Worship The Ground You Walk On

Claudia stood by the stairs on the second floor with one of her hand holding the railing of the stairs. A film of cold sweat had already formed on her palms as her eyes were glued to Ben's shrinking back. Her mind was a blank.

She thought that she could just swallow her medicine upstairs, but she never thought that he wouldn't trust her to do that. He wanted to make sure the butler was supervising her while she swallowed the medicine...

She could feel her heart thumping furiously, as if with every heartbeat, a huge wave was churning in her body.

The pain was unimaginable.

By the time she came back to her senses, she heard the sound of car engine vrooming. She was worried that the butler would see her standing on top of the stairs, so she hastily sneaked up the stairs. Such was the human nature. Sometimes, one would rather continue to maintain a makeshift peace rather than learning the truth which is so evident.

By the time she returned to her room and shut the door, she felt a mist forming underneath her eyes, and it began to cloud her vision.

She waited until her emotions came in check and after making sure she wouldn't act unusually, she returned to downstairs again. The butler saw her and greeted her politely, "Madam, good morning!"

She saw the housekeeper carrying Conrad, and the child upon seeing her mother, reached out to her with her tiny hand.

Claudia walked towards them and took over the child into her arms.

Then, she signaled to the butler, 'May I know where is the birth control pills? I can't find them.'

The butler was startled for a moment before nodding repeatedly. She went to get it and handed to her. Under the butler's gaze, Claudia unpacked a few pills and swallowed it with the help of some warm water. She was allergic to birth control pills, and it was especially bad today, seeing that she had consumed them twice.

After not long, while she didn't eat any breakfast, she felt an intense churning in her stomach. She got butterflies in her stomach, which left her no choice but to put down her baby and rushed to the toilet. Clutching the toilet bowl, she vomited furiously.

She felt like she was going to throw up everything she ate before this, and only until she felt the scent of her stomach acid lingering in her mouth she finally raised her head weakly and went to the faucet to rinse her mouth.

She stared at her pale face in the mirror and thought about the discomfort in her stomach. Compared to her intense heartache, this bodily pain was nothing.

Little did she know, the butler had seen all of that. She stood outside the washroom and couldn't help but sighing. If Claudia didn't bring up the topic of the birth control pills, she didn't actually want to let the madam consume them.

The young master and the madam were couple, and they had superior conditions for raising a child. Even if they had a second child, that wouldn't be a problem.

However, the butler could discern that Claudia was a very understanding girl. Sometimes, she knew how to read between the lines, and she was very mature for her age, which made people feel sorry for her. When Hanna came over, Claudia was holding Conrad and they were enjoying the scenery in the little garden. The little one didn't like flowers and plants, but in the face of bright colors, he still felt something special about them.

His tiny hand was grappling at one of the flowers, but when the flower was being dangled in front of him, he seemed to lose interest in it immediately.

The housekeeper smiled, "When the young master grows up, he would be a heart-throb!"

Claudia shared the same sentiment too. This little one was good looking since he was a baby. He had milky skin, dark and distinct eyes, which resembled Ben a lot even at this age. Who knew how stunning he could be when he grew up?

Hanna came towards them with the butler at this moment, and when they saw this scene, they couldn't help but laugh. When they were close, Conrad was the first to notice them. He was holding his tiny arms wide, signaling them for a hug.

"Hey, my Conrad, you're a good boy!" Hanna walked towards them and held her arms wide too.

Claudia saw her and satisfied the baby's wishes as she handed the baby to Hanna.

Hanna cradled Conrad for some time and cooed him before returning him to the housekeeper. Then, she said to Claudia, "I heard that you are back, so I want to come here to see you..."

Claudia was smiling faintly, and she was gesturing with her hand, 'About the Evans family old mansion incident last time, I owe you a thanks.'

No matter what, the reason the Evans family old mansion could preserve itself and not getting invaded by any outsides was because of Hanna. This woman didn't mind to bet on the outcome with her company just to preserve the old mansion. Her sincere intention itself deserved Claudia personally thanking her.

However, Hanna grinned and replied, "I promised you. I just kept my promise. What is there to thank about?"

After a pause, she added, "Furthermore, the amount that my company has lost is compensated by Ben. All in all, I didn't suffer much losses!"

แ

When Hanna uttered those words, Claudia could feel something jump in her heart, as if she was scratched by a cat. However, she had to admit that Hanna was honest. At least, she didn't lie to her.

"Actually, I feel bad for you too about the whole thing." She added again, and at the same time, Hanna held Claudia's hand, "Because of my own selfishness, I buried a thorn in between you and Ben. You guys almost divorced, even. Luckily, things end in a good way, or else, I don't even know how I can ever face you again!"

Claudia froze for a little as she couldn't discern the authenticity of this woman's words.

How should she put it?

Claudia was inexperienced in terms of her judgmental skills and observation on others. She only knew how to follow her intuition and the impression she got to judge Hanna, but she wasn't not so good at it compared to Kim.

Therefore, this was what throw Claudia into a dilemma.

Hanna was a really excellent, kind and gentle woman. A woman as good as her was a match made in heaven for Ben. Claudia felt like she was the third wheel compared to them who wanted to take the spot of the official wife.

"Do you want to take a look at the old mansion?" Hanna suddenly asked.

Claudia was stunned. Back to the old mansion?

Hanna brought out a key from her bag and handed it to Claudia, "This is the keys to the Evans family old mansion. Now it found its owner."

She stared at the key at found herself transported back to the old times.

This key here reminded her of too many of her memories when she was a child. In that place, she had witnessed her father poisoned by her stepmother, and she herself was harmed by that stepmother into a mute state. In this place, various and countless happy meetings and tragedies had happened. She used to loathe this place deeply, yet she found herself unable to forget about it completely. Sometimes, the human heart was hard to decipher.

"Let's go! I'll go with you, alright?" Hanna held her hand, and her smile was warm and tender.

Claudia didn't have any reason to reject her. She had left the old mansion for too many years, and it was a proper time to revisit that place.

She followed Hanna and by the time they reached the old mansion, it was already four in the afternoon.

The twilight of summer always arrived later than usual. Rays of sunlight were blinding to their sight, and when she got off the car, she couldn't help but cover her eyes with her raised arm. However, her gaze was swiftly attracted by a huge building in front of her.

Countless vines were intertwining that building and covering its wall, which shrouded this old mansion that had passed through the passage of time in an old-fashioned yet romantic atmosphere.

The old mansion was never repaired for a long time, and the huge metallic gate and the iron bars barricading the building had long lost its paint. They were showing their original make, which resembled the marks left on an old man's face by the passage of time. Their appearance now proved that this building had gone through decades without anyone stepping into its grounds.

Weeds were originally overgrowing in the courtyard, and the people of the Evans family never returned. Ever since the passing of Donald Evans, Blair had remarried with Theodore. Perhaps because of the lingering guilt gnawing at their hearts as if they had committed some wrongdoings, they had the illusion that people were knocking on the door of this mansion in the middle of the night, which gave them the impression that the whole place was haunted. They decided to abandon it and moved to a newer residence smack in the middle of the city.

Ever since it was decided that this building would be up for sale, they had hired professionals to come to cut the weeds, which gave the courtyard a crisper look. Not far away, an area of roses bushes stood out marvelously, and on the other side there were two swings, which swayed whenever a breeze arrived in the courtyard.

What's past is past, but all of those memories came flooding back in Claudia's head. For some reason, she felt her eyes getting teary, and it almost obstructed her line of sight.

She had to take some time to push back her complicated feelings in her heart and she looked at Hanna, gesturing with sign language, 'I really need to thank you. If you were never here, this old mansion would have long been disappeared.'0000000