Chapter 6

Once it was 8:00 am, I called Ryan. He was surprised to receive a call from me. "Sebastian? What's wrong?" Everyone in the company already heard about my fight with Wynnie in her office. They knew we were fighting about Eve, but they had no idea where Eve came from. I stated my purpose right away. "Do you have money? I need money urgently." Ryan was quickly reminded of the fight yesterday. He was able to draw an educated conclusion on the spot. "Did something happen to the kid you and Ms. Jakeman adopted?" Even an outsider knew that Wynnie had adopted Eve, yet she refused to admit it. I suppressed the bitterness in my heart before admitting the truth. "Yes. Our daughter's diagnosed with acute leukemia. That's why I need money. If you don't have any money on you, you can introduce a job to me." Ever since I married Wynnie, I never worked a day in my married life. This was all because Wynnie said she liked the feeling of knowing that someone was waiting for her at home whenever it was time for her to go home. Thanks to that sentence, I had been waiting at home for her for eight long years. Although I didn't want to wait at home for Wynnie anymore, the fact that I was outdated in this society still stood. It would be difficult for me to keep up with everyone's pace. Ryan sighed. "How are you going to work based on your condition? Why don't you tell me how much you need? I'll come up with a way to get the money for you. We'll talk about everything else later." One million dollars was no astronomical sum, but it was still a huge sum. To Ryan, that sum was akin to a few years of his savings. Not to mention, he had spent a huge amount of money on his younger brother's wedding, so he was already running out of money. After spending a few hours scrounging up the money, Ryan transferred me 300 thousand dollars. "Seriously, I don't have any money left on me. Sebastian, once I get off work later, I'll ask around for you." "I can still work. I may not be able to do manual labor, but I can still deal with jobs that require lighter workloads." Eve wasn't related to Ryan in the slightest. I couldn't rely on Ryan to cover all of Eve's medical bills. Ryan racked his brain for a long time. Finally, he prodded me. "My friend and I opened a bar together. The business hours are at night, so the cleaning will take place in the morning. The workload is pretty light. It's just that the salary's pretty low. It's about five thousand dollars a month. What do you think?" Truthfully speaking, five thousand dollars per month was already enough for me. A regular family could easily live off five thousand dollars per month. Hence, I accepted the job readily. Truth be told, I didn't like anything that was associated with alcohol. However, I was still willing to take the job for Eve's sake. Ryan knew of my financial problem. That was why he specifically looked out for me. After my first day at work, Ryan's friend transferred me my salary right away. Ryan's friend was a gentle and caring young man named Jacob Harrington. He couldn't bear to watch me struggle at my job, so he came over and lent me a hand. "Ryan told me about your situation. Do you need an easier job? The salary will stay the same." I quickly waved my hand and turned Jacob down. I had already caused Ryan and Jacob too much trouble. How could I continue causing them even more trouble? After I was done with my job, I headed over to the hospital with the 300 thousand dollars in my bank card as well as the five thousand dollars I had just received. The 300 thousand dollars was meant to foot Eve's medical bills. The five thousand dollars out of my salary would cover Mdm. Foster and Eve's daily expenses. I kept the remaining one thousand dollars just in case an emergency called for it. My job at the bar covered my meals and accommodations, so I didn't need to spend money on anything else. When I walked past a toy store, I saw the doll that Eve had brought up to me multiple times in the past. I had already planned on buying it for Eve, but it slipped my mind because of Wynnie's incident. Upon reaching the hospital, I was fortunate enough to see Eve awake. Her eyes lit up when she noticed the doll in my hands. "That's the doll I've always wanted!" I passed the doll over to Eve with a smile on my face. This must be the happiest moment in my life after such a long time. Eve hugged the doll while pouting at me from the bed. "Daddy, you haven't visited me for a long time!" How long had it been since I last visited Eve? Maybe… It had been almost a year. Thanks to Wynnie's infidelity, my visits with Eve had been harried over the past year. I'd always leave a gift for her before leaving the orphanage hastily. Never did I stop to spend proper time with her. I patted Eve's head lovingly before promising her, "I'll visit you all the time from now on." Meanwhile, Mdm. Foster just watched my interactions with Eve from the doorway. Tears kept streaking down her face the whole time. The visitors' visiting hours were up. I promised Eve that I'd visit her again tomorrow. Unfortunately, Murphy's law was always a thing. The more I wanted to prevent something from happening, the higher the likelihood of it happening. Half a month after I started working at Ryan's bar, it was time for the bar's anniversary to commence. Since it was the bar's anniversary, Ryan and Jacob needed extra hands to help out with organizing the activities and decorating the bar. After I was done cleaning the bar, I turned to look at Ryan, Jacob, and the other staff members busying around in the bar. Hence, I offered to help them out. Jacob looked at me doubtfully. "Are you sure you can do it?" How was it a difficult task for me? Back then, I majored in design, after all. Decorating and designing came to me as easy as ABC. With just a few strokes, I was able to sketch out a picture of the bar's furnishings during the anniversary celebration according to the limited decorations the bar had right now. Jacob gave me a thumbs-up in admiration. Now that everyone had a sketch to refer to, it was easier for them to make the preparations for the anniversary celebration. Having noticed that it was almost nighttime, Jacob shot me an apologetic look. "Sorry for troubling you today. Why don't you wait for a little longer? An important client will be coming over to the bar later. Once I'm done greeting her, I'll drive you home right away." I accepted his offer. But I didn't expect to see Wynnie being Jacob's important client. As usual, Richard tagged along as well. He trailed behind Wynnie while smiling smugly. He must've just finished shooting a show, for he had yet to remove his flawless makeup. His looks weren't the most eye-catching feature of his. There was a dark blue gem hanging before his chest, which attracted everyone's attention. The gem was slotted into a silver frame. The gleam it emitted thanks to the bar's lights was enough to make one go dizzy from the radiance. I stared at the gem while spitting out its name slowly. "Beloved." That particular jewelry was named "Beloved". It was my creation back in the day. Wynnie happened to be my muse at that time, hence the name. I didn't expect to see Richard wearing it after so long. The bar was noisy and boisterous as ever, yet Richard turned around at that very moment. That was how he spotted me. "Sebastian? What are you doing here?" Wynnie wheeled around immediately as well to look at me. She and Richard stood under the spotlight, while I was shrouded by the shadows of the corner I was standing in. It was as though I was the despicable third-wheeler of the relationship. I ignored Jacob's shocked expression as I asked, "Did you buy that necklace for him?" At first, Wynnie was stunned. Then, she smiled. She turned to look at Richard's side profile, a gentle glimmer dancing in her eyes. "I happened to spot it at the auction the other day. I thought the necklace's name fits him well, so I bought it for him." Even though I knew that Wynnie said those things to me on purpose, I still couldn't stop my stomach from churning wildly. Richard? Being Wynnie's beloved? What a joke. Upon recalling the necklace's name and the significance it carried, I gazed at the wearer of the necklace. Just the sight was enough to disgust me to no end.