"So, you do know the difference! How about you let me decide whether I want to have children, and who I want to have children with? There's no need for you to get involved!" Ace said angrily and stopped the car.
Joanna figured that she was being too overbearing as well. Ace Moran had always been a prideful man, and was used to having everything under his control. If she were to take charge of something as important as having children, he would surely get upset.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I was too impatient… I don't have bad intentions, I just wanted to recommend this procedure to you both, since you and Miss Alice-"
"Get out," Ace snarled suddenly, his expression dark.
"Huh? Are we here already?" Joanna scanned her surroundings, but it was obvious they hadn't reached yet. novelbin
"Get… out!" Ace ordered once again, not explaining himself in the slightest. He was at his wit's end, otherwise, he would have never done something so discourteous.
"Fine then!" Joanna snapped, and got out without hesitation. The car was filled with such a depressing atmosphere that she figured it'd be better to walk to the cemetery on her own.
As soon as she got out, the car drove away speedily.
"Talk about petty!" Joanna watched as the car zoomed away, frowning. "I was just trying to be nice and help them resolve the whole kids issue. A thank you would've been nice, but he ended up throwing a temper tantrum instead… That ungrateful jerk!"
The temperature was oddly low in the dense forest despite it being summer at the time.
Just then, a notification popped up in her phone – it was a message from Kevin.
[I'm done, I sent all his details to your email.]
Joanna eagerly opened her mailbox and found a PDF consisting often or so pages. It had everything about William written down, including his birth place, his educational background, and even details on his friends.
According to the information provided, William really wasn't lying about his family and educational background. He was indeed from a family of knowledgeable scholars, and he himself was one as well. Besides that, all of his friends seemed like good people, and he was known to be quite a reputable person within his social circle.
The only thing that seemed off was his past relationships. It seemed that Leia was his second girlfriend, while his first… was Alice.
Alice was William's first love when he was twenty years old. However, the relationship had only lasted about three months before the man was dumped. William was quite persistent as well. After getting dumped by Alice, he tried everything to make her stay, even going as far as to threaten suicide…
After that, he locked his heart away and focused on his studies entirely, becoming quite the elite. It is said that he would take over his father's family business in the future too.
It was completely normal for someone to have past relationships, but William's past included Alice… which made Joanna rather doubtful.
Unfortunately, as Joanna was too focused on reading, she didn't realize that she had walked into a dangerous zone..
The cemetery was rather remote. Not only were there large thickets around the area, the paths were quite rocky as well.
The thick smog enveloping the area could easily affect one's sense of direction as well. If headed in the wrong direction, the forest would seem like a confusing maze, which would make the journey even more dangerous than it was.
Joanna was completely immersed in her phone, wondering if she should tell Leia about William's complicated past with Alice. Then, suddenly, she felt her entire body falling forward…
Joanna screamed as she tumbled down a cliff. She hit her head on a large rock going down, and instantly faded into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, Ace and Alice had already arrived at the child's tomb. A small gravestone stood there forlornly, with the baby's name and death date engraved on it.
"Hi, baby! Mommy and Uncle Ace are here to see you again. How are you feeling today? The weather's getting kind of cold, so I prepared lots of warm clothes for you. Do you like them?" Alice mumbled as she knelt in front of the grave, placing some bags of clothes onto the ground.
Ace was no longer feeling guilty, and instead looked slightly annoyed. However, knowing that Alice was mentally ill, he remained silent, allowing the woman to live in her delusions for now.
Under normal circumstances, a fetus wouldn't be considered a person, and in their culture, those who set up a tomb for the unborn would be besieged by bad luck. However, this child was considered a special case, as it was the late Tristan and Alice's only child.
Ace had only agreed to bury the fetus after the woman's constant begging. They had placed it in an expensive coffin, and found a powerful shaman to safely bury the child in this secluded area.
Ace was starting to space out as Alice continued muttering in front of the grave. He would occasionally glance at the cemetery entrance, his brow furrowed.
'Hmph, why isn't that woman here yet? I left her only a mile away from this place, and the path is a straight one too. It shouldn't take her more than twenty minutes to arrive, but it's been over an hour! Where is she?!'
Once Alice was finally finished, she looked up and asked, "Ace, where is Miss Pierce? I'm done talking to my baby now. Should we keep waiting for her?"
Ace checked his wristwatch and replied tonelessly, "Let's wait a little longer."
They waited for another thirty minutes, but Joanna was still nowhere to be found.
Alice wiped her tears, her voice quivering with sadness. "Let's just go, Ace, I don't think she'll be coming anytime soon. I can tell that Miss Pierce doesn't regret hurting me back then, nor does she think she is responsible for my child's death."
"Maybe she still sees me as the horrible mistress who destroyed her marriage. Maybe she thinks I deserve to lose my baby and end up this way! She's probably gone home by now. I mean, she's no saint, so why would she visit the grave of my child? Let's not force her to if she doesn't want to…"
Ace fell silent, his expression growing colder.
Alice continued, "And she kept talking about that artificial uterus procedure back in the car, urging us to have more children too! She was just mocking us, wasn't she? It was like she was trying to add insult to
injury! If she's not genuine in visiting my baby's grave, I don't need her here, and my baby doesn't need her here either! Let's just go."
The man clenched his fists tightly, as he had thought the same. He had no idea what Joanna was thinking by urging him to have more children when they were on their way to visit a dead baby's grave.
'She definitely had bad intentions!'
"You're right, I was too naive. She's always been a cold-hearted and selfish person; if she really was feeling guilty about her actions, she would've come to visit the child's grave a long time ago. She wouldn't have just disappeared for four whole years."
Ace took a deep breath, telling himself to keep a clear mind and to stop hoping the woman would change. Thus, as dusk approached, he drove out of the forest with Alice in his passenger seat.
Under the dim moonlight, Joanna had finally regained consciousness. Her head was spinning, her left leg was fractured, and she was unable to move.