Stuck in you

Howard was a talkative person, especially when it came to his two sons. He didn't have a good relationship with either of them, so he would talk at length to diffuse the awkward atmosphere.

One of his sons was Bill, the child he had with his ex-wife. Bill had been taken abroad at a young age by her, so Howard hadn't had much contact with him. However, she had brought him up well, so even though Howard rarely talked to him, Bill had grown up to be an obedient son.

On the other hand, his current wife's son, Mark, whom he treated like his own son, treated him like an enemy.

No matter how well Howard treated Mark, the letter always kept a distance from him.

In spite of this, he was still partial to his stepson.

Although he did pity Bill sometimes, he had already grown up well past the age of needing someone to rely on.

So, Howard wasn't too worried about Bill and had decided to just let nature take its course.

But he also felt that he should take this opportunity to show his affection to Bill, which he had seldom done.

After all, they had barely even spent any time together.

Howard felt like he could mend their relationship by doing that, but in fact, he was just doing it to comfort himself.

There was no gratitude in Bill's mind for his father's sudden affection to him. On the contrary, he felt very uncomfortable.

However, he had been taught from a young age to respect elders, so he carefully concealed the impatience that he felt and didn't let it show on his face.

This was the very reason that he had tried to signal Andy to divert Howard's attention to Rachel. However, Andy had misunderstood him and took her outside instead, leaving him all alone with his father.

His father was still rambling to him non-stop.

Bill really didn't want to hear all these unnecessary words from his father, but he had no choice.

'Well, if I'm forced to listen to this bullshit, I might as well make myself comfortable first,' he thought.

With a wave of his hand, he invited his father to sit down with him.

Howard sat down on a nearby chair. It was only then that he realized that Rachel and Andy had left the room.

After hesitating for a while, he continued his conversation with Bill without asking where Rachel and Andy had gone.

For Bill, his father's show of affection was too much to bear. After a short while, he stood up to make some tea.

He dawdled next to the teapot for a while before slowly walking over with two cups of hot tea. Howard took one of the cups from his son and gave him a pleased look.

his eyes disgusted Bill. Fortunately, for the next few minutes, Howard was too busy drinking tea to continue

fiddled with his cellphone. He looked at the time and realized that eleven minutes and eight seconds had passed since his father

he going to leave?' he wondered

his father leave when the latter suddenly asked, "Bill,

who had just taken a sip of tea, choked and coughed

on the back. "What's wrong? Why didn't you drink it

he was glad that

mobile phone rang, and

intermittently as he tried to catch

this hospital were

who were in the lounge, had actually heard the father and son's conversation, including the last part which had made Bill go into a coughing

Andy had cautiously moved a chair close to the door and sat

the door, he had quietly eavesdropped on the

amused

Howard's question and

almost burst

the end, he had controlled himself and just beamed at Rachel

to the ward and shook his head as

what Andy had said the day before⁠—that

he was an unusual old

Howard left the ward to answer the phone that Andy opened the door and walked in with a

Rachel followed him too.

Andy

but before he could grumble about it, Andy said, "I guess he's not bad. He's concerned about your marriage

all old people are? Always nagging,

but when he saw Rachel behind Andy, he swallowed his

as if he didn't want to bother with a response. After his coughing fit, his handsome

he stood up. "I'm going to wash my hands." It was the first excuse he could think

the washroom was too clean; after

Howard returned to the ward.

"Washroom," Andy replied indifferently.

his hand. He seemed to be a little embarrassed as he said, "Andy, I have something to deal with

slightly. "I have always been taking care of him. You don't

for a second, but he quickly recovered

with a

was listening to the whole conversation, really admired the way the old man treated