Chapter 31

"Mr. Hastings Senior did ask me for help, but I want you to go back too," I said as I lowered my gaze. "Why?" Alex asked. "Well…" My hands nervously gripped the edge of my clothes. "Mr. Hastings Senior's health has been quite bad. He looks so haggard nowadays. You're his only child, so I think that you should go back." "I might consider it if you agree to follow my arrangements," Alex said almost immediately. I looked at him in surprise. I couldn't discern his expression through the haze of the cigarette smoke. But Mr. Hastings Senior was suffering at that moment. I felt that Alex using that as leverage was quite childish. "Are you really so against going back to the Hastings residence?" Alex asked in an incredibly gentle voice as he flicked his cigarette butt away. I looked down and said, "It's not that I'm against it. It's just that I was never meant to be a part of the Hastings family anyway." My eyes were starting to sting, and I was choking up. So, I didn't say anything mo