Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 178: "Sean Harrison, Look, It’s Snowing.

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: "Sean Harrison, Look, It’s Snowing.

During the short taxi ride, Rory Linden’s mind was a complete blank.

It wasn’t until the taxi pulled over in front of her home.

As she stepped out of the car, she realized...

It was snowing.

The first snow in Veridia had been coming later and later each year.

This year, it hadn’t snowed until December.

Rory Linden looked up.

Snowflakes drifted down from above, landing on her face, her hair, and her clothes...

In the small cone of light cast by a streetlight, she could clearly see the snowflakes’ swirling paths as the wind carried them down.

The snowflakes quickly coated the ground, only to be scattered away by the next gust of wind.

Rory Linden watched the scene before her and whispered silently in her heart, ’Sean Harrison, look, it’s snowing.’

As she turned to head home, the melodic ringtone of the phone in her pocket sounded, shattering the silence of the snowy night.

A shiver ran through Rory Linden’s heart.

She took out her phone. It was a call from Ivan Lowell.

"Uncle Lowell."

Rory Linden pressed the phone to her ear and walked into her apartment complex.

"Starry, I’m so sorry to call you this late. I hope I’m not disturbing you."

Ivan Lowell’s voice was a little hoarse, his tone laced with an apology he couldn’t hide.

"No, not at all. I just got off work. Is something on your mind?"

Rory Linden asked.

After a brief silence on the line, Ivan Lowell spoke. "Actually, I should have told you about this after you saved my Baby the other day. But Sean Harrison was there, and it wasn’t a good time."

He paused before continuing, "I’ve been thinking about it these past few days, and I’ve decided I have to tell you."

"I’m listening."

Rory Linden felt surprisingly calm.

She already had her suspicions about what had happened between her mother and Sean Harrison’s father.

"Back then, Senior President Harrison forced himself on Quinn Linden, and... she became pregnant," Ivan Lowell said. "I accidentally overheard their conversation. Quinn Linden was quickly sent away to have an abortion, and right after that, she submitted her resignation to me."

"..."

Rory Linden’s heart clenched.

Even though she had suspected what her mother had gone through, hearing it confirmed still sent a pang of pain through her heart. It was hard to accept.

"Senior President Harrison came to me personally and had me give her three hundred thousand as a severance package. That was a considerable sum of money back then."

"Of course, I knew that money was nowhere near enough to make up for what Quinn Linden had suffered."

"I thought Quinn Linden would take the money and never return. I never expected her to come back not long after, and with you in tow."

Ivan Lowell said everything he knew in a single rush. "That’s what happened back then. I don’t know any more of the details."

"Thank you for telling me this, Uncle Lowell." Rory Linden started up the stairs. "I really shouldn’t be with the son of the man who raped my mother."

"Sigh... I think Sean Harrison is a good man. His father’s crimes have nothing to do with him. He hasn’t even seen Senior President Harrison more than a handful of times over the years."

Ivan Lowell had a good impression of Sean Harrison.

He hadn’t said anything at the time because he was afraid this would ruin their relationship.

"Thank you. I’ll think about it."

At this moment, Rory Linden felt incredibly calm.

’If Sean Harrison and I were still together, I’d be tormented by the moral implications.’

’Thank goodness...’

’We’re already apart.’

’Could this be why Sean Harrison broke up with me?’

’If so...’

’...then he’s a real coward.’

At this point, Rory Linden didn’t want to waste any more energy guessing why Sean Harrison had broken up with her.

The next morning, Rory Linden swapped shifts with a colleague.

She took a taxi to her mother’s grave.

Rory Linden bought some joss paper and fresh flowers at the entrance, then walked toward her mother’s gravesite.

It had snowed the previous night, but the cemetery grounds had already been swept clean.

Few people came to visit graves at this time of year.

Among a neat row of headstones, a bouquet of fresh flowers lay before one of them.

As Rory Linden walked closer, she realized the flowers were in front of her mother’s headstone.

She didn’t have to guess who had been there.

The last time, he had stood right where she was standing now, saying the sweetest things.

Now, only a few months later, it all meant nothing.

’He probably only came to visit Mom’s grave because he was afraid of the consequences of breaking his promises.’

As Rory Linden burned the joss paper for her mother, she updated her on her life.

"I’ll be getting my year-end bonus in a few days. Once I pay back Sherry Walsh, I’ll start saving seriously."

"I’m going to change jobs next year. I want to go to a hospital where I’m needed more. It might be busier, but I’ll learn and grow faster that way."

"Gary Sinclair is in prison. Sean Harrison helped make it happen. It cost some money, which I’ll pay back to him someday."

When the joss paper had turned to ash, Rory Linden crouched down. Gazing at her mother’s photograph, she murmured, "Mom, I’m pregnant. It’s Sean Harrison’s baby..."

Her eyes reddened as she spoke the words.

"I know I shouldn’t have anything to do with the Harrington family, but..."

Rory Linden gently placed a hand on her stomach, her voice catching. "Should I keep this baby?"

It felt as if everything was telling her not to keep the baby.

And yet, her heart was telling her something else, over and over.

She wanted to keep this child.

That night, Rory Linden had a dream.

She dreamed of her mother.

In the dream, they were in the small maid’s room at the Harrington estate, just as she remembered it.

Her mother was sitting on the single bed, seeming to knit her a sweater...

Her mother had knitted all her winter clothes when she was a child, stitch by painstaking stitch.

When she outgrew them after a few years, her mother wouldn’t just add extensions to the sleeves; she would unravel the entire sweater and knit it into something new.

That way, it always felt like she had a brand-new sweater.

"Mom, Mom, I miss you so much."

Rory Linden rushed over and threw her arms around her mother.

Even though it was a dream, she could feel the warmth of her mother’s embrace as if it were real.

"Mom..."

Rory Linden knelt on the floor, her arms wrapped around her mother’s waist as tears streamed down her face.

"I’m so sorry. If you hadn’t come back to the Harrington estate because of me, that would have never happened. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have died..."

She could feel her mother’s hand on her back, patting it gently again and again.

Just like when her mother would lull her to sleep as a child.

The room was perfectly silent.

Later, she sat beside her mother and seemed to tell her so many things.

...until her mother gently placed a hand on her stomach.

Rory Linden froze. "Mom, I’m sorry. I know what Sean Harrison’s father did to you. I’ll get an abortion. I won’t have anything to do with the Harrington family ever again."

Her mother didn’t say a word, just continued to stroke her stomach, again and again.

Rory Linden was puzzled.

Her mother hadn’t spoken, but somehow... she felt she understood what she meant.

She looked at her mother, who was so close, and murmured, "Mom... s-should I keep this baby?"

Her mother still didn’t speak.

All she remembered was her mother looking at her and smiling—a smile so gentle and kind.

When Rory Linden woke up, her pillowcase was soaked with tears.

It was the first time she had dreamed of her mother in years.

’Perhaps...’

’Perhaps Mom was truly worried I would take the wrong path.’