Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 402

Chapter 402: Promise Ring or No Deal
The ward of the hospital turned quiet momentarily, but then Adrian stepped forward while leaning on his cane. The hobbling sound of the bottom of the cane hitting the floor echoed in the room.

“Ari,” Adrian spoke in a soft voice. “It seems like you are treating me as a stranger — now. Aren’t you? You got hospitalized and yet, you didn’t call old gramps? Or did you think this old man would be of no help to you, eh?”

“No!” Ari shook her, she took Adrian’s hands in hers and said to him, “I never thought anything like that, Grandpa. How could you even think like that? I just didn’t want to worry you, my injuries are rather light and not life-threatening. It wasn’t worth startling you.”

She patted her on the back of his old and wrinkled hands before saying, “I am alright Grandpa.”

Aaron stood up from the chair and gave it to Mister Adrian who nodded at him appreciatively before sitting down.

“I thought we mutually agreed that no matter how your relationship with Noah turns out I would still be your gramps. What kind of elder finds it startling or burdening when his loved ones are hurt?” Mister Adrian said hotly.

“If we are talking about this, then you would have to admit, Grandpa, that I too have the right to care for you,” said Ari cheekily with a smile on her face. “You have just returned after getting your surgery, I cannot make you run around for me when even the doctor asked you to rest.”

Mister Adrian glared at Ari before raising his hand and pinching her on the cheek. “Look at you, I always knew that you were a little witty. Smart aren’t you? Look at you, you are now outsmarting your old grandpa.”

In response to his remark, Ari simply smiled and Mister Adrian huffed. He said to her, “I was going to visit you right away but that bratty grandson of mine,” he paused and snorted in disgust before saying, “He kept making excuses saying that you were still recovering or that your medicines were making you sleepy or whatnot.”

“It’s a good thing that I came on my own without telling him. If I had waited for that brat to bring me here, then you would have returned home after making a full recovery.”

Ari didn’t know what to say regarding this, instead, it was Nicolai who chimed from the side, “Well, it must have been awkward for him, given that the two of them have been divorced for a long time.”

“Personally, I believe it is better for him not to appear in front of Ariana, especially after the things he had done to her.”

As long as he didn’t appear in front of Ari, she would choose him. And fuck him, if he was gone enough to accept this as well.

Ariana looked at him with an expression of utter shock while Mister Adrian hummed and then turned to look at Nicolai with a smile on his face. Like an old friend from his neighbourhood, Mister Adrian looked at him jovially.

He remarked with a hearty chuckle, “Hahaha, you are really too much like Sebastian (Nicolai’s grandfather). He has been cheeky from the very first day I met him. Truly doesn’t take anyone’s nonsense, doesn’t he? I believe you are the same.”

“I still remember how he waged a business war against my family over something childish.”

“That’s right…sir,” he added at Ari’s stern glare.

Mister Adrian chuckled a bit more upon seeing his expression and the little gazes that Ari shot at Nicolai. He realized that Nicolai was not just similar to his grandfather in just one way—he had the same attitude as Sebastian when that man used to face his angry wife.

“I suppose he is right,” Mister Adrian changed the topic as he turned to look at Ari behind him, Nicolai heaved a sigh of relief as Ari was no longer glaring at him. “I also thought that maybe I was asking too much of Noah. He is not in a good place at the moment, of course, it’s his own dumb fault,” He added swiftly.

With a pleasant smile directed at Ari, he continued, “I don’t blame you at all. Whatever happens to my grandson—it is his responsibility. It is only when we lose those who are the closest to us, do we realize how important they were to us.”

“Until that loss hits us, we don’t even realize the things that we have done wrong. Grief is the best teacher after all.”

He then turned to look at Glynn who stood behind him and sighed before saying, “And Glynn told me that she wanted to say something to you, and so I had her drive me here.”

Glynn, who had been acting inconspicuously until now, flinched upon hearing her grandfather mention her. However, she still stepped beside him and looked at Ari, who was sitting on the small bed.

“What do you want to say to me?” Ari asked while eyeing the woman in front of her suspiciously.

Seeing the wariness in her eyes, Glynn smiled wryly. Of course, what else did she expect after what she had done to Ari, thought Glynn to herself.

“I just—just wanted to apologize,” Glynn dropped her head such that her chin met with her bosom. “I am sorry for what …I did to you.” She clenched her fingers upon finishing. “Ariel lied to me and I…foolishly believed her. Of course, it doesn’t excuse what I have done.”

These past few days, the truth had been tormenting her. Glynn had stood on the higher moral ground because she believed that Ari was just like Erica, who intervened between her and Regal.

Who would have even expected that the woman whom she had supported without any restraint was the one playing her like a fool?

However, when Noah returned home and told them what Ariel had done to Ari —the rosy-coloured bubble, which secured her, finally snapped.

As the beautiful bubble came crumbling down, all that was left behind was regret, dejection, and anger.