Thinking about her aggressive maternal grandparents, Samara broke out into a cold sweat and started pushing Sienna Johnson towards the hospital entrance. However, Sienna Johnson was stubborn; if Samara didn’t tell her what was going on, she wouldn’t leave.
Adrian Desmond asked, "Samara, tell your sister, what exactly happened?"
Samara was still young. After pushing Sienna for a while to no avail, and seeing that Sienna wouldn’t leave unless she explained, Samara had to patiently say, "Sister, our maternal grandfather, grandmother, and uncles are all here."
"Did you inform them that Madam Johnson attempted suicide?"
Pauline Briggs’s suicide attempt was a huge matter; it was impossible to keep it a secret. However, Sienna hadn’t expected them to arrive so quickly.
"Auntie Ingrid told them," Samara said, then complained, "Auntie Ingrid really shouldn’t have told Grandma and Grandpa about Mom’s suicide attempt. They’ll be worried sick."
Adrian was aware of the Briggs family’s situation. Pauline was their youngest daughter, born to them in their later years, and the two elders doted on her excessively. Now that their most beloved daughter had attempted suicide, they, being unaware of the full truth, would likely pin the bla on Sienna.
"How about you hide for a bit first?" Adrian suggested.
Samara quickly agreed, "Yes, Sister, you should leave quickly! Grandpa dotes on Mom so much, and now they’re convinced Mom attempted suicide because of you. Grandpa was just in Mom’s ward, saying he was going to hit you. You should go; he hits very hard."
"Leave? Why should I leave?"
If I run now, it’ll turn a non-issue into a real problem.
"Adrian, accompany to see my grandparents. If they really try to get physical, protect , but don’t fight back. No matter what, they are elders."
Adrian asked unhappily, "You an if they hit , I just have to take it and can’t hit back?"
"If you’re not willing, then just let them hit . That is, unless you’re not concerned about your son," Sienna said irritably before striding towards the ward.
This woman, why is her temper so awful? Adrian thought.
"Sister... you can’t go! Grandpa really will hit people!"
Sienna calmly walked towards the ward. I’ve done nothing wrong! If Pauline Briggs really attempted suicide because we weren’t close, then that’s her problem. Emotional investnt and returns are not always directly proportional. Who ever decreed that giving affection guarantees receiving it in return?
Adrian caught up, stepping in front of her. "Stay behind later, and don’t try to be a hero. I’ll do my best not to get physical, but if they go too far, I can’t make any promises."
"Okay."
Just as the three of them reached the ward, they heard Mother Briggs’s sobbing from inside. Her voice was filled with profound sorrow, and she was crying bitterly.
"Pauline, my poor daughter, why is your life so hard..."
Her eldest uncle tried to console her, "Mom, please don’t cry. Didn’t the doctor just say Pauline is fine?"
"Fine? If she’s fine, why isn’t she awake yet? Boss, now that you’re married, you don’t care if your sister lives or dies! Look at your sister, she’s beco so thin! She must have been treated poorly in the Johnson family. Since Dexter Johnson passed away, they all bully her because she’s honest, and no one takes her seriously anymore!"
Samara also heard the conversation from inside and whispered, "Sister, maybe we should still leave. Grandma is absolutely furious right now."
The mont Samara made a sound, Grandpa Briggs’s resonant voice ca from inside, "Since you’re here, co on in. If you don’t co to us, we were going to find you."
His tone was clearly one of wanting to settle accounts.
Sienna took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and saw the Briggs family.
Her gaze swept over Grandpa Briggs, Grandma Briggs, her eldest uncle, and her second uncle. She greeted each of them, her tone neither servile nor overbearing—polite yet distant, much like her feelings towards Pauline Briggs.
"Don’t you dare call Grandma! I’m not your grandmother! I don’t have a granddaughter like you!" Right from the start, Grandma Briggs took the offensive, launching the first attack on Sienna.
"Sienna Johnson, you tell ! What did you do to Pauline? She was perfectly fine, so why would she attempt suicide?"
"I would also like to know why Madam Johnson attempted suicide. You don’t know, and I don’t know either. When Madam Johnson wakes up, you can ask her yourselves," Sienna replied coldly.
"Madam Johnson? You call your own mother Madam Johnson? Everyone, listen to this, just listen to how she talks..." Grandma Briggs’s hands trembled with rage as she pointed an accusing finger at Sienna Johnson. "Is this how you treat your own mother? No wonder Pauline wanted to attempt suicide! If I had an unfilial daughter like you, I’d have long been angered to death!"
Grandma Briggs was incandescent with rage at how Sienna addressed her mother. Her eyes blazed with a fire that seed capable of burning Sienna to ashes with a re look.
"Grandma, please calm down. Mom will be alright," Samara said, adopting a docile manner. "My sister treats Mom very well. When it cos to daily expenses for food and clothing, my sister is very generous to Mom."
"What do you an by that? Are you implying that our Briggs family can’t afford to raise our own daughter, that we rely on your Johnson family for her food and clothing, and that your Johnson family is bestowing charity upon us? Although my daughter didn’t bear the Johnson family a son, she did give birth to you two! Before your Old Master Johnson passed away, wasn’t it our Pauline who attended to him? When our Pauline was at ho with us, she never had to lift a finger! But after coming to your Johnson family, she’s been forced to toil like an ox and a horse!"
Sienna stood there, her expression serene under the wolfish glares of the Briggs family, listening as Grandma Briggs cursed the entire Johnson family, condemned Sienna as unfilial, and lanted that, had she known, it would have been better to leave Sienna abandoned outside rather than ever bringing her back.
Samara, who had never witnessed such an intense confrontation, was scared to tears but didn’t dare to cry loudly. Sienna said to her, "Samara, this has nothing to do with you. You should leave first."
"I won’t leave!" Samara sniffled, stubbornly standing her ground, tears streaming silently.
After being berated for a full hour, Grandma Briggs finally stopped when Grandpa Briggs intervened. Grandpa Briggs, who looked very much like Sienna’s two uncles, had a shrewd appearance.
"Sienna," Grandpa Briggs began, "you’re not a child anymore; you’re a mother yourself. Think about it, if your own child didn’t call you ’Mom,’ wouldn’t you be sad?"
"Of course, I would be sad!"
Grandpa Briggs seized the opportunity. "Exactly. So think about your mother. You are her own flesh and blood, yet you call her ’Madam Johnson’ instead of ’Mom.’ How can she possibly bear that?"
Grandpa Briggs was more level-headed than his wife. Although he was also angry, he restrained his emotions much more, knowing that offending Sienna Johnson would bring no benefit to their Pauline.
"So, when my own daughter was born, I watched over her carefully," Sienna stated. "I made sure no one could swap my child for another. I didn’t raise an adopted daughter who would dilute my love for my own daughter... and I certainly didn’t allow an adopted daughter to cause my biological daughter to suffer so many grievances..."
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