Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

"Yulia, you should shut up." Jonas glared at her. "I don't want to hear anyone talking about this, especially if it's coming from
you."
Jonas could not possibly believe that Melinda was capable of doing such a thing to his face. He had no plans on keeping the
child in the first place. He suspected that the person who was responsible for this was Holley.
It never crossed his mind, not even once, that Holley would do such a terrible thing when she was caught in a tight situation.
"She has killed two children but you still defend her!" Yulia growled at her brother. Eyes wide in anger, she then turned to
Melinda. "How were you able to trick both my brother and grandfather to protect you no matter what?"
Yulia stared in surprise at Jonas. She thought he would get furious at Melinda yet it was the complete opposite. In fact, he
continued to defend the woman.
Melinda was at a loss for words as she turned to face Jonas. She did not expect him to believe her. This made her feelings for
him even more complicated all of a sudden.
Just when she thought that she was all alone and that the whole world doubted her, someone suddenly stood by her side and
firmly defended her.
Ever since Melinda realized what it really meant to be in love, she knew a fact that she felt it for this man who was currently
standing in front of her. Tears soon welled up from her eyes and started to roll down her cheeks.
She snuffled and hastily tried to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her hand. Finally deciding to say something since
the accident happened, she slowly opened her mouth to speak.
"I didn't do it. It wasn't me," she sobbed.
"I believe you," Jonas answered back. His eyes turned soft as he looked at her.
Suddenly, he hesitantly stretched out his hand to hold her, worried at the same time that Melinda would reject him. He seemed to
be thinking twice on what he was about to do but finally mustered up the courage to grab her hand. When Melinda held his hand
in return and did not try to break free from his grip, the corners of his mouth lifted up to a small smile as he softly breathed a sigh
of relief.
"I believe you as well," Nelson said. "Mellie is a kind girl. I could not imagine her doing such a thing."

Eyes filled with pity for Melinda, the old man went downstairs along with Gavin. His demeanor suddenly shifted as he turned to
Yulia with piercing cold eyes.
He was definitely disappointed with his granddaughter's actions.
"Yulia," he addressed her in an authoritative voice, "I don't mind sending you abroad for a few years so you could learn some
proper etiquette."
Nelson's words seemed to be effective since it apparently made Yulia shut up. She did not utter a single word after. Melinda felt a
little guilty as she glanced over to Nelson. She was aware that he had always been eager to have a great-grandchild.
"What's the matter? Why do you look so sad?" the old man asked.
As soon as Nelson reached out to her and placed a hand gently on top of her head, Melinda wasn't able to fight the tears that
once again fought to come out. She looked back at the old man with watery eyes.
"Grandpa," she wept.
Melinda suddenly missed her grandparents. Back home, everything was simple. There were no accusations or heartbreaks to
deal with. All her grandparents did was spoil her like a little princess. Even when she arrogantly made some mistakes or got into
trouble, her grandfather was always there to clean up the mess for her.
Then he would use his own method to educate her. Leonard was a soldier. His kindness and integrity had a great deal of
influence in Melinda.
"Don't cry, Grandpa is here," Nelson told her in a soothing voice. "If Leonard sees you like this he'll definitely get angry at me for
making his granddaughter sad. I am already old and not as strong as I was, so help me."
Nelson's words made Melinda homesick but she quickly dried her tears. Her grandfather always told her that it was no use to let
others see you cry.
"Your tears will only cause distress to your family," he always said.
Seeing Melinda in this state made Jonas feel lost. He stood there helplessly as he watched Nelson trying to comfort her.
"Come on, let me show you some photos of me and your grandfather back from when we joined the army," Nelson said in an
attempt to cheer her up.

Melinda decided to forget everything that just happened and quietly followed the old man to his study.
Jonas was instructed by his grandfather to return to the villa. Nelson also temporarily took away all of Yulia's electronic devices,
which caused her to throw a fit inside her room.
While showing the pictures to Melinda, Nelson smiled fondly as he remembered the old times. It was evident that he treasured
the memories he had with her grandfather during the days when they were in the army.
"Grandpa," Melinda said and then suddenly hesitated.
"You do not need to hold back, say want you want to say," the old man urged. "If someone mistreats you, don't think twice about
telling me. I will deal with it."
Nelson noticed the hesitance in Melinda's voice as a sign of grievance. Melinda's silence made him wish that she could act more
of a child who did not hesitate to tell grownups anything.
"Grandpa, is the only reason why you treat me so well all the time because you and my grandfather are good friends?" Melinda
finally asked. "You have many other comrades just like my grandfather and many of them have granddaughters who are much
better than me," she continued.
Nelson was surprised for a moment by Melinda's words as she revealed all of her doubts. After a moment, he started to laugh.
It was true that he had a lot of comrades in the army, but there was only one person who had devoted his self to him and helped
him a lot. The rest of them only wanted to be close to him so that they could gain some benefit.
"Your grandfather is a person worthy of respect. I owe him my life," he told her.
Nelson then began to reminisce about the old days with sadness evident in his eyes. The memory of the events during that year
was still freshly etched on his mind. Both of them were excellent soldiers, but Leonard was the best at everything he did.
Ever since they were young, they always competed among one another. Although they had become rivals, they still respected
each other. However, when Leonard saved Nelson's life, their relationship changed entirely.
"There was one time that your grandfather and I were deployed on the same mission. I was suddenly caught in the limelight and
was discovered by the enemy that almost took my life. I thought that I was going to die in the field, but your grandfather risked
his life to save me. After that, we became very good friends," Nelson said.

The old man continued, "As time passed, I didn't know anymore who owed who, but what I know is that I owed your grandfather.
Not only did he save my life back then, but he also sacrificed his future to let me have the opportunity to be able to study and go
to college. I would not have been able to own Soaring Group now if that hadn't happened."
Melinda silently pondered on the old man's revelation. She did not know about this piece of news and it was the first time she
learned about it. Now she finally understood why Nelson treated her so well and wanted to give her a good life.
For Nelson, everything he had right now was all because of Leonard. If Leonard hadn't risked his life and given up his own future
for him, Nelson wouldn't be who he was today.
"My grandfather didn't tell me anything." Melinda continued to look at the old pictures in realization.
"How could he have told you? I doubt that your grandmother knew about it either."
Melinda knew that her grandfather wasn't concerned with fighting for neither power nor victory. Instead, he was a man of
principle. If anyone ever dared to hurt his precious granddaughter, he would absolutely show no mercy.
"Grandma must have known," she said.
"Not necessarily," Nelson replied.
Melinda felt that her grandfather loved her grandmother so much that they never kept secrets between them. Nelson, however,
thought that with how he knew Leonard, he would have definitely kept it to himself until his last breath.
The both of them continued to converse with each other with a lot of things. They were so deep in their discussion that they
didn't notice someone standing by the door of the study, who heard every single word of their conversation.
Jonas stood there still hidden, silently pondering to himself with what he just heard. He knew that Leonard was Nelson's
comrade, but what he did not know was that the relationship between them went more beyond that.
He now understood why his grandfather insisted on him marrying Melinda. Whenever he and Melinda got into a fight, Nelson
would always take her side and demanded him to take good care of her. He didn't understand why Nelson would have gone far
as threatening him with his inheritance but now it all made sense.
Back then, Jonas believed that Melinda had been tricking his grandfather into taking her side. Now, he realized that Nelson's
actions were his own way of repaying his old friend for everything that he had done for him.

His face was etched with guilt. He had been wrong all this time. Melinda had never deceived anyone. In fact, she was the one
who had no idea the whole time.
Melinda's chat with Nelson left her in a better mood. Finally, Nelson couldn't help but say a few nice things for Jonas.
Dinner was soon served at the main villa. Melinda gazed at all the food served on the table with eagerness as she picked up one
of each dish in front of her. All of them were her favorite. As she started to grab a bite, another pair of chopsticks suddenly
reached into her bowl with the shrimps she always loved to eat.
Melinda looked up to Jonas, a bit confused by the sudden action. She noticed him suddenly feeling embarrassed when he
quickly averted his gaze and picked up another shrimp to taste for himself.
Unbeknown to the two, Nelson saw everything that had transpired. He remained silent as a small smile formed on his face while
he enjoyed the scene in front of him.
Melinda stared at the piece of shrimp that was placed in her bowl. This was the first time that Jonas picked up food for her. She
hesitated for a moment, but ended up picking it up anyway. She wasn't aware that she had been unconsciously smiling the whole
time as she happily munched on it.
Since Jonas did not receive any complain from Melinda, he continued to pick up several dishes that he knew she liked to eat and
placed it in her bowl. Melinda silently ate all the food given to her until Jonas had placed too much that she couldn't help but
helplessly look up at him.
"I can't see the rice anymore."
He ended up placing too many dishes in her bowl that it covered up all the rice.
Jonas quickly grabbed some of the food from her bowl and placed it in his, leaving space for Melinda to be able to eat some rice.
"Why don't you two go out for a walk together, Jonas?" Nelson suddenly suggested.
Melinda didn't like to waste food. Since Jonas had added too much food for her today, she had no choice but to eat all of it.
Feeling a bit fuller than the usual, she rubbed her belly from time to time.
Upon hearing his grandfather, Jonas quietly obeyed. He stood up from his seat and grabbed Melinda's hand. She wanted to
break out of his hold but she changed her mind as soon as she saw the expectant look on Nelson's face. Excusing herself, she
obediently followed Jonas out of the hall.

While holding each other's hand, Jonas and Melinda strolled around the whole mansion. As Melinda looked all around, she
realized that the Gu's mansion was indeed a huge place. There were a lot of small villas in the area and it took quite a while for
both of them to go around the whole area.
There were a lot of people whom Melinda rarely saw. Seeing how Jonas took care of her and held her hand while they passed by
gave these people a hint of the current situation
Now that Jonas had personally protected Melinda and defended her, those who had thought ill of her should change the biased
opinions they had of her.
Melinda did not want the warm feeling she had with Jonas a while ago to end when the two finally returned to their own villa. She
found her feet unconsciously having a mind of their own as she slowly felt herself approaching him.
"Jonas, why are you not blaming me?" she asked.
Jonas glanced at her, his expression turning soft. "I know that you were not responsible for what happened. Holly was the one
who orchestrated all of this to frame you."
Even though he knew that Holley was narrow-minded, he didn't expect that she would involve Melinda in it.
"You're acting weird today." Melinda quietly chuckled.
Jonas acted different from the usual. She stared at him curiously, noticing how his eyes were full of affection as he looked at her.
Melinda realized that she liked it and blushed at the thought.