My Darling, My Dearest

Rachel didn't know how to react. When she finally calmed down, she remembered that Holley had taken her to look for a lost child.

That day, Holley said that she had learned the location of that kid's house.

While looking around, they lingered near the house that later collapsed on Rachel. It was made of bricks and had a roof held up by thick beams.

There were two floors. The upper one was made of wooden frames that had broken down, soaked in the rain.

The cracked walls looked as if they might collapse at any time under the continuously pouring rain.

Rachel and Holley were just passing by that house when the former heard a child crying, but only for a second.

She suspected that she had just imagined that sound,

but she still told Holley about it just in case.

To her surprise, Holley replied that she had also heard a child crying. The two of them walked around the house, but found no trace of the child. The rain intensified, making it harder for them to keep their eyes open, let alone find what they were looking for.

Rachel was about to suggest that they leave when Holley suddenly said,

"Do you hear that?"

Rachel turned around and asked with puzzlement, "Hear what?"

Holley pointed at the shabby room. "I heard some noise from inside."

"Really?" Rachel furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yes!" Holley exclaimed seriously. But as she hurried forward, she tripped and fell with a scream.

Rachel quickly walked over and helped her up. As Holley got up, her face turned pale and twisted in pain.

While waving her hand at Rachel, she said, "I'm fine. But I really think I heard a noise from there..."

Rachel squinted as she tried to pick up on the noise, but she couldn't hear anything over the booming sound of the rain.

After hesitating for a while, she said, "Wait here. I'll go in and have a look."

"Okay. Be careful," Holley said. Now, recalling that scene, Rachel was sure that Holley hadn't known that the room would collapse.

And yet, there was something strange that she couldn't understand. Why had Holley stood there indifferently after seeing the house collapse on her?

Jack noticed that something seemed to be bothering Rachel after Vicky's visit, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

In the end, he asked her what Vicky and she had been talking about.

However, Rachel avoided the topic, making it obvious that she didn't want to discuss it with him.

Jack had his own suspicions, so he stopped asking. Since Rachel didn't want to say anything to him, he would not pester her about it.

At noon, he was the one to feed her, since it was hard for her to eat on her own.

Meanwhile, Tracy decided to give up her intention to take care of Rachel.

It would be a joke if she couldn't take good care of Rachel, or worse, ended up making her feel upset.

In consideration of Rachel's condition, the father and son decided to take her back to Ninwell City the next day. The medical professionals and facilities there were much better than the ones here. The only reason they had waited for the past few days was because Rachel had been too weak to travel until now.

After some discussion, Jonathan and Tracy left to make the necessary arrangements,

leaving Jack alone with Rachel.

Rachel actually didn't find her temporary blindness that inconvenient.

After going for the inspection in the morning, she had talked to Vicky while waiting for the results to arrive.

When it was time for lunch, the smell of food wafted over to Rachel's nose, but she couldn't see anything.

Soon, her small hands were gently pushed away by a pair of larger ones.

"Sit properly," Jack said softly.

Rachel curiously tilted her head to one side, and her eyes jumped around in front of her as she tried to figure out where exactly he was standing.

She straightened up on her bed as obediently as a primary school student and asked, "How can I eat?" After all the panic and fright she had felt in the beginning, she had gradually calmed down. She was not nearly as scared as she had been before. She had even begun to adapt to the dark world.

After inquiring some friends about the food here, Jack had ordered various dishes from the most popular restaurant in this city.

In fact, there was too much food for the two of them to finish.

He sat down in front of her with a bowl and a spoon, as if he was about to feed a child.

"I'll feed you," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I can't even see where the spoon is..."

As Jack scooped up some food with the spoon, he said, "Just open your mouth when you feel the spoon touch your lips."

Rachel smiled.

She felt like she was a little child playing a game.

Since was injured and had no appetite, she didn't eat much.

After that, Jack fed her some soup, and then began to eat the rest of the food. She had another inspection in the afternoon.

Since she was hospitalized, many people came to visit her, but all of them were turned away by Jack.

He wanted her to rest and thought that it was not necessary for anyone to visit her during this time.

A while later, Jack received a call from Jonathan informing him that a hospital ward and a doctor had been arranged for Rachel in Ninwell City.

Their flight would leave the next morning.

After making the call, Jonathan left the city, but Tracy returned to the hospital to give Rachel and Jack some company.

She was glad to see how familiar and intimate they looked. Besides, Rachel looked much better than she had a few days ago.

Although she was the one who had come to comfort Rachel, the latter ended up comforting her.

"Don't worry. It's temporary," Rachel said in a soft and soothing voice.

Tracy smiled and reached out to brush Rachel's soft hair. Her hand was already halfway to Rachel's scalp when she remembered that Rachel's head was shaved now. Tracy pursed her lips as she stared at Rachel's naked scalp

and silently withdrew her hand. If she was in Rachel's shoes, she would never have been able to accept it.

Not good at showing affection in words, Tracy kept silent for a while. Then, she took a wet towel to wipe her face. Soon, Jack left the ward, leaving the two of them alone.

Even though the room was quiet, Rachel didn't feel uncomfortable because she couldn't see anyway.

However, she didn't want Tracy to feel awkward with the lack of conversation.

When she was trying to think of something to say, she heard a nurse pushing a medicine cart in.

Then, there was the sound of a chair moving. "What's this?" Tracy asked.

"It's time for the infusion," the nurse replied. "Okay."

Standing to the side, Tracy curiously observed the nurse as she prepared the iodine and cleaned Rachel's hand with a cotton ball.

After disinfecting it, she found a vein and inserted the IV cannula.

Looking at the glittering needle, Tracy got goose bumps all over her body. She quickly averted her sight from Rachel's hand and looked at her face instead.

To her surprise, Rachel looked calm and unaffected, as if her hand hadn't just been pricked by a needle.

Since she had been on a drip for a few days, the back of her left hand was black and blue, so the nurse had inserted a new cannula into her right hand before attaching a new infusion to it. As Tracy watched this scene, she couldn't help but sorry for Rachel.

She made up her mind to let go of all the prejudice she had held earlier and wholeheartedly appreciate this child.

She couldn't believe that there had been a time when she had thought that Rachel was not good enough for her son. Maybe her brain had been damaged!

Now that she was thinking clearly, it was obvious that her son was the one who didn't deserve Rachel. If she was Rachel's biological mother, she would never have let Rachel been insulted that way. Thinking of this, she felt a heavy onset of guilt. After attaching the infusion bottle, the nurse left with the medicine cart.

Tracy moved the chair back to the bedside and sat down.

Hearing the noise, Rachel turned her head toward it. "Mom?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

Tracy's eyebrows knitted together as she watched the fluid in the infusion bottle slowly drip down the tube to Rachel's hand drop by drop. "Rachel, does your hand hurt?" she asked affectionately. Rachel felt both stunned and flattered. Tracy had never shown concern for her this way before. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt."

Seeing that Rachel's left hand was bruised, Tracy gently touched it and said, "I can massage this hand for you. Is it okay for you?"

The truth was, Tracy could end up doing more damage if she pressed too hard. However, Rachel didn't want to disappoint her by turning down her offer, so she gently said, "You don't need to massage it. The bruises will heal on their own. But you can just press them slightly."

Seeing the polite and careful way Rachel was talking to her, Tracy smiled in approval. Then, she took Rachel's hand in hers and gently pressed it. She suddenly remembered the first time Rachel had arrived at the Fu family's house. "You've really grown up now. The first time I saw you, your hand was half as big as mine," she said with a sigh.

Even though they had known each other for such a long time, they were not familiar with each other at all.

The whole time Rachel had grown up in their house, Tracy had not reached out to her or tried to talk to her at all. What would Rachel think of her reminiscing about the past now?

Just when she was starting to feel embarrassed, Rachel smiled and said, "Mom, there's one thing I remember clearly."

"What is it? What do you remember?" Tracy asked, thankful for the change of topic.

Rachel's eyes had been blurred and unfocused all this while, but when they turned to look at her, Tracy found that they were bright and clear, as if something had just occurred to Rachel. There was even a fain smile reflected in her eyes.

Author's note

Goose BBSS

Translator: Scarlett5555