Love's New Bloom

Chapter 188

Chapter 188 Extreme Joy and Sorrow A week later, in a ward on the private island called the Garden of Eden, a woman had been sitting by the window for a full three hours. Ever since Erin was rescued by Paulo, she had never left the island. Due to her severe burns, her ward was isolated from ultraviolet rays. But today, the weather on the island was rainy, and even though it was only 10 am, the sky was dark as if it were nighttime. Erin sat motionless in a wheelchair as if time itself had stopped. To her, there was only a dead silence, devoid of sadness or joy. It was as if she lived in a different dimension, in a world confined to her own little box. In this world, she had family and friends, but she had built walls to isolate them. In her heart, there were three rooms. The first room held her son, whom she dared not easily think about as she would miss him too much. The second room held all the memories between her and Chandler, they were memories she dared not recall. The third room held her past self-the old Erin before she was disfigured. The spac ious and bright ward was filled with minimalist designs imbued with a futuristic aesthetic, making one feel like one was living in the future. There was no Internet, no mobile phones, no mirrors here. Every day, Erin only saw doctors and nurses. As for Paulo, the owner of this small island and the boss of this technological building. Erin hadn’t seen him for a full five days. She had asked Paulo’s secretary, Jenny, as well as the doctors and nurses there about his absence. They all gave her the same answer, saying that Paulo had left the island. She’d asked Paulo for help, but she never received a response. Erin was so desperate that she wanted to call her mother, Cherry. But she didn’t dare do so. She was afraid that once she heard her mother’s voice, she wouldn’t be able to hold herself back from

crying uncontrollably and pouring out all her misfortunes. This hopeless and helpless way of venting would be of no use. It would only cause a significant blow to her mother, Cherry, men tally. Already in such a sorry state, she didn’t want to indirectly hurt her family with her own misfortunes.

When Erin was trapped on the deserted island, she endured her captivity for a full eight months. It completely surpassed the limits of endurance of an ordinary person. Here, she could easily obtain a phone or computer from the doctors and nurses. She could freely contact her family and friends, and she had all the freedom in the world to browse the Internet and reconnect with the world outside. But she didn’t. She chose to live here in the most mechanical and repetitive way. Every day, she ate all the food and vitamins arranged for her, took all the medication for treating burns, and actively prepared for rehabilitation training in the early stages. She also received professional psychological counseling from psychiatrists. Erin didn’t turn herself into a soulless walking corpse. She simply saw herself as a soldier obeying all orders. She’d experienced the most tragic events during the best years of her life, being disfigured and having her child stolen from her. Any one of these could have driven a normal person to contemplate suicide. But she had endured being locked in a prison cell for a full eight months back then. Now, asking her to take her own life would be met with instinctive resistance. She instinctively resisted any unfairness that fate had dealt to her. At this point, how much worse could her life become? “I’m back!” Paulo shouted loudly as soon as the door to the ward automatically opened. Erin, who had her back turned to him, instantly returned to her senses and looked at him. She immediately pressed a button, swiftly moving her wheelchair in front of him. The suppressed yearning in Erin’s eyes burned bright. Paulo bent down and said to her, “I’m sorry for making you wait so long.” His words made her eyes well up with tears, but Erin didn’t cry. Her eyes focused intently on him.

Paulo smiled brightly at her. “As a reward for your trust in me, this latest laptop now belongs to you!” He placed the white, ultra-thin laptop that he had been hiding behind his back onto Erin’s lap. “Mr. Eastwood, thank you for the gift. But don’t you know what I want most?” Erin couldn’t help but ask. Of course, it wasn’t appropriate to constantly urge someone who was already helping. But after waiting for so many days, Erin’s patience had been completely worn down. “Don’t fret. Let me have a sip of water first. I rushed back here as quickly as possible, and I was even too busy to eat.” Paulo walked over to a white sofa nearby and sat down. He took a vitamin pastry from a glass jar on the coffee table and ate it while taking out his phone from his pocket. Then, Paulo connected the phone to a data cable and turned on the projector that was placed on the coffee table. His phone interface appeared on the entire white wall. “I talked to your mother. Thanks to me having read a lot of books on psychology, I could tell that your mother was initially a bit resistant toward me. But gradually, as I asked her more, she ended up chatting with me on the phone for a full two hours-” Paulo continued to speak incessantly at a high frequency, revealing everything about Yvette’s situation and her marriage to lan to Erin. At this point, he opened the phone interface and found a photo inside. It was a candid shot of Yvette and Cherry, a photo of the mother and daughter just coming out of a supermarket. When Erin saw this photo, she was so shocked that she almost stood up, but due to her severe leg burns, she was currently unable to walk due to her damaged muscles. Finally, struggling slightly, she remained seated in the wheelchair, but her tears had already streamed down her face. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that she actually had a twin sister! Yvette’s appearance made Erin’s emotions incredibly complicated. In fact, Paulo had been attentively observing Erin’s expressions. The information he held needed to be revealed to her step by step, in a specific emotional sequence, in order to facilitate better recovery for her. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

*Regardless, lan is your ex-husband. It’s better for your sister to marry him than for her to fall for Chandler,” Paulo stated bluntly, laying all her worries and sadness out in the open. Erin looked at him in shock. It seemed that Paulo knew quite a lot. With her silence, Paulo continued, “There’s something that will make you happy to the point of tears. Do you want to know what it is?” After learning about Yvette’s situation, Erin was already in a conflicting state of mixed emotions. Upon hearing him say that, she immediately asked eagerly, “Yes! Has my son been found?” Paulo nodded and smiled lightly. “As expected, your son is indeed the most important thing to you. Yes, the foreign police have found him, and I have another piece of good news to tell you-Tessa and Jack are both dead! Jack was killed by Tessa, and Tessa was executed three days ago.” “What about my son? Where is he? Is he injured?” Erin asked enthusiastically, excitedly grabbing Paulo’s arm. Paulo looked at her two bandaged arms and leaned back against the sofa’s backrest. He furrowed his brow in slight displeasure. “Don’t touch me!” Those words made Erin awkwardly retract her hand. She didn’t know where to look, so she lowered her eyes and apologized. “I’m sorry. I forgot that you don’t like to be touched. Jenny reminded me- Paulo’s expression eased slightly. Erin’s current appearance resembled a guilty child, and he felt a little guilty for his defensive tone earlier. How could he forget that she was the one who needed to be cared for right now? “It’s alright. That wasn’t specifically directed at you. I’ve had this problem since I was young. Don’t take It to heart.” A hint of awkwardness could be seen in Paulo’s gaze as well. Erin shook her head and said. “It’s ok. It was my fault just now. Can you please tell me about my son? Is he alright? Where is he now?” Suddenly, Paulo burst into laughter. With a playful glint in his eyes, he said, “Guess.” Erin cried out in despair, “Mr. Eastwood, please stop playing with me! This is really not funny at all—” Seeing her tears flowing down relentlessly. Paulo immediately realized that he’d gone too far with his playfulness this time. He immediately became serious and said, “Look here!”

He hastily swiped to the next photo on his phone. In the photo, Chandler was holding a baby as they walked out of a foreign hospital, surrounded by special forces bodyguards. At that moment, Erin was petrified. She was like a motionless statue, her eyes unblinking, and she’d even stopped breathing. Paulo was shocked by her reaction. He couldn’t believe the immense power a single photo could have on a person. *Chandler has your son. What could be better than having his own biological father take care of him?” Paulo’s words brought Erin’s attention back. In the photo, the baby’s face wasn’t visible. Erin could only see his back. Chandler held their son carefully, protecting him from harm. With Paulo’s explanation, Erin finally believed that the baby in Chandler’s arms was indeed her son! A tremendous joy engulfed her entire body, even overshadowing her great sorrow and despair over her disfigurement. From the depths of her being, she yearned to reach into that photo and hold her son in her own arms. How she longed to personally feel her son’s warmth and heartbeat. But as soon as she thought about her current ghastly appearance, Erin’s tears rain down in torrents. While she was grateful that fate had reunited her son with his father, she was agonized by the fact that she couldn’t be by her son’s side at the same time. “My baby! I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault!” Erin cried out in anguish. Throughout the whole process, Paulo watched Erin’s extreme joy and sorrow, feeling as if his own heart had experienced a rollercoaster ride. It was too overwhelming and mentally taxing. It made him feel certain that he didn’t want love in his life, and that he would never ever fall for a woman. It would be hell on earth if that happened, throwing him into endless torture. But sometimes, fate played cruel jokes. And when something was fated to happen, It was oftentimes inevitable no matter how one struggled.