CHAPTER 655: CHAPTER 655

After Clara and Joanna walked out of the ward, Clara pulled Joanna to a corner near the stairs. "That ring... It’s Ace’s, right?"

"Yes." Joanna nodded tiredly, unable to run from the truth any longer. "I’m sure you’ve gained some information, right?"

Clara knew that she could no longer hide it since things had turned out this way. She could only tell Joanna everything she knew. "I’d been wondering if someone had done this on purpose after something went wrong with Quinton’s accident. So, I went to the medical staff and interrogated them."

"What did they say?" Joanna asked cautiously.

"That nurse claimed that the main surgeon received a call before Quinton’s surgery telling him to do the surgery well or something like that. The caller was Shirley, so I went to find her and confront her. She claimed that it was Ace’s order..." Clara told Joanna everything. "I thought Shirley was just trying to create problems, so I wanted to get more evidence first, but... it seems that the evidence came to us. When I saw the ring, I knew I had to tell you."

"Thank you, Clara. I could have guessed it even if you didn’t tell me. I was just fooling myself and didn’t want to accept the truth. I always thought that he wasn’t that bad..." Joanna admitted, her heart aching.

"We can’t blame you or him. After all, he’s forgotten everything about you, so you don’t mean anything to him anymore. It’s not odd that he would do something like this for the sake of profit," Clara said hesitantly, unsure of how to console Joanna.

"Yeah, I know he’s forgotten about me. I’m the only one who keeps holding on to the past. It’s my fault!" Joanna took a deep breath, fighting back tears.

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to talk to him?" Clara asked, feeling sorry for Joanna.

"I haven’t thought about it yet..." Joanna leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling, smiling bitterly. "It’s meaningless either way. It would be stupid of me to still hope that he and my brother can stop fighting."

Joanna wanted to be alone, so she went to the hospital’s garden downstairs. She sat in front of the pond and watched it quietly.

Clara did not follow her. She knew that it was useless to worry; she had to wait for Joanna to make a decision.

Joanna sat there the whole night. The stars appeared, and moonlight illuminated the pond. She sat there alone like an emotionless statue. A cold breeze toyed with her hair, and she hugged her arms, suddenly realizing how cold she was.

Someone draped a coat on her shoulders, and when she turned around, she found that it was Justin.

"Phoenix, you’ve been sitting here for hours. Aren’t you tired?

"I’ll carry you back, okay?" Justin had both of his hands in his pockets as he smiled gently at her.

"When did you get here?" She whispered guiltily as she looked up at him.

Justin was wearing a thin shirt, and shrugged half-heartedly.

"We came at the same time."

"You’re ridiculous. Weren’t you bored sitting here for five to six hours?" Even so, Joanna still moved aside a little to give him some space.

Justin gladly sat down next to her and smiled. "Didn’t you do the same thing though?"

"It’s because there’s something troubling me. Time passed by very quickly."

"Well, we’re the same. Watching you is like watching the most beautiful scenery in the world—hours passed in the blink of an eye."

"Stop that!" Joanna playfully pushed him and sighed. After a while, she said slowly, "This afternoon... Umm, I’m sorry. I was so anxious that I accused you for no reason. I wasn’t targeting you; I would have scolded a dog too if it cared at that time."

Her explanation amused him. "It’s fine. Anyone in your position would’ve done it." He didn’t want her to blame herself. Despite everything, he still wanted to marry her and bring glory to his family. It was fine if she saw him as a villain or a schemer, as long as he got what he wanted in the end.

"You know yourself well, don’t you? Ah, you’re just a cunning man and no one can see through you." Joanna tapped his forehead and shook her head. "How nice it would be if we were just hackers... We could earn extra money and join some competitions. We wouldn’t have so many feuds and problems to settle either. It would be nice to lead such a simple life."

"Yeah, it’s more fun to type codes and compete against you."

" Justin watched the pond, reminiscing about the past. His family never meddled in his business and let him lead a carefree life, but his grandfather was getting old, and his father was ill. As the only son, he had too many responsibilities to bear. He could no longer lead his life the way he wanted."

"I wonder when we can return to a time when things were simple..." Joanna clutched the ring in her hand as her eyes turned watery. It felt like her heart was twisting in her chest.

Justin turned to her, and saw how sad she looked. It made him feel sorry for her. "If you’re tired, let me help you. Tell me what you want to do, and I’ll help you do it. You can stay a hacker and lead a simple life. What do you think?"

"Do you want to help me do it?" Joanna chuckled and turned to look into his eyes intently. "Do you dare to kill Ace then?

"You... want to kill Ace?" Justin was flabbergasted. ’Aren’t they secretly in love with each other? Why has she changed all of a sudden?’

"Calm down. I won’t ask you to kill people, let alone him."

She felt a pang of guilt, ashamed that she was biased towards Ace instead of Quinton.

"Did... you find something out?" Justin immediately sensed something was wrong, and asked, "Did you find out who hurt Quinton?"

Joanna was speechless.