Chapter 239: A CUTE MOMENT
Hazel had asked Renna to prepare a change of clothes for her and give them to Nolu so that he could take them to her when he went to the hospital to guard there. Meanwhile, Yara would handle the security of the house.
She also gave Ranon a rundown of what happened the night before when he was more lucid. Her husband looked enraged, but he was pleased with her arrangement.
"Stop taking the phone calls," Hazel said. She took the phone away from Ranon’s hand after he received the last phone call from Ares. "Hold this bowl instead and eat."
Overall, Ranon was doing well. He only needed to run a few more tests, and he could be discharged within a week or so. Of course, he needed to schedule regular visits after that to ensure everything was healing properly.
Hazel handed him a bowl of porridge and told him to eat. "Don’t frown; it’s not as terrible as it looks..." She didn’t get to finish her words when Ranon shoved a mouthful of porridge into her mouth.
"Is it good?" Ranon smirked when he saw the look on Hazel’s face. She had a fancy taste, so obviously, this bland porridge was not to her liking.
"It’s awful." Hazel swallowed it down anyway. "That’s not the point. You need to eat that so you will get better soon."
Ranon didn’t complain, and he ate the porridge. He had eaten something worse than this before. A bowl of porridge wouldn’t do him any harm.
And when they chatted about trivial things, Ranon’s phone rang again. This time it was Lucian. Hazel picked it up before Ranon could.
"What is it?" Hazel asked. "Stop calling him; he needs to rest."
Ranon let his wife take charge as he continued eating his fruit.
"We have interrogated the two men from the McKennas. They don’t know anything aside from the mission was to kill Ranon."
Hazel expected that. Those people wouldn’t have any important information. The higher-ups in the family planned the mission, while they were the executors.
"What now? Should I kill them?" Lucian asked flippantly. "They look as if they are going to die anyway."
Hazel could imagine the torture. It came as a surprise to Hazel that Lucian was taking it lightly when he had to kill someone while he was a lawyer for the company.
On the other hand, Ares was more reserved. He was not directly involved, but he didn’t express an opinion about it.
"No." Hazel furrowed her brows. She might grow soft after giving birth, but she remembered Sam had a family. He was the man who pretended to be the nurse. She met him a few times when he had just joined them. "Keep them alive. Ranon will deal with them after he gets better."
"Okay, fine." Following that, Lucian hung up the phone. But then he wondered to himself. "Why did I take her order without confirming it with Ranon?"
***
"He is in the hospital, Lena," Ema said desperately. "I want to know what happened with him, whether he is awake or not."
"Don’t be ridiculous, Ema," Lena said, exasperated. "You said it yourself that Denzel is in a very foul mood. What if he learns that you visit Ranon? I assure you, someone like him has many eyes. You can’t lie."
"I will be careful this time." There was a time when Ema hated Lena because of her advice. She left Ranon to be with his father. But in the long run, she would come back to her sister because she was the only one whom Ema could talk to about her messy life.
"When did you ever get away with your lies to Denzel? He always knows what you are up to. Forget it. There is no point in visiting Ranon anyway. His wife will be there, so what are you going to do about it?"
"I don’t know." Ema sounded helpless.
"Ma... look!" Eilon approached her as he showed her his drawing. His small face lit up, waiting for his mother’s reaction.
"Not now, Eilon," Ema said as she pushed her son away slightly.
"But look at this for a while," Eilon insisted. He had spent an hour scribbling their family picture, and he was satisfied with the result; thus, he wanted to show it to his mother.
"I said not now, Eilon!" Ema snapped.
She watched the joy in her son’s eyes crumble, and she felt like the worst mother. Eilon ran away to his bedroom and slammed the door. Something that he would often do whenever he threw a temper tantrum.
Ema felt so bad to break her son’s heart like that.
"I will call you again later, Lena," Ema said.
"Fine." Lena overheard what had happened and knew that, despite her disgust for Denzel, Ema loved her son. "Listen to me, Ema. Don’t go."
"Bye." Ema cut off the phone call and sighed deeply before she stood up and walked towards Eilon’s bedroom, where she found her son covering himself under the blanket, obviously crying. She saw the way the blanket was trembling.
Denzel didn’t like it when Eilon was crying, because he said men don’t cry.
After all, he was not a man yet; he was just a child. But it was clear that Ema wouldn’t say that to Denzel’s face. It would only invite trouble for her.
"Eilon, I am sorry; I don’t mean to yell at you. Why don’t you show me your drawing now? I would love to see it." She caressed her son’s trembling back.
"No!" Eilon snapped. "I threw it away!"
Ema looked at the trash bin in the room. Inside, she saw a crumpled piece of paper. She stood up and picked it up.
"It’s a beautiful drawing. Can you explain who the people are in here?" Ema coaxed him.
There were three people there. The little one must be himself, and the woman would be Ema, but the man was too young to be Denzel.
"Who is it?" Ema asked as she pointed at the man’s image.
More so, the man in the picture was standing, whereas Denzel was in a wheelchair. Ema didn’t think Eilon remembered the time when Denzel was not in the wheelchair.
It took a while for Eilon to get out from under the blanket, and then he poked his head out to see the crumpled paper in his mother’s hand.
"Who is this?" Ema asked again; her voice was gentle. She felt sorry for snapping at him and reminded herself to treat him to a chocolate that he liked later.
"Uncle Daniel."
"Uncle Daniel?" Ema was surprised that Eilon would draw his uncle instead of his father. "Where is your father then?" She asked gently.
"I don’t like him. He doesn’t like me. He always gets angry with me."
Ema felt someone had just stabbed her with a blunt knife. She didn’t think Eilon would notice that, but apparently, children were more understanding of their surroundings than the adults gave them credit for.
Eilon didn’t turn out to be the son that Denzel wished for. The boy didn’t do well academically; he barely passed, but he was gifted in art. He loved art and had been scribbling since he could hold a pencil.
He won a few competitions for that, but Denzel always looked down on that achievement. He said those were useless.
"That’s not true; Dad loves you. He is only in a bad mood." Ema caressed her son’s head. "More so, Uncle Daniel is in a wheelchair, right?" In the drawing, the man was standing.
"No, Uncle Daniel can stand."
***
Today, Ranon was discharged. Lucian came to accompany them back home, but Ares couldn’t make it because he had to work. They had begun reorganizing the management team. Ares also needed to address the media regarding the news of Ranon’s car accident.
Until now, no one knew where Ranon was hospitalized; they assumed he was in the Central Hospital, but those news hunters had confirmed with a few staff that he was not there.
Once they arrived at home, Ranon asked for Ashlyn. It had been two weeks since the last time he saw the baby.
"No, you need to rest," Hazel said, but she watched helplessly when Ranon took Ashlyn from Peni and brought the little one to their bedroom.
"I am well rested."
"I can’t believe this..." Hazel shook her head in disbelief, but what else could she say? Ashlyn looked cheerful to be with her father. She was four months old now and babbled a lot, just like what she was doing right now.
With that, Hazel left the two of them and went to Yara. She asked Yara a few questions about what had happened while they were away.
Hazel was only satisfied when she ensured everything was under control and there was no mishap in their security.
When she returned to her bedroom with a tray of food for Ranon, she watched the two of them fall asleep. Ashlyn comfortably lay down on Ranon’s chest and snuggled against his neck.
The sight was cute in Hazel’s opinion. She rarely thought something was cute; thus, she put the food down and pulled out her phone to capture this moment.
She was unsure why, but the picture made her smile, and it turned out lovely. Ranon looked relaxed, as if the seriousness in his expression had melted away, while Ashlyn pursed her lips and curled her fingers around Ranon’s ear.
Hazel put the picture as wallpaper on her phone screen and then sat down, waiting for Ranon to wake up.