Free Web NovelChapter 473: Quarrel Somewhere Else
"I..." Wendy finally raised her head. Her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying.
Todd did not say anything. He waited patiently for Wendy to continue, but Wendy only said that one word, and nothing else after. As long as Wendy was willing to talk, it would mean that she was willing to communicate with Todd. Todd felt a little relieved and hopeful.
Todd reached out and patted Wendy on the shoulders to encourage her. "Corrine, I know you value your pride and confidence. On the matter with Clement, although you kept saying you were prepared for the worst, you were actually not a hundred percent ready.
"You are feeling horrible now because you feel that you are a failure. Clement has tormented you physically and mentally. The double shock has gotten you defeated.
You refused to talk to Michael, and even chased him out so that you couldn’t see him. It is not because you hate him. It is just because you have no idea how to face him and, more importantly, how to face yourself. You are afraid that Michael would mind what happened to you that night, right?"
Todd was spot on. He had said exactly what Wendy had in mind. Be it Michael or herself, she was not ready to face either of them.
Seeing that Wendy did not refute, Todd continued, "But this matter is not your fault at all. Your main intention was to help Michael tackle Christian by getting close to Clement to gather evidence of Christian’s wrongdoings. No one would want this to happen. But since it did, we couldn’t keep running away from reality. I know, there are some things you don’t wish to talk to Michael about. Now there are only the two of us in the room. You can pour your heart out and confide in me."
Todd tried to prompt Wendy to speak her mind. He wanted Wendy to start confiding in him, so he remained silent after he had said his piece. The matter with Clement had greatly impacted Wendy, and Wendy definitely needed someone to talk to. But when faced with her husband Michael, Wendy would feel guilty toward him and could not share everything with him. On the contrary, Todd, as a friend, would be the best person to talk to.
After a long silence, Wendy blinked slowly as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. She lowered her head and stared blankly at her fingers. She fidgeted with her hands, scratching her fingers with her nails. Ironically, Wendy could not feel the pain as she had so much going on in her mind.
Finally, she spoke, "Todd, do you think that men will mind if something like that happened to their wives?"
Todd expected the question from Wendy. It was inevitable that Wendy was concerned about what Michael thought.
He replied promptly, "Of course, men will mind. There isn’t a man who won’t mind if their wives engage in intimate acts with other men. Unless the man doesn’t love..." Todd stopped in the middle of his sentence abruptly. He then tried to explain hastily, "Of course, not all men are the same. I think Michael would likely not mind."
"Likely?" Wendy scraped even harder on her fingers that one of her fingers started to bleed.
Taking a deep breath, she knew that the question was redundant. It was true... "how could anyone not mind at all? Changing her perspective, if Michael was to be intimate with other women, she did not think she could accept it. Like when she saw Michael and Yonina sleeping together, she was devastated. It could be worse for men. The possessiveness and territorial instinct in men were more distinct than that in women by nature. And what’s more, this man was none other than Michael.
...
"Corrine, that’s not what I meant." Todd tried to explain, "I didn’t mean what I said earlier. If a man really loves a woman, surely he won’t mind at all. If this happened to the woman I love, I would be more heartbroken than pinning the blame on her. I believe Mr. Lucas loves you. He would blame himself more for not being able to protect you instead."
What Todd said was true. Michael did blame himself for not being a good husband and protecting his wife from danger. He would not dare to blame Wendy because he loved her dearly. But the way Todd mentioned it at the end, it seemed like the latter was just a cover to mask the brutality of the former. To Wendy, the words that were blurted out initially would seem more real and truthful.
Wendy scraped herself with her nails, and her hand started to bleed. Todd could not bear the sight of Wendy inflicting injury to herself. He took a piece of tissue and wiped the blood off her hand. He said worriedly, "Corrine, your hand is bleeding..." Wendy let Todd tend to the wounds. She did this to herself so the injuries would not be deep. As long as she stopped scrapping her fingers, the bleeding would eventually stop. However, Wendy could not seem to stop doing it. The pain from her fingers made her feel that she was still alive.
Seeing that Wendy did not seem to have the intention to stop, Todd grabbed both her hands. "What on earth are you trying to do?"
With her hands being restricted, she could not scrape her own hands anymore. But she felt more flustered than before.
"Corrine, don’t you believe in Michael at all?" Todd said. "You have weathered so much with Michael all these years. You should know better than me what sort of person he is. If he minded, he would not have asked me to come over to help."
"Come over to help?" Wendy asked. "To do what exactly? To come coax me?"
Todd made a guilty look as if he had said something he should not have and slapped his own mouth.
That got Wendy more curious. "Why did Michael tell you to come?"
"He wanted me to come talk to you. He wanted me to tell you that nothing happened that night. Even if anything happened, he doesn’t mind." Todd added the last sentence on purpose to lead Wendy to believe that something really happened that night.
"Think positively?" Wendy forced a smile, but her tears never stopped flowing. That was one thing she could not do now.
She looked down and asked, "What else did Michael say? Tell me the truth. How did he sound?"
Todd heaved a sigh. He reached out and patted Wendy on the shoulder. "Corrine, I think Michael really loves you and means well for you. Now that you know about it, I might as well tell you everything. It also saves me from beating around the bush."
Wendy did not say anything and waited for Todd to continue.
"I called you earlier today, but you did not pick up any of my calls, so I called Michael instead. Michael told me about your situation and asked me to come talk to you. He also asked me to think of ways to convince you that Clement did not get physically involved with you that night," Todd explained. "If Michael really minded, he would not have asked me to come all the way here to convince you. I’m sure you are aware that Michael and I are not on the best terms. But he felt that since we are friends, you would trust the things I tell you. Michael was willing to bow down and ask me for help. It was admirable for him to do that for your sake."
....
"He asked you to think of ways to make me believe that that night..." Wendy’s voice wavered. "So, something really happened that night?"
When Wendy saw the letter, she was able to guess what happened that night. But after hearing Todd’s words, it affirmed that Michael knew about it all along. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Honestly, I am not sure what exactly happened that night." Todd looked down slightly but sounded earnest. "That day, I was detained by Clement’s subordinates. I don’t really know what happened after that. I was saved by Michael’s bodyguards.
And after I was freed, you were already unconscious. Michael carried you in his arms and hurried to the hospital right after."
"You don’t know what happened? But Michael asked you to think of ways to let me believe that nothing had happened?" Wendy scoffed with a wavering tone. "So, when Michael arrived, the deed was already done, and it was also possible that Michael had witnessed it. Am I right?"
"That’s not it, Corrine..." Todd seemed like he tried to explain hastily but did not know how to go about explaining it. "It’s my fault. How could I tell you everything? I shouldn’t have told you the truth if I had known this would happen.
Michael got me here to help convince you. If he knew that I told you all these, I think I would be silenced forever."
"I don’t blame you." Wendy shook her head. "On the contrary, I want to thank you for telling me the truth. This matter concerns, me and I deserve to know the truth about what happened to me."
"Corrine, you don’t have to." Todd looked at Wendy worriedly and said, "It doesn’t matter what happened that night. What matters is that at least Michael doesn’t mind, isn’t it? He is more concerned about you and your well-being. Otherwise, he would not even ask me to come talk to you... So, even if something happened that night, as long as Michael doesn’t mind, then all is good."
"Does Michael really not mind? Didn’t you say that he would mind, unless he doesn’t love me?" Wendy said.
"I was blabbering nonsense earlier. And I also said, if he really loves you, he won’t mind it," Todd defended.
"Even if he doesn’t mind it now, it doesn’t mean he will not mind it in the future. This will be a thorn in his mind forever. It will prick him every time he recalls about the incident." Wendy took a deep breath and smiled as she shook her head. "You don’t have to persuade me anymore. Please go. I want some time alone."
"Corrine..." Todd frowned as he called out her name.
"I am asking you to leave." Wendy was determined.
Todd let out a sigh of helplessness. Seeing that it was impossible to continue the conversation with Wendy, he stood up and said, "Rest well then and get well soon. I will come again tomorrow. If there is anything you need or have cravings for, tell me anytime and I will send them over."
"It is not necessary. Don’t come again," Wendy rejected his offer. "I don’t wish to see anyone."
Todd did not know what to say further and turned to leave.
Michael asked immediately once Todd came out of the ward, "How was it?"
Todd shook his head and looked apologetic. "I have done my best, but Corrine didn’t seem to take it better."
"What do you mean?" Michael’s tone turned cold drastically. "What did you tell her?"
"I did as per what you told me to," Todd said. "I told her that nothing happened that night, but she didn’t seem to believe me either."
...
"You followed my instructions?" Michael was suspicious of Todd as he observed Todd’s expression. "How did you say it?"
"Didn’t I say it earlier? I told her that nothing happened that night, but she did not believe me," Todd said. "Corrine is not dumb. She is not someone I can easily sway by saying a few words."
"What else did you say?" Michael had always been guarded against Todd. If it was not because Wendy would not talk to Michael, he would not have asked Todd to talk to Wendy.
"I asked her to think positive. Even if something really happened that night, you would not have minded. You love her. You won’t..." Before Todd could complete his sentence, Michael swung his fist hard onto Todd’s face.
"Michael, what are you doing!" Todd was stunned by the punch. He wiped off the blood at the corner of his mouth. "You’re the one who asked me to help you."
"Todd, you did it on purpose, didn’t you?" Michael’s eyes were bloodshot with anger.
"You knew how affected she was because of this issue. How could you say something like that? Or did you think that if our relationship soured due to this, you would stand a chance? Let me tell you, stop dreaming!"
"Michael!" Todd was fuming that Michael had seen right through his intentions. His face turned red as he shouted, "Do you think that everyone is as petty as you? Don’t you know how smart Corrine is? Do you think that I can get her to believe me with just a few interactions? Didn’t you ask for my help because you yourself couldn’t convince her to trust your words? So, what made you think that I could persuade her otherwise?
Besides, I have been saying good things about you. Was I wrong to say that you love her and hence you won’t mind? This is what I get for being nosy and trying to help."
"Previously, when Wendy was hospitalized, you almost blurted it out. I couldn’t help but suspect that you did it on purpose just so that she would find out," Michael rationalized. "Todd, anyone can tell that you are still into Wendy. Indeed, you might be benevolent in the past. But now, it seems otherwise. Of course, I don’t have any evidence against you. You better not let me catch wind of any."
Michael could not be sure what kind of person Todd had become. He even suspected the origin of the letter and who sent it. After all, Todd had a motive to do so. Clement was nowhere to be found. Hence, there was no way to interrogate him. All these were just Michael’s assumptions. He had no concrete proof. Wendy trusted this friend of hers. If Wendy found out that Michael accused Todd without having any concrete evidence, she would be furious.
For this matter, Michael had to investigate on his own.
"Michael, we have known each other for quite some time now. This is your impression of me?" Todd scoffed with disappointment. "I have contributed so much to the downfall of HG. Timothy was my mentor, and I even betrayed him just to help you. Is this how you treat people who have helped you? Mr. Lucas, I think it is also about the time I re-evaluate what kind of person you are."
"If you guys want to continue quarreling, please go somewhere else," Wendy shrieked, sounding frustrated.
The commotion caused by the two men was too loud. Plus, when Todd left the room,he did not shut the door completely. Wendy could hear bits and pieces from the ward. She could not make out all of the contents, but she knew they were arguing because of her. Wendy did not have the mental strength and mood to deal with them. She just wanted to have some peace.
