PAMPERED BY MY THREE BROTHERS: THE RETURN OF THE NEGLECTED HEIRESS

Chapter 1861: Extra: I

[Extra 1]

Grace and Haines sat in the dining room in total silence. She had her eyes down while Haines stared at her with conflict.

It had been a while since Haines started staying at her place. However, he had noticed that Grace wasn’t taking any medicine; the only ones she was taking were vitamins. So, he assumed she was hiding them.

Now, with Haines’ surgery scheduled in five days, he finally mustered the courage to talk about her condition. It was risky because they could have continued as they were, but he felt he needed to let her know that he would be with her regardless, whether it was just another day together, another month, or even a year. It didn’t matter; he wanted to be with her in this battle.

“You… know?” Grace lifted her eyes ever so slowly, disbelief and confusion swirling in them. “How?”

Haines pressed his mouth and sighed. “I’ve seen the medicines in the bin… the day I woke up at your place after Penny dropped me off here.”

But that was quite a long time ago.

Her brows knitted, thinking about the developments in her relationship with him. The more she thought about it, the more she realized one thing.

She scoffed. “Is that why… you agreed to go out with me? Not because you’re interested? But because you… pity me?”

No, he wanted to say. But there was a kernel of truth in that. It might not be the main reason, but it played a crucial role in how this all began.

His silence was enough to answer her question.

“…” Grace raised her brows as she leaned back, laughing in mockery. “I feel like a joke.”

“Gracie—”

“Haines, a pity gesture is one thing,” she spat out, her eyes sharp. “But going out with me to fulfill someone’s dying wish? God. I wish you had just stabbed me because this is worse.”

Haines reached out to her, but she pulled away before he could touch her. His hand paused, looking up at her as she got to her feet.

She gazed down at him. “Sleep in the spare room. I don’t think I want to talk to you for now.”

With that, she walked away. Haines could only stare at her apologetically.

He knew this would happen when he decided to bring it up. Even Mildred and Miss Sandford had advised him to keep it from Grace for the rest of his life. However, Haines couldn’t stomach it, especially knowing that Grace was going through something and enduring it alone.

But just before Grace disappeared from view, she stopped at the entrance.

“Do you even know why I started pursuing you?” she remarked under her breath, not looking back at him. “Because not so long ago, I thought I was going to die. But then, thankfully, I healed and survived what was trying to kill me.”

She pressed her lips and looked back. “Considering it as my second life, I saw things differently. It made me realize just how short and fragile life is. So, I thought, why not pursue the man I’ve been interested in? After all, I almost died.”

“I mustered the courage to pursue instead of being pursued, Haines,” she whispered. “But what I didn’t pursue is to be pitied by the very man I tried to impress. Pity is not what I wanted from you.”

Having said that, she resumed her steps, holding back her frustrated tears. Now, she couldn’t help but question if everything she shared with him was out of love or pity.

She hated it.

Haines had already risen to his feet, shock plastered across his face.

“She’s… healed?” he whispered, his complexion pale. “When—”

Realization came a little too late for him, remembering that he found out because her medicines were in the bin. He thought she had thrown them out of spite and denial, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.

Grace threw away her medications because she didn’t need them anymore.

“I’ve… messed up.”

—

Days passed, and Grace didn’t talk to Haines. She didn’t kick him out, but she pretended not to see him. She gave him the cold shoulder, which he deserved.

“We told you so,” Mildred clicked her tongue continuously while Miss Sandford sighed. Both women were seated beside each other, staring at Haines across from them.

Even though Haines barely said anything, they could see how this was affecting him. Well, he had just sabotaged his relationship. This wouldn’t have happened if he had kept his mouth shut.

“But then again, you wouldn’t have known that she’s already cancer-free,” said Miss Sandford, making Mildred nod.

“That’s a good point,” Mildred nodded.

The two of them then set their eyes on their distressed friend. Today should’ve been the day Haines planned to introduce Grace to the Bennet Family. But here he was, sulking.

“What should I do?” Haines asked them, desperation clear in his eyes. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Keep pursuing her,” Miss Sandford offered him a kind smile. “She’s upset and hurt, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you.”

“As long as you show her your dedication, you’ll eventually win her over,” Mildred added. “You need a lot of patience because it won’t be easy.”

Haines darted his eyes between the two, and as they advised, he did everything to win Grace over. Although he didn’t know what else to do because everything he was doing was what he naturally did, even when they were good together.

Buy her flowers every time he came home, prepare her nutritious warm meals, and do many other things.

—

As usual, Haines came home and prepared dinner for her. But for some reason, Grace returned home early today.

“What is that?” Grace stopped at the entrance of the kitchen, brows knitted.

Haines, who was in the kitchen, turned to her. “Oh, you’re home early? I’m boiling some beef, and—” he stopped when she suddenly covered her mouth and gagged a bit.

“Grace?”

“Take that away from here—” Grace gagged again and ran away as if she were running from the smell. She ended up throwing up in the bathroom, feeling a bit suffocated by the lingering scent of the beef he was boiling in the kitchen.

Today, Grace didn’t feel well. She felt dizzy, so she came home early.

“Grace?” Worried, Haines followed her and stopped at the bathroom door. His brows knitted as he watched her throw up into the toilet. “Darling, are you alright?”

He kneeled beside her as she wiped the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Yes,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s just that I don’t like the smell you’re cooking, probably because I haven’t been feeling well. I’ve been feeling sick since this morning, a bit dizzy throughout the day…”

She trailed off, then snapped her eyes open, meeting his.

“Should we go to the hospital?” he asked worriedly. “You look a little pale. What are you feeling now?”

Grace blinked and nodded. “I think… I’m pregnant.”

As soon as the word slipped out of her mouth, they both looked like they had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

Haines quickly bought her an entire carton of pregnancy tests out of panic. Grace used ten of them.

The result? Two red lines while the other pregnancy test said: Pregnant.

—

Two days later, at the Bennet Mansion…

“WHAT?!” Charles shouted while everyone stared at Haines and Grace with wide eyes and gaping mouths. “You—she—WHAT?!”

“You’re… pregnant?” Allison asked in shock.

“Oh, boy,” Jessa, who was there to see who Haines’s lover was, took a sip of her tea. “This is fun.”

Penny, Hugo, and Slater, also present, wrinkled their noses. “We’re getting cousins?!”

Grace and Haines sighed heavily, seated on the sofa as if they were too young for this.

In the end, Haines and Grace received an earful from Charles, while Jessa added fuel to the man’s dismay. But that didn’t mean they didn’t welcome Grace with open arms; they just had to scold her first.

As for Haines and Grace, she was still upset with him, but with Haines’ dedication, she eventually forgave him at the start of her second trimester. Before her belly became too big, the two tied the knot in a civil wedding, planning a grander celebration once their baby turned one.

As Mildred and Miss Sandford had said, it would take a lot of patience, but it was worth it. And they were right.

It was worth it.

Haines’ life had been a slight tragedy. He had dedicated his life to the Bennet Family and believed he was fine with being alone until his last breath. But now? He realized he wasn’t fine with being alone for the rest of his life.

Because now, he couldn’t imagine his life without his wife and children.

It took him many years to reach this point in his life.

It might have been a little late, but he was still glad it happened.

All those years of waiting and numbing pain; he was still blessed with a wife and a child. Thus, he vowed to dedicate the rest of his life not just to someone else’s family, but to the one he was building with Grace.