Our Love Story: Hard to Guard Against the Sudden Love Strike-Chapter 411 - 390: Redemption

Melinda Linton looked at him gently.

The sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling window shone on her face, making her complexion look better. Or perhaps seeing Mr. Thornton brought a hint of life to her long-pale face.

She said, "I’m doing well, Annie is very promising and very filial. She bought me a big house and brought me to the city. It’s just that my health is not very good; I’ve had two heart surgeries."

Quentin Thorne nodded with red eyes: "Your attending doctor has told me. The most important thing for you now is to rest well. Your body will recover quickly. You must never go back to the village to farm again!"

Melinda Linton followed his advice: "I understand, Mr. Thornton."

The conversation hit a momentary silence.

Melinda Linton was always reticent. When they were in love, Quentin Thorne was always the one teaching her things. Now, with Quentin Thorne’s emotional turmoil and silent contemplation, she too fell silent.

They sat mutely for a while, and Quentin Thorne composed himself and said, "Melinda, I’ve come today mainly to tell you two things."

Melinda Linton looked at him tenderly: "Go ahead."

Quentin Thorne’s eyes remained red.

He organized his words: "Back then, after I returned to the city, something happened to my family. By the time I could come back to Wrayhaven to find you, half a year had already passed. I went to your home, learned that you were turned out by your parents, and started looking for you from nearby villages, but..."

The ever-calm Melinda Linton finally shed tears at this moment. Yet even in tears, she only wiped them quietly, not daring to cry aloud.

She had developed this habit over the past thirty years.

When she slept next to Felix Raines, even when thinking of Quentin Thorne at night, she dared not cry aloud, often biting the quilt and weeping silently. Over time, this silent crying became habitual to her.

At this moment, her tears completely shattered the emotions Quentin Thorne had managed to stabilize.

Quentin Thorne suddenly stood up, moved to the bedside, and held her in his arms. But he simply hugged her, keeping his hands properly, daring not to overstep any boundary.

Holding Melinda Linton, he wept and repented: "I’m sorry, Melinda, I’ve wronged you. I’ve wronged you for a lifetime, and if there’s another life, I, Quentin Thorne, am willing to be your servant, to repay the suffering you’ve endured for me... Melinda, I’m sorry... so sorry..."

The Melinda Linton trembling in his arms, yet still silent.

He sensed something was wrong, released her from his arms, and looked down.

Melinda Linton’s lower lip was bloody.

To keep from crying aloud, she bit her lip hard!

Yet her tightly clenched hands were shaking, just like her body.

Quentin Thorne quickly let go of her, helped her to lie down on the bed, tucked her in after, and strode to open the door, stopping Auntie King who was sweeping outside: "Do you have a medical kit?"

Auntie King was startled and ran towards Melinda Linton’s bedroom: "Linton? Linton?"

Seeing Melinda Linton’s bleeding lip, Auntie King hurriedly went to the fridge for ice, then returned to Melinda Linton’s room and took out the medical kit, intending to treat her lip wound, only to have the kit suddenly taken by Quentin Thorne.

Quentin Thorne said coldly: "Please leave, I’ll handle it."

Auntie King was dumbstruck, uttering two "oh"s before coming to her senses: "Wait! Who exactly are you? How could you let Linton get hurt?" Saying which, she rushed to grab the medical kit.

Quentin Thorne raised the kit high, saying sternly: "I’m Lawyer Thornton’s father."

Auntie King: "..."

She quietly retreated, even closing the door.

Quentin Thorne sat by the bedside, opened the medical kit, first disinfected Melinda Linton’s lip wound with an iodophor swab, then wrapped ice in antibacterial gauze, gently pressed it on her lower lip to reduce swelling and bleeding.

His actions were gentle and tender, patient throughout, continuously comforting Melinda Linton with the world’s gentlest voice.

Once Melinda Linton stopped crying, he finally asked: "Melinda, do you resent me?"

Melinda Linton shook her head gently: "It wasn’t your fault, I don’t blame you."

"But after I couldn’t find you, I got married. You don’t blame me for that either?"

"I know you must have had your reasons, I trust you."

Everyone longs for understanding and trust. In thirty years with Ian Grant, Quentin Thorne never found understanding, while with Melinda Linton, he gained it effortlessly.

He had made her life unbearably bitter, yet she understood and trusted him. Trust is a precious thing; thirty years with Ian Grant, he had never attained trust, to the point he forgot what it felt like to be trusted.

Quentin Thorne felt his whole being relaxed, the regret and guilt buried for thirty years seemed redeemed at this moment.

.

Fifteen minutes later, Melinda Linton’s lip finally stopped bleeding, Quentin Thorne removed the ice and carefully applied ointment with an iodophor swab.

"In the future, if you cry, cry loudly, don’t hold back anymore, it will hurt yourself, the harm to your body is great." Like scolding little Melinda for past mistakes, he explained to her while applying medication.

Melinda Linton obediently nodded, without refuting anything.

Once the wound was treated, Quentin Thorne returned to his chair: "I want Annie to change to my surname, join the Thorne Family Registry, do you agree?"

Melinda Linton didn’t hesitate: "I agree. Annie is your child, she should bear your surname. I was too foolish back then, recorded her surname wrong without knowing."

Recalling Melinda Linton’s accent, Quentin Thorne chuckled: "It’s been over thirty years, you still say my surname wrong. Just now when I came in, you still called me ’Mr. Thornton’."

"Sorry... Mr.... Professor Thorne!" Melinda Linton corrected her pronunciation with difficulty.

Quentin Thorne laughed: "Alright, you got it right this time, the teacher won’t punish you."

They chatted for a while, Melinda Linton hesitated for a long time before cautiously asking: "What does your wife do for work?"

Quentin Thorne said: "She worked at a bank when she was younger. After having children, she wasn’t satisfied with my mother’s way of taking care of the child, so she retired early from the office to concentrate on household chores and childcare."

He dared not say after Mina Thorne started school, Ian Grant mainly mixed with a group of wealthy ladies, regularly either playing mahjong or spending time at the beauty salon.

However, even if Quentin Thorne had indeed described Ian Grant’s comfortable lifestyle, someone like Melinda Linton wouldn’t harbor envy. She was so pure and good-natured that even when her things were taken away, she hardly showed any temper.

Yet Quentin Thorne, in his youth, liked this purity in her. She made him feel needed, made him feel like the world to her.

The more he liked Melinda Linton’s purity in his youth, the more he came to dislike Ian Grant’s opposite character later.

After sitting for a while longer, Quentin Thorne saw that time was running late, and got up to leave.

He stepped forward, tucked Melinda Linton’s quilt lightly, and softly instructed: "Melinda, take good care of yourself. Our daughter is old enough to marry; you must take care of yourself well to help care for the grandchildren in the future."

"Alright."

With a response, Quentin Thorne, leaning over, stood up, deeply looking at Melinda Linton momentarily, then turned to leave, yet was held back by Melinda Linton tugging at his wrist.

He turned back.

Only to see Melinda Linton pleading with a tangled expression: "Professor Thorne, can you promise me one thing?"

He chuckled, gently patting her hand back to encourage: "Alright, I’ll promise you. Speak slowly, no need to rush."