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!”

word, I slurped the cereal noisily. Ashton gave me a

felt thoroughly humbled, like a child who had just received a smack on the

back in K City, so I reminded Ashton. “Nora’s back in K City. We should bring her out for a meal to catch up and play the host. Besides, I don’t feel too safe leaving

right. Ask her over to stay, then, or arrange for her to stay in a hotel. It isn’t safe anyway for

Armond had been totally turned on its head. I was thus a little wary of whether Nora could

had finished my cereal, Ashton nudged his bowl of cereal over to me. “You’re hungry,

felt a sense of warmth within me. Actually, I wasn’t that hungry, but I

to probe more into the matter, but Ashton forbade me. “We can talk later. Finish your

way. He firmly believed we should be focused on gaining nutrients rather than information during meals between

finished the rest of

to start the car. Just then, my phone rang shrilly in my bag. I fished it out only

speak, I felt a rush of woe over the phone. Mrs. Brooks gave a long sigh, 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 the most affection in this life. If you have time to spare, Renee’s grandfather and I would like

Ashton had already driven the car out to the front. However, I remained in my seat,

the car and ran up

hung up the phone, so Mrs. Brooks’ voice drifted over the line,

to get the words out of my throat. With a frown, Ashton eyed me

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

drew in a deep breath and said, “All right. We’ll come over in a

sniffled in a low voice.

my phone back in my bag, Ashton squinted at me with

continue her treatment and brought her to Turlen instead. Renee passed

moment of silence, he suggested,

to the airport. We’ll accompany them all the way to the

some deliberation.

news of Renee’s sudden departure had stupefied me. I’d always held out the hope that

say never chapter

I have expected that that would be

warm hand soothed me. I glanced sideways at him and

your best!” He patted me and said comfortingly, “Don’t blame yourself. You 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

those left behind without seeing any hope in

already waiting when we arrived at the airport. Their hair had turned white, 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

with a dry smile. “Mrs. Fuller, we’ve troubled you too much. We can never

shook my head slightly and looked at her. “Mrs. Brooks,

many words. Thus, he remained silent throughout the ride

filled with exhaustion, most likely because they had not

but judging by their expressions, they

of land already cost tens of thousands. When we arrived, the elderly couple got off the car and walked

I merely followed behind them as they walked. Shane’s gambling addiction had caused the family to lose most of their relatives, and since Renee was

empty funeral neither had a stream of people coming to see Renee off nor any flowers. Only the two empty-handed

Ashton and said, “Can you get the funeral home to send over some funeral items for children? It’s Renee’s last journey, so we should let her go

knew that Sasha’s parents had spent all their money just to treat the child’s illness.

reply and walked off to make

at the cemetery registered Renee’s burial site, he noticed that there 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

processes and customs. Reluctant to let Renee go, Sasha’s mother looked at me with

saying that everything would be fine as long as the

darkened by the time the funeral ended. Sasha’s father squatted in front of the small grave, his face

mother then raised her hand to wipe away the tears in her eyes and said, “My dear, let’s go

own tears before he replied, “That’s good. At least the mother and the daughter can be together without us being a

they would wait for a taxi. However, as the cemetery was far from the city and the

while they waited, the elderly

we arrived at the urban village, Sasha’s mother said, “Thank you for sending us back. The village roads are narrow, so it’s not easy to drive in. Thanks so much for today. You can drop us off here,

but the car could not squeeze through the road indeed. Thus, we could only stop

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

then shook my head slightly. “I’m not very sure. I think Joseph mentioned to me that Shane had gambled away their house. After that, Sasha rented another house somewhere. I

love, never say

were 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 least as it

walking further away, he hesitated, then said, “How long has it been since

or four

slightly. “Most of the houses here have their leases renewed

and chased after the couple. Houses in the urban village had a short rental period. Previously, when Renee was still hospitalized, Sasha’s parents had basically lived there with her. Afterward, they had brought her out for such

path was filled with muddy puddles, so it was not easy to walk in. Ashton grabbed

little cold and lost. The roads and streetlights were mostly faulty, so some parts of the road had no light. As a result, we had to use the flashlights on our phones to light the way. Indeed, this place truly reflected the stark contrast between the poor and depressing living conditions of the bottom rank of the

we realized that the couple seemed to have already walked far off. I was about to give Sasha’s mother a call before we heard

was very narrow, and only one person could cross at a time. He turned to

while later, a small yard of about ten square meters appeared. It was littered

see that the items included some daily necessities, old pots and pans, clothes, and many

been stored in my house for free for a few months. You should be glad that I didn’t collect any storage 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 get in

said, “Mary, I didn’t mean it like that. We’re just here to take some clothes since winter is almost here. As for the rent we owe you, it’s acceptable that you take all this as payment. But our clothes aren’t worth any money and

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 anymore. There are many other people who want to rent

father squatted, staring at something. Although the light was