Chapter 13
Glasses of whisky spread across the table.
Grace looked up. Her gaze landed on Antonio, looking for an answer from his expression.
However, the light was dim. His expression was too vague to read.
Grace felt suffocated in the boundless silence.
Her breathing became ragged when pictures from the past rushed back into her mind.
When Antonio just moved to the old residence, he was tormented by the loss of sight and spent every day drinking.
Worried about him, Grace tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen.
Then, one day, when he was drunk again, he sneered and pushed some bottles of alcohol to her.
“Even the daughter of a domestic worker is meddling with my business now. Does everyone think they’re above me now? All right. Drink this. Then, I’ll listen to you.”
Grace wanted to tell him that wasn’t what she meant. She wasn’t meddling but worried.
Thus, despite her allergy to alcohol, she downed the drink without hesitation
Several minutes later, she was taken to the hospital.
When she opened her eyes, Antonio was sitting by the hospital bed. With a long face, he complained, “I was the drunk one, not you! You knew you were allergic. Were you trying to kill yourself?”
Grace only said, “I was worried about you, Mr. Kaufman. You’ll regain your sight. Even if you can’t, I’ll look after you for the rest of my life. Cheer up, OK?”
Antonio didn’t drink again from that day on.
Not a single bottle was seen in his home for the next few years.
Thinking of this, Grace smiled. But there were tears in her eyes.
She couldn’t be bothered to prove her innocence anymore. She bent over to pick up the bottle of mustard and poured it into the whisky.
Then, she said coolly, “Only the whisky? How can it represent my sincere apology? I’ll elevate the punishment myself. Is it enough?”
With that, she gulped the alcohol, one glass after another.
The spicy and bitter taste went down her throat and reached her stomach. But it was nothing compared to the bitterness in her heart.
Grace was about to finish the seventh glass when Antonio finally couldn’t watch anymore.
“Enough!”
Looking at the remaining ten–odd glasses of whisky, Grace laughed.
“Enough? You mean I’ve apologized? Is your beloved woman happy
now?”
Antonio jerked up and grasped her hand.
His formerly stony face was now livid.
“You know that’s not what I mean. Grace, I told you it’s over between Sofia and me. My family doesn’t accept you in the first place. After you did such a horrible thing, they’ll have more reason to reject you. I just didn’t want you to be in trouble. I was protecting you.
Antonio spoke confidently, and what he said sounded reasonable.
But Grace laughed out loud.
He claimed the Kaufman family didn’t want him to marry her because she was only the daughter of a lowly domestic worker. But Sofia had hurt him. deeply. Did his family approve of his marriage to Sofia? Unlikely.
But still, despite the obstacles, Antonio married her as Sofia wished.
Everything Antonio had said turned out to be an excuse. He just didn’t love Grace.
It was pointless to say anything more. Grace shook his hand off and turned around to leave
When she reached the door, she tipped and passed out.
“Grace!”
Antonio’s heart skipped a beat. He rushed over and carried Grace in his arms to leave.
Sofia suddenly grabbed his sleeve and said in a choking voice. “Antonio, I feel dizzy.”
Antonio stopped in his tracks.
A few seconds later, he strode away and said. “I need to take Grace to the
hospital Ask your assistant to take care of you.”
Grace came around to find herself in the hospital.
Antonio stayed up all night. He was relieved to see her open her eyes.
They looked at each other for a long while, and neither of them spoke.
Antonio handed her a glass of warm water and tucked her in. Then, he brought the doctor to re–examine Grace and took notes of points of
attention.
His phone rang several times. He was supposed to be at a meeting. Antonio didn’t go.
His secretary was waiting at the door, looking anxious. Grace said, “Go to work. I’ll be OK. You don’t have to do this, anyway.”
Antonio paused while peeling an apple for Grace. He replied slowly, “Of course, I should be here for you. I owe you everything. Grace, this is how you took care of me. Remember?”
Grace’s eyes glittered with tears.
Back then, after Antonio lost his sight, his rich family thought he was useless to them and abandoned him.
Only Grace was there for him. She self–studied braille and then taught Antonio every day. She learned with him, took him out for sunbathing and cooked nice meals for him.
It was like she had kept the moon to herself. Her dark life became bright because of Antonio.
The past seven years was the best time in her life
Flowever, the moon didn’t belong to her, and what was in the past remamed in the past.
In the afternoon, the doctor took Grace to the examination room.
Half an hour later, she returned to the ward, supported by a nurse.
When she opened the door, she found Antonio talking coldly to his mom, Nancy Kaufman, on her phone with knitted brows.
“I told you Grace and I are in love. I don’t care about her family background. Stop meddling. I’ll marry her, and she won’t leave me.”
Hearing the noise at the door, Antonio looked up at Grace.
Just then, Nancy asked in confusion, “She won’t leave you? Don’t you know? She promised me the other day that she’d go abroad.”
