My Darling, My Dearest
Chapter 59

The Wen family did not let Francis in. He stood outside the door, wearing a crumpled suit which he had not changed in days.

He stood there completely alone. Inside the building was the mourning hall in which Wendy's body was.

This no longer came as a surprise. After having exacted revenge on Cole and indirectly causing Wendy's death, how could he expect the Wen family to treat him kindly? It was already too kind of them not to have driven him away.

Francis and Wendy had already registered to be married. The Wen family didn't know that until two days prior.

When Vincent found out, he was furious. He had never thought that they would been officially married.

However, dealing with Francis was the least of his issues right now. The only thing that mattered at the moment was Wendy's funeral.

The Wen family was facing a lot of difficulties right now, so not many people came to the funeral. The few who came had seen Francis waiting outside.

The Wen family's relationship with Francis was complicated, so none of the guests could help him. Some of them paused but ultimately did not talk to him. Even fewer approached, concerned, and tried to comfort him, but they found him to be out of sorts.

They understood, though, and left him alone. Everyone knew that his dead fiancee was inside.

Jack came out not long after entering. Wendy's body did not look that bad, though she had jumped off the fifteenth floor and had died from a head injury. Only Vincent and his mother were left of the Wen family. The old lady was devastated. Her husband was in trouble, and her daughter had committed suicide.

She managed to get through the pain and presided over the funeral. Although she had not loved Wendy that much in life, she had raised her and had no one else to call family. 'We need to give her a decent funeral,' she thought, sighing as she looked at the casket.

Vincent had just returned from seeing a guest off and heard her sigh. Looking at the black-and-white photo beside the casket, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest. "Mom," he said. "You need to get some rest. I'll take over."

She shook her head. "No, I can't rest now."

She simply could not stop, as her family was in such a mess. She wished that she could preoccupy herself with tasks all day so that she had something to distract her from her problems. ■3

She was sure that her husband would be going to prison, but she also believed that he was the author of his own misfortune. She was no longer bothered by it. All she wanted now was for him to stay alive. He should have expected Francis to avenge his father.

Her expression changed slightly. She looked up and asked, "Is he still outside?"

Vincent nodded expressionlessly.

After some thought, she breathed a helpless sigh. "Forget it. He has been waiting out there for too long. We should let him in."

"Let him in?" A cold smile formed on Vincent's face. He said, almost accusingly, "Are you just going to let this slide? Mom, he killed Wendy! Now, we're going to let him see her? No way!" The more that Vincent spoke, the more emotional he grew. His chest heaved violently, and his eyes turned red.

"Mom, I'm already trying my best not to drag him away and throw him out of the property!"

He spoke each word between clenched teeth. His mother knew just how much he hated Francis.

"Vincent, all I meant is that he can come in and mourn Wendy's death.

After this, we can all be at peace. We will no longer have anything to do with one another," she explained in a tired voice. "We are also to blame for what has happened. We are not entirely blameless. It was us who allowed Wendy to be with him. Both of us are responsible for this." ■3

Vincent closed his eyes and said with pain in his voice, "Mom... I regret it. I regret..."

His cries gradually faded away. Jack had been standing there. After some time, he put down the flowers in his hand, turned around, and left.

Francis was still outside, waiting. The main reason why he had allowed the Wen family to take Wendy's body was that he felt guilty.

"Shall we talk in the car?" Jack asked as he stood in front of Francis.

After some thought, the latter nodded.

After the two had gotten in the car, Jack rolled down the window, took out a cigarette, and gave it to the man next to him. Francis shook his head in refusal. Exhausted, he leaned backward. There was blue-green scum in his stubble.

He hadn't slept for days, as evidenced by the dark bags under his eyes.

Jack withdrew his hand and decided not to smoke either. He sat there, thought things over, and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

Bitter words escaped Francis' lips. "It was all my fault. But I didn't expect her to kill herself."

Her death had ended all possibilities of them being together. From the moment she decided to take her own life, they could no longer be together. It was so cruel.

Maybe this was a punishment. Wendy knew that he would regret her death. ■3

Francis explained, "The night before she committed suicide, we had a fight. I should have noticed it earlier."

After they had fought, Wendy seemed strangely calm. He, however, had not been willing to spend one more breath to try to patch things up with her. Instead, he went to a club that night. Early the next morning, she had called him. At that time, he was drunk and fast asleep on the sofa. The woman beside him had answered the phone and handed it to him.

There was a lot that Wendy had said, but Francis had not gotten any of it. Finally, there was a prolonged silence on the other end of the line.

Francis had grown impatient. "If you have nothing else to say, I'm going to hang up now."

Surprisingly, she had responded by asking him softly, "Will you come back tonight?"

He had answered curtly, "No."

Over the phone, Wendy had again grown quiet for some time. "Okay," she had said afterward, almost in a whisper.

That "okay" angered him. Now awake, he had sat up straight. Trying to suppress his anger, he had yelled into the speaker, "Will you quit it?"

She had sighed and said goodbye in a low voice.

It turned out that that goodbye was their last.

Francis closed his eyes. Tears formed in the corners and fell down his cheeks. He murmured, "Jack...she was so cruel. She has punished me with her death."

Jack kept quiet. Outside the window was a clear blue sky.

From afar, he could see a white plane making its way across the blue canvass.

Jack then pulled out his phone and dialed his father's number. "Dad, where is the divorce agreement? I'm ready to sign it."

On the other end, Jonathan grew quiet for a while. Then came his hesitant reply, "There's no hurry. You and Rachel should drop by tonight. Let's have dinner together." "Okay."

Rachel didn't expect that Jack would be calling first. She had been planning to contact him herself.

"Dinner?" She put a pen back into her pen holder and asked, "What time?"

"When you get off duty, I'll come to pick you

up."

"Okay. See you then."

After hanging up, she decided to ask him about Wendy this evening.

Several days had passed since Wendy's incident. Even though Rachel did not speak of it, she always thought about it.

Another patient was sent Rachel's way, and she went about her day. After she had finished the operation, a little guest arrived in her office.

Mendes ran into the room, laughing and ■3

jumping. He wore the clothes that she and Lucas had bought for him.

She waved him over, and he approached her happily, carrying an apple.

Handing her this little treasure of his, he said, "This is for you, Rachel."

"Thank you!" Rachel took the fruit and took a whiff of it. "It smells so good! Where did you get this?"

"Uncle Lucas gave it to me!" Rachel felt a little funny. The little boy called her by name. Now, he was calling Lucas "Uncle."

Celia had gone back to school. Recently, it was Lucas who had been taking care of Mendes, occasionally bringing the boy to the hospital.

People had thought that Lucas and Celia were in a relationship until they found out that the family of the two were connected.

Rachel set the apple down and asked, "Why are you here? Where is Lucas?"

"He told me to go here. He'll come by later."

Rachel nodded her head and patted the boy on his little behind. "You can play while you wait for him."

Soon after, Lucas arrived. Rachel had guessed that he needed her help with something. Sure enough, he asked, "Rachel, sorry to spring this upon you, but can you take care of Mendes today? I'll come and pick him up tomorrow night."

She had thought that he needed help with something different. Nevertheless, she nodded her ■3

agreement. "It doesn't matter. I'll take care of him."

Lucas flashed her a smile of relief. Then he raised his hand to look at his watch and said, "I'll send some of his things over later."

"No problem," Rachel replied.

Curious, Mendes then approached him, blinked several times, and asked, "Where are you going?"

He smiled and patted him on the head. "To treat patients."

"Can I go with you?"

Rachel laughed. "What are you going to do there? Cause trouble?" Mendes blushed.

He declared for everyone to hear, "I want to be a doctor when I grow up! A doctor like you!" His eyes sparkled.

Rachel beamed as she looked into his eyes. "Go for it! I'm sure you'll make a great doctor," she told him.

Rachel had already made Lucas a promise when she remembered that she had to have dinner with the Fu family tonight. This only meant one thing. 'Oh, no. Should I take Mendes back?' she thought. Once her shift ended, Jack called. "Come out after you're done. I'll be waiting for you right outside the hospital's gate."

"Okay."

After hanging up, Rachel worked on sorting Mendes' stuff. When she was done, she promptly zipped up the bag. ■3

"Mendes, I'm going to have dinner with my dad. Do you want to go?"

The boy tilted his head and asked, "Can I go, too?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then. I'll go!"

Jack hadn't been waiting long before Rachel came out, a boy tagging along.