My Darling, My Dearest

Jack emphasized the last two words. It was as if he was scolding her.

Rachel studied his arrogant eyes and felt uneasy.

The uneasiness she felt was not because of Jack's threat. For some reason, she felt as though someone was laying a trap for her.

She wanted to get past Jack, but he got closer and kept pushing her forward.

Finally, she gave in. Fuming, she got into his car. She would just have to see what he was planning to do.

For the next few days, Jack's car arrived on her doorstep on time every morning. And this lasted for three days.

Also, Lucas called her from out of the blue, telling her that something urgent had come up. Fie said that he might be unable to come back in time.

Lea called Rachel and asked her whether Lucas had come back. Rachel had to tell her that his schedule was delayed. Lea breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. I just returned to our hometown with my old man yesterday. My stepmother had an accident. I will not be back until a week or so."

Rachel was about to tell Lea what had happened between her and Jack these days, but ■3

she stopped when she heard this.

'Never mind. We can talk about it once she has returned. I don't believe that Jack will be my driver for another week,' she thought.

And she was right.

On the fourth day, Jack informed her that he would no longer come to pick her up.

She breathed a sigh of relief. She had survived these few nerve-wracking days and thought that her ordeal was over.

On the next two days that followed, Jack didn't show up. Rachel was in high spirits. When Dr. Wang had urgent matters to attend to, she agreed to swap schedules.

It was quiet during her duty that night. There was nothing else to do, and she had no operations scheduled. At nine o'clock, a nurse came by to tell her that Mendes was causing trouble again.

Celia had gone home from work, and the nurse she had hired could not comfort the boy. So she came to Rachel for help.

Rachel stood up and made her way to the ward. The nurse had taken Mendes near the door because the other patients could take no more of him. He had been making a scene. When Rachel arrived, Mendes was in the arms of the nurse. He was crying hysterically. His chubby little face had gone red, and he choked as he cried and yelled for his mother. This wailing saddened Rachel. Mendes, Celia's half-brother, was only five years old. ■3

Rachel was one of the few people in the hospital who knew what had happened to their family. Celia's mother had been dead for less than three years when her father brought Mendes home. One could only imagine how affected Celia had been by this. It was one of the reasons why she was so impatient with her little brother.

Not long after her father had brought Mendes home, he flew to South America to pursue his career.

It turned out that her father didn't like Mendes very much. While Celia felt a little better because of this, she couldn't help but pity the boy.

After Mendes broke his arm and was in hospital, their father had only visited for two days. Then, in a hurry, he had left them. It was as though he didn't care for his son at all.

This whole time, Mendes' mother had never shown up. Many times, Celia had expressed her anger toward the boy's irresponsible parents.

However, there was nothing she could do. She was a young girl herself, and it was impossible for her to take care of a kid.

For the time being, she had no choice but to leave Mendes in the hospital and have a nurse take care of him.

"Can you please take him outside?" someone in the ward asked, frowning. "He's being too noisy!"

Rachel and the nurse apologized before the former took Mendes to her office. "It's okay," she assured the nurse. "I'll take care of him. You can come by for him again later." ■3 "Thank you very much!" the nurse said, relieved.

It took a long time for Mendes to quiet down. Rachel had tried her best to calm him, and both of her arms were now sore.

Now sufficiently tired, Mendes wiped the tears off his cheeks and said that he was hungry. "Let's get you all washed up first, okay?" Rachel said. She wanted him to look clean and presentable before his sister

came.

The boy nodded obediently. She brought out a fresh towel and a small, clean basin from the cabinet. Then, she took the boy to the washroom. She used warm water to clean his face and hands.

Rachel then walked back to her office with the child. As they walked, she realized that they had made the floor wet and slippery. She turned to him and asked him to stay where he was and wait for her.

For some reason, Mendes was very quiet. He sat on the small office couch and said, "Please come back soon."

Rachel smiled and pinched his face, nodding.

She didn't know that someone had planned something against her that night.

They had not only planned something. They had vowed to exact revenge.

The next time that Rachel opened her eyes, she was lying in one of the beds in the familiar-looking room. She was in the same hospital, only now she was a patient.

She remembered what had happened before ■3

she passed out. Someone had come up from behind her and covered her nose and mouth with something. After that, she lost consciousness.

It turned out that someone had planned to kidnap her. Fortunately, it did not take long before she was rescued. She wasn't hurt at all. She had simply passed out from having inhaled a significant amount of diethyl ether.

There was also a bump on the back of her head. This, she thought, was an injury she had probably sustained when she was being taken away.

When she woke up the following day, Mendes was leaning on her bed. He pinched her nose with his hand and asked worriedly, "Are you going to die?"

When she heard this, she almost passed out again.

In the afternoon, Rachel was still in a daze. She was sitting on her bed and drinking some water when Dr. Wang came in.

Because this was a special care ward, Rachel had the room to herself. Dr. Wang had brought some food with him. He pulled a chair closer to her bed and sat down. She gratefully accepted the food, and they talked about the events of the previous night.

She thought that Jack had something to do with what had happened. And the person behind it must be Hiram.

She guessed that Jack must have known something even before this happened. Otherwise, ■3

he wouldn't have bothered picking her up and sending her home to protect her.

Everything seemed weird. No harm came to her when Jack had been with her.

Besides, he had stressed several times that if anything happened to her, he wouldn't be able to explain it to his father. It seemed that Jack had some idea that something bad would happen to her in the coming days.

Dr. Wang peeled an apple for her and asked, "Dr. Shen, are you related to the Fu family?"

Rachel was stunned. Her expression changed slightly. She neither admitted nor denied the statement. "Did they come here?" "Yes, it was Jack Fu who handled matters regarding your treatment. If I'm not mistaken, he's the CEO of MK Group. Is that right?" Rachel did not answer the question but asked, "Where is he?"

After Dr. Wang had peeled the apple, he cut it into pieces. "He came by this morning, but you were still unconscious then."

Dr. Wang also filled her in on how she was rescued by the police not long after she was taken out of the building. As for who had planned to abduct her, the police had said that they could not release that information.

Rachel popped an apple slice into her mouth as she listened. Immediately, her mouth was filled with a strong, sour taste. She couldn't even bring herself to close her mouth again. ■3

She took a tissue from atop the bedside table, spit the contents of her mouth in it, and threw it in the trash can.

"What's wrong?" asked Dr. Wang.

"This apple is too sour," she answered.

As she moved, she realized that she was still dizzy from the drug. Carefully, she checked her body for injuries. Aside from the bump on the back of her head, she also discovered that her knees and elbows hurt.

The people who had attempted to take her had carelessly dragged her around, giving her bruises.

After examining the rest of her body and making sure that she had no bone injuries, Rachel focused on the spots that hurt.

Upon checking, she found at least four or five bruises all over her body.

She already imagined cutting these people with a scalpel. As she did so, she picked up her mobile phone and dialed Jack's number. She had to know what was going on.

She gnashed her teeth in anger. Instinct told her that Jack used her as a bait to lure Hiram out.

At dusk, Jack slowly opened the door to Rachel's ward. At that time, Mendes was on the bedside with his mouth open, ready to receive food.

Rachel fed him an orange slice and pulled a tissue out of the dispenser to wipe the juice around his mouth. When Jack came in, she glanced at him, and the corners of her mouth curled up in a mocking smile.

■3

He came closer, pulled up a chair, and sat down, stroking the boy's head.

Mendes escaped his touch and ran to the other side of the bed, the orange slice still in his mouth.

Jack looked at Rachel with his hands clasped. He leaned back and looked at her indifferently. "How are you? Are you okay?"

Rachel raised her head and glared at him. Then she said, smiling, "You are a calculating man, aren't you? Why don't you tell me what happened?"