"Carla, Father is in a critical condition right now and every member of our family are all here to take care of him. So I think you have to wait a few days if you want to go back,"
Noah said in a calm and collected tone. Then, he threw the bloodstained apple into the garbage can and pressed on his wound with a piece of tissue.
He continued, "If you're really bored, I'll ask the doctor to examine your injury tomorrow. If the doctor says you can leave the hospital, you can go back to my residence first."
He took another apple to peel when his wound stopped bleeding.
"My home is close to the hospital. If anything unexpected happened to Father, you could come over here easily," Noah said while he carefully peeled the apple this time.
As a matter of fact, Carla didn't care much about the things that Noah had just said. She had been worrying about something else. She bit her lower lip a little, sat up straight, looked at him and said, "Noah, I want you to discuss something with Father and Mother, would that be okay?"
"What's wrong?" Noah asked while he continued to peel the apple.
Carla hesitated for a while, then she looked down and said, "Father and Mother... They want me to marry you. But I know I'm not the kind of girl that you like. You like mature and considerate women such as Julie."
It took a few moments before Carla could continue speaking. "Noah, can you go and tell Father and Mother that you don't want to marry me?"
Noah took a small plate beside him, slowly cut the apple into smaller pieces and gave her one of them.
Then he said, "Father and Mother had already told me about this. I know that they don't trust me. So they want me to marry you, then I can be Hua family's son-in-law." He forced a smile then he sighed while he said, "After all, I'm not their biological son. Technically, I'm an outsider so they're not that convinced to hand over such a large company to me."
Upon hearing what he had to say, Carla also exhaled deeply before she ate the fruit.
"I think Father and Mother has a tendency to overthink things. You're a trustworthy person. If I were them, I would choose to believe you," Carla stated with determination.
Noah looked at her with a warm smile and said, "But not everyone trusts me as much as you do."
Carla returned the smile and they sat in silence for a while. After a few moments, Noah stated, "I thought of a solution just now. I think the only way to reassure Father is if we got engaged first. We could just act for a while to make him happy until everything about the inheritance had been settled. After a while, you can resume your relationship with Terence."
Upon hearing Noah's words, Carla became a little relieved. After all, the only thing she cared about was to be with Terence.
She nodded as she responded, "Right, this is the only way that we can make Father and ourselves happy."
When he noticed that Carla had finished a piece of apple, Noah gave her another one and said with a smile, "You should eat more. The doctor asked you to eat more fruits so you can have more nutrients in your body. That way, you can recover faster."
Carla took t
ming from the outside.
She got up and was planning to ask what happened.
But before she was able to do so, someone came into her ward.
"Carla, follow me upstairs," a voice that she recognized as Noah's said.
Noah was wearing a solemn face when he came in. He helped her get into the wheelchair and then pushed her out of the ward.
"Noah? What's wrong?"
Seeing his serious face, Carla asked nervously.
"Father... he's about to leave us Carla," Noah answered in a low voice. They quickly reached the elevator.
Carla didn't expect for such a moment to come so soon. She was surprised, upset, and grief-stricken all at the same time.
She saw a lot of people standing outside of Allen's ward but she didn't know most of them. When Noah pushed her wheelchair past them, they all greeted him.
As soon as they entered the ward, she saw Andrea crying hysterically beside Allen's hospital bed.
York and Tristan stood beside her. Bonnie was also there and she was also crying.
"York, Tristan, Bonnie, please leave the room for now..." Noah told them while he pushed Carla's wheelchair towards the bed.
Once the three of them had left the room, Allen who was lying lifeless in the bed turned his eyes to Carla.
At that moment, Allen couldn't speak at all. He looked at Carla and then he turned to Noah. Lastly, he turned his gaze towards Andrea and the sides of his lips slowly curled into a smile for a few seconds.
After all, Andrea and Allen had been living together for several decades. Even if he didn't get a chance to do so, Andrea knew what Allen wanted to say.
She tried really hard to stop crying and then she stood up. She took Carla's and Noah's hands and put their hands together.
She breathed deeply before speaking, "...... Carla, Noah, your father hopes that you can make the engagement as soon as possible. This is his last wish." After which, Andrea lost her composure once again and she broke down and cried.
She held their hands together tightly and then turned to look at Carla.
"Carla, will you help your father fulfill his last wish, please?"