Chapter 19
“Eloise, you can’t just let the hospital fire you without cause! You need to stand up for yourself, fight back, or even expose them!” Celia exclaimed indignantly.
Eloise pulled out a large bag of snacks from the bottom drawer and handed it to Cella
Sometimes, when they were swamped with work, they barely had time to eat, so they kept quick snacks handy. Eloise didn’t care much for them herself–they were
mostly for Celia.
“Eloise, you can’t act like it doesn’t matter! They’re walking all over you because they think you’re easy to bully!” Celia stomped her foot in frustration.
Eloise shook her head with a faint smile. “The severance package they offered me was decent. I made sure to review it carefully before I signed.”
“Eloise Sullivan!” Celia almost shouted.
“Actually, I was planning to resign anyway,” Lloise said with a slung. “Kingsbury Hospital belongs to the Kilbourne family. If I want a clean break from Jacob, I need to leave the hospital.”
Upon hearing this, Celia’s anger began to subside. “So, what’s your plan now?”
“I’m going to take a break for a while, then look for a new job,” Eloise replied.
Celia gave her a skeptical look. “You? A workaholic? Taking a break? I don’t buy it.”
Eloise exhaled slowly as if a weight had been lifted. “I’m getting married. I plan to spend some time renovating the new house first.”
Celia’s eyes widened. “You… you’re getting married? But you just broke up with Jacob. Where did this fiancé come from?”
“My aunt Felicia introduced him.”
She made her way out, carrying a box of her belongings. The doctors and nurses in her department waved goodbye, their expressions tinged with sympathy. Eloise smiled back, but to them, it probably looked forced.
Celia walked her all the way to the hospital gates. “You can’t trust men so easily. If you run into any trouble, you have to tell me.”
Eloise nodded. “Of course. We’re friends, a aren’t we?
Celia hugged her and said, “With you gone, work won’t be any fun.”
“Once I finish home renovations, you have to come visit me.”
“Definitely.”
Instead of going back to the villa, Eloise headed to her old house in Sunvale.
Sunvale had developed rapidly in recent years, with most of the old neighborhood already demolished. Only a few streets here and there still remained untouched.
After coming up from the subway, just across the street, the east side was bustling with skyscrapers and traffic, while the west side was a quiet lane with decades- old houses and elderly folks taking leisurely walks.
Eloise walked down the lane until she reached a two–story house–her family home.
It had been vacant for a long time. The glass windows were broken, likely by mischievous children with slingshots. The wooden balcony was weathered and peeling, the door had a hole in it, and the yard was overgrown with weeds.
Yet, the pomegranate tree in the yard was still lush, it’s branches laden with vibrant red fruit, ripe for the season.
Eloise borrowed a chair. Fortunately, the wall wasn’t very sturdy, so she easily climbed over.
After looking at the tree brimming with plump, crimson pomegranates, she couldn’t resist picking one. Splitting it open, she found its seeds glistening like rubles
-sweet and juicy, just as she remembered.
This was a sweet pomegranate tree that was planted by her mother, Lydia Harper, because she loved eating them.
“Little foodies, is the pomegranate sweet?” Lydia would ask
soon as the end of summer arrived, she couldn’t resist plucking one to taste, even though they
Every year, Eloise eagerly awaited the pomegranate to
to ripen. As so weren’t fully ripe yet.
But whenever Lydia asked, Eloise always replied with tim conviction, “So sweet!”
