In the private room of a coffee shop near the hospital.
"You heard it all."
Alex took a sip of coffee and asked.
I nodded.
He sighed. "Don't blame Mom and brother."
Alex told me about the family's past.
In the year when he and Anna were just in the second year of junior high school, John had an affair.
The always rational John was like an old house on fire. He even wanted to give up his family for that young and beautiful girl.
"Mom and Dad grew up together as childhood sweethearts. Because of this incident, Mom was in a state of collapse during that time.
"Coincidentally, at that time, that woman was pregnant and it was a son.
"At that time, brother was still studying abroad. As for me..." Alex lowered his head in shame and looked at the coffee in the cup. "I was just a fool who only knew how to express dissatisfaction by being rebellious and causing trouble.
"During that time, it was Sister Anna who accompanied Mom with unstable mental state all the time and tried hard to maintain this family."
He paused, as if recalling the memory at that time. "At that time, the Ellis family and the Williams family were collaborating on a very important project. In order to keep Dad, she took the initiative to please Williams and won the favor of the old lady of the Williams family. She made an engagement with Williams.
"When she saw that Mom wanted to take action against that woman, she took the initiative to anger that woman and stimulate that woman to hit her with a car. At the cost of lying in bed for three months, she made Dad completely give up that woman and return to the family.
"I still remember the way she was lying bloody on the hospital bed, smiling and holding Mom's hand to comfort her, saying, 'Mom, don't worry. Dad will definitely come back, and I won't let others take away everything that belongs to brother.'"
Alex's voice was a bit choked. "Because of this incident, Mom and brother have always felt guilty towards Sister Mengmeng.
"I know that these things have nothing to do with you. I just want to say that they really didn't mean it. It's just that maybe since then, this family has been abnormal."
Hearing Tang Hexin's words, I suddenly understood why he envied the relationship between me and my friends.
John values his eldest son. Elizabeth and brother both prefer Anna more.
He is just a marginal person in the family.
It's just that he usually seems not to care. Others just think he doesn't know.
But in fact, he understands everything.
"Okay, I know." I patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry either. For such a small matter, your sister can handle it easily."
I found a time when Mother went home to get Anna's change of clothes and talked to her alone.
"Sorry, Alice." As soon as Mother saw me, her face was full of guilt.
"But Mom really can't leave Anna alone."
"Let's not talk about this for now." I waved my hand to signal her to sit down first, and then got straight to the point. "Today I'm looking for you to persuade you to divorce Dad."
Elizabeth was stunned. Obviously, she didn't expect me to say this.
And I just continued, "I already know about what happened to Anna in junior high school.
"I have to say that she really loves you very much. If it were me at that time, I might not be able to do that extent.
"But you should also see that since then, she has been sick. Not physically, but mentally."
Elizabeth bit her lip and lowered her head in silence.
"I don't know if you have heard of a term called intergenerational transmission. It refers to the phenomenon that parents' abilities, concepts, behavior patterns, social status, etc. are passed on to their children."
I said, "For Anna this time, the fuse for doing such a thing that harms herself is Williams.
"I told Elizabeth everything that Williams said and did to me at school.
"But I don't think she is just being love-struck so simply.
"I think more is that she unconsciously imitates your handling attitude and approach to Dad's matter.
"This is not normal.
"I know that divorce is not easy for you."
I reached out and held Elizabeth's hand. "But this is for your favorite daughter. If you don't want her to repeat your mistakes in the future, then please cherish yourself as much as you love her. Don't let those things that you don't want her to experience happen to yourself.
"Only in this way can she learn how to love herself correctly."
Elizabeth stared at me blankly for a long time before asking with red eyes and murmuring,
"What about you? What will you do?"
I smiled. "Me? I will go to the best university in the country as originally planned. Then I will start a business with the help of family connections and become a billionaire. Be my own strongest backing for a lifetime."
Not long after, Elizabeth proposed divorce to John.
At first, John didn't agree. But after Elizabeth had a private talk with him with a document, John agreed.
On the day they got divorced, Elizabeth transferred half of her family shares to me.
At this moment, the expressions of the people in the family were not very good.
A month later, Anna could get out of bed and walk.
She asked Alex to pass on a message saying that she wanted to see me.
When I arrived, she was sitting under a sycamore tree in the hospital garden. The sunlight shone on her clean and plain face, making her look like an angel.
Seeing me, she raised her head. Without greeting, she just smiled at me.
"Mom said that when my leg injury is healed, she will take me to live abroad. At that time, she will open a design studio, and I will take the entrance exam for my favorite art college.
"There will be no more arranged marriages. Even if I don't get married for a lifetime, she will always accompany me to do what we want to do."
There was hope in her eyes, and her tone was no longer as showy and probing as before.
"That's good."
I agreed and sat on the bench beside her.
"Um." She nodded. "At that time, brother will also go with us. Then only you and Alex will be left at home. Alex is a good younger brother. It's just that sometimes he is a bit impulsive in doing things, but you will definitely be able to control him."
"Don't worry. He said that he wants to go to the same university as me in the future. Now just the tutoring classes I arranged for him are enough to keep him busy." I said.
"Then I can rest assured." After she finished speaking, she paused for a while before saying in a low voice. "I'm sorry."
"Oh." I sighed. I didn't say it's okay. I just said, "I don't know if you still remember. When you went to City B to participate in a dance competition in junior high school, you lent your coat and sanitary napkin to a girl who was participating in a science knowledge competition on the second floor of the venue.
"I pointed to myself.
"That person was you?" She was a bit surprised.
I stood up, put one hand in my pocket, waved and left, saying,
"Live a good life with Mom in the future. As for that Williams, he will be the first case of my domineering president career where it gets cold and the king is overthrown."
On the day Elizabeth and the others left, John didn't come to see them off.
After divorcing Elizabeth, he was depressed for a while and then had a new woman.
Alex was worried that Mother would be sad and even found a reason for Father John.
Unexpectedly, Elizabeth didn't care at all. Just before boarding the plane, she hugged me and whispered a sentence in my ear.
It made me unable to suppress the smile on my lips until I walked out of the airport.
This made Alex keep asking what Mother had said to me.
I looked at his innocent face and thought for a moment. I still didn't tell him that when Elizabeth divorced, in order to ensure our interests in the family, she made John have a vasectomy.
Let's leave some beautiful imagination about love for the child.
(The end)