Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

At the entrance of the operating room, the smell of disinfectant permeated the whole hallway, a constant reminder that they were in a hospital. Jonas stood in front of the door, straight as a rod as if he was the designated guard, his face as white as a sheet while his eyes reflected an endless hole of anguish. Melinda stood against the wall with her eyes closed, embarrassed at the scene that they had caused and praying hard and hoping that the old man made it through. She wouldn't live with herself if anything happened to him.

'I hope that everything will be fine,' she thought in a somber mood.

As she looked at the motionless Jonas, all kinds of emotions welled up in her heart. She wanted to say something, but in the end she held back, figuring this was probably not the right place to have such a conversation.

Yulia and Queena soon arrived at the hospital, looking serious as if they were expecting the worst. Queena took a look at the operating room and couldn't see much except for the doctors working like a well-oiled machine, so she opted to sit at the side and wait. Yulia, who generally had no control over her emotions, angrily rushed towards Melinda, and raised her hand going straight for Melinda's cheek.

"Yulia, what are you doing?"

cried a shocked Melinda as she used her quick reflexes to stop her. Her hold was stronger than Yulia had expected, and she couldn't extricate her arm from Melinda's iron grip, looking miserable. She struggled hard, and it took a while before Melinda let go of her, not wanting to create another scene.

Yulia covered her wrist with her own hand, rubbing gently at her sore wrist. She looked at Melinda with a somewhat guilty expression, but her mouth bravely contradicted her face. "You are such a wicked woman. You are the reason my Grandpa has had a heart attack."

The title "wicked woman" almost made Melinda choke with anger. She felt as if she had been hit by a brick wall and inhaled loudly trying to desperately get air into her lungs. It was true that her grandfather was ill because of their actions, but it was unfair to also put the blame squarely on her shoulders.

"Yulia, if you and Emily had not worked together to harm me, none of this would have happened, so you are just as much to blame as I am."

Since the day Melinda made the decision of becoming stronger, and watching out for herself, she was no longer a pushover and had started to fight back anytime Yulia attacked her. Listening to the two, Jonas felt his head buzzing.

"Both of you, shut up! If you two want to have a fight, get away from me!"

Jonas's words stopped Yulia in her tracks like water poured over a burning flame. She went mute. Melinda stood beside him quietly as if she wanted the door to swallow her. The door to the operating room was suddenly opened diffusing the tension that had built up outside the room, while everyone tensed up anew. A doctor walked out of the operating room, still in scrubs. Everyone looked at him expectantly praying that he had good news. The doctor told them that Nelson was all right and all he needed was to have some rest, so they would hospitalize him for a few days to monitor his recovery.

When Melinda heard the doctor's pronouncement, she was relieved. She noticed that Yulia was still looking at her with resentment, and decided to quietly sneak out of the hospital since she didn't think her presence would be appreciated in the ward. Besides no one really considered her as family.

She knew that in the Gu family, no one liked her except Nelson, who was probably dosed with a lot of drugs, and wouldn't even notice that she was missing.

The fact that Yulia and Emily were monitoring her every move made her very uncomfortable, since they were invading her privacy. All of a sudden, she made a decision. It really didn't matter whether Jonas believed her or not, and she would be fine as long as she knew that she hadn't done those things.

The morning sunlight beat down on Melinda's skin as she returned home. She felt like a vampire encountering the sun for the first time because she had not slept all night. She was exhausted both physically and mentally, but she forced herself to pack up a few of her things and left the Gu's mansion, hoping to never come back again.

Since she no longer felt very secure in their mansion, she had rented an apartment of her own and had it cleaned regularly waiting for an emergency just like today.

Melinda quickly tidied the room, took a bath, and fell asleep soon after lying on the bed.

When Melinda woke up, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon. Touching her stomach, she heard it growled as if on cue. She got up and put on the closest clothes she could get her hands on before going out to look for something to fill her rumbling stomach. Once she was well fed, she bought some fruits and went to the hospital.

Nelson was in the VIP ward. Jonas had hired a professional caregiver who was on call 24 hours a day.

"Grandpa, I'm sorry for what happened."

on a pair of reading glasses which he only used when reading documents or the newspaper. He put down the newspaper he was reading as soon as Melinda walked in. Melinda put down the

don't have to apologize. It's not your

and adjusted the pillows on his back, trying to put into a

If it wasn't for me,

her actions. Nelson sighed. Although he had spoken up for Melinda, he also had

Forget about that issue for now. I heard from Gavin that you moved out of the

since he only needed them when reading, and focused all his attention on Melinda. She served him a cup of water and then made herself comfortable, sitting on the

I am making up tales, but I assure you that it's not a lie. I would never intentionally lie to you. Yulia was monitoring

stranger, sent a shiver down her spine. When Nelson noted how scared and distraught she looked, his face turned

I are not suited to live together for now. I think we should live separately and give each other some space to calm down and think things through, especially our

have suffered a lot. I won't force you

her and Jonas and acknowledged that it wasn't working out

Do you

put Nelson in the hospital, so

Nelson looked fine and the doctor had given him a clean bill of health. The roller coaster of emotions was very dangerous for a person battling heart disease. He wouldn't have experienced another attack if Jonas had not

grandfather and I joined the army, we were very healthy and

a distant look in

sure that when the enemies you were fighting

made Nelson laugh. So he continued to regale her with stories of his army days with Melinda's grandfather, Leonard Mo, telling her how they almost died

stories may have been more interesting for the older generation since some of the issues she really

told you all about our

memory lane that after a long while, he realized that he had been the only one talking and chattering, and although it was about old

he recounted stories about his past. He always said that if it weren't for

as she tried to remember her grandfather's stories. The two were good comrades. No matter how bad the situation was, they would never give up on each other, and had saved each other's lives many

lasted a life-time, and Melinda was

might have spent

the army, Nelson became very emotional. That was the most precious memory in his

about your past? I want to write them

quickly captured it—she suddenly wanted to tell more people about the story of the older

talked of, she would jot in her notebook and when she forgot to take the notebook, she would keep in her

of which, your grandfather and I haven't seen each other in a long time. How

asked. Only then did Melinda realize that she had not contacted her family for a long time. The last time she talked to

family in

ashamed that Melinda had suffered a lot after she married

She went back home and included the story she

back home. She didn't have much work to do at the Gu's mansion, but she felt that she was always busy every day so she