In Love, Never Say Never

“Hannah!” I shrieked. I fastened my gaze on the man she was clinging to. He was tall and attired in a black down jacket. That man wasn’t exactly handsome, but his height and confidence imbued him with a magnetic aura.

The five of us engaged in this stand-off without anyone speaking for a while. I sneaked a peek at John and noticed that his face had grown thunderous and his eyes wild. After a long while, John spluttered, “How long has it been?”

Hannah looked unaffected as she casually replied, “A few months.” Those words, and all the enormity of their meaning, hung in the air between us.

John suddenly gave a loud snort. Flashing her a scornful look, he asked, “Why?”

“There’s no reason why, John. All relationships must come to an end somehow,” Hannah said breezily. Her manner seemed entirely frivolous.

Hearing her response, John hung his head. He seemed to be laughing at the sheer absurdity of the situation as his shoulders shook uncontrollably. Undoubtedly, he was unable to restrain himself any further as his emotions swelled within him and burst out in a torrent.

Without hesitation, John lunged forward and punched the other man hard in the face. Due to the pure impulse of his move, however, John’s blow did not land as well as he had probably hoped it would.

I expected Hannah to cry out in indignation or beg for mercy, but she remained unflappable. She merely crossed her arms and retreated. It was as if she was a mere spectator of the fight rather than its motive.

Meanwhile, Ashton drew me behind him protectively. We, too, watched on without intervening.

It was only when it seemed that John was on the verge of beating the other man to death that Hannah finally spoke.

“Let him go, John. If you’re still mad, take it out on me. He doesn’t know what’s going on at all,” she said with an aggravating coolness.

John paused and looked at her savagely. His eyes were bloodshot. However, he simmered down and slowly walked over to Hannah. “What do you want?” he asked with difficulty.

I had always known that John was in love with Hannah. He had his demons, and to him, Hannah had always been a place of refuge from the rest of the world. I suppose John had always firmly believed that Hannah would never leave nor betray him. In his mind, Hannah was the lighthouse that would always be waiting patiently back at the shore for him to sail home.

Yet John had forgotten that people were terribly fickle beings. He had made Hannah wait for him for too long a time. She was a woman, after all, and needed a man to love and care for her. After some time, Hannah had finally grown weary of being left out in the cold.

Hannah looked at John. She either did not notice the melancholy in his eyes or merely refused to see it. Exhaling deeply, Hannah said, “Kiki belongs to the Stovall family, so I won’t take him with me. The villa and the car are both under your name, so I’ll return them to you. As for everything else, let me keep them. I’ll take them as a reward for staying by your side all these years.”

Hannah let out a deep breath, then laughed mournfully. “There isn’t much else. Other than Kiki, we don’t have any other common possessions. At least the legal side of things won’t be too complicated. If you don’t have time or energy to care for Kiki, I will. However, you’ll need to pay child support. I won’t ask for anything else from you.”

It was heartrending to see a relationship reduced thus to the stark, bare-bones of assets and payments. There was nothing left to say between John and Hannah. Even goodbye felt redundant.

John’s emotions had gradually subsided. He then merely replied, “We’ll talk about it when we get back.”

Without waiting for Hannah’s response, John walked heavily towards his car. He started it and drove off without a second glance at anyone else.

Ashton and I remained where we were. As for Hannah, she watched as John’s car gradually vanished in the distance, then turned towards the man sitting on the ground. “Are you all right?” she asked nonchalantly.

The man softened and patted Hannah’s arm reassuringly. “I’m fine.”

I stared at them, lost for words. After a while, we simply turned and walked away.

Feeling heavyhearted, I remained silent even after we’d gotten back to the car and driven off.

“Don’t worry. I’ve sent someone to follow John. He’ll be fine!” Ashton said reassuringly beside me.

I looked at him, then replied shortly, “I’m not worried about John. It’s Hannah I’m concerned about. She was clearly in love with John. Why did she suddenly decide to give up their relationship?”

Ashton rested one hand on the steering wheel, his elbow on the door of the car, a picture of placid serenity. With an air of wisdom, he philosophized, “Autumn doesn’t arrive in the middle of spring. And when it does, the leaves on the trees don’t fall all at once. Perhaps Hannah was made to wait for too long and lost hope in the relationship.”

I bit my lip and turned away. Unbeknownst to Ashton, I was no stranger to that feeling.

I’d drifted off to sleep on the drive back, and Ashton had picked me up and carried me straight into the bedroom. I opened my eyes blearily to look at Ashton, who was getting undressed and ready to shower at the side of the room. “I don’t know what’s happening to me lately,” I moaned. “I get drowsy very quickly and feel rather weak.”

Ashton froze at my offhand remark, his hands arrested in the middle of taking his shirt off. He lowered them slowly and turned to me with a peculiar beam on his face. Delighted, he proclaimed, “We’ll make a trip to the hospital tomorrow!”

In love, never say never chapter 922

I found Ashton’s reaction rather bizarre and asked, “Why go to the hospital? It’s not that big of a deal.”

Ashton sauntered over to my side and looked fondly down at me. “Everyone should go for an annual medical checkup. I think it’s been about a year since you last went for one.”

I nodded absently, then lay back down on the bed. Since Ashton had left the bed to me, I sprawled happily across its entire width while sighing in satisfaction and comfort.

It was the beginning of winter, and the temperature in K City had plummeted sharply. Ashton was insistent on sending me to the hospital and was up and about early in the morning. I’d been disturbed from my sleep by his bustling about and sat in the living room still yawning, half-awake.

That morning, Ashton had poured out some cereal for both of us. “Would you like some chopped nuts?” he asked, popping his head out of the kitchen.

I nodded, my eyes teary from the multiple yawns I’d just unleashed. “Sure.”

It was a cold, misty morning. I couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of stepping out into the frigid air and made a mental note to myself to don a few more layers before leaving.

Ashton emerged from the kitchen with the two bowls of cereal in hand. He placed them on the table, then added, “Would you like some pancakes as well?”

I sneezed, then sniffed at Ashton, “No need. I’ll just have the cereal. Since we’re going to the hospital, why don’t we drop by my Mom’s place and bring Summer along? We can get her checked out at the same time.”

Ashton agreed. “Let’s eat, then!”

noisily. Ashton gave me a

thoroughly humbled, like a child who had

bring her out for a meal to catch up and play the host. Besides, I don’t feel too safe leaving her

“All right. Ask her over to stay, then, or arrange for her to stay in

incident at the warehouse, my opinion of Armond had been totally turned on

finished my cereal, Ashton nudged his bowl of cereal over to me. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? Eat up!” he

within me. Actually, I wasn’t that hungry, but I ate the rest of

into the matter, but Ashton forbade me. “We can talk

be focused on gaining nutrients rather than information during meals between

docilely, then finished the rest

putting on my shoes slowly in the hallway. Ashton had gone ahead to start the car. Just then, my phone rang shrilly in my bag. I fished it out only to see Mrs. Brooks’ name flashing across

then said, “Mrs. Fuller, Renee passed away last night. She said she wanted to be buried with her mother. I brought her back to K City with me today. I don’t have any close friends or family, and you were probably the one who showed her

had already driven the car out to the front. However, I remained in my seat, staring ahead blankly as

out of the car and

hadn’t hung up the phone, so Mrs. Brooks’ voice drifted over the line, fearfully

snapped. I was choking up and struggled to get the words out of my throat. With a

be buried at Woodhills. She said she wanted to lie next to her mother,” Mrs.

drew in a deep breath and

you, Mrs. Fuller,” Mrs. Brooks sniffled in a low voice. We

Ashton squinted at me with obvious disquiet in his

treatment and brought her to Turlen instead. Renee passed away mid-journey, and her

After a moment of silence, he suggested,

airport. We’ll

some deliberation. “OK, I’ll

had stupefied me. I’d always held out the

never say

would be the last time

my hand in his, his warm hand soothed me. I

did what you could, so just leave the rest in the hand of fate. The child came and left this world as a pure person, and this is probably the best way out for her. that she

without seeing any hope in life are the

and their faces were now covered with wrinkles and vicissitudes of life since I last saw them. Looking at the two of them made me heartbroken. They had gone through so much suffering and even had to deal with the passing of their own child and even their grandchild. Most people could never imagine the number of distressing events they had gone through in their

at me with a dry smile. “Mrs. Fuller, we’ve troubled you too much. We can never repay your kindness

slightly and looked at her. “Mrs. Brooks, don’t overthink this. Come,

throughout the ride as he hugged Renee’s urn tightly. The sight caused

toward Woodhills Cemetery, I noticed that the couple’s faces were both filled with exhaustion,

had originally wanted to take them to eat something first, but judging by their expressions, they probably could not stomach

small area of land already cost tens of thousands. When we arrived, the elderly couple got off the car and walked over to a burial plot

to lose most of their relatives, and since Renee was also

had a stream of people coming to see Renee off nor any flowers.

to send over some funeral items for children?

that Sasha’s parents had spent all their money just to treat the child’s illness. They wanted to give her the best, but

and walked off to

were only two elderly people and got slightly shocked but did not probe any further. Perhaps he had gotten used to such a sight since he was working in a place full of

the burial processes and customs. Reluctant to let

smile as I comforted her, saying that everything would be fine as long

the time the

wipe away the tears in her eyes and said, “My dear, let’s go home. Renee will keep

old man simply wiped away his own tears before he replied, “That’s good. At least the mother and the daughter can be together without us being a burden to

we left, the elderlies were too embarrassed to take our car back and insisted that they would wait for a taxi. However, as the cemetery was far from the city

elderly

The village roads are narrow, so it’s not easy to drive

in, but the car could not squeeze through the road indeed. Thus, we could only stop the car and let the couple walk in by

the two white-haired elderly walk down the narrow dirt road, Ashton asked, “Have they always lived

to me that Shane had gambled away their house. After that, Sasha rented another house somewhere. I think it is probably the one

love, never say never

old, and the structures and facilities were all inconvenient and there were a lot of safety hazards. However, they could survive here at the very

Ashton continued to watch the elderly couple walking further away, he hesitated, then

three or

of the houses here have

Houses in the urban village had a short rental period. Previously, when Renee was still

puddles, so it was not easy to walk in. Ashton grabbed me and glanced at the path in front of us, then frowned. “This place is very uncared

had no light. As a result, we had to use the flashlights on our phones to light the way. Indeed, this

couple seemed to have already walked far off. I was about to give

an old building. Using his phone’s light, Ashton managed to find a small trail. However, it was

while later, a small yard of about

items included some daily necessities, old pots

fees from you. Instead, you dare to come to take them from me? Don’t you feel embarrassed? Why would I want all these things? They’re such a mess. Just take them away and don’t

acceptable that you take all this as payment. But our clothes aren’t worth any money and

to me about how miserable you are. I’ve seen too many of such people in my lifetime. Who isn’t struggling to survive? If you want your clothes, just take them. But if you can’t afford to pay the rent, don’t even think about living here

for their clothes in the small yard. On the other hand, Sasha’s father squatted,