The Unveiled Rose

Zachary no longer liked to hear others speaking ill of Annalise, but he wasn't in good health right now, so he didn't even have the strength to retort loudly.

As loudly as he could manage, he asked, "What does Mommy have to do with this?"

Chloe explained, "If Annalise had been willing to stay by your side and take care of you, you definitely wouldn't have been in this condition!"

He refuted immediately, "But Mommy only left us because Daddy and I hurt her. Before we betrayed her, she was always considerate toward the two of us. Every day, she would cook meals that I could stomach because she was afraid my stomach would be upset." He lowered his head. "So I don't blame Mommy. The problem lies with me."

Chloe couldn't stand to see Zachary protecting Annalise.

"You're sick now, yet she still won't come to visit you," she argued.

"Well, she doesn't know that I'm not feeling well right now," Zachary defended, his voice dull. "Even if she did, just based on what Daddy and I have done, she rightfully deserves to hate us for life. I don't expect her to forgive me or continue to be nice to me at all." Head still lowered, he continued, "On the other hand, you claim to love me, but... in the end, every day I've been home, you've asked the chef to cook dishes that I dislike."

His accusation stumped Chloe.

Indeed, ever since Zachary had moved in with her, his gastrointestinal issues had evidently been occurring more frequently.

Zachary raised his head to stare at the ceiling.

He was only experiencing a minor bout of illness today, but he couldn't help feeling upset when Chloe spoke ill of Annalise.

Then, what about Annalise back when she had miscarried? He and Steven had said so many terrible things to her. Had she been heartbroken?

He felt that his illness was the reason why he felt especially frail right now and why he couldn't resist breaking down into tears after thinking about Annalise's situation. He really was scum to have treated her so cruelly!

...

Steven dropped by to visit Zachary after work. He pushed open the door of the hospital ward and walked up to the latter.

"How are you feeling right now?" he asked. "Are you still feeling unwell?"

Zachary replied politely, "It's nothing serious anymore."

Steven looked at Chloe as he suggested, "How about you head home first, Mom? I'll stay here with him."

Chloe refused immediately, saying, "You must be very tired right now after working hard the entire day, so hurry home and rest. Leave Zachary to me."

Zachary spoke up in the midst of their argument, saying, "Go home, Grandma."

Chloe was just about to lecture him about how he didn't know to be considerate toward Steven.

However, before she could utter a word, Zachary continued, "I don't want to see you right now, Daddy."

Whenever he saw Steven, he couldn't help but think of all the foolish things he'd done before.

Steven, for his part, was also aware of what was bothering Zachary. He sat next to Zachary and said apologetically, "I know I'm in the wrong."

"What use is your apology?" yelled Zachary, becoming agitated for once. "Daddy, no matter what you say, Mommy won't come back, and she especially won't want me anymore!"

Such a simple sentence was like a knife digging deeply into Steven's heart. He wanted to say something-anything-but couldn't seem to find his tongue.

Zachary was right. The milk had already been spilled, so no matter how much he apologized, he and Annalise could no longer return to how they were before their divorce. He stared off into the distance. For some reason, he felt inexplicably upset when Zachary lost his temper at him.

Images of past events surfaced in his mind.

Back then, he and Zachary seemed to have often lost their temper at Annalise for no reason, just so they could interact with Jessica more frequently. Steven felt even more upset at the thought of that.