Chapter 19 Compensation

Fern was still holding her head, she pushed Khalid out of her room and said," Get out, I don’t want to see you right now." Khalid was unreasonable, he had to be the most cold-hearted person she ever met! Arbitrariness, he had to be a dictator in his past life! "Did anything happen to you at school?" Khalid turned around and asked, while he was being pushed to the door. "No," Fern answered without skipping a beat... What happened in school was insignificant, not to mention that the problems were all already settled by Khalid. No leftovers. "How about your ex? Is he still bothering you?" Khalid continued asking. "He wouldn’t dare. I will break his leg if he bothers me again," Fern transformed into a vixen just thinking about Jaden. Khalid didn’t tell her that Jaden really broke his leg. When he headed back to the office in the afternoon, as expected, Jaden’s parents were waiting to see him. The way they were dressed and how they carried themselves, made them appear to be very out of place. Noel and Annabel had never been to a place like this. They were very cautious and didn’t even dare to sit on the sofa, afraid that they would wound up dirtying the sofa and wouldn’t be able to afford the cleaning fee. "Excuse me, are you the fiance of my dear Fern?" Asked Annabel, she spoke politely, aghast at Khalid’s aura. Khalid raised his head and glared at them, they were so frightened that they almost fell onto the ground. "Let me remind you of this, Fern is not your dear Fern," said Khalid, "She is my fiance and she has nothing to do with your son Jaden anymore. Please keep this in mind and no more slip of the tongue." "Yes sir, Mr. Marsh, you are correct." Noel was a wuss, he hurriedly pulled Annabel’s hand, worried that she might anger him more. Annabel flung Noel’s hand away, she tried to be tough but was trembling inside. But she said, "What are you afraid about? We are here for a proper talk with Mr. Marsh." "Get straight to the point," Hector gave the two Khalid’s business card, and it was a plan to make them come over. He obviously knew what they wanted to "talk" about. The couple elbowed each other and glanced at each other from time to time, but neither of them was willing to say anything first. "Please leave if it is nothing of importance, I have a lot of things to attend to." Khalid was about to dismiss them. Annabel finally bit her lips and said," Mr. Marsh, since Fern is now engaged to you, it would only be the right thing to do that Jaden severs his relationship with Fern. But the thing is, Jaden was injured because of her, he is almost a cripple now. What I am to ask of you, Mr. Marsh is that you seemed to be a rich CEO, it would only be fair if you provide some sort of compensation." "Here is a million-dollar cheque, take it and get out of my sight, never to appear in front of me or my fiance again." Khalid signed the cheque without any hesitation and threw it at the duo. Noel and Annabel were shaking in excitement, holding the cheque in hand. They were hoping to get a few hundred thousand, enough to cover Jaden’s medical expenses. But one million? They were more than satisfied. Mr. Marsh was absolutely worthy of his title, generously giving out a million dollars like it was nothing. They had never seen so much money in their entire life! The couple repeatedly promised to make Jaden cut ties with Fern. Khalid concluded that they wouldn’t have the guts to lie to him, and he let them leave. Noel and Annabel headed to the hospital with the cheque in hand, they immediately packed Jaden’s things up and planned to let him rest at home. Continuing to stay in the hospital could’ve led to Fern finding out about Jaden hurting himself and that she would come for a visit. And that would be bad news, as they promised Khalid that Jaden would cut ties with Fern. "Mom, dad, what are you guys doing? I’m not leaving the hospital until Fern comes to see me!" Jaden was on edge, it had been a few days and Fern wasn’t showing up. Did she not know that he was admitted to the hospital, or she didn’t care to come? Given the attitude she was giving him, and the fact that Fern’s heartlessness was peerless when she hated a person, it wasn’t a far fetch story, saying that she lost all feelings towards him and didn’t give a damn to visit him even if he got injured. "My dear son, she has a fiance now, maybe you should just stop thinking about her. On top of that, Mr. Marsh gave us a million-dollar cheque and told us to bring you away. Forget about her, okay?" Annabel patted Jaden’s back, trying to comfort him "What? One million dollars? Our relationship was definitely worth more than that! I’m so disappointed in you guys!" Jaden flung his mom’s hand away, "Where’s the cheque? Give it back to the so-called fiance, we don’t want the money, I just want Fern back!" "Are you crazy? No money means no woman would like you. Why did you think she broke up with you in the first place? Because we are dirt poor, incomparable to her current fiance. Wake up, my dear son, it’s no use being depressed for such an avaricious woman. She’s not worth your tears!" Asserted Annabel. Pot calling the kettle black, Annabel forgot that she was just as avaricious, grasping the cheque in her hand. "You’re wrong, mom, Fern is not someone like that, let’s wait for a bit more, please? She may be here anytime soon, I just want to see her for a brief moment and talk to her real quick. Tomorrow! If she still isn’t here tomorrow, then I’ll leave with you guys, okay?" Jaden was crying and was pitiable. The parents couldn’t stand to break his heart any more than this. Noel and Annabel decided to grant Jaden’s wish, they accompanied him from night till daybreak. In the morning, Jaden took the opportunity to leave the hospital with his crutches while his parents were still fast asleep. He headed to school and was determined to meet Fern, he had to let her know that he got injured, no matter what! First, he called Fern’s roommate and asked about her schedule. He then assumed that she would be going to the library, and hence he waited in front of the library, hoping that she would show up. Fern only went to the library after two classes, and Jaden was waiting in crutches the whole time for her. "Fern!" Jaden impatiently yelled out her name the moment he saw her. Fern immediately noticed his plastered right leg, she froze for a bit, and then she asked, "What happened to your leg?" She did mention that she wanted to break Jaden’s leg, but she didn’t do anything yet. Did she possess some sort of superpower? "Fern, you didn’t know that I was injured, no?" Jaden was happy seeing Fern’s reaction, it proved that Fern wasn’t that heartless, not visiting him even though he was admitted to the hospital. "I didn’t know about it," Fern walked up to him, and said, "Would you please move, I want to go into the library," Jaden was blocking her way, standing right in front of the entrance. Jaden’s face immediately turned pale, "You, you don’t care to know what happened?" "Oh sorry, I forgot to give you my condolences. Mr. Mccarthy, rest well and take care, I hope you can come back to school soon," she gently tugged his hospital gown and tried to move him out of the way as she finished her sentence. Jaden was enraged, he used his crutches to block Fern’s way. There wasn’t anyone else nearby, so Jaden just did what he wanted. Fern really wanted to kick him seeing him acting like that. But she held herself back, she wouldn’t stoop so low to injure an injured person. "Jaden, you’re already injured, why would you want to look for more trouble?" Fern said concernedly. She didn’t give a damn about how he got hurt, or if his injury was serious, or how long would it take for him to recover. Jaden was filled with resentment, he said accusingly, "Fern, you disappointed me. I was admitted to the hospital and you didn’t even bat an eye. You wouldn’t care about me even if I die wouldn’t you?" "Yes, yes, Mr. Mccarthy. It doesn’t matter if you’re dead or alive, it’s none of my concern. Fine, block the way all you want, I’m not going to play your little game with you," Fern turned around and walked away, she decided not to go to the library anymore. Jaden chased after her with his crutches, he was crippled but he was still moving swiftly. He was at Fern’s heel, not letting her get away. "Fern, I’m injured because of you. The doctor said that I’m going to be crippled for the rest of my life, you have to take responsibility for this!" Jaden screamed at Fern.