Hospital 444

Atlanta train station was packed with people at the moment.

Inside the train car, seats were mostly all taken as well.

"Ha ha ha, yes, exactly," a young man holding a deck of cards, playing with his three friends, occasionally laughed and joked, "Daniel back then... hah, only five seconds, just... ha ha ha ha..."

"Jack, you really don’t hold anything back, do you."

"It’s Daniel himself..."

Just then, Melody, who was with her daughter Melias, walked past these four men towards the front left side of the car.

The man called Jack, who was holding the cards, suddenly froze, staring ahead, then tapped the man sitting next to him, "Hey, hey, hey, look over there, that woman..."

As he said this, he shaped his hand into a circle, then moved it towards his chest.

"Ha ha ha ha..." Jack began to laugh lasciviously while making that gesture.

"Jack, my man," the man beside him said, "what are you scheming."

Jack tightly clutched the playing cards and said, "Look at her suitcase; it’s obvious she’s not on a short trip and won’t get off early. Later, I’ll try hitting on her..."

"Come on, you can’t be serious?"

"Hmph, I guarantee I can get her phone number, or maybe her Twitter or Facebook. What do you say, believe it or not? Do you dare bet with me?"

At that moment, Melody was about to place her suitcase in the overhead rack when a middle-aged man wearing a round hat stood up and moved it up for her.

"Thank you." Melody said to the middle-aged man, "Sorry to trouble you."

"Not a problem." The middle-aged man glanced at her and then at Melias next to her, asking, "Are you headed to Philadelphia?"

"Yes."

The middle-aged man nodded, "I am too."

Melody nodded but didn’t say much more; she seemed not too interested in continuing their conversation.

Then, she told Melias, "Melias, get some sleep for now."

After speaking, she too leaned back slightly and closed her eyes.

Clearly, she had no intention of continuing any conversation with the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man smiled, took a book out of his bag, and began reading.

The train slowly left Atlanta, heading north to Philadelphia. In a dozen or so hours, it would arrive at 13th Street Station in Philadelphia.

Of course... provided that the train proceeded smoothly without any disturbances.

At this time, Jack was still eyeing the seats of Melody and Melias.

Jack’s companion Bob said, "Jack, you’ve hit on many girls before, but today it’s different—she’s not alone..."

"Exactly, I bet you’ll be left hanging. Phone number and Twitter account? You might not even learn her name."

"Damn, you guys look down on me?"

Jack’s stubborn temper immediately flared up; he suddenly pulled out a handful of cards and slammed them on the table.

"Royal flush!"

Then Jack fixed his hair and said, "Alright, now watch me."

"It’s for real, you’re going now?"

Everyone was stunned.

"Take your bets now, see if I can even find out her name."

"Maybe wait a bit. Do they look like they’ve fallen asleep?"

"Can’t I tell if someone’s asleep or not? That blonde is just pretending to be asleep while the other one is really sleeping."

"They look like mother and daughter, right?"

"Whatever," Jack quickly stood up, grabbed a beer can from the table, and was ready to go over there to check.

He was absolutely irresistible to the curvaceous blonde, so naturally, he couldn’t just back off now.

He briskly moved over, then planned to open the beer can and pretend to accidentally spill it on her. The beer spilling on her white clothes would definitely stand out.

That way, he should be able at least to get her phone number.

Getting the phone number would make it less difficult to further get her social media details.

Jack had pretty much planned everything out and then took steps toward them.

Before long, he reached their seat and feigned a stumble, about to spill the beer, but the middle-aged man quickly steadied him.

"Sir, are you alright?"

Most of the beer spilled on the floor, with a bit splashing on the middle-aged man instead.

"I..." Jack was immediately frustrated, but with that, his plan was untenable to execute again.

"Be careful as you walk," said the middle-aged man. "Okay?"

"Alright..."

Jack ruefully returned to his seat, his three companions were doubled over with laughter.

"Jack, your comedic performance just now was even funnier than Daniel’s five seconds."

"It’s alright, here, have this beer," Bob handed a beer can to Jack, "What’s up, not giving up? Still thinking of making a move?"

Jack snatched the beer can and said, "I feel that guy, he saw through what I was planning. His look was like he knew what I was thinking, telling me to pack up my ideas."

"No way?"

"When I was walking over, he was reading his book. His eyes were fixed on the book, not even looking at me, but the moment I stumbled, he immediately steadied me. That’s really weird."

The middle-aged man still held his book, checking to ensure no beer had spilled on it.

Though it was getting dark, fortunately, the lights inside the train were bright enough for him to see clearly.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang.

The middle-aged man answered the call.

"Anna."

His expression was very calm.

"When will you arrive in Philadelphia?"

"Soon. I should be there by early tomorrow morning."

"Don’t delay any further, come back and sign the divorce papers immediately," the voice on the other end was very cold, "I won’t give you custody of our daughter. Everything else is negotiable, but I must raise our daughter myself. You can visit her once a week. Of course, that’s if you’re willing to pay the alimony."

"We swore during our wedding that only death could do us part."

"Save it, Chris," a cold laugh came through the other end of the phone, "Do you really believe in a love that lasts till death? Alright, this time you must sign the divorce papers no matter what. After many years of marriage, I don’t want to end up taking you to court, and you wouldn’t want the judge to force our daughter to choose between us, would you?"

Chris clenched his phone tightly but his expression remained calm.

"Is it because of John’s death? Because our son died, you want to divorce me and take our daughter?"

"What do you mean ’because of’? Chris, how can you say that? It’s all your fault. You never believed in John. What, do you want me to repeat how John died? What you did during his toughest time? Yes, he smoked weed and skipped classes, but he wasn’t someone who would rape. You’d rather trust others than believe your son. You and everyone else are jerks."

"I didn’t mean I didn’t believe him..."

"You suspected him! You might not say it out loud, but your eyes revealed your thoughts. Is it just because he was smoking weed? He was led astray by his peers, yet you never bothered with him!"

"Drug use is not something that can be dismissed so easily, is it Anna? I always said that he needed to quit weed, but you said it’s a low-addiction drug that can be kicked, and that half the school was doing it. Weed is a gateway drug; how many addicts, once addicted, will do anything... Just because he’s our son, should I blindly defend him without considering the possibility that he committed a crime?"

"I don’t want to argue with you. After you return to Philadelphia, contact my attorney directly, he will provide you the divorce papers. If you don’t sign, we will go to court. I hope that next year, on John’s death anniversary, I can still go with you to visit his grave. Otherwise, I’d rather move his grave, so you will never be able to find him!"