.
However, this was the only way to leave the scheming hands of her uncle. If it was to lower her head and apologize to Noah, she could do it a thousand times.
’’I know a way to cure your illness.’’ Ayana straightened her back and steadily looked into the hazel eyes, dimmer than her eyes.
Just like her uncle’s.
’’In return, take custody of Jason and myself till I become of age.’’ She bargained in a serious tone. ’’The same for the Kingston corporation. I want you to become the president till I become of age.’’
Everything was just as she had written in the letter. She could cure her first cousin’s illness if he protected her and Jason from the schemes of his father and his family.
’’...Do you hear yourself, cousin?’’
’’Yes.’’
’’If that’s so, how do you propose to cure my illness that famed doctors and researchers have failed to do so since my childhood?’’ In response to her curt answer, Noah asked, without a hint of emotion on his face.
’’You also demand that I should become your guardian till you’re eighteen. Why are you saying this to the son of the man who desires the custody in the first place?’’
