Chapter 444 - 419: He Wants Her to Come Home with Him

Chloe Simpson just stood there, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.

Her mind was filled with Emily Sterling’s mangled, bloody face in the photo.

It felt like all the blood in her body had almost stopped flowing at that very moment.

All kinds of thoughts kept flashing through her head.

Could it be that Mom didn’t die?

She had clearly watched with her own eyes the car accident that took Mom’s life that day.

She was also the one who personally sent Mom into the emergency room.

Uncle Thompson had been there at the time as well.

Later, when Mom couldn’t be saved, it was also she and Uncle Thompson who took Mom to be buried.

How could Mom possibly still be alive?

In that instant, it felt like the sky and the earth had both flipped over.

To be honest, Chloe Simpson really did hope that Mom hadn’t died.

Right now her biggest wish was actually just to be with Mom.

To leave this city, find a place they liked, and the two of them rely on each other, looking after Mom in her old age until the end.

If Mom really hadn’t died, how wonderful that would be.

But her rational mind kept reminding her again and again.

She was the one who had buried Mom with her own hands.

How could someone who’s dead possibly come back to life?

Chloe didn’t know how long she had been standing there before she finally came back to herself and picked up the phone she’d dropped on the floor.

Forcing herself to endure the discomfort in her chest and the sharp ache in her heart, she enlarged the photo and examined it carefully.

From the time she’d spent with the mysterious man recently, this man clearly had a lot of power.

So he absolutely wouldn’t, for no reason, send her such a photo when he clearly knew Mom was already dead.

Only, looking at Mom’s mangled, bloody face.

Chloe’s hand shook so badly several times that she almost dropped the phone again.

By the time she finished scrutinizing that photo, all the clothes on her body were already soaked through.

The final conclusion she came to was that this mangled, bloody photo really was of Mom.

Not Mom as she was now.

Only then did Chloe’s emotions settle a bit.

"Chloe, what’s wrong? Is something off with your body again? Are you okay?"

Alan Johnson came back with hot water, and seeing her drenched in sweat like this, he walked over and asked with concern.

"I’m fine. I just felt like my body’s almost recovered, so I moved around a little just now, wanted to get better a bit faster, that’s why I’m sweating so much. I’m going to take a shower."

Chloe casually made up an excuse, then got up and went to the bathroom.

She turned on the showerhead and stood under it.

Letting the hot water spread over her body drop by drop, her whole body loosened up a lot before she started thinking about those things again.

In that photo, Mom’s face looked so young.

It wasn’t from now, more like when she was in her twenties or thirties.

And back then, Chloe wasn’t even ten years old.

She was still in primary school.

Standing under the shower, Chloe tried hard to recall the things that had happened back in primary school.

If something had happened to Mom around that time, there had to have been something unusual.

Unusual?

Right.

She remembered that when she was in the fifth grade of primary school, something really had happened that felt quite off.

The primary school was actually quite close to home, and from first grade to sixth grade she had always been a day student, never boarded at school.

Chloe remembered that time was at the start of the second semester of fifth grade.

On the first day of school, when she came home after class, Mom told her that the hospital had sent out a medical team to support the frontier regions.

She had even asked Mom back then when exactly she would be coming back.

Mom said she didn’t know, and told her to board at school for the time being.

Looking at it now, this was the only suspicious incident.

Because from first to sixth grade, that was the only time in fifth grade when she boarded, and it seemed she stayed at school for about half a month before Mom came back.

And that time, after Mom came back, her health had obviously gotten much worse.

She had even asked Mom about it back then.

Mom said the environment in the frontier wasn’t very good, that she couldn’t eat properly, and still had to help poor elderly people, left-behind children, and so on.

Anyway, she’d come up with all sorts of excuses. Back then Chloe had been young and really hadn’t suspected anything.

Now it did seem like there was a big problem.

Chloe stepped out from under the shower, picked up the phone on the shelf beside her, and called the mysterious man.

"Where did this photo come from? What’s going on? What have you found out?"

"I also received this photo by accident today. I don’t know who sent it. I sent people to look into it, but there were no leads, so I forwarded it to you."

Chloe hadn’t expected that even the mysterious man hadn’t found anything this time.

Maybe it was because this photo was too old. From when she was in primary school until now.

It had been almost twenty years.

"This photo is clearly from when my mom was younger. I remember it should be from when she was in her twenties or thirties. Back then I was only in primary school. I tried hard to recall, and there was only that time in fifth grade."

"Send someone to look into Ansun Hospital’s records from twenty years ago, about my mom going to the frontier for medical support. There should be some clues."

Chloe knew that if she went to investigate herself, she definitely wouldn’t be as fast as the mysterious man.

He was very familiar with Ansun Hospital, and with Uncle Thompson there, looking into this matter would be very easy.

But that would only cover the hospital. If they found some leads and needed to keep digging further down.

The mysterious man would definitely be able to follow up faster.

"Okay."

The man agreed, said "okay," and then directly hung up.

Right after he hung up, Alan Johnson’s voice sounded from outside the bathroom.

"Chloe, are you done? Are you okay?"

Alan had noticed that Chloe had been in there for a long time and was a bit worried. After hesitating for a while, he still knocked on the bathroom door.

"Oh, I’m fine, I’ll be right out."

Chloe quickly rinsed off, then put on her clothes and went out.

"As long as you’re fine. You’re being discharged tomorrow. Home isn’t like the hospital. If you feel unwell at all, I can go get a doctor right now to give you another thorough checkup."

Alan reminded her again, still uneasy.

"I’m fine. Didn’t they already run tests today? I really am fine."

After Chloe emphasized it several times, Alan didn’t press further: "Alright, as long as you’re fine. It’s getting late, go to bed early."

"Mm." Chloe nodded and went to bed to rest.

The next morning, after she finished her last IV drip, Alan went to handle the discharge procedures.

"Chloe, I know this might be an unnecessary question, but I still want to ask. After you’re discharged, are you going back to your place or coming home with me?"

"Don’t worry, I don’t mean the Johnson Family home, I mean my own place. I bought an apartment outside for myself. Of course I’m not trying to force you into anything. You can go wherever you want. I just think staying at my place might be more convenient than at your home. Having the family doctor come over and all that will also be faster."

Alan was very polite and courteous.