Chapter 14

Melody followed Jeremy to his office. She found Andrew, Laura, and Krystal were already there. Seeing Jeremy bring Melody in, Krystal immediately got to her feet. "She's here now, so she can keep you company. I still have work to do." Laura stared at her pleadingly, clearly wanting her to stay. "Krys, can you have lunch with me later?" "I'm very busy," Krystal answered before she glanced over to Melody. "She should be free. You can ask her to go with you." "But she's not my daughter," Laura blurted out. "Krys, I just want to spend more time with you." Laura's tone even carried a hint of begging by the end. There was no mother on earth who didn't love their child. After Krystal had disappeared, she had felt like there was a hole in her heart. Now, her daughter, whom she had thought about every day, was finally found. She naturally wanted to do everything she could to make up for all the years of missed mother-daughter bonding time. However, Krystal only looked at her calmly. Without any hesitation, she said, "I don't need you to spend time with me. Work keeps me busy every day, and I don't want to waste energy on anything else. Besides, I was doing fine all these years without you anyway." With that, she turned and walked out of the office without even a hint of reluctance. Laura's eyes immediately misted over. "Andrew, Krys still blames us." Andrew's brows furrowed. After a while, he finally said, "Let's take it slow. Krys just returned home, after all. It's normal that she hasn't settled in." Melody was standing behind Jeremy. Her head was hung low, and she didn't look at them or say anything. In times like this, she knew that it was best if she pretended to be invisible. However, Laura still noticed her. "Who asked you to come here? You knew Krys was here, so why did you have to come and be an eyesore?" she snapped. Melody's hands fisted, and she looked toward Jeremy. Jeremy couldn't see Melody's expression. He was looking at Andrew instead. Andrew admonished Laura in a low voice. "That's enough from you. Melody is also our child. I was the one who asked Jeremy to bring her over." He then turned to Melody. "Melody, I made a reservation at a nearby restaurant. Let's have lunch together." Melody never refused Andrew. She was the adopted child who lived under someone else's roof, so she didn't have such a right. Regardless of what Andrew asked of her, she could only say yes. After all, there was no point in saying no. Andrew glanced at Jeremy. "Jeremy, are you joining us?" "I still have some work to do, so I won't be joining," Jeremy answered. Andrew nodded. "Work is important. But Krys just started here, so you'll still need to watch out for her more." Jeremy hummed in response. "I will." The restaurant Andrew booked wasn't far from the hospital. However, Melody was well aware that Andrew hadn't just asked her out for a simple meal. As expected, the moment they took their seats, Andrew asked, "Melody, how are you and Krys getting along?" Melody answered truthfully, "Dr. Finnigan just started at the department, so there's still a lot of things she needs to familiarize herself with. We haven't had much interaction yet." "Then what do you think of Krys as a person? According to her age, she's also your older sister." Melody's heart clenched, and her eyes darted. Andrew was trying to assess how she felt about Krystal. Laura scoffed. "Do we need her to tell us what kind of person Krys is? Krys might not have grown up alongside us, but she's ambitious and hardworking. She obtained great results in her specialty." Andrew didn't respond. Instead, his eyes remained fixed on Melody. "Melody, what do you think?" Melody could feel his probing gaze. Her hands resting on her legs clenched slightly. "She's amazing, and her skills are great too. Everyone likes her, and I… I admire her too," said Melody slowly but sincerely. Only then did Andrew stop assessing her and breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear." He continued, "Melody, as you should know, Krys' mental state is still rather sensitive. So your mother and I have discussed something, and we wanted to get your approval." "What is it?" "We want to hold a banquet for Krystal to formally announce that she's our child and a member of the Wardolf family. We also want to remove you from the family tree and other official documents. Although Krys won't say it, I'm sure it still upsets her inside. "But don't worry, Melody. Even if you're no longer officially a Wardolf, you're still my daughter," he said, appearing thoughtful. Andrew sat there waiting for Melody's response. However, Melody knew that Andrew wasn't actually discussing anything with her. He was merely informing her. She never had a say in this family. Andrew was doing this merely because he was worried that Melody would be upset. He was afraid Melody would harbor ill will toward Krystal, which would then cause problems for the Wardolfs. The Wardolf family had their own charitable organization, so Andrew always made sure to maintain appearances. Melody nodded obediently. "I understand, Dad." Andrew's intention wasn't to have lunch with Melody. Once he heard her response, they got up and left. Melody didn't eat much for lunch. When nurses got busy, they usually didn't even have time for a breather. As such, they often had issues with their backs and stomachs. Melody slowly returned to her department. Just as she was about to grab a small muffin to keep the hunger at bay, she saw Caleb place a cake in front of her. "Ms. Wardolf, Dr. Chesson bought you this cake."