SWNOVELS Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Fake Painting!
“Who are you?!” The overwhelming thoughts flooded Aiden’s brain and caused him to wake up with a yell. He had a splitting headache when his eyes snapped open and found himself lying on a hospital bed! When he looked around the ward, he saw a beautiful woman sitting next to him. Her face was lit up with joy at his wakefulness! “Thank God! You’ve finally woken up! You scared me half to death! The doctor said that it was just abrasions, but you didn’t wake up. I thought you were going to die!” The woman patted her chest in relief. The sudden jolt made Aiden dizzy! Aiden checked the time in a panic. It was too late to be admiring the beautiful woman. It was already 11.30AM! “Oh no! I’m going to be late!” “Where’s my painting?” Aiden jumped up from the hospital bed and frantically looked around. When the woman saw Aiden jumping up, she was startled and hurriedly said, “I destroyed your painting when I crashed into you. I happened to have another one in my car. You can take it as a replacement!” “Thank you!” Aiden took the painting and ran out of the ward without even glancing at it! “Hey! Let me have your number!” The woman shouted hastily behind Aiden. “I’m Gina Harper!” But his only response to Gina was a closing door. Aiden, who was running on the road in a panic, suddenly froze in his tracks. He looked at his hands and felt his heartbeat. There was a red mark in the middle of Aiden’s palm, exactly the same shape and size as the jade pendant he had. Aiden burst into tears… That was because he could feel a steady stream of internal force flowing throughout his body, and his destroyed martial arts foundation was repaired! Suddenly, he found himself practically swimming in the vast amount of medical knowledge that surged in his mind… The bursting internal force in his body… It meant that the wild dream he had earlier was true! It is real! Everything is true! Aiden cried out excitedly in his mind! What happened was real, and it wasn’t just a dream! “God, you’ve finally heard my prayers!” Aiden looked up and cried to the sky. His tears streamed down his face. “That man is crazy!” “He probably is! He suddenly stopped running and burst into tears!” Passersby looked at Aiden’s disheveled appearance and commented. They even laughed at him, but Aiden didn’t care. Instead, he felt as though he was on cloud nine. Those disparaging remarks only made him more anchored to reality, and he told himself that this was definitely not a dream! “Then, why did the Finnegan Family decide to force me into a corner and eliminate me? Who was the one who trapped me in that hell?!” Aiden muttered to himself, “Since God gave me another chance, I need to find out the truth. I couldn’t call myself a man if I didn’t avenge myself! That network that I painstakingly built didn’t even search for me! Still, considering how I’m going in utterly blind, I should remain a useless son-in-law!” Aiden had made up his mind to secretly investigate the events that year, but now his foundation of martial arts had been restored, and those medical skills that were bestowed upon him… Finally, he had the capital to pick a bone with the Finnegan Family! Anyone who had wronged him before was about to face his wrath! Now he could really face Angelina! That way, she could see for herself if Ronald really chose a useless husband for her! Aiden looked at the time and hastily hailed a cab before rushing toward the hotel. He sat in the car in excitement after he got a new lease on life. Then, just when he thought he would spend his whole life slaving away, God gave him another chance! “Now, the most important thing was to hide my identity!” When Aiden finally reached the hotel entrance, Angelina was already waiting there! “Did you get the gift for grandma?” Angelina did a once over on Aiden’s unkempt look and shot him a disgusted glare. Aiden raised the calligraphy pens and the painting in his hand. He said with a smile, “I got it. You won’t be ashamed of me this time!” In the car, Aiden looked at the pens and the painting Gina gave him. It was far better than the one he bought! It was the original work of Earl Crane, one of the most famous artists in the world! Angelina didn’t even bother looking at it. She just frowned and said, “Don’t talk such nonsense. All our relatives will be here today. It’s routine for them to ridicule you. It doesn’t matter how horrible it will be. You’ll just have to grit your teeth and bear them silently!” In fact, she hoped that he would fight back at least once so she could see his dignity. But Aiden had always been meek and timid. Angelina didn’t want Aiden’s nonsense to drag her down to his level amongst her family. Aiden smiled and nodded, but his face was nonchalant. When Angelina saw Aiden’s indifference, she huffed coldly and spun around to walk into the hotel without him! Aiden was used to receiving such an attitude from her. So, he just smiled wryly and followed her. “Hey! Angelina! Why are you two just arriving?!” “Could it be that you didn’t prepare a gift and are too embarrassed to enter?” “Did Angelina prepare any surprises for grandma?” The other family members from the Grays greeted Angelina familiarly but ignored Aiden. Nevertheless, he didn’t care one whit about their disregard. He was even a little thankful that no one was taking the opportunity to ridicule him. Just when he thought he could escape this relatively unscathed, someone didn’t want to let him go so easily. And that person was none other than Angelina’s cousin, Kevin Gray. Ever since they met, he had a habit of making everything difficult for Aiden! “Aiden, what are you holding in your hands? Is it a gift for grandma?” Kevin looked at Aiden in disdain. “You didn’t buy it from a random stall outside, did you?” “I did!” Aiden replied honestly. When the other family members heard it, they all burst into laughter. Angelina’s face flushed red in embarrassment. She honestly didn’t expect Aiden to embarrass her as soon as he arrived at the hotel! Regardless, Angelina didn’t respond. In fact, she never regarded Aiden as a family member anyway. So, as long as the fire didn’t reach her, she wouldn’t speak up for him. “A good-for-nothing will always be a good-for-nothing, even at a family event. He even prepared a bogus gift for grandma. I don’t know what grandpa saw in you that time!” Kevin said with a mocking smile on his face. “I’ll show you mine! This painting cost me 60,000!” Kevin said proudly as he presented the painting in his hands. “Hurry up and throw yours away so you won’t be embarrassed!” Aiden didn’t respond but just glanced at Angelina. He reminded himself that she told him not to speak, so he chose to remain silent! “Kevin, I think that’s enough! You don’t have to show off how rich you are in front of us!” Angelina said lightly. She never meant to involve herself with Aiden’s issues, but he was still her husband, after all. Everyone knew that they had a wedding, even if they had never been intimate the last three years, nor had she allowed him to touch her. But it still couldn’t change the fact that he was her husband! Aiden looked at Angelina in shock. This was the first time she had spoken up for him in the last three years since he joined the family! “Show off? Angelina, do you think I’ll show off to your useless husband?” Kevin snorted derisively. “I just don’t think he treats grandma as he should. If he’s ignorant, are you going to act ignorant as well? You know that he’s a good-for-nothing husband, so why not ridicule him with me?! Hmph!” “You…” Angelina’s face flushed further when Kevin said those harsh words. Since her grandfather died, her status in the family fell instantly to the lowest of low, and naturally, her financial situation wasn’t as good as Kevin’s. Aiden looked at Kevin and said dispassionately, “You can show off your money all you want, but I’m afraid you didn’t know that you’ve been lied to. Maybe you just bought a fake painting to trick grandma! Your painting looked like it had been made to look as though it had aged through the years. My paintings may look coarse, but at least they are authentic. I would never resort to buying fake paintings like you to trick grandma!” Aiden’s words were like a bomb. Everyone in the Gray Family instantly looked at him in shock! Aiden had dared to argue against Kevin! He had even implied to everyone else that Kevin’s painting was fake!