Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 105: "In the future, I will be your husband.
Rory Linden checked the license plate number again, confirming it really was Sean Harrison’s car.
She bought some joss paper and a lighter from a small shop at the entrance. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Once she had her things, she hurried into the cemetery.
Rory Linden had walked the path to her mother’s gravestone many times before.
Each time, she had been in a different state of mind.
But this time, she was a little nervous.
It was impossible that a relative of the Harrington Family would be buried in an ordinary cemetery like this. If Sean Harrison was here, it could only be to see her mother.
’He...’
’Why did he come here?’
Rory Linden couldn’t help but quicken her pace.
Her mother’s gravesite was in a corner of the cemetery.
As Rory Linden walked along the long path, she saw Sean Harrison standing at its end in the distance.
He had his head lowered, looking at the gravestone before him and seemingly murmuring something.
His expression was solemn, his demeanor humble.
"Sean Harrison."
Rory Linden hurried over.
A bouquet of fresh, vibrant flowers lay before the gravestone, clearly brought by him just moments ago.
He looked a little surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"
Rory Linden countered, "I should be the one asking you that. Why are you here?"
This was her mother’s grave.
They were a couple, but that was as far as it went.
They hadn’t reached this stage yet.
"I don’t know the details of what happened back then, but I believe you. I suspect my father may have done something terrible, and I wanted to come apologize to your mother on his behalf."
Sean Harrison lowered his gaze, his eyes resting on the black-and-white photograph on the gravestone.
Rory Linden didn’t know when the photograph of her mother had been taken.
But she now bore a striking resemblance to the woman in the picture, especially in the eyes.
Her mother was just thinner, almost gaunt, with no flesh on her cheeks.
"This has nothing to do with you. You aren’t the one who needs to apologize."
Rory Linden placed the joss paper she had just bought inside the small, brick-lined compartment in front of the gravestone.
She lit the paper with her lighter.
As the joss paper slowly burned, smoke curled into the air, and the wind carried the ashes away.
As she burned the paper, Rory Linden told her mother that she would be going to the countryside for a medical outreach program and wouldn’t be able to visit and burn offerings in October.
She then brought up Gary Sinclair.
"If Gary Sinclair is having a hard time, he brought it on himself. I won’t give him a single penny for living expenses, much less support him."
After a moment’s thought, she stood up and went to stand beside Sean Harrison.
"Mom, let me make an introduction. This is Sean Harrison, Miles Harrison’s uncle. I’m not sure if you ever met him." Rory Linden glanced at the man beside her and added earnestly, "It’s all thanks to his help. I probably couldn’t have resolved the issue with Gary Sinclair by myself."
A second of silence hung in the air.
Then Sean Harrison asked, "Aren’t you going to tell your mom who I am?"
"Huh?" A mischievous glint appeared in Rory Linden’s eyes. "I just did. You’re Miles Harrison’s uncle."
Sean Harrison looked at her. "And?"
Seeing the smile on his lips fade, Rory Linden reached out and looped her arm through his. "Mom, Sean Harrison is my boyfriend now. We haven’t been together long, but he’s very good to me."
Rory Linden wasn’t sure how long she and Sean Harrison would last.
’But it doesn’t matter.’
’If Mom were still alive, I would have told her the day our relationship became official.’
Even though her mother had died when she was very young, Rory remembered her as a wonderful person.
She was sure her mother would support whatever decision she made.
Sean Harrison finally spoke. "I will always be very good to you. And in the future, I’ll be your husband."
"Don’t make promises you can’t keep in front of my mom," Rory teased. "If it doesn’t come true, she’ll come find you in your dreams."
She said it jokingly.
But deep down, she truly didn’t think she and Sean Harrison would end up together.
In the short time they had been living together, she had come to realize she didn’t really know Sean Harrison at all.
The look on his face and his actions while he was dreaming not long ago, for example.
That hadn’t seemed like a coincidence.
-
The next day was Monday, the first workday of September.
There was an elementary school near their apartment. It was the first day of school, so the streets were lined with cars dropping off children, causing a brief traffic jam.
By the time Rory Linden reached the hospital, she was almost late.
When she reached the entrance to the Inpatient Department, she saw a group of people standing in the lobby.
Director Quinn from Medical Affairs was at the front. Among the doctors and nurses behind him, the most noticeable person was the towering Evan Hollis.
Rory Linden was rushing toward the elevators...
"Rory Linden, come here." Director Quinn called out to her. "Perfect, we’re one person short. Are you busy this morning? Any surgeries?"
Rory Linden glanced at Evan Hollis before asking, "Director Quinn, where are all of you going?"
"We’re heading to a few kindergartens to give the children check-ups. Our team was complete, but Dr. Li from Internal Medicine came down with a fever and can’t make it. You come with us."
"Ch-children?"
Rory Linden was not good at handling children.
Before she could refuse, Director Quinn had already pulled out his phone and was dialing Keith Hawthorne.
He gave Rory Linden no chance to object.
The minibus that would take them to the kindergartens was parked right at the hospital entrance.
After they got on, Evan Hollis took the seat next to Rory Linden and said with a broad smile, "Dr. Linden, looks like we’re on the same team again."
Rory Linden managed a weak smile. "If I had a choice, I’d rather be back at my post."
"Don’t you like kids, Dr. Linden?" Evan Hollis asked.
"It’s not that." Rory Linden sighed. "I like kids, I’m just not very good at dealing with them. The moment they start crying and throwing a tantrum, I’m completely at a loss..."
It was likely due to her upbringing.
She had always been a well-behaved child and rarely spent time around other children.
Evan Hollis beamed. "Then I’ll team up with you! I’ve been a ’king of the kids’ since I was little. I’m an expert at handling them!"
"Oh, really?"
Rory Linden asked offhandedly.
Still, she believed him.
Evan Hollis was like a little sun, radiating warmth everywhere he went. He really did have the aura of a ’king of the kids’.
Evan, however, thought she was skeptical and lowered his voice to say, "It’s because I grew up without parents, in an orphanage overseas. I’m Asian, but I have curly hair, so no one wanted to adopt me. I stayed in that orphanage for a very long time. I guarantee you, no one in this hospital is better at handling kids than I am."
Rory Linden was completely taken aback.
Evan Hollis had studied medicine overseas, where tuition is incredibly expensive.
She would never have guessed he was an orphan.
Rory Linden opened her mouth, but the words she was about to say caught in her throat. All she could manage was, "I’m sorry..."
She hadn’t meant to touch a raw nerve.
The minibus drove on for a bit.
Evan Hollis continued in a low voice, "Actually, there was a woman who wanted to adopt me back then. She was from Celestria, too. She wanted to adopt me because I did well in school and was very smart."
Rory Linden turned to look at him, unsure what to say for a moment.
’The way he’s talking... ’
’She must not have adopted him in the end.’
"I was already ten by then, an age where kids almost never get adopted, so I studied even harder. I also learned to draw and play the guitar to make sure that every time the woman came to see me, I had made huge, surprising improvements."
As Evan spoke, his mood seemed to sink.
He sighed. "Later, I found out that woman already had a son."
