Chapter 317 Close call

Alana answered earnestly, “When my grandmother was home, she accidentally fell and hit her head. She had surgery, and though it was a close call, she’s now past the critical stage. But the doctor said there’s still some blood clotting in her brain that hasn’t dissipated, so she needs to continue treatment.”

Cynthia nodded. “I see. Well, that’s a stroke of luck, she’s managed to pull through.”

Alana nodded, trying to respond to every sentence, “Mm-hmm.”

Cynthia added, “Your grandmother must be quite old. Make sure to remind her to be

careful from now on.”

“Mm-hmm, I will.”

Cynthia noticed Alana’s tense expression and found it a bit amusing. “You seem a little nervous?”

It wasn’t just a little, it was a whole lot.

Darla, who had been ignored the whole time, suddenly spoke up, “Auntie, are you close with her?”

Cynthia suddenly realized Darla was still here and glanced at Darla. “Oh, Darla, I forgot to introduce her to you. Her name is Alana. She’s the cleaning lady my son hired.”

The lies she had told came back to haunt her like a boomerang, piercing deep into her heart.

Upon hearing this, Darla couldn’t help but let out a mocking smile.

That look of contempt seemed to tell Alana:

A cleaning lady... what a disgraceful profession!

With such a lowly status, does she even deserve to be with Stephan?

When Alana met Darla’s gaze, a lump of pent-up anger seemed to form in her chest.

She clenched her fists and blurted out, “I’m not a cleaning lady...”

Cynthia was quick to grasp the implication. “Not a cleaning lady? Has my son already fired you?”

Alana choked on her words.

Cynthia sighed. “Oh, that brat. He has a terrible temper and all sorts of quirks, he’s not someone just anyone could handle. It’s okay to be fired. You’re still young; it’ll be easy to find another job.”

Alana’s lips twitched as she tried to explain.

But just then, the elevator doors opened.

Cynthia said to Alana, “I still have rounds to make. I’ll be going now.”

Alana could only nod. “Okay, goodbye, Dr. Cynthia.”

Cynthia stepped out first.

Darla was about to follow her out when.. But she deliberately paused for a few seconds, glanced at Alana, and smiled contemptuously. “Alana, so in Aunt Cynthia’s eyes, you’re nothing more than a cleaner. A cleaner, what a lowly, unsavory profession. It’s laughable just to think about it.”

Hearing this, Alana’s breathing grew shallow.

Her fists clenched instantly.

What was wrong with being a cleaning lady?

Does that mean she was unfit for public view?

Darla continued, deliberately provoking Alana, “The fact that Aunt Cynthia would

rather see you as a cleaning lady than have you involved with her son shows she doesn’t approve of you at all, and she’ll never agree to you being with Stephan.”

“So, I’m giving you some friendly advice: let Stephan go right now. Stop clinging to him and harping on about him.”

Alana’s heart sank a little, and her face betrayed a sense of tension.

It had to be said that Darla’s skill at provoking people with her sarcastic, backhanded remarks was truly first-rate.

Darla smiled as she watched Alana’s reaction. “Having said all that, I’m leaving now. You’re on your own.”

She turned and walked away with an air of arrogance.

Alana took a deep breath.

Don’t let it get to you. Don’t let it get to you too much.

This is just Darla’s tactic to provoke her and throw her off balance. If she really let it get to her, she’d be falling into Darla’s trap.

But her mood was still slightly affected.

Alana went to her grandmother’s hospital room; her grandmother had just woken up. The nurse was just coming out of the bathroom carrying a basin of hot water, ready to wash her grandmother’s face.

Alana took over from the caregiver, wrung out the hot towel, and gently wiped her grandmother’s face.

Her grandmother sighed. “Oh, you’ve hired a caregiver for me, yet you still insist on doing these things yourself. Don’t you have your own things to do?”

Alana shook her head. “No, the most important thing for me right now is taking good care of Grandma.”

Grandma couldn’t help but ask, “What about your job here?”

“I quit.”

Grandma frowned.

Alana reassured her, “Grandma, I can always find another job. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Grandma sighed and had no choice but to accept it.

“So, what are your plans with Stephan now? Are you really planning to meet his parents and discuss marriage?”

Alana paused for a moment.

Grandma had watched her grow up from childhood; how could she not sense something was amiss?

“Lana, are you afraid to meet his parents?”

Alana remained silent for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgment. “Yeah, a little. Although Stephan says he doesn’t mind that I have no parents, but... his parents...”

Compared to Stephan, the difference in their backgrounds was too great; she couldn’t help but feel a bit inferior.

Even though Stephan had always firmly chosen her, this sense of inferiority was deeply ingrained in her heart and difficult to shake off.

Besides, the reality was just that cruel.

Her grandmother couldn’t help but feel heartbroken for Alana. In fact, putting herself in Alana’s shoes, she would feel exactly the same way.

After all, the gap between Alana and Stephan was simply too vast; it was only natural for her to feel inferior.

What’s more, Alana was raised by her parents who abandoned her, so she suffers from severe self-doubt and a deep-seated sense of unworthiness.

She really was a pitiful child.

Her grandmother comforted her with a heavy heart, “Silly child, you’re not fatherless and motherless. You do have parents, it’s just that they were selfish and chose to abandon you.”

Alana’s expression remained calm. “Grandma, you said it yourself, they don’t want me. So whether I have parents or not makes no difference.”

Her grandmother’s lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something but held back.

What she really wanted to say was that Alana’s mother had secretly come back.

She recalled the woman, sneaking into her hospital room late at night to whisper those secret words.

It showed that all these years, she had been thinking of Alana as well.

Grandma suddenly took Alana’s hand and asked earnestly, “Lana, have you ever thought about going to find your mother?”

Alana pressed her lips together. “What would be the point of looking for her? If I find her, am I just going to be abandoned by her all over again?”

Grandma closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed with a heavy heart.

After a moment of deep reflection, she finally spoke up, “Your mother came back to see me secretly while I was bedridden. She said a lot to me. In her words, there was guilt toward you. Deep down... perhaps she still can’t let go of you. If you went to find her, she might take you back.”

Alana gave a self-deprecating smile. “Find her? Where am I supposed to find her?She’s been gone for so long. Even if she came back, she’d only meet you in secret, she wouldn’t dare to see you openly. So where do you expect me to find her?”

“Besides, I wouldn’t go looking for her anyway. She abandoned me back then and hasn’t cared about me since. I’ve just treated her as if she were never my mother.”

Grandma’s heart ached. “Lana, don’t think so extremistically...”

Alana said, “Grandma, even if I went to find her, she might not acknowledge me. She knows I exist, yet she’s never once thought to come back and see me all these years. Doesn’t that prove she never considered me her daughter?”

Grandma choked on her words, then shook her head. “Never mind, never mind. I won’t say another word. I won’t bring this up anymore.”

‘The more we talk about it, the heavier my heart feels.’ Grandma thought.

Alana gave a soft “Mm-hmm” and didn’t pursue the topic further.

After helping her grandmother wash her face, she carried the basin of hot water into the bathroom to empty it.

She didn’t leave right away, but instead hid in the bathroom, breathing deeply.

Unconsciously, memories began to surface in her mind, back when she was five, just a little girl.

She had heard her mother arguing with her grandmother. Her mother wanted to abandon her and run off with another man.

Her grandmother scolded her mother angrily...