Chapter 227 Unexpected Call
It was so surprising to see her mother’s sudden change of attitude toward Jonathan that Josephine was rendered speechless. What’s going on? It’s as if I’m an outsider and Jonathan is her son!
“Is the taste to your liking, Jonathan?” Margaret asked earnestly, looking as if her whole world was hinged on his answer.
Josephine was even more confused. She scanned Margaret and Jonathan’s faces, wondering if they were hiding something from her.
“Not bad,” Jonathan commented after eating a spoonful of the soup. He pushed the bowl in Josephine’s direction, smiling. “Want a bite?”
“Nope!” She humphed and turned so that her back was facing Jonathan.
“What’s wrong? Are you mad at me?” Jonathan chuckled. He snaked his arms around her from behind. She was startled the moment she was being pulled into the unexpected embrace. “Jonathan! W-What’re you doing? Let go… There’re others around…”
“So what if they are?” Jonathan’s smile grew wider. Instead of letting go, he pressed closer. “There’s nothing illegal about hugging my own wife.”
“You…” Josephine pouted in exasperation.
“Oh… I think I still have something cooking on the stove. Let me go check on that….” Margaret said, deliberately finding an excuse to leave the couple alone. With that, she hurried out of the room.
Connor and Emmeline exchanged a knowing look. They, too, quickly excused themselves.
Within seconds, there were only Jonathan and Josephine left in the living room.
“See? We’re alone now,” Jonathan grinned, eyes dancing with mischief. His hot breath tickled her ear. “I’m not letting you off the hook that easily this time. You aren’t going to be able to get away like you did last night…”
“Y-You… What’re you doing?” Josephine stammered, shaking slightly. “It’s still daytime…” He’s not going to… Is he? In broad daylight?
“Hm? What’s the matter? I can’t do this in the daytime?” Jonathan said, dropping a quick kiss on Josephine’s earlobe.
She shivered at his touch. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she was shaking more than ever. Even her voice was quivering. “Jonathan… N-No… Don’t touch me…”
“Why are you so nervous? I’m not going to do anything indecent here,” Jonathan said, amused. The more pitiful and helpless she looked, the more he wanted to tease her. However, his phone started ringing before he could do so.
A light frown marred his face as he took out his phone, which was displaying an unknown number.
When the call connected, a girl’s voice came from the other end of the line. “Hello? Is this Jon?”
“Yes, who is this?”
The name “Jon” sounded so strangely unfamiliar to his ears that it took his mind a second to register. It had been a decade since someone addressed him as such.
“Jon, is it really you? I had wondered if this is an empty number!” The girl sounded excited when she heard his voice. “Jon, this is Alice. Alice Renner! Do you still remember me?”
“Alice Renner?”
The name immediately brought back a flood of memories that filled Jonathan’s mind.
Ten years ago, he was living the life of a vagrant and making his way from Yaleview all the way to Jazona. He was penniless and desperate when he encountered a couple who sheltered him for a period of time.
Though they had taken him in, the husband of the couple had never liked him.
The husband seemed regretful in taking Jonathan in and had, on several occasions, tried to force the latter into leaving.
“We don’t keep loafers in this house,” the husband used to say. It was obvious that he was referring to Jonathan as the loafer.
It all came to head when the wife of the couple left on a short trip. Her husband had seized the opportunity and threw Jonathan out of the house. From then on, Jonathan had never seen the couple again.
Alice Renner was the couple’s daughter.
“Jon, you don’t remember me, do you?” Alice said sadly when she was met with silence over the phone.
“Of course, I remember you,” Jonathan replied with a smile. “You’re the little girl who used to follow me around everywhere. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”
When he was leading the Four Asura Guards in battle, crusading their way into one victory after another, Jonathan had sent word to the couple and shared with them his contact number.
In his message, he told them to reach out to him should they need help.
However, he had not heard from them over the next few years.
“I knew you’d still remember me,” Alice chirped happily before her tone became somewhat urgent. “Jon, where are you right now? Actually, I called because something happened to my family. Do you think you could come over?”
“What happened?” A crease formed between Jonathan’s brows the moment he heard the news.
Even though he was being tossed out of the house by Alice’s father, he was still grateful for the time they had housed and fed him.
After all, they had extended a helping hand to him when he was at the lowest point in his life. Alice’s mother had even treated him like he was her own.
“There are bad guys trying to evict us from our home. My parents refused and ended up being hospitalized because they were beaten by those men!” Alice said hastily.
“The men said we only have a week to move out of our house. If we’re not gone by then, they’ll burn the house down… Jon, my parents are still in a coma and I can’t afford their medical bills anymore… Could you lend me some money to pay the bills? I’m sorry to ask this of you but I don’t have anyone else to turn to… I’ll pay you back, I swear!”
She was embarrassed to ask such a huge favor from Jonathan, especially since they had fallen out of touch for so long and her first call to him in a decade was to ask for money.
As desperate as she was, Alice nevertheless felt self-conscious about calling the other for help.
“What did you say? Your parents are in the hospital?” Jonathan’s eyes turned cold and angry in an instant. “When did it happen? Why didn’t you contact me sooner?”
“I-It was not too long ago…” Alice murmured, intimidated by the other’s angry tone. “My mom didn’t want me to tell you. I wouldn’t have called if I weren’t at the end of my rope.”
Even over the phone, the distress was audible in her voice.
Jonathan shot up from the chair. “Which hospital are they at? Tell me the address. I’ll be there at once!”
“Are you really coming over?” Alice asked in surprise, not daring to believe that Jonathan would agree to help. “We’re at Heart’s Hospital in Cranur!”
“Wait for me. I’ll be right there.”
Jonathan hung up as soon as those words left his mouth. He was about to leave when Josephine asked, “What’s going on?”
