Chapter 76

“I’m sorry, Granddad. I met my father’s former creditors,” Emmanuel explained in a low voice.

Alaric’s face froze, and a deeper disgust suddenly appeared in his eyes.

“All right, I understand.” Alaric waved his hand impatiently and said, “Since Xosa is not suitable for you to stay, you don’t have to return to the headquarters after the new year. If you don’t want to go abroad, you can go to the branch office. I will arrange an idle position for you.”

“Yes.” Emmanuel’s voice was calm, but he clenched his hands under the quilt. “I will listen to you, Granddad.”

Anyway, he was just an insignificant person. It was normal for him to be driven away after making Alaric angry.

Tabitha stood aside and couldn’t help but say, “Grandpa Alaric, the truth was I wanted to go to the bar last night. Emmanuel just accompanied me there. I didn’t expect we would meet those people, and even they hurt him…”

She continued, “He got hurt to protect me. Please don’t blame him, Okay?”

Emmanuel worked very hard to get into the headquarters. If he was kicked out because of this, Tabitha would feel guilty.

Tabitha rarely pleaded in such a soft voice, and Alaric’s heart melted immediately.

“Forget it. Since you did it for Tabby, I won’t punish you this time. Stay in the headquarters.” Alaric changed his mind again.

Emmanuel raised his head in surprise, his thoughtful eyes lingered on Tabitha for a moment.

427% 15:04 After that, he said gratefully to Alaric, “Thank you, Granddad.”

Looking at Emmanuel’s meek appearance, Alaric was even more agitated.

“Why is there no one to take care of you when you’re injured like this? Where is your mother?” Alaric inquired.

“Mother is timid. I’d better not frighten her. I can take care of myself,” Emmanuel replied in a low voice.

Tabitha found the answer a little strange.

‘However timid, is it truly so difficult for a mother to come and see her injured son in the hospital?‘ she thought.

Alaric, who had come with a scowl on his face, could not help but say with a tinge of pity, “I’ll hire two caregivers later.”

“Yes, thank you, Granddad,” Emmanuel responded.

Alaric stayed in the ward for a few minutes before leaving, taking Tabitha with him.

“You are not in good health, and hospitals are full of germs. Unless necessary, you shouldn’t come to such places,” Alaric advised.

Tabitha answered meekly, “Yes, I know.”

Their voices faded away until Emmanuel could no longer hear them. He picked up the chicken stew beside him.

The stew had already turned cold, but it still tasted good.

Emmanuel finished all the chicken stew.

Tabitha and Alaric came home to find Malcolm back.

Even though the company was on vacation, Malcolm had more business meetings to attend. Tabitha thought that she would not see him for several 7 3 5 2 27% 15:04 days, as usual in the previous years.

Sitting in the living room reading a newspaper, Malcolm asked casually, “Grandpa, where have you been?”

Alaric said coldly, “Manny is in hospital. Tabby and I went to visit him.”

Malcolm knew that Tabitha would definitely visit Emmanuel, so he hurried back as soon as the dinner was over.

But Malcolm felt better seeing Tabitha go to visit Emmanuel with Alaric.

“How is Emmanuel?” he asked.

5 “He looks in good spirits, but he is seriously injured. He probably needs to be hospitalized for a few days. Christmas is around the corner. He will probably spend the holiday in the hospital,” Alaric remarked.

Tabitha felt a bit uneasy when she heard them discussing Emmanuel’s injury impassively. She informed them in a low voice that she was going back to her room, turned, and went upstairs.

She hadn’t even spared Malcolm a glance since she came back.

Malcolm felt powerless and didn’t know how to resolve the deadlock between him and Tabitha.

Emmanuel was in the hospital for three days, and soon, it was Christmas Eve.

The hospital was deserted. There were only a few patients, and there were fewer footsteps outside the corridor than usual.

Emmanuel watched with indifference as the station broadcast a festive program.

This festive joy had never involved him.

MMM :

27% 15:04 At four or five o’clock, Emmanuel faintly heard the Christmas carol outside and turned to look out of the window.

All he could see was the dusty sky. There was no sign of a lively festive atmosphere.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Emmanuel thought it was the nurse who made the rounds, so he said blandly, “Please come in.”

The door opened and someone entered, Emmanuel still looking calmly out of the window.

“Emmanuel, how are you?” Tabitha put down the things in her hand and turned to look at the TV. “I didn’t know you liked this kind of show?”

On the TV station, there was a funny stand–up comedy.

Hearing the familiar voice, Emmanuel whipped his head around and saw Tabitha’s smiling face.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that the TV show was not so bad.

“You’re here?” Emmanuel greeted.

“How are you?” Tabitha looked at the gauze on the back of Emmanuel’s hand. It was applied right after the drip needle was removed. “Are you ready to leave the hospital today?”

It looked a little pathetic to spend Christmas Eve alone in the hospital.

“Probably not. My ribs still hurt badly,” Emmanuel responded.

In fact, the doctor said that if he really wanted to leave the hospital, he could go through the discharge formalities.

But Emmanuel chose to stay in the chilly hospital when he thought of his MMM mother who often cried at home.

UN 27% 15:04 “Is it that serious?” Tabitha was a little worried. “Then you should take good care of yourself in the hospital. Your health is more important.”

“All right,” Emmanuel replied.

The topic ended, and the atmosphere became a little awkward.

Tabitha and Emmanuel weren’t that close. At this moment, the ward fell into an awkward silence as they didn’t know what to talk about.

Looking at the empty ward without any fruits, Tabitha asked hesitantly, “Your mother…”

Seeing that Tabitha seemed to want to ask but didn’t dare, Emmanuel smiled and said, “I didn’t tell her about it.”

If his mother knew that John had come to collect debts after he was released from prison, she would probably be too scared to sleep at night.

Tabitha nodded and said nothing more.

“Aren’t you curious?” Emmanuel looked at her and said, “Do you want to know why I fought with those people that day?”