Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Mmm, a proper lady who knows how to fight a bear. Now I’m really curious as to what you look like.” Halston smirked, his expression plastered with a hint of affection that he himself didn’t realize just yet.
For some reason, despite having no memories of her, the days he spent with her became rather natural, as if they had known each other for a long time. Such comfort and ease made him feel happier than when he was with Seraphina.
If he had stayed initially to find answers, he was now staying with her for absolutely no reason. He simply wanted to follow his heart now.
“Soon, you’ll be able to see what I look like.” Flossie stared at the man, who looked much more lively now, and her heart filled with hope.
‘This is nice, that confident and dignified man is back.’ She was especially happy to see the loneliness and despair fade from his eyes.
As the warm sunlight enveloped the two, and as the clouds drifted by lightly, they had already spent half their day away.
Suddenly, the woman’s eyelids grew heavy. She didn’t think much of it, and figured she just hadn’t slept well last night.
“I’m going to make some coffee, would you like some?” Flossie stood up from her chair and asked.
“If you’re brewing some yourself, I’d like to have a taste.” The man seemed more than willing to try, acting as if they were rather close to each other. In fact, he even listed a bunch of requests. “I’m actually quite picky. It’s best if the coffee isn’t hotter than 58 degrees celsius, and I only want two teaspoons of sugar. It should be hand-ground as well, so that it maintains its original flavor…”
“Sure, hold on.” Flossie responded, somehow listening to the man’s words with a level of patience she had never shown in the past.
She thought to herself with a smile. ‘Oh Halston, you’re still as difficult as ever!’ However, despite not having many culinary talents, after being his wife for so many years, her coffee brewing skills were absolutely unmatched.
Besides that, she had always made coffee with the same type of coffee beans, the same temperature, amount of sugar and coarseness in the way he liked. Hence, she was confident that he would be impressed by her coffee once again.
As she arrived at the kitchen in the west wing, Flossie took out a small jar of coffee beans from the drawer. After that, she opened the lid to the coffee grinder and placed some beans inside, grinding them thoroughly.
Unlike an automated machine, this was a manual wooden coffee grinder. Grinding even a single bean would require a lot of strength, but the powder it produced would best preserve the ‘original flavor’ that Halston was especially fond of.
Bzz bzz bzz…
As she continued grinding the coffee bit by bit, Flossie felt satisfied, but also frowned deeply due to the pain in her wrist.
Just then, footsteps could be heard behind her. It was Yulia, and she screamed as soon as she noticed the wounds on Flossie’s wrist. “Flossie, what are you doing? Just look at your hands! Let the staff do this for you!”
“I’m alright, Mrs. Walker, I’m not that fragile.” Flossie smiled weakly and proceeded.
“No, you’re not. You’re already bleeding through the gauze! Do you not cherish your own life?” Despite her usual gentleness, Yulia couldn’t help but feel angered by Flossie’s recklessness.
She then snatched the grinder out of her hands and sighed. “Oh child, you’re just so foolish. How could you use your own blood for his medicine? If your mother knew that you hurt yourself over a man, she would be devastated!”
“She won’t,” Flossie replied softly. “I believe Mom would use her own blood if she knew Dad needed it to survive. And you would too, if Mr. Walker needed it, right?”
“Well…” Yulia couldn’t retort, but still flashed her a concerned frown. “If you really need human blood as an ingredient, our sanatorium’s blood bank has more than enough. You could have told me sooner! Why did you have to use your own? Now that you risked your own health, how could we possibly face your parents in the afterlife?”
“Mrs. Walker, I understand your concerns. But the medicine requires blood from a person who genuinely loves the patient to take effect, not just anyone’s blood. And as you can see, it does work very well, so I don’t regret my decision at all. In fact, I’m very happy about this.”
Flossie had always felt like she wronged Halston in many ways. Hence, being able to use her blood in his cure, was quite an achievement for her. In a way, it had also proved that she still loved him deeply within her soul, or else the medicine wouldn’t have been so effective.
Yuia, however, scoffed. “Don’t try to trick me, Flossie, I graduated from the world’s most prestigious medical school as well. And I have never heard of such an odd cure. If you ask me, this is nothing but superstition that specifically targets innocent girls like you.”
“Well, whatever it is, it works.” Flossie didn’t want to argue, so she tried to take the grinder back from Yulia so that she could continue.
For the medicine, they had to collect blood from her wrist. Every single time they needed more, they had to cut the wounds back open, then bandage them back up.
Having done this many times, she felt like she was about to lose the motor skills in her hands soon enough. Making coffee usually wasn’t so difficult, as she was in a lot of pain.
“You’re still going at it? Can’t you see your wounds have torn open!?” Yulia was adamant in stopping her. “I’ll help you do it. Grinding coffee beans isn’t a task required from someone who genuinely loves him now, is it?”
Flossie gently rubbed her aching wrists and nodded. “Thanks, Mrs. Walker.”
Even though she was the vice dean of the sanatorium, Yulia was patient enough to grind up these rough beans, so much so that she was starting to sweat.
The two women soon engaged in idle chit chat.
Flossie abruptly remembered something and asked, “Mrs. Walker, you were my mother’s best friend, so… you should know about my brother, right?”
Yulia froze upon hearing this, and visibly panicked. “Oh child, why are you asking this all of a sudden? You… You did have a brother, but he was a stillborn. That’s why your parents hid it from the public, including you as well. How did you find out about this?”
“So that means you knew about my mother having twins, and that I have a brother, right?” Flossie seemed excited and continued questioning her. “Then do you know what happened back then? Who was the damned culprit who wouldn’t even show mercy to a newborn?”
“That year…” Yulia hesitated, looking reluctant to bring up the incident. “It happened ages ago, so let’s not talk about it. The most important thing is that we should live in the moment.”
“No!” Flossie shook her head and clenched her fists tightly. Looking pained, she said determinedly, “The Ellsworth family used to be the head of The Great Eight of Beach City, but we were nearly taken out. Our family went through such pain, and I always wanted to take revenge for my parents, but Grandpa made me vow not to take revenge before he passed away. So, I laid low and didn’t do anything about it, but it didn’t change anything. I always had nightmares of my parents falling down the stairs, bloody and mutilated, for years. When I think about how my enemies are still living freely while my parents died so cruelly, I get so upset that I can’t sleep all night. To make it worse, my brother went through hell after being kidnapped. That’s why I have to uncover the truth and take revenge for my family. I’m sure that the people who kidnapped my brother are the same ones who killed our parents!”
These incidents had weighed on Flossie’s mind for many years. Though she looked carefree and happy, that pain haunted her everyday like a shadow that never left. After she reunited with Quinton and learned about his painful past, her desire to take revenge only intensified.
“At first, I planned to find the murderer with my brother and take revenge for the Ellsworth family so my parents could rest in peace. However, it was delayed after Halston’s incident. Now that he’s getting better, I should get back to business too…” Flossie said softly, then grabbed Yulia’s hand and said solemnly, “Mrs. Walker, I know what I’m doing, so there’s no use trying to persuade me. I’ve made up my mind. I just hope you can tell me whatever you know so I can avenge my parents.”
“Ah, you certainly take after your mother. You’re just as stubborn as she was.” Yulia sighed deeply, knowing that she could no longer keep everything a secret. “Back then, the Ellsworth family was outstanding and headed The Great Eight of Beach City. Naturally, your families had countless enemies, so your mother’s pregnancy was kept a secret, and only a trusted few like us knew about it. When your mother gave birth to a pair of twins of mixed genders, we announced to the public that she only gave birth to a daughter, but unfortunately, the truth was exposed and your brother was kidnapped. To be honest, we initially thought that it had been done by an acquaintance.”
“An acquaintance?” Flossie looked surprised.
“Yes. After all, who else would have known which hospital your mother was giving birth at, and that you had a brother?”
“What happened in the end? Did they find out who kidnapped my brother?” Flossie asked impatiently.
Yulia shook her head. “Everyone thought that your brother was dead. Back then, the Ellsworth family had countless enemies but was on good terms with the Guajardos. Both the Ellsworths and Guajardos used a lot of manpower and resources to find the kidnapper, and eventually, it was the Guajardo family who found your brother’s body and gained some clues…”
“What kind of clues?”
“The Guajardo family caught the kidnapper, and after interrogating him, they found that he belonged to the Baldwin family. So, the Ellsworth family went to the Baldwin family to demand an explanation, but the Baldwin family refused to admit that they did it. They claimed that the person who was caught was a traitor and had betrayed them for the Guajardos. The Ellsworths and the Guajardos held a deep grudge against the Baldwin family after that, and the incident became an unsolvable case. No one knew the truth, so it ended with the traitor being killed.”
“So, both the Guajardos and Baldwins were involved…” Flossie looked like she was deep in thought. “The only person who knew the truth was a traitor, but he was killed. So, now there’s no evidence to prove otherwise.”
“Yes, so you’d better not investigate this affair. If you dig any deeper, it may affect your relationship with Mr. Guajardo,” Yulia said helplessly. “The Ellsworths and the Guajardos became distant after that incident, and after many years, the Ellsworth family grew desolate. On the contrary, the Guajardo family grew stronger, and soon replaced the Ellsworth family as the new head of The Great Eight of Beach City during Tristan and Halston’s time. On the other hand, the Ellsworth family went bankrupt. It was such a terrible ending!”
Flossie frowned contemplatively. “Now, it seems like the Guajardo family is the most suspicious.”
There was a shrewd gleam in Flossie’s eyes, and it was obvious her mind was racing to make sense of all the information Yulia had given her.
“You can’t say that. Both the Guajardo and Ellsworth families were developing in Beach City and both families always helped each other. There weren’t any big conflicts of interest. Even if they became distant because of your brother’s incident, they never meddled in each other’s business. I think that the Guajardo family’s rapid development was mainly caused by their own efforts.”
“That’s true.” Flossie’s gaze softened. “After all, the Guajardo family were the only ones who helped my family when they went bankrupt that year. Besides, Grandpa arranged a marriage between Halston and I because he believed that the Guajardo family were the only ones who could truly take care of me. If they really were my parents’ murderers, Grandpa would have never let me marry into the family.”
Flossie did suspect the Guajardo family that year, but she quickly eliminated that option because of Halston’s grandfather. She chose to trust the Guajardo family unconditionally.
“So, forget about it. Stop dwelling on it. You’re having a very good life now, so there’s no need to keep bringing up the past. We should look ahead instead…” Yulia knew that she couldn’t change Flossie’s mind, but it didn’t stop her from trying.
Sometimes the truth was a double-edged sword – though it could provide clarity, it could also bring one grief.
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Flossie forced a smile onto her face.
She had to prepare herself to accept the truth, regardless of the consequences.
The coffee beans were almost ground. Flossie meticulously brewed a cup of coffee for Halston based on the temperature, richness, and sweetness that Halston was used to.