Chapter 4 Aversion

"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you feeling ill?" Annie asked with great concern as she waved her hand in front of Addy when she noticed that he wasn't responding.

Addy lowered his head and clasped at his chest with one hand. He grabbed the door frame with the other hand for support and said bitterly, "I was just trying to hold on. But I'm much better now."

He quickly thought on his feet and came up with an excuse for his state. He couldn't ruin his plan and have his true identity revealed because of her.

"Why don't we pay a visit to the hospital?" Annie suggested with worry fraught on her face as she helped him support himself.

Addy shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly. "Our family is so poor. How can we afford to see a doctor? I can just do my best to tolerate this suffering."

Since his formative years, his life had been filled with deception and intriguing events. It was a piece of cake for him to put on an act.

Looking at Addy, Annie frowned and thought of the gossip she had heard the village woman uttering.

'His family is not well off and he is struggling with poor health. Life is so difficult for him. To top it all off, he was even humiliated by the villagers. His life is just too miserable!' she thought to herself, her beautiful, doe-like eyes filled with pity.

She couldn't help but think of the hard time she had had in her childhood and her fake marriage.

Since it was a fake marriage, it meant that the White family cheated the man in front of her. A sense of deep-seated guilt washed over her.

"Don't worry. I will find a way to cure your disease," she asserted. She returned to her senses and tugged at his sleeve tenderly. As for the money, she had devised a plan in her mind.

"Okay," Addy replied in a rather casual tone. He didn't take Annie's words seriously, since he was just feigning illness.

Seeing that Addy didn't want to say anything more, Annie pointed at the kitchen and said delightfully, "Are you hungry? I'm going to whip up a tasty lunch for us. I'm a good cook. You can look forward to this meal!"

Then, she headed straight for the kitchen.

Her long hair caught the sunlight and glimmered beautifully. She skipped and hopped so enthusiastically to the kitchen that she looked like a little rabbit. As he watched her receding figure, he inexplicably felt a sense of delight.

As he looked in the direction of the kitchen, he recalled that his friend Chasen Webster was also in Ywood, so he made a phone call.

"Ronald, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call? I didn't expect that you would take the initiative to call me!" Chasen was on excellent terms with Ronald Cooper. He was one of the few people who dared to joke around with him.

"I'm in the Ywood," Addy said lightly.

"Damn it! Why didn't you tell me before you came to the Ywood? Am I your friend or not?" On the other end of the line, Chasen was happily surprised. With the power of the Cooper family, it was a great honor for the whole of Ywood that Ronald would pay the place a visit.

"I'm here for business. I opted to keep a low profile," Addy replied quite blandly.

"Don't you trust me? Just rest assured that I will keep your confidence. Maybe I can help you," Chasen said casually. "See you at the Ywood Teahouse this afternoon. I have to treat you to an official welcome."

"You can only make things worse... Forget about it. I'll see you there." Addy agreed when something came to his mind.

During lunch, he sat opposite Annie, hesitating to tell her that he was going out that afternoon.

"Addy, I'm going out this afternoon," Annie said first with a smile at him.

"Alright," he said and looked up at her. He wondered why she was going out since she had just married into this family.

Addy remembered that Annie had kept silent when he pretended to be sick this morning. Did she dislike him beyond measure and want to escape?

After they had finished up with lunch, he took a siesta. Hearing his steady breath which indicated he had fallen off to sleep, Annie carefully bent over and looked at his strikingly handsome face. After satisfying herself that he was indeed asleep, she quietly got out of bed and opened a cabinet.

There was a box in the cabinet. It was her dowry, and there were a lot of expensive jewelry items in the box. She planned to go to the town and exchange the items for cash, so that Addy could see a doctor. In the countryside, men would be considered useless if they used women's dowry. If he knew that she planned on exchanging it for money, he would definitely not agree. In the circumstances, she had to keep him in the dark.

Annie took out the box gently and tiptoed stealthily out of the door.

As soon as Annie left, Addy, who was lying on the bed, opened his eyes. There was no trace of sleepiness in his amber eyes. He had seen what the woman had been doing.

A cold smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, and there was no warmth in his eyes. 'Sure enough, I've hit the nail square on the head. She really wants to escape...'