Charmaine felt bad taking Samantha’s money.

“Samantha, you’ve been giving us all your money over the years. It's been tough on you. Things will get better once your younger brother gets married,” she said wearily.

“It’s fine, Mom. If you didn’t need to pay for my education, Eugene wouldn’t have dropped out of school so early. He’s smarter than me. Had he continued with his studies back then, I’m sure he would be earning more money than me right now.”

Samantha patted Charmaine’s back comfortingly.

Charmaine sniffed, but quickly returned to the matter at hand. “You must quickly bring up marriage with William to avoid future troubles. He’s such an outstanding man, I’m sure tons of women are eyeing him.”

“I know, Mom.”

Despite her verbal assurance, Samantha knew that William had no intention of divorcing Rachel. She was aware that Rachel wasn’t simply a replacement in William’s heart. For all she knew, Rachel had subconsciously crept into William’s heart. He just didn’t know it himself.

William was done enquiring with the doctor and felt relieved when he confirmed that Charmaine’s condition was mild and wouldn’t need to be hospitalized for a long time.

Just as he was about to leave with another report in hand, he caught sight of a familiar silhouette from the corner of his eyes.

He stopped for a few seconds and met Rachel’s gaze. She looked equally stunned, too.

During those few seconds, the eyes he was clearly so familiar with suddenly looked like those of a stranger.

William paused for a few seconds before finally pushing the door to Rachel’s ward open. His gaze landed on the IV drip that Rachel was hooked up to before looking around him.

“Where is Mr. Hunt?”

“He left.” Rachel’s voice was as chilly as the late winter wind.

William’s tense shoulders relaxed as he pointed at the drip. “What did the doctor say?”

“Lung infection.”

William furrowed his brows. “Didn’t I give you another office?”

Rachel wanted to laugh at his exclamation. She had stayed in that dusty office for so long–it didn’t just take a matter of days for the infection to grow. Would suddenly changing to another office have the effect of cleansing her lungs?

She couldn’t be bothered to explain all that to him and simply said, “Perhaps I’m just too weak.”

“Then you should be resting more. I’ve been so busy recently that I don’t have time to take care of you. You need to learn how to take care of yourself.”

William rubbed his nose bridge, looking fatigued, as though he really had been occupied by something major during this period.

Yet, Rachel was working in the same company and was also the project director. How could she not know about the projects the company managed? Project Oasis was the only one they had their hands on, and even that got delayed because of Samantha.

She went along with his claims anyway.

“I know. Go ahead and be busy. Aren’t you supposed to be helping your girlfriend take care of her mother?”

Rachel didn’t feel the least bit jealous saying that. She simply used the words that Charmaine used earlier.

However, William’s face darkened at her words. “Samantha’s mother is sick. She didn’t want to agitate her, which is why she didn’t tell her about our break-up.”

Rachel nodded pensively. He was worried about agitating Samantha’s mother, but couldn’t care less about agitating her.

She smirked.

“I’m not blaming you. You don’t need to give me an explanation.”

William’s tightly knitted brows finally eased at Rachel’s words. He walked over to her bedside and held her cold hands.

“Rachel, don’t let your imagination run wild. You know very well how I’ve treated you over the years. Understand my plight, won’t you?”