Chapter 987: Everyone Has Their Own Worries

When Wood changed into a new tracksuit that he brought from the training ground and left the bathroom, he could see through the thick glass window that his mother’s ward was full of people. Doctors, nurses, and also Twain and Woox, who were pushed to the outside.

The doctors all looked serious and solemn, and Wood had his heart in his mouth when he saw that. He had a bad feeling about it, and he could not stop himself from rushing into the ward. He pushed everyone in front of him away, and could not have cared less about who those people were. When he finally made it into the circle, he saw his mother smiling at him.

Wood’s rapidly beating heart finally calmed down after he saw that. The first thing he asked when he calmed down was to ask the doctor, “How is my mother’s condition?”

The doctor replied without even looking up, “We’re still checking.”

Wood knew that insisting now would not have any results, so he walked over to Twain as he saw the latter beckoning him.

“Let’s get out of here. There are too many people here, let’s not disturb their work,” Twain pointed to the visitors’ area outside.

The three of them took a seat outside and watched as the people within went on busily with work. Miss Vivian kept going in and out so frequently that her face was flushed and sweat glistened on her neck.

Twain and Woox sat on the couch but Wood could not sit for long. It was not long before he stood up and looked into the ward from the window, peering at the busy crowd.

After a while, Wood realized that there was another person next to him. Tony Twain’s reflection appeared in the window.

“Don’t worry, your mother will be fine,” Twain said.

Wood did not reply to that. Instead, he asked him a question, “Did Woox ask you to come back? I heard you were holidaying in Los Angeles.”

A smile broke out on Twain’s face as he laughed silently.

“I’m afraid you might do something silly,” Twain said as he smiled.

Behind them, Billy Woox had already gone when Twain stood up to walk towards Wood. He left the place to the two of them so that they could be alone and speak their minds freely.

“I’m not doing something silly, I have considered it long enough.”

“As long as one night?”

Twain turned to look at Wood. Wood only had eyes for the bustling scene inside the ward.

Wood obviously was not in the mood to discuss this with him now. The fact that he did not reject him with an aggressive tone showed that he had matured a lot and that he was showing Twain a lot of respect. After all, Twain had brought him up himself and they were like father and son.

When Vivian came out again, she did not walk towards the exit. Instead, she walked straight to Twain and told him, “Madam would like to see you, Mr. Twain.”

That surprised Twain, and Wood could not help but look at him, too.

Twain pointed to himself as he looked at Vivian with an unspoken question on his face. Vivian nodded.

Twain did not rush inside but waited outside by the door instead. He waited for the doctors to leave before he entered the ward. Wood saw his mother say something, and then Twain turned to close the door.

It looked like it was a confidential talk.

※※※

Twain sat down in the same chair Wood sat in earlier and took Sophia’s thin hand.

“Why are you here, Mr. Twain?” Sophia’s voice was very soft as she was still very weak. It was a good thing the room was quiet so that Twain could still hear what Sophia was saying. “I heard from George that you’re staying with Shania and your daughter in Los Angeles.”

“Woox asked me to come back,” Twain was doing some thinking in the back of his mind. If he told this poor woman that Wood had decided to retire, he was afraid that Sophia might not be able to take the blow and would faint again. That would be disastrous…

As the thought flashed across Twain’s mind, he decided not to tell Sophia for now. He had better let her rest well for the time being. If Sophia’s condition became better, Wood would not think about retiring anymore.

As for the reason why Woox called him, it was not something inexplicable. Wood and Twain were very close, and Sophia had also known Twain for many years. Now that she was hospitalized in a grave condition, how could he not be here?

“You should rest and recuperate; George is waiting for you.”

Sophia looked towards the large glass window and saw her son standing outside, focusing all his attention on her.

“That kid… I can never stop worrying about him,” it seemed like she was chiding him, but she sounded full of pride and there was a smile on her face.

Twain turned and looked where she was looking.

When he realized that they were both looking at him, Wood averted his gaze and saw Vivian Miller, who was waiting at the door. Vivian was looking at him too…

Twain found that Wood seemed to be acting strangely outside and looked back at Sophia.

Sophia went on, “It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Twain, that George could have the accomplishments that he has now. At first, I was merely hoping that he would get a proper job and not get into trouble all the time like the thugs in Sneinton…” She stopped to catch her breath. She was still very weak and could not speak too much at one go.

“But I didn’t expect George to become a star one day. I have to thank you for that.”

“Hey, we’re good friends, aren’t we?” Twain waved his hand. “Besides, that was all due to George’s own hard work. I’ve seen so many talented people who were not willing to put in the work. George only reached his place of today thanks to his diligence, which has nothing to do with me.” The first part of what Twain said was true. A person who had talent but was unwilling to work hard was not worth cultivating. Wood was indeed the hardest-working person he had ever seen. It might be because of his family’s situation, which caused him to have no sense of security about life. In order to have a better life, he had to work doubly hard. However, the second part of what he said was not quite true. No matter how talented and hardworking someone was, if he did not have the opportunity, he would still amount to nothing. A sharp blade needed someone to wield it too.

Sophia did not care about Twain’s humility. She continued, “George is a stubborn child, but he listens to you. I hope that you can continue to guide him…”

“My words are not as effective as yours, Sophia,” Twain replied with a laugh. “Take care and recuperate, Wood is waiting for you.”

Sophia nodded.

※※※

When Vivian realized that Wood actually turned to look at her, she knew that there was no way for her to avoid it this time. Rather than turning away, she would rather be more open, so she took the initiative to talk to Wood. “Now that your mother is awake, you should be very relieved, right, Mr. Wood?”

Wood did not expect her to talk to him and was a little surprised. Even though he appeared to be calm, he was contemplating if he should reply, and if he was to reply, what should he say?

The problem was regarding Vivian’s question… He was very happy that his mother was awake, but he was not relieved yet.

However, he found another topic to talk about. “How is my mother’s condition?”

Vivian was put in a spot with this question. That was because the doctors in charge were not optimistic about Sophia’s illness. Even though she was awake, she was not out of danger yet. The illness had been tormenting Sophia’s body for a very long time and her immune system was already destroyed by it. Any minor illness would bring upon a disastrous result. However, was it really a good thing to tell this to Wood? Judging by his feelings for his mother, if he knew the truth, it would be a heavy blow for him.

When she thought about it that way, Vivian smiled and told Wood, “She’s getting better.”

After saying that, she could see Wood breathe a sigh of relief. She felt guilty for lying to a good man.

Just when both of them fully felt the awkwardness of this conversation, the door opened.

Twain appeared at the door and said to Wood, “Go see your mother, George.”

Wood hurried into the ward past Twain. He was in such a hurry that he even forgot to close the door.

Twain was the one who closed the door behind him, and then he looked at the nurse, Vivian Miller, who was still waiting outside.

“Thank you for taking care of Sophia.” This famous Englishman who was almost as well-known as the queen was nodding at her to express his gratitude.

“It’s my job…”

“We’ll have to trouble you to continue taking care of her in the future.”

Looking at his sincerity, Vivian did not reject the offer. However, she cautiously asked a question, “I heard that Mr. Wood is going to retire. Is that true, Mr. Twain?”

Twain did not expect this girl to ask such a difficult question right off the bat. He touched his nose and looked at her awkwardly.

When he was on the way here, Woox had told him that someone from the media had caught wind of the news that Wood might choose to retire. Someone from the hospital had leaked this news to the outside. It had to be someone who overheard the conversation between Wood and him and talked to the media. However, they did not know who the sneak was at that time. Even if they did, they would not be able to do anything to that person.

However, when he thought of someone being so nosy, Twain felt uncomfortable. He had never had any fond feelings for the media, which he felt were troublemakers.

Could this girl be the one who leaked the news?

Vivian was still waiting for his answer. She looked up at Twain, who was half a foot taller than she was, with a question in her eyes. As Twain stayed silent, it turned into an awkward situation. She obviously realized that she had asked a difficult question.

If they continued to stay silent, would this girl be so embarrassed that she would leave with her face in her hands? Twain had an evil thought in his mind. When he arrived, he caught her gaze twice. Twain did not see anything wrong with her gaze both times. Even though he could not be sure, Twain was more willing to believe that this girl did not sell any information to the paparazzi. Once he thought about that, he could not allow the girl to continue feeling awkward anymore.

“Yes, there’s a possibility of that,” he did not deny it.

“Ah!” Vivian exclaimed in shock, but she quickly covered her mouth. Her beautiful eyes were wide open as she looked at Twain, then turned to secretly look at George Wood through the glass window.

Twain was suddenly interested in this girl. He asked, “Are you a football fan, Miss Miller?”

“Not really,” Vivian shrugged her shoulders after she recovered. “It’s just that, it would be difficult for me to know nothing about football as a local living in Nottingham, wouldn’t it?” She asked Twain.

Twain chuckled. She was indirectly praising him for his influence in leading the team some years back. Who would not like to be praised? Twain suddenly liked this clever girl a lot.

Next, the two of them chatted a little about some other topics. Twain knew that she was the nurse who was in charge of taking care of Sophia. Therefore, he reminded her as a joke that Wood was a very stubborn person, and was not someone whom others found easy to get along with. He told her not to take what Wood said seriously. Actually, he was also reminding her not to let the emotions of the patient’s family affect her work. After all, the nurse in charge of taking care of Sophia held her life in her hands. If they were in China, Twain would have given Vivian a big, fat red packet.

Vivian did not think much about it. Instead, she started talking about the first time she met Wood. Her story was interesting, and her tone had no trace of grievance at all. Twain enjoyed it very much. He had a good time chatting with this girl.

As Wood left Sophia’s ward, Twain could not detect any change in his emotions from his face. He told Wood to have some rest, at least get some more clothing from home if he still insisted on staying in the hospital. Vivian took the opportunity while they were talking to enter the ward and help Sophia lie down, covering her with the blanket properly and ensuring that none of her limbs were out. Next, she started to copy the data on the monitoring devices into the report.

“This is a good nurse,” Twain praised.

Wood grunted in agreement.

“Go get some rest. I think you should just stay here, I’ll get someone to get you some clothes.”

Wood did not object to it. He took another look at his mother, who was resting in the bed, before he turned to get some rest himself in the visitors’ room.

At that moment, the door opened behind him.

Billy Woox, who just left, appeared in front of them again, but there were two more people behind the old man…

One of them was very prominent. His tall frame blocked the whole door so that one could not even see his face. Other than Aaron Mitchell, Twain could not think of anyone else who might appear here. Next to Mitchell was another person who was peeking in. This was naturally the “Little Monkey”, Gareth Bale!

Twain was surprised at the arrival of these two, but it could not be compared to how surprised the two of them were to see him.

“Boss!” The two of them shouted at the same thing. The volume was so high that he thought it would surely summon some reporters over.

“Long time no see, pals,” Twain waved at them as he offered them a greeting.