On Fire novel Chapter 9

After making sure all procedures were done, it was almost daybreak. There were more and more people in the hospital now.

After a sleepless night, I felt myself losing almost all of my strength. I craved for some sleep now, but whenever I laid eyes on my exhausted mother outside the ward, I forced myself to stay vigilant.

“Mum, you can go back and have some rest now. Come over after this.”

I feared that her stamina wouldn’t hold since she was in her fifties. A nerve-wracking and sleepless night might prove too much for her. She shook her head while sobbing, determined not to leave the ward.

I knew that she was blaming herself for this, but I never blamed her in the first place. If she didn’t accept Daniel wholeheartedly from the start, I might have already broken down. I took off my coat and covered her with it, and I held her now chilly hands. I felt extremely regrettable.

“Mum, don’t you worry. Nothing will happen to Daniel. I will go get some breakfast for you, so please sit here and rest.”

“Jessica, I’m sorry, your mother is useless…”

“Mum, stop with that nonsense…”

My mother made me feel guilty with how regrettable she was. This was originally my mistake, but she was shouldering the blame for me. I had no words for that as I hurriedly left the hospital to look for somewhere to buy some breakfast.

My mother hailed from the north, so she always fancied some soy milk. However, it was not easy to procure something like that in M city, and only after a long while I was able to discover a shop selling that. When I stepped into the shop, I saw someone I was really reluctant to meet: Cooper Chan.

What surprised me the most was that Molly was sitting opposite him. She was drinking some soy drink with a convoluted expression. When she saw me, she seemed to freeze for a second before suddenly revealing a strange smile.

“Hey, why are you here too?” She seemed reluctant to meet me, so her tone was one of arrogance and pride.

In actuality, I wanted to excuse myself from the little shop, but since Cooper had seen me, I could only move towards him and greet him.

“Mr. Chan, long time no see.”

“Hey, Barbara. Do you want to eat together?”

“Thank you, Mr. Chan. I am here to takeaway some food. Enjoy your meal.”

I rejected his offer while I urged the waiter to help me pack some soy milk and fried donuts.

Cooper was pretty famous in the East Area, and he was managing a leisure resort and a seafood restaurant. The rumoured JQ Hotel which was famous around here had him as one of the shareholders.

The aforementioned facts were not important at all. What’s important was that he was Jordan’s little brother.

He was really someone who was very scheming and thoughtful, and nobody could see through his actions. In truth, he had extended his helping hand to me when I needed help the most so he could be considered my saviour in some way, despite that his way of extending help was the most unusual. Molly seemed discontented with my neutral response, so when I was paying for the food, she spoke loudly on the side, “Mr. Chan, Barbara is Kenneth’s woman now, so why would she eat with us? Unlike me, your pretty sweetheart who is always loyal to you.”

“Molly, stop creating trouble out of nowhere!”

I turned to face Molly and glared at her, and she returned me an unfriendly gaze too. I couldn’t discern the nature of her relationship with Cooper, so I didn’t lash back at her.

On the other hand, Cooper glanced at me meaningfully, which caused a chill to run down my spine.

“Barbara, if you have time, you should pay me some visit at my club. We have been old acquaintances, so you shouldn’t act so cold with me.”

“I will definitely pay you a visit sometime later, Mr. Chan. I am going now, you guys please enjoy your day. Molly, my private stuff has nothing to do with you, so you should refrain from twisting the story. Mr. Chan is a great person, he wouldn’t like you spouting such nonsense.”

After I said that, I turned to leave in the hopes that Cooper would understand that there’s nothing special between Kenneth and me. They were both terrifying figures in the underground scene, with which I didn’t want to have anything to do with.

“Barbara, wait a minute.”

After only taking a few steps out of the shop, Cooper suddenly halted me, and I was so startled that I almost dropped the food in my hands.