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The moment Winnie opened the door to the ward, she saw Jacinta walking in her direction.
When Jacinta saw Winnie, she hurriedly asked the latter, “Are you done already? Can we go now?”
“Yes.” Winnie nodded as she picked up her pace to approach her grandmother. “Are you hungry,
Granny? We haven’t eaten lunch yet.”
Jacinta said, “I was so hungry that my stomach hurt at the police station just now, but I don’t feel that
hungry now. Why don’t we head home? I feel safer eating at home.”
“All right. Let’s eat at home.”
Winnie thought that she was too careless that day. Even without the appearance of Shania and Nate’s
crazy fans, she might bump into Harold any time. I shouldn’t have put Granny’s life in danger by
bringing her with me, but I think I’d better show myself in public more often.
As Winnie pondered about the day’s events, Josiah suddenly called.
She answered her phone immediately. “Dr. Houghton, what’s the matter?”
Josiah sounded lethargic on the phone. “Are you not at home this weekend?”
“Yeah, why? Do you need to see me?” As Winnie spoke, it suddenly dawned upon her that Josiah
might be at her home. “You’re not at my house right now, are you?”
Josiah sighed. “Yes, I am. I’ve been ringing the doorbell for a few minutes because I thought you were
home, but no one came to get the door for me.”
Winnie explained, “I’m out with my grandmother. What’s the matter? Can we settle it over the phone?”
“Oh, we can’t. I just left the hospital, and this morning, a patient gifted me a box of pomegranates
before getting discharged. I didn’t want it, but he insisted that I accept it. Since Xavier told me to look
after you before he left, here I am sending you a box of fresh fruits! This is probably one of the few
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇttimes I’ll drop by your house, but it’s too bad you’re not home.” Josiah’s tone sounded somewhat
amused and exasperated as he related what happened.
Winnie chuckled. “That’s it? It’s just a box of pomegranates. Just leave them at the hospital and split
them with the others.”
Josiah sighed in annoyance. “Oh, shut up. I’ve already brought it here. How long more till you get
back?”
“Why? Don’t tell me you’re planning to wait until I reach home?”
“You wish. I was on the night shift yesterday, and I’m so tired that I need to get some sleep. I’ll leave
the pomegranates at the property management office. You can collect it later when you’re back.”
“Okay. Thank you, Dr. Houghton.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Garland. Just think of me when you have something nice to share next time.”
Since Winnie and Jacinta weren’t planning on hanging around outside any longer, they quickly returned
to Aqua Moana.
When Winnie passed by the reception counter of the property management office, she collected the
pomegranates and opened the box after she reached home.
The pomegranates were twice the size of a knuckle, and their reddish skin was appetizing.
Winnie took a picture of the pomegranates and sent it to Josiah with a text message that read: The
pomegranates look good. Seems like your effort in carrying them isn’t wasted.
She didn’t expect Josiah to reply to her message because she surmised that he must be sleeping at
that moment. To her surprise, he replied: If only I get to have a taste of it…
Winnie immediately sent Josiah a voice message. “How are you not asleep?”
“I’m less drowsy after taking a shower, but I still need to sleep. I’m going to sleep until seven o’clock in
the evening, then I’ll have dinner,” Josiah replied right away, his voice sounding a lot more energetic
than when he called Winnie earlier.
“All right then. I won’t disturb you any further.”
After Winnie sent her last voice message, she started peeling the pomegranates.
Not long after, she was summoned to the kitchen by Jacinta to help out.
When the grandmother-granddaughter duo finished their dinner, it was already half past seven at night.
As Jacinta washed the dishes, Winnie continued peeling the pomegranates.
Jacinta peeked out of the kitchen to look at Winnie. “Didn’t you peel quite a lot of pomegranates
already? It’s enough for us. If you peel too many, they will turn bad easily.”
“I’m sending some over to Josiah as a token of appreciation,” Winnie explained.
“Oh!” Jacinta exclaimed at the mention of Josiah. “You should have told me earlier! He’s staying alone,
isn’t he? I should have asked him to come over for dinner.”
“It’s fine, Grandma. I think he may have just woken up. Besides, he has plans. Our dinner time may be
too early for him. Don’t worry, he won’t starve himself to death,” Winnie said, “But, Grandma…”
Turning around, Jacinta urged, “What’s wrong? Why did you stop halfway? Spill it.”
After a moment of silence, Winnie turned around to face Jacinta. “If only you were as nice to Xavier as
you are to Josiah,” she said with a slight frown.
Jacinta, who was busying around in the kitchen, froze in response.
How could I be nice to Xavier? Every time Jacinta thought of how Rufus mistreated her son and her
grandson and was biased toward Xavier and his father instead, she would be filled with fury and
hatred.
How could I ever be nice to Xavier? That’s practically impossible!
The mere thought of that was enough to make her hand tremble with rage.
However, she couldn’t show her anger to Winnie.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWhen she finally regained her composure, she said to Winnie, “All right. You can bring him over for
dinner once he’s back from his business trip. I’ll prepare delicious food for both of you every day.”
Winnie flashed a faint smile. “Okay. Let’s take it slow. We still have a long way to go.”
Jacinta gave a perfunctory reply, “Right.”
However, she believed that Xavier’s days were numbered.
After peeling the last pomegranate, Winnie washed her hands and called Xavier.
Although they didn’t spend every minute together while he was in Avenport, it felt quite different after
he went overseas.
Even though he was only gone for two days, she still felt like it had been ages since she saw him. The
long distance between them made her feel far apart from him.
However, Xavier could not be reached because his line was busy.
After two tries, Winnie stopped calling him. He must be busy right now. When he’s done with his work,
he’ll call me back.
She called Josiah next to tell him she was going to send him some of the pomegranates.
Coincidentally, Josiah couldn’t be reached as well because someone else was on the line.
Winnie didn’t overthink it and sent Josiah a message: Are you at home? I’ll drop by later. Text me back
once you receive this.
However, it didn’t occur to Winnie that Xavier’s and Josiah’s lines were both busy because they were
calling each other to discuss their investigation on Jacinta.
Xavier began, “The people I’ve sent to investigate Jacinta have achieved significant progress. They
found out that Jacinta may have had a history with my grandfather when she was young. It’s better that
we talk about the details face-to-face, but I won’t be back for a while. Can you go on my behalf?”
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