I Am An Illegitimate Child With A Legitimate Reason For Revenge-Chapter 214: I understand where you’re coming from

Raymond cleared his throat and finally looked at her.

"I heard from Steve that you were worried about me taking Rachael to the anniversary." He said and nodded. "To be honest, I didn’t plan to take her along either. She overheard Paige and I talking and expressed how she wanted to come along."

"She did?" Alexa asked, surprised. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Please don’t get mad at her. It was my fault for not keeping it under wraps from the beginning. It’s good that she knows how to convey what she wants without fear." he said and interlocked his fingers together. "Some of us grew up without that privilege so seeing her like that... It gives me joy."

Alexa saw how happy he was and wondered how his childhood must’ve been for him to have such a relieved expression on.

She had heard he was an illegitimate child who suffered and she wondered... How exactly did he suffer?

Did he equally have the same number of scars she had on her back? Did he suffer from early age trauma? Did he plan to kill himself on countless occasions?

She wondered about all this and then wondered if that was her situation as well for her to have all those scars. It was bad enough that she couldn’t recall her entire life up till five years ago.

Then, she realized she had been staring at his face too intently and snapped out of it.

"It’s not your fault and I understand where you’re coming from." She said,

"You do?"

"Yeah. Rachael became quite mature too early so she often kept what she wanted to herself and it made me worry. My mature little daughter finally knows how to convey her thoughts and say what she wants." She said and sniffed with a smile.

Raymond reached his hand out to her and swiped away the drop of tear hanging on her eyelid.

"I guess it would be too much if I said I know who she took from but I honestly know." He said and smiled. "She takes after her father, I assume. Because you’re not one to keep things to yourself."

Alexa looked at him for a few seconds before laughing.

"Yeah. You’re right. I’m more of an open person than a secretive one." She said and caught his hand. "Please, take care of her. She is still young so it would really break my heart if her childhood was ruined because of me."

"I understand." He said and she clenched her hand tightly around his.

She didn’t want to let go for some reason and he, too, didn’t want to take his hand out of her grasp.

The feeling of her warm hands holding on to his gave him some sort of confirmation that this was indeed reality. Again.

He wished to take her hands close to his lips and kiss it but he refrained from that act and said,

"I heard you’re getting on the wheelchair tomorrow." She nodded and looked up to meet his eyes.

"Inside always feels so stuffy and I envy people who go out at will. I want to go through the paths, receive the free blessing from nature and feel free." She explained and he subconsciously smiled.

He couldn’t stop staring at her face. How long has it been? How long since he sat next to her like this to talk about their lives?

Months? Years? An eternity? It sure felt like that because he missed her every single day that it felt like hell.

He missed her so much and went mad. He cried, cussed and blamed himself so many times that he lost count and wondered how he even loved up till this moment.

Now, she was sitting in front of him with that warm smile. What was stopping him from taking her in his arms and hugging her till it absolutely felt like she never left.

"I understand where you’re coming from." he said and did what was in his mind and kissed her hands on his.

It surprised Alexa but she did not take her hand back and rather smiled in response.

It was a known fact that Raymond was head over heels in love with his wife and maybe it was because she looked a lot like him that he was giving her such eyes but she didn’t seem to care anymore.

The way he treated her was very similar to the man in her dreams so she couldn’t push herself to rebuke his affections. Be it for her or not, there was no harm receiving such affections from a man who had suffered for too long.

If he wanted to use her as a substitute, she didn’t care because she too... wanted to be loved. Her feelings... they yearned for him. So if this was the way to go, she would go about it.

"Tomorrow," Raymond began and she broke out of her thoughts. "...can I be the one to take you out?"

"What?" She felt a bit confused and he rubbed her palms gently with his.

"I want to be the one to take you out on the wheelchair, can I do that?" He proposed and she fell silent.

Why would he... ?

"Tomorrow, you have an important event to attend so I don’t want to waste your time." She said,

"It’s not going to waste my time. I want to be the one to push you out of your boredom." He lightly gripped her hand. "Please, let me do this."

Alexa couldn’t tell what this was about but since he looked so desperate, she decided it wouldn’t do any of them harm.

"Alright." She agreed and relief coursed through Raymond’s expression. He pressed her hand to his head while trying to hide how overjoyed he felt.

The plan to hide his feelings after finding out she was really Ariel didn’t seem to be going well because each moment, he thought of her. Each moment, he wanted to be with her, smile at her and tell her how much he cared for her.

He was restraining himself as much as he could but he couldn’t really hide that he cared for her and wanted to be with her.

"Thank you." He muttered and she let out a little sigh before stroking his hair. He was acting like this and all she could think of was how much of a child he seemed.