My Darling, My Dearest

Chapter 358 Find Andy

Jack wanted to beg off from Henry's invitation but ended up saying yes. As a concession, he asked for dinner to be at Henry's home instead of at a restaurant.

At that moment, Lea was handing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to Rita. When she heard, she raised her head to look at Henry, who was sitting on the sofa, and asked in confusion, "Weren't you planning to have dinner at a restaurant or a club? Why are you having dinner here? You know that I can't let you drink at home."

Henry put down the remote control, raised an eyebrow teasingly, and answered with a smile, "I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since the last time. Why can't you recognize that I have changed?"

"Changed?"

Lea couldn't stop laughter from escaping her lips. Rita raised her head, opened her eyes wide, and looked at her mother curiously, probably wondering what was wrong with her.

She rubbed Rita's head and said, "Looks like you now have a deep understanding of how undesirable your past behavior was."

"Thanks to my wife's guidance," Henry promptly replied with a serious nod. "So you do have a conscience, after all," she countered teasingly.

The doorbell rang while they were exchanging humorous banter. When Henry opened the door and saw Jack standing outside, he looked behind him and asked with a frown, "Where is Rachel? Didn't she come with you?"

Since the dinner venue had changed, Henry also invited Rachel over the phone.

It was strange of her not to make an appearance.

Lea added, "Is she on night duty today?"

Jack's eyes darkened. Before he came to the hospital, the director told him that Rachel had asked for a two-day leave.

Based on her words, Jack could tell that Lea seemed to be unaware of what was going on with Rachel in the last two days.

"In that case, let's have dinner now." Henry placed his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Thank you for helping me with the project last time.

If not for you, I never would have gotten it even if drank myself under the table."

He was talking a lot, but Jack didn't respond. He stared at Lea, who was cleaning up the toys for Rita.

Henry took a look at him and said, "I'll go change Rita's clothes. If you need anything, you can ask Lea."

Meanwhile, Rachel finally found Andy billeted in a shabby hostel. Her worry and uneasiness in the past few days surged into her heart and flowed into her eyes, which were blood-shot. "Andy, how can you leave like this? Do you know how worried Bill is?"

"I know. That's exactly why I left. I don't want to become a burden to him." Tears streamed out in rivulets down Andy's cheeks. He wiped his eyes and begged, "Rachel, please don't tell Bill that I'm here. Just pretend that you didn't find me, okay?"

"Andy!"

A voice suddenly spoke up. "You have never been a burden to me, and you never will be." Bill walked in quickly and hugged Andy tightly. "You have been taking care of me since I was a child.

How can you be a burden?

If you don't give me a chance to take care of you, how can I rest assured? How can I live a good life?" Tears welled up in Bill's eyes. Before Andy could say anything, he winked at the stunned owner of the hostel. "Please help him pack up his things."

Hearing that, Rachel patted on Bill's arm and said, "I'll go upstairs with the owner." Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

She left Bill and Andy and went upstairs to help pack up his things. The owner said that Andy did not have a lot of stuff, just three sets of clothes for changing and some medicine for high blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease. Rachel packed them into a bag and headed downstairs, where she heard soft conversation between the two men. She sat down on a wicker chair in the room.

She didn't know how Bill found his way to this place, but it was not difficult to guess that he must have been looking for Andy, which was what she had been doing for the last two days.

She thought, 'I was able to find him here, so it's not impossible for Bill to find him, too.'

Finally, she had time to check her mobile phone. She saw five missed calls from Jack, but she had just learned of Andy's whereabouts that she didn't hear the calls.

She returned Jack's call and said, "I've been really busy until just now, so I missed your calls. What's up?"

Jack replied, "I am having dinner at Henry's house tonight. I called you earlier so I could pick you up."

"Oh, I still have things to do here. I really can't go."

Jack's expression darkened upon hearing her response. Much as he wanted to, he didn't ask Rachel what was taking up her time in the end because he knew that she wouldn't answer even if

he did. After hanging up the phone, Jack shot Lea a loaded look and said in a low voice, "I asked her, but she didn't tell me. Maybe she would tell you if you asked her. I'm not suspecting her of anything, I just want to know what's making her so busy these days."

Lea nodded with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face. She quickly called Rachel to set up a coffee date with her on the following day. The next day, Lea asked bluntly, "Tell me the truth; what have you been doing these past two days? Why didn't you come to dinner last night?"

Rachel, who was in the middle of sipping her coffee, paused. She gently placed the cup on the table and looked up at Lea, her eyes full of doubts. "How did you know that I've been busy for the past two days?"

Lea pouted and counted her fingers. "You didn't come to dinner. You didn't call me, nor did you text me... Miss, do you really think that I'm that dense that I wouldn't even notice?"

"I didn't mean that."

Rachel pursed her lips, and her eyes narrowed slightly. She appeared to be hesitating, like she didn't know whether she should speak or not.

Her hesitation piqued Lea's curiosity. "What on earth is it? Tell me the truth!"

After a moment of silence, Rachel managed to organize her words in her mind and slowly told Lea about what had happened to Andy. She heaved a small sigh and said, "I finally found him at a hostel yesterday. I persuaded him for a long time until, finally, he was willing to go back with Bill."

"He did that for Bill's sake. By the way, did Jack know that you went out to look for Andy?" There was a trace of worry in Lea's eyes.

Shaking her head, Rachel said, "I didn't tell him. You know how contemptuous he is of Bill because of what happened before. The two of them have been at each other's throats ever since they met,

so I couldn't tell Jack. Anyway, Bill will be flying back to France with Andy in two days.

I think I better not to tell Jack."

Seeing that Rachel was lost in thought, Lea patted her hand on the table and smilingly steered the conversation toward other topics.

Later, she relayed to Jack what Rachel had said to her.

Like Rachel had mentioned, the two men would be flying to France in two days.

After two days, life slowly returned to normal. When Rachel stepped out of the hospital that afternoon, she espied Jack's car parked at the roadside. She trotted over, reached out her hand, and offered him a small piece of cake. "Have a taste. Today is my colleague's birthday." "Get in first." Jack took a bite and commented, "It's delicious. Why didn't you finish it yourself?"

"I already had a slice. I left this piece for you." Rachel fastened her seat belt, tilted her head, and smiled at him.

In fact, the cake slice was so small that Jack finished it in two bites. He asked jokingly, "Why are you being so nice to me? Did you do something wrong two days ago that you're making up for it now?"

The speaker didn't mean to wound; nevertheless, the listener was hit.

Rachel's heart skipped a beat. She flashed a small smile but avoided eye contact. "How could that be? Didn't I treat you well before? How ungrateful you are to say that!"

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Jack intently looked ahead, a frown furrowing his brow. Rachel didn't know what was on his mind. Without another word, he steered the car into the afternoon traffic.

Through the car audio, a soft female voice slowly flowed, quiet and comfortable.

For the last two days, Rachel's heart had been on the edge because of Andy's issue. Now, she could finally relax to the relaxed music, and her eyelids gradually became heavy. Just as she was about to drift off, she suddenly heard Jack say, "There will be an engagement ceremony tomorrow night. Will you go with me?" She slightly shifted in her seat and settled into a more comfortable sitting position. She asked, "Have you ever gone to such an engagement ceremony before?"

"It's different this time. The bride's father is JX Group's CEO. We have some collaboration work with them recently and we haven't discussed it yet. Since he has sent us an invitation, we can't let him lose face, right?" Jack glanced at Rachel from the corner of his eye and found her with her eyes closed, lips pouted like a little girl who was denied her lollipop.

Before he know what he was doing, he gently pinched those pouting lips. "I promise you, we'll just go there, sit down and chat for a while before going home. Sounds good?"

Rachel lightly slapped away his hand and said drowsily, "Okay."

All who went to engagement ceremonies were like wolves in sheep's clothing. Everyone had an ulterior motive. In fact, the people attending the ceremony didn't really wish the couple happiness — they only grabbed the opportunity to talk about business.

However, although Rachel didn't really want to go, she could not refuse Jack's request. In front of him, she was finding it harder to hide what she truly was feeling in her heart.

On the next day, Rachel knocked on the door of the director's office with a note and said in a low voice, "Director, I need to attend an engagement party in the afternoon, so I have to leave two hours earlier."

With a frown on his face, the director put down his pen, crossed his hands in front of him, and coughed slightly. "Rachel, you can be very dedicated to your work, but what's wrong with you these past few days? Why have you been asking for leave day after day? You are now a senior surgeon in the hospital, so you can't do this. Your actions will set a negative example for others."

Author's note

Goose BBSS

Translator: Scarlett5555