Chapter 230

"Michael, I forgot to tell you something. Grandpa Daniel doesn't know the full story about you getting beaten up. I only told him you were injured and needed to rest at home for a while."

"If you recover well, can you come over to see Grandpa Daniel? He's very worried about you. Of course, I'll be there to help and make sure he doesn't find out anything else."

Even Isabella herself found it strange.

Michael's injury was no small matter, but Daniel didn't ask much about it. He just told her to go see him and show more concern.

Daniel wasn't even curious about how Michael got injured or who did it.

Now that she had visited Michael as Daniel said, all that was left was for him to recover a bit and come over to smooth things over in front of Daniel, and everything would be fine.

"Grandpa Daniel wants to see me?"

Michael caught the key point in her words and reacted quickly, "Isabella, where are you? I can come over right now... ouch!"

The thought of being able to see her right now made Michael so excited that he accidentally pulled at the wound on his back, causing him to gasp in pain.

Michael's suppressed groan was heard clearly by Isabella on the other end of the phone.

"I didn't mean right now. Wait until your injury heals."

Although she had made up her mind to separate from him, Michael was still the father of her child. Having him come over with injuries to help her act was not very considerate.

"Okay."

Michael also knew that in his current state, it was really inconvenient to see Daniel and her family, so he didn't insist.

The phone fell silent.

Neither of them spoke, nor did they hang up.

Just as Michael's heart started to race, Isabella's gentle voice came through.

"Michael, no matter what, we have a child together, so I want to give you a piece of advice..."

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

Hearing her acknowledge their child and their relationship, Michael's eyes lit up, and hope rekindled in his heart.

But the next second, Isabella shattered his hopes.

"I hope that in the future, you will be more careful in such matters. Don't let Grandpa Aiden find out. It's embarrassing, and he is so old. What if he gets too emotional?"

Thinking about how Aiden, in his eighties, still had to worry about Michael, who was in his twenties, and even had to rush to the suburbs in the middle of the night to catch him in the act.

Isabella felt that Michael's actions were too outrageous.

Could he not live without a woman?

"Don't you have anything else to say to me?" Michael's mouth twitched as he listened, taking a deep breath to suppress the urge to explain himself.

After driving Violet away, his first thought was to explain last night's events to her.

But after thinking it over, he realized it wouldn't work.

He was almost certain that Violet was actually Bianca in disguise. If he could uncover the truth and tell Isabella that Violet was Bianca, then all the affairs between him and "Violet" would "make sense."

But she really knew how to get under his skin, stabbing him with every word, without a hint of concern for him.

Isabella paused for a moment and then said, "I have nothing more to say. That's it, I'm hanging up."

Michael's face went from initial excitement and anticipation to a deep gloom.

He knew it was almost impossible to hear a kind word from her.

But he wouldn't give up on winning her back. She was his woman, and she would always be his.

On the other side, Isabella stared at her phone, feeling a pang of regret.

She should have just conveyed Daniel's message to him.

But she couldn't help herself and ended up saying so much more.

Michael wouldn't have realized she was concerned about him, would he?

She scolded herself in mind, 'Isabella, Isabella, why are you so stupid, and can't you just let it go? He is no longer the Michael he used to be. A man like him isn't worth any more of your genuine feelings, not even a word of concern.'

But all her reactions on the phone seemed instinctive, beyond her control.

Isabella sighed helplessly.

Indeed, the Michael she had loved for so many years wasn't someone she could just let go of.

The next afternoon, at Sweet Haven.

After arriving, Isabella chose a quiet spot and ordered a cup of juice and a strawberry cake.

Thinking that Nolan would be coming soon, she specifically asked the waiter to remove the chair in front of her to make room for Nolan's wheelchair.

Nolan arrived quickly. Just after the chair was removed, he appeared at the door.

As the weather turned colder, Nolan was wearing a dark gray knit sweater, and today, his legs were not covered with a thin blanket but were instead clad in black pants.

This made him look even taller and more upright.

In this light, Nolan looked like a handsome man straight out of a comic book, slender and beautiful with a touch of endearing fragility.

"Nolan, I'm over here."

Isabella raised her hand and waved at him. The moment Nolan's eyes met hers, a smile appeared on his face.

Like the afternoon sun outside the window, warm and uplifting.

"Isabella, why did you suddenly ask me out today?"

Since their last conversation at Whispering Pines Estates, Isabella had been in a bad mood and hadn't been to school since that day.

Knowing she was struggling to get over it, Nolan hadn't bothered her much.

"I missed you. Last time, I didn't even know when you left. We barely talked before you were gone."

Isabella cared a lot about Nolan's feelings.

Nolan smiled indifferently, "You're pregnant. Do you think I would hold a grudge over something like that, Isabella? You think too little of me."

Isabella laughed too.

She knew Nolan wouldn't mind such trivial matters, but she didn't want him to feel that she didn't value him as a friend.

Suddenly, she thought of something, "By the way, Nolan, I wanted to ask you. I haven't been to school to teach since I got pregnant. Will the school have any issues with that?"

Nolan shook his head, "No, they invited you to boost the school's reputation and to inspire the students. If you don't want to go, no one will force you. You're not under a formal contract with the school, so there are no strict requirements."

"That's good. I was worried that if I kept not going to school, it would cause trouble for you."

She wasn't afraid of the school pressuring her, but she had gone to the school because Nolan vouched for her.

If her absence caused him trouble at school, she would feel guilty.

At this moment, the waiter came over and asked Nolan what he wanted to order.

Nolan pointed to the menu and ordered a cup of the signature coffee, then added a few of Isabella's favorite desserts.

After the waiter left, he continued answering Isabella's question.

"Did you forget that I was hired by the school with a high salary to return to the country? They value me too much to cause me any trouble."