2026-02-20 10:01:16“Please, let me have your number, and here is my card too. We need to talk soon.” The lawyer told Adrian before leaving as well.
Still reeling from the unexpected event, guilt stabbed into Adrian's chest when he realised he only had a few minutes before the visiting period ended.
He held the now-lukewarm food and ran towards her wing, earning disapproving looks from the nurses and others.
He patted the hand cream in his pocket. Though it had burst during the beating, there was still enough in the tube to be used.
The nurses knew him, so they didn't bat an eye as he headed to her door.
He knew he had to be fast, though, or someone would come to send him out soon.
Two years. It's been two years since she had slipped into a coma from an incident no one would admit was Daniel's fault.
Two years that Adrian had committed to caring for her and staying by her side while others had seen it as a waste of time.
The doctors had said having relatives around who could talk to them and bring familiar things had been known to help coma patients in the past.
Daniel had scoffed and called it a load of bullshit.
His father had said the company was at a crucial time and sparing such time beside someone was out of the question.
So Adrian had stayed.
The incident had happened on the night he decided to finally cut ties with his family, but after what happened, he stayed.
For her.
Adrian hurriedly opened the door. He was already opening the bowl of wonton, smiling as the fragrant smell wafted out.
“Familiar sounds, touch and smell are what she needs,” the doctor had said two years ago.
He had always ensured he bought at least one of her favourite meals when he was coming,, so that the scent would fill the room while he massaged the stiffness out of her limbs and talked to her.
“I am sorry that I am late today,” he started talking even before looking at the bed.
He placed the wonton on the table and turned. “You won't believe what happened to…”
He paused in his stride as he saw the empty bed.
Fear clutched at his chest as he looked around wildly.
A look towards the far right corner brought relief flooding into his panicked heart as he saw her.
“Mum, you are awake!”
A rare full-blown smile kissed his face as he rushed forward eagerly.
“Why did nobody tell me you are awake?” he asked excitedly as she turned her head from the window to him.
Like ice-cold water splashed on hot coal, the excitement in him died away as he saw the look on her face.
Disdain.
Stern-faced, straight-backed, and blue-eyed, piercing Adrian like he was a fly that dared to enter her territory, Patricia Lenning’s mouth turned down as her voice rasped out.
“You? Why should anyone tell you anything?”
Why is it that no matter how thick-skinned you train yourself to be, some barbs still find a way to lodge into your throbbing flesh?
That was the question in Adrian's mind as he muttered, “Mum?”
“Why are you the one here? Where is Daniel?”
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Chapter 11
“Have you forgotten how clingy you were growing up? Have you forgotten how much you would beg to stay by my side? Even a kick could not keep you away and you suddenly think you can cut ties with me? Who are you fooling?”“A mother has to be dutiful for the son to be filial. Since it is obvious that you will never treat me, your son, half as good as Daniel, who is only your stepson, there is no point in having a mother like you.” His voice rang clear despite the humiliating position he was forced into.Patricia's face darkened and she stepped forward to slap him again. Then she suddenly stopped, looking at her hand as she said, “Slapping you myself is giving you too much importance.”Then she pointed at one of the maids. “You, slap him!”The maid was shocked. Her face paled as she looked at Adrian's piercing gaze that held true even in his position. She stammered as she looked back at Patricia, “Ma’am, please do not let me…”“You are fired,” Patricia said off-handedly before turning
Chapter 10
The maid looked guiltily at Patricia and back at Adrian. Had he not always taken everything they were ordered to do to him quietly? When had he suddenly changed? She wondered as Adrian turned to leave. “Stop right there! How dare you leave when I am not done talking? I want my tea. Go and make it for me right now!” Adrian stopped, his tone cold and gaze unwavering as he looked at her. He responded, “I will not be doing that for you anymore. In fact, I will be gone soon enough. It is better to get used to the maids doing it. I am done.” The truth was, one of the maids had tried to be helpful that morning when Adrian had not gone to the kitchen to prepare Patricia's tea as usual. Patricia grimaced as she remembered the taste. It had tasted horrible. The foam was not right. The texture was flat and the taste was not the same. “Adrian has a special way of brewing your tea, ma’am. The water was always at a certain degree, and we could never get the whisking just right the way he do
Chapter 9
Still shaken by the sudden revelation, Adrian sat weakly on his bed, which was a flat mattress on the floor. It was as if all the fight had been punched out of him. The pain he had received from the blows, and not even Patricia's treatment, shook him this much. His wound was superficial and would heal soon enough. His mother's preferential treatment was not new, even if the ache had not been dulled by two years' respite. But this? That pain carved at his heart, threatening to reduce him to a bloody mess. Still, Adrian straightened as he exhaled a shaky breath. He looked around his cramped space like he had not remembered how he entered. His eyes caught on the concrete, low-sloped ceiling that was also touching his head even though he was seated. The low steel door he always had to bend his six-foot height to enter stared back at him as if it were judging, just like everyone else. The narrow mattress he sat on took up most of the space in such a way that if he stretched his f
Chapter 8
Richard's forbidding look followed Adrian as the latter left.Getting what he wanted was second nature to him, yet bitterness mingled with that satisfaction.He hated it.He hated how much he could see himself in the boy.Adrian was the result of the mistake of his youth, and God had decided to punish him by stamping his own look right on him.Adrian looked younger. Not even Daniel took after him that much in looks and temperament.Yet Daniel was the son he owed.One night of weakness had brought Patricia and Adrian into his life.He had broken Annabel's heart and he did not even get to make her see reason before she passed away.Yet he could not do away with Adrian.Apart from Patricia's devotion, Adrian had caught Charles’ attention when he was ten years old.Adrian had been up to one of his shenanigans at his old friend's birthday back then.He beat his friend at arrow-pot throwing.When Richard would have punished him for stepping out of line at an event he had sneaked into in the
Chapter 7
He had served this family for as long as he had lived.Cleaned up after Daniel because his mother believed he needed it to build character.Tried for years to please his father by doing the things the staff should do, because Patricia believed that's the only way his father would fully accept them.He catered to his mother's every whim because she had always drummed it into his head that his existence dragged her down in life.Every single time Daniel messed up, he was forced to take the blame because Patricia believed it was what he owed Daniel.Though he did well in school and could have gotten into Ivy League schools, he was forced to follow Daniel to the only school that would accept him.Richard's pride wouldn't let him buy his son's way into a top college.So Adrian had been made to forfeit his own Ivy League acceptance to follow Daniel to Mottimer, where Daniel lived like a king and Adrian like his servant, even while topping his class.Yet when they graduated, Richard had easi
Chapter 6
Sitting stiffly in the living room with a business brochure in his hands, an austere-faced man with the same jet-black hair and piercing grey eyes as Adrian looked up as they entered.Fit for his age and a force to reckon with in the business world, Richard Cross was the picture of domineering as he watched them approach.“Honey, I am home,” Patricia said excitedly, in a way that showed she had been very immune to his coldness in the past or maybe just good at pretending.His gaze flickered to her as he responded, “Oh, welcome.”“Couldn't you have come to the hospital to pick me up? I have been gone for two years after all. Don't you miss me?” Patricia pouted in a way that was very unbecoming of a fifty-two-year-old woman.Adrian was beginning to wonder if the coma had done more damage than the doctor had noticed.Richard probably thought so too, as he gave Patricia a long look.Face still expressionless, he clicked his fingers and one of the staff who were always silently around appr
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