Chapter 3
In middle school, my family went bankrupt. My parents fled abroad, leaving me behind. I was taken in by my mom’s former friend, Mrs. Johnson, and raised by the Johnson family.
Gideon is a year older than me. Until the year of his car accident, I’d been calling him brother for seven years. The accident wasn’t serious, but it was an extremely rare case. The doctor said it was nerve compression, causing temporary blindness. Yet, after six months of treatment, his eyes still hadn’t recovered.
Gideon grew colder and more volatile. All of Harbor City said the future heir of the Johnson Corporation had become blind. Unwilling to accept reality, he still attended a party, and unlike before, his sharpness was dulled. Gideon was drugged and set up.
He didn’t know that the Johnson parents and I, worried, also attended the party. I felt something was off and followed him into the room to check on his condition, only to be pinned down by him.
After Gideon’s first ravaging, I was sick with fever for two days. The morning-after pill I took in confusion was thrown up. Upon discovering the pregnancy, the Johnson parents who raised me almost begged me. If Gideon never recovered, this child would be the Johnsons’ current hope for the future.
Mrs. Johnson asked Gideon, “Nora is gentle, caring. How about letting her stay with you in the future?”
Even though Gideon couldn’t see, he remained exceptionally handsome and outstanding. During that difficult time, his response was firm and powerful: “Mom, our intention in adopting her was never to cultivate her into your obedient daughter-in-law. It was to raise her as a daughter.”
“Nora is like a sister to me, nothing more. As for that girl that night…” Gideon’s expression turned unsightly, “Is she still alive?”
Gideon didn’t know it was me that night. He only saw me as a sister. Even the Johnson parents didn’t dare tell him that the girl he saw as a sister was having his child.
Later, while I was preparing for childbirth, I heard about a young and accomplished female ophthalmologist who had been carefully treating Gideon for months. Gideon even trusted her to perform a highly complex and risky surgery. Thankfully, the outcome was very satisfying.
Six months after Gideon regained his sight, I had already flown abroad to continue my studies. Later, although the female doctor was young, she was still seven years older than then 22-year-old Gideon. The Johnson parents were not pleased, so they directly brought the six-month-old Finn to his father, Gideon.
Upon learning Gideon had a child, the doctor quickly married someone else. No wonder Gideon hated the existence of his child’s biological mother so much. She directly disrupted his past relationship. As for why he later agreed to marry me, it was probably because Mrs. Johnson pushed us hard. Sure, here is the adapted translation:
Fortunately, the results turned out to be quite satisfactory.
Six months after Gideon regained his sight, I had already flown abroad to continue my studies.
Later, although the female doctor was young, she was still seven years older than the 22-year-old Gideon at the time.
The Johnson family parents were not pleased at all and directly brought little Finn, who was only six months old, to Gideon, now a father.
After learning that Gideon had a child, the female doctor quickly married someone else.
No wonder Gideon was so resentful of the child’s biological mother; she had directly ruined a relationship he once had.
As for why he was willing to marry me years later, it was probably because Mrs. Johnson pressured us.
On the first night after our marriage, I referred to Gideon as “brother.”
He said that since we were married, he would embrace the role change.
He wasn’t the kind of man to abstain and definitely wouldn’t stay away from his wife.
Finn was sent back early.
At the dining table, when I got close to him, the little boy interrupted me and asked, “Are you here to take my dad from me?”
“I’ll never like you.”
“Apologize.” Gideon stopped eating leisurely, with a father’s authority in his eyes.
“What about the manners and upbringing you’ve been taught?”
Finn stubbornly refused to speak, so Gideon asked the butler to take him to school.
I hurried outside and told the butler, “I’ll take him.”
It wasn’t until we reached the preschool entrance that the little boy spoke to me, “If you think I’m bothering you, Vivi and her mom invited me to stay at their house.”
I teased him, “Is Vivi the girl you like?”
He spoke softly, “I just like her mom.”
“Her mom is a doctor, sometimes busier than my dad, but she still picks her up from preschool every day after school…”
In the morning at the company, I ran into the deputy director of the Tech Department, who came over to greet me.
Gossip spread instantly among colleagues.
“Nora, what’s going on with you and Declan?!”