บททั้งหมดของ Still Loving You Nonetheless: บทที่ 171 - บทที่ 180

Biting down on her lips, Ysabelle went on, "Oh, and one more thing, Josiah. Meredith's mom just passed away and I don't think she'd be able to come home for the time being. Please be understanding of her situation."Josiah who was about to go through some of his work felt his heart sink at Ysabelle’s words. Looking up at her, he asked, "What did you say?""I just heard from my dad earlier. He received a call from the hospital saying that Meredith's mom is dead and my dad is required to be present at the hospital for some after-procedures. I'm guessing that Meredith won't be coming back here to serve you. I came here to tell you that."Meredith's mother was dead? But there were no signs at all.Josiah could somewhat imagine how devastated and heartbroken Meredith was.Of course, he was not entirely concerned about Alayna. What made him uncomfortable were Ysabelle's words - that Meredith would not be coming back to the Shelby residence.Ysabelle added carefully, "So Josiah, let me

"Meredith Leighton, what is this? Why are you avoiding me?" Josiah demanded with a gloomy look on his face.Finally lifting up her head to look at him, Meredith stared right into his eyes. "Josiah Shelby, I am not running away from you. I'm just utterly disgusted by you, hate you, and I don't want to see you."Pulling her wrist from his grasp, she added, "Oh, and let me tell you a piece of good news. My mom has finally died because of you. You must be exhilarated, huh."And one last thing. Now that you managed to force my mom to death, you can forget about using my mom as an excuse and threaten me to take care of that lover of yours, to be your maid, to be tortured by you, or to be forced to sleep with you."For some reason, her words did not sit well with Josiah. He felt somewhat suffocated.Josiah closed into her until her back was against the wall. Looking down at her, he corrected Meredith, "I'm not the one who's responsible for your mother's death. This is simply what you get

"That is hard to say," Doctor Sean continued, "like I said the last time. She could leave us anytime and it is also possible that she'd be in pain like now and last another year or two.""Being in pain like this…" Meredith murmured under her breath, "Yeah, every day is torture for Nia."Nodding his head, Doctor Sean replied, "That is why I've tried to persuade you to bring Nia home, to stop her from having to suffer all this pain."In other words, the doctor was telling her to give up.Meredith knew better that Nia would not make it through more than a few days as soon as she left the hospital grounds.Walking out of the doctor's office, Meredith felt as if her soul had left her body, and all that was left was an empty shell.Just the thought that Nia would get weaker by day, and the pain that she had to suffer would grow by the day, Meredith desperately wished that she could suffer all the pain for Nia instead.But she still could not bring herself to just sit around and count

Seeing the bright smile on her face, Meredith could not help but pull into a smile too. Holding her small hand in hers, she said, "You'd need to be a good girl and eat more so that you have the strength to perform on stage, okay?""I will make sure to eat well, Mommy. Don't worry.""That's my girl.""Mommy, will there be a lot of people who will be watching me? Will there be other children? Will there be a lot of pretty lights on the stage? Oh, what about flowers?""Hmm…" Meredith paused before going on, "we will be performing in a mall and there will be a lot of kids shopping there, and I think there will be a big crowd. And of course, there will be pretty lights and flowers on stage. So, what do you think? Are you feeling nervous?""Nope." Nia shook her head."That's good then," said Meredith, "let's get some rest. We can practice later using the piano app on my phone, okay?""Okay." Nia nodded softly and shut her eyes.…At the news that his grandmother had arrived in town

He only confirmed that the lady was indeed Meredith the moment he noticed the hands that were dancing around the piano keys were covered in scars.Squinting his eyes to take a careful look at the child next to her, Josiah realized that she was Nia.The mother and daughter's hands were moving across the black and white keys in harmony. They would even exchange glances with each other. It was a scene that warmed the hearts of many in the crowd.Hitting his arms excitedly, Josiah's grandmother exclaimed, "Did you hear that? That song sounds absolutely lovely. The little angel sure is gifted."Josiah replied, "Yeah.""Sigh, if only I had a great-granddaughter as talented as her." She then started shaking Josiah's arms. "Josiah, hurry up and give me a great-grandchild, hmm? Please, I'm begging you."His grandmother's words only made him feel even more suffocated.It was obvious that the child had inherited Meredith's gift in music. It was a pity that the child…was not his.He was su