and said calmly, “You still need to get plenty of rest from now

on.”

“I know.”

Kelsey agreed brightly, but then her smile slowly faded as she looked up at Ellsworth.

Seeing her staring at him like that, Ellsworth didn’t ask what

was wrong. He just nced at his watch, and only then did

Kelsey gently remind him, “Ells, I just saw Hara at the hospital.”

Before Ellsworth could respond, Kelsey added, “I only saw her when the elevator doors were closing. She was with Reginald,

and the two of them looked…”

Kelsey stopped there, not finishing her sentence.

With his hands still in his pockets, Ellsworth lowered his gaze.

He didn’t react to Kelsey’s words, his face expressionless. “I’m

heading back. Get some rest.”

Kelsey immediately sat up straight, bracing herself on the bed.

“Ells, aren’t you going to stay with me?”

Ellsworth replied, “There are doctors and nurses here. You’ll be

fine.”

Chapter109

With that, Ellsworth ignored the longing in Kelsey’s eyes,

instructed the doctors and nurses to look after her, and left the

ward, driving home.

By June, the weather was already getting hot. Ellsworth drove

with the window down for a while, letting in the warm air, then

rolled it back up.

When he got home, Jacquelyn and the others were already

asleep.

Opening the bedroom door, he saw Harriet wearing sses,

sitting at her desk, staring intently at herputer, asionally

picking up a sheet of paper to write or calcte something.

Standing at the door, Ellsworth watched Harriet for a long time,

but she didn’t notice he was back, still absorbed in her work.

Ellsworth didn’t call out to her.

It was only… after he took his clothes to the bathroom,

showered, and came out, Harriet still hadn’t noticed he was

back or looked up at him. Ellsworth’s gaze grew a little yful.

Standing by the bed, drying his hair, hezily watched Harriet.

He wanted to see how long it would take for Harriet to notice he

was back if he stayed silent tonight.

He stared at Harriet for a long time. Only when his hair was

almost dry did Harriet finally look up and realize he was home.

Stretching with both hands in the air, Harriet saw Ellsworth

staring straight at her. She stopped mid-stretch and put her

hands down.

Their eyes met. Harriet greeted him calmly, “You’re back.”

Rubbing his nearly dry hair, Ellsworth looked at her and asked

nonchntly, “You saw me at the hospital today. Why didn’t you say hello?”

He didn’t ask Harriet why she was at the hospital, nor did he

bring up Reginald.

Kelsey told him her reason for seeing Harriet and Reginald

together, and he understood.

However, on the way back, he had already asked Noel to check

Harriet’s whereabouts and knew why she had gone to the

hospital.

When Ellsworth asked, Harriet looked at him and replied in a

calm voice, “You were busy at the time, so I didn’t want to

disturb you.”

After Harriet finished speaking, Ellsworth just looked at her and

said nothing more.

Seeing this, Harriet didn’t say anything else to him either, simply and quietly tidying up the manuscript papers on the table.

Harriet’s silence made Ellsworth think of the scar on her lower

abdomen, remembering her appendectomyst year-how he

had hung up on her call, and she had driven herself to the

hospital, enduring the pain alone.

Thinking of this, Ellsworth tossed aside the towel in his hand

and asked her, “Did you eat dinner? Do you want noodles or

dumplings?”

Harriet stacked the gathered manuscript papers neatly on the

table and smiled faintly, “I’ve already eaten. You go ahead and

eat.”

Before Ellsworth could speak, Harriet added, “By the way, I

noticed Mom hasn’t been asking about ustely, so I’ll move

back to the guest room next door. The master bedroom is

yours.”