Karl grew irritated when Wayne said what he was thinking. He said, âWhatâs wrong? You donât think itâs not going to work? Iâm sure Peace will be fine.â
Wayne said firmly, âOh, no, youâre such a naive fool. I think that since you will be married later, your parents will thoroughly check her background. If they know that she had such a serious condition and you are concealing it from them, they would never give you their blessing.â
Wayne had met Karlâs parents when he was a child. They were nice parents who allowed Karl to do whatever he wanted as an adult.
They didnât like being duped, though. So, if they later find out that Karl kept such an important secret from them, they would despise Peace.
âYou know, if that happens, your parents will hate Peace.â
Karl frowned and said, âActually, I can just talk to my parents. You know, Iâm not worried whether theyâll accept the truth or not.
Peace canât think straight now. So, if she finds out that I took the liberty of telling people weâre dating after sheâs sober, sheâll be pissed. In fact, she and I are actually on a break right now.â
Seeing that Karl could do this for her, Wayne figured he didnât have to say anything more to persuade him. He gave Karl a friendly pat on the shoulder and said, âWell, thatâs all I want to say to you. By the way, Anna wants to talk to you after a while.â
âSure,â Karl said with a nod.
After a while, Anna came out of the bedroom.
Wayne realized what he needed to do right now. As a result, he stood up and prepared to leave. âIâm heading to the garage now to fetch my car,â he added.
As he finished and walked away, he gave Anna a glance.
âHave a seat, please,â Karl said.
Anna replied calmly, âOh, no, Iâm not sitting down. You didnât take much of his words to heart, did you?â
Karl explained, âNo, I know what Wayne was trying to say. He meant well, and he cared so much about me. But, actually, he wasnât thinking about Peace at all.â
Anna fixed her stare on him, her glance as sharp as a knife. She said, âWell, I am. Iâm not going to say anything pleasant, though.â
âThatâs all right. You may say it now because I am prepared. In fact, I was prepared for anything from the moment I learned that she was sick.â
âGood. But have you ever considered whether youâll get tired of all these one days? Will you give up taking care of her because you Canât stand it any longer?â Anna asked seriously.
âOne moment, please,â Karl replied, clenching his fist.
He then walked over to the bookcase in the corner of the room. He yanked open the bookcaseâs bottom shelf door and slid a silver portable sale out.
âHereâs documentation of all my real estate, Anna. I own 36 properties in all, the most valuable of which is in London. I own six houses in Birmingham, three of which are stores, which I have all rented out. The rest of the residences are scattered across the country in various tourist destinations. And then, here are all my cars and documentation of ownership of my stock.â
âWhat are you showing me all this for?â When Anna saw him showing her so many documents, she was puzzled. Even though he kept talking for a long time, he only introduced hall of the prools in the sale. Then, Anna interrupted him.
Karl stopped, looked up at her, and said seriously, âAnna, I know what you mean. You believe that Iâll run out of patience and wonât be able to care for Peace any longer one day. Actually, Iâve thought about that too. But Iâll take care of her for the rest of my life unless /
die. So, Iâd want to show you some of my assets. Iâve also requested my lawyer to draft an agreement for me. If that day comes, I will give all my possessions to her.â
âHave you considered what would happen if she couldnât gain access to those assets?â Anna found it hard to say those words but she said them anyway.
âWell, Iâve also thought about that. Iâve asked a trust, a welfare organization and a psychiatric hospital to keep an eye on each other so they can take care of Peace.â
After hearing Karlâs words, Anna was convinced that he had really thought about caring for Peace for the rest of his life.
Furthermore, he did not appear to take it on the spur of the moment, as he was a little too cautious in this regard. He even considered if the trust and the welfare organization were working together to defraud him of his money.
He said that he wanted Peace to live until she was eighty years old. At that point, the hospital would give her a physical checkup.
Only after ensuring she was in the same physical condition as her peers would the welfare organization have the rest of the money.
So, Anna had nothing to say about it.
They heard someone crying in the bedroom as they were leaving Karlâs house. Karl was used to it and explained to them, âWell, Iâm not going to walk you out. Sheâs probably crying because the movie has made her sad. So, Iâm going to comfort her.â
âOkay, bye,â Anna said. She realized that Karl was the only one who could take care of Peace best. However, she also began to worry that Karlâs life would be turned upside down because of this.
Wayne asked about something else when they got in the car instead of talking about Karl and Peace.
âAre you going to see Tammy at Grandpaâs?â After learning that Peace was sick, Wayne let Tammy stay with his grandfather.
Anna was not in the mood to see her daughter, so she signed and said, âOh, not now. If she sees me, Iâm sure sheâll ask where Peace is. You know, I havenât figured out how to answer her yet.â
âWell, then youâd better visit her sometime later. Tammy is doing well at Grandpaâs, according to Henry. Theyâll pick her up and drop her off at school when the new semester begins.. So, you donât have to worry too much, Anna. They can take good care of her.â
âWhy? After I get my company up and running, Iâll have time to pick her up from school.â Anna said. She didnât like what Wayne had just said since it made her appear as if she intended to do nothing but lay on her laurels and do nothing.
Wayne cave Anna a look as if he was thinking about how he should put it. Then, he said, âWell, Gabe can keep an eye on the construction team for you. But, you need to think about your designers. You know that Andrew canât be the only person on your design team, right? Iâve already taken it upon myself to have Gabe recruit for Lemon, Anna.â
âPlease donât bire a chiel designer,â Anna said softly as she regained her composure.
âWell, sure.â
The busiling, steels of Birmingham were lighted by neon lights in the lovely moonlight.
Annabepan to ponder what people would be willing to do for love. Because Peace possessed a high sense of self-esteem, her greatest worry was being abandoned by others. As a result, she kept her illness hidden from Karl. But, in the end, she collapsed and it was Karl who kept laking care of her.
Anna leaned back in her seat and stared at Wayne in the driverâs seal for a long time in a daze.
Then she said, âWayne, I have a confession to mak