Chapter 50 I'm Here
Lottie hastily bought a few things that she needed in the water park and headed back to the hotel. "Oh, so the pretty lady lives here!"
Sitting on the couch in the hotel lobby was a bright-eyed little girl in a white satin dress.
She eagerly looked at Lottie, who was walking to the elevator, "It must be destiny!"
"Alfred, can I go talk to her?"
Alfred frowned and reached out to grab her small hand, "Stop that nonsense!"
Stella looked at him with her big eyes in a saddened manner, "Alfred..."
"Stella."
The man squatted down and looked at her in a stern manner, "You're still too young, so there are many things you don't understand yet!" "Don't be so stubborn. What if that pretty lady is already married to a husband and has kids?"
"Will you have me go to break up their marriage?"
The little girl pondered over his words and then remained quiet.
"Good girl."
He patted her tiny head with his hand, "I brought you here to accompany me on my business trip, not for you to fool around."
"Oh."
Although she was feeling discontent, she still obediently nodded her head and made no further mention of the matter.
However, she still secretly took two of his autographs to exchange for valuable information about the lady with the receptionists at the front desk!
The pretty lady was living in room 2302!
And so, under her nonstop hassling and begging, Alfred got a room in 2303.
Because she slept in the car all morning, Lottie was wide awake, tossing and turning in bed at night.
Finally, since she couldn't sleep, she put on a coat and headed out to the hallway.
It was quite late in the evening, so there wasn't anyone else around.
She sat by a window at the end of the walkway, as she enjoyed the breeze and read the news in Rexwell on her mobile phone.
Natalia's fans were unsatisfied. The scriptwriter for "As White as in Snow" made some last-minute changes, so some scenes with Natalia were going to be cut out. Luke's fans continued to endorse how kind he was, and scold how shameless Isobel was...
Lottie started to get annoyed with this news.
Just as she was about to turn off her phone, a heading caught her eye.
The heading was written like this, "Shocking news! Alfred has a five-year-old daughter! And who's her mother?"
Lottie clicked the link, and there was a photo of the back of a little girl in a white satin dress.
The little girl seemed oddly familiar.
Lottie casually forwarded the news to Connie.
Connie had been fantasizing day and night to marry Alfred for more than three years now.
Maybe she would go berserk once she read this news.
At this time, the sound of rushed footsteps echoed from the elevator.
Acting out of instinct, Lottie turned around.
There was the scent of blood that filled the air.
Two men walked out of the elevator.
A man in a black tuxedo was being held up by the other. On his shoulder, a gaping wound continued to pour forth blood. "Mrs. Chapman..."
Sean, who was holding up Ralph, looked at Lottie in shock, "Why are you..."
Ralph, who had his eyes closed, opened up his eyes at this time.
The man's pale white face didn't have any expression, "Still awake, huh?"
Lottie was quite stunned at the sight. She quickly darted over, "What happened to you?"
As she got closer, she noticed that the wound on the man's shoulder was incredibly deep.
"Just a scratch."
Ralph patted her on the shoulder and said softly, "Aren't you going out to have fun tomorrow?" "Hurry and get some sleep."
How could she possibly fall asleep in such a situation?
Lottie had no time to ponder why did he suddenly appear at her hotel, nor why did he live next door to her.
She propped up his body from the other side, and they carried him into the room.
Perhaps because the wound was too severe, the second they entered, Ralph passed out on the couch. "Why don't you guys go to a hospital?"
Lottie stooped before the sofa and asked as she urgently searched around for a first-aid kit.
"He said no."
Sean fetched a basin of hot water and said, "The man who harmed him is just waiting for the news about his injury."
"So you guys couldn't go to a hospital, and meanwhile, you have to pretend as nothing happened."
"Yeah, or else those perps will benefit from it."
Lottie examined the gauze in hand and patted it slightly.
"Do you guys have to be so hard on yourself just to make sure these guys can't get what they want?"
"This isn't so hard."
Sean frowned as he assisted Lottie, "The master has always been like this."
"The master said that the best revenge is to let those guys fail their plan."
Having said that, he let out a sigh, "Mr. Chapman, don't worry about it too much."
"To the master, these are just light wounds."
"You don't even know the huge fire he suffered five years ago...'
Sean stopped midway.
Lottie used a scissor and cut away the cloth around Ralph's shoulder, "What happened in that fire five years ago?"
"Five years ago..."
Sean let out a sigh and took a glance at Lottie. It seemed his mind extended to a very distant memory, "The master almost lost the ability to walk again."
"He got really badly hurt in that fire when he tried to save Fabian and Elijah."
"After about two years of recovery, he's now finally restored the status...'
Lottie paused slightly while she was tending to Ralph's wound.
That meant...
The rumors held some strand of truth.
At least Ralph really did get injured badly in a huge fire five years ago...
"He is living a hard life as well."
She sighed, and gently applied for medicine on the wound, "But thank God. He successfully saved Fabian and Elijah."
"Unfortunately, he couldn't save their mother."
Sean shook his head and headed toward the bathroom.
Lottie paused again.
Fabian and Elijah's mother... Did she perish in that big fire?
No wonder they never mentioned their mother to her.
She quietly finished applying the medicine and bandaged the wound.
Finally, with their combined effort, Lottie and Sean managed to move Ralph from the sofa onto the bed.
It was getting even later at night.
She sat by the bedside, looking at his cold and expressionless face.
It felt as though after all the time they've known each other, he was always the one tending to her and protecting her.
She felt like she'd never been able to help him with anything, nor had she ever got to really know and understand this man.
Lottie couldn't possibly imagine how painful he was as he got apart from Elijah and Fabian's mother. He even nearly lost his two kids and suffered the burns on his body in the fire. Sean said that Ralph had remained silent for a very, very long time after that fire.
If it weren't for the children, he'd probably never have been able to cheer himself up again.
Lottie felt dismayed just listening to the story.
Sean kept saying that whenever Ralph got hurt, this man always managed to endure it by himself.
He never shared his pain and burden with anyone else, just carried all the things by himself.
Unless it was a really bad wound, he'd always endure it.
Lottie reached out a hand and gently touched along his face.
Ralph... He must be quite lonely as well, right?
To everyone else, he was just a tough, noble, and cold-hearted person.
But he was also an ordinary man who might get hurt. He just never told anyone about the past.
Acting out of instinct, she reached out and held his hand.
"Ralph Chapman."
"You've got me from now on."
'As long as I am here, you don't have to struggle so hard to get through it alone anymore.'☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐