CHAPTER 137: CHAPTER 137: CONFESSION, REJECTION

Noah Phillips accompanied Sienna Johnson and Curly Baby to a hospital in Bluzell City for a paternity test.

In the blood collection room, the nurse looked at Noah Phillips sympathetically. He didn’t notice, but Sienna did, though she didn’t have the courage to say anything. Probably, the nurse assumed Noah Phillips was the poor man who had been cuckolded, and that was why he was here with a child for a paternity test.

"Curly Baby, good girl. We’re only going to take a little blood, so don’t be afraid," Noah Phillips comforted Curly Baby, who was too young to comprehend the impending pain.

Looking up, Noah Phillips met the nurse’s complex gaze again. "Why do you keep staring at me?"

The nurse’s stare bothered him, so he finally asked. He didn’t expect an answer; he just wished she would stop looking at him that way.

The translator they had brought along conveyed Noah Phillips’s words to the nurse. After listening, she responded, "I think your wife is too much. You’re so handsome, and yet she had an affair."

The translator looked a bit embarrassed but dutifully translated for Noah Phillips, who wasn’t sure what expression to make upon hearing it.

Sienna responded, "He’s not my husband; he’s my brother."

The nurse’s expression as she looked at them became even more meaningful. Sienna just felt the nurse was letting her imagination run wild.

"WAAH..."

During the blood collection, Curly Baby cried bitterly, which softened Sienna’s heart. "Be gentle, please be gentle..." Sienna said to the nurse.

Noah Phillips, watching from the side, smiled and said, "Mother and child share a deep bond; if she’s in pain, you feel it too. I don’t think we even need a paternity test. She’s definitely your daughter."

"Since we’re already here, let’s do it. Once it’s done, everyone can be at ease." Sienna, lacking that memory, was all the more cautious and guarded.

Noah Phillips looked at Sienna, his eyes filled with deep sentiment and nostalgia. While Sienna comforted a crying Curly, her gaze unintentionally swept over and met Noah Phillips’s complex and profound stare.

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sienna, you’ve grown up..." Noah Phillips suddenly adopted the air of an elder as he said this. Sienna couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

"That’s something my father should say. Coming from you, it just feels out of place."

"When you were younger, I worried about you no less than your father did."

Sienna looked deeply at Noah Phillips, chuckled playfully, and didn’t respond further.

Now that Sienna had a child, many of her feelings for Noah Phillips could only be buried deep within her heart.

"Miss Johnson, we’ve finished collecting the blood sample. You can come and pick up the results in a week," the nurse said after drawing the blood and completing the registration.

"Okay, thank you."

Sienna left the blood collection room with Curly Baby in her arms. Afraid that Sienna might be exhausted, Noah Phillips took Curly Baby from her. Curly Baby, having been pricked by a needle, was unhappy. The little girl drooped her head and wasn’t as lively as usual.

"Her face shape and mouth resemble yours..." Noah Phillips looked at Curly Baby’s face, then at Sienna. "The rest doesn’t really look like you..."

Sienna’s face froze. She had previously suspected that Curly Baby wasn’t her child because she didn’t resemble her. Kiki had said that Curly Baby resembled her father, especially the eyes, which were strikingly similar to the man’s.

It seemed that man must have been quite good-looking too. But no matter how good he was, he was now another woman’s husband, so Sienna didn’t dare to indulge in fantasies.

"Where is the child’s father?" Noah Phillips asked.

"Kiki said he married his fiancee... He’s probably leading a happy life now."

Noah Phillips looked surprised. "He abandoned you and Curly Baby?"

"To be precise, I left him."

"What do you mean?"

"Simply put, he wanted me to be his mistress, and I refused. On his wedding day, I ran away while pregnant."

"He... didn’t come looking for you?" Noah Phillips asked, his voice heavy.

"It’s all in the past. I don’t want to hear anything more about him." Sienna looked as if she didn’t want to discuss it further, but Noah Phillips pressed on, speaking frankly.

"Do you still love him?"

Sienna laughed. "I don’t remember Curly’s father at all. How do you expect me to answer you?"

"What if you do remember him someday?"

"What’s the point of remembering him? He already has a wife. Are you suggesting I become the other woman? Brother, even if I were deeply in love with a man, I wouldn’t do something so unethical," Sienna replied with a solemn, earnest expression.

"Then, can you consider me?"

Sienna feigned confusion. "Sure, I’ll consider you. Why don’t you treat me to a meal? I’m starving."

"Sienna, you have always known my feelings for you. You once promised me that when you grew up, you’d marry me..."

Sienna didn’t let him continue. "Brother, you were only ten then, and I was just six. We were only children. Besides..." Sienna looked the elegantly dressed man before her up and down. "Although you’ve never spoken about your family, they’re clearly not ordinary people. Can you make your own decisions about marriage? Would your family accept a woman who already has a child?"

Sienna was being extremely realistic.

"I can make my own decisions about my marriage! As long as you’re willing, you don’t have to worry about anything else. Just leave it all to me."

Noah Phillips anxiously watched Sienna’s profile. She kept a smile on her face. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

"Brother, you’re my brother, and you’ll always be my brother."

Hurt filled Noah Phillips’s eyes. He had searched desperately for so many years. He wondered where he had gone wrong, where he had been slow by a step, and as a result, lost her.

"Sienna, I don’t want to be your brother."

"I still need to stay here for another week. You should go back first. I can handle things from here on my own."

Noah Phillips gave a bitter, helpless smile. "If I had known you’d react this way, I definitely wouldn’t have told you what I just did."

"I’m sorry, Brother."

"Then, will you at least give me a chance to pursue you?"

Sienna shook her head. "Brother, it’s impossible between us!"

If she were to give, she would give Noah Phillips the very best. If she couldn’t, she would give nothing at all. She now had a child and had been with another man; she wasn’t good enough for the perfect Noah Phillips she held in her heart.

Perhaps someday, due to circumstances or a rare emotional connection, she might marry another man, but that man would definitely not be Noah Phillips.

"Sienna, it hurts right here. You’re not nearly as adorable as you were when we were children."

"That’s right. I’m no longer the little girl who only knew how to cry."

Noah Phillips stared at Sienna’s profile for a long time. His gentle gaze was like the warm autumn sun, washing over her, a comforting warmth one couldn’t help but crave.