Flash Marriage: My Penniless Billionaire Husband
Chapter 244: Old Photo
Janice and Yvonne glanced at each other, then Janice pulled her into the embrace and comforted, "Good girl, don’t cry. Tell me. Why are you here alone? Where’s your uncle?"
Anna bit her lips and didn’t say anything.
Janice looked around and thought, "In such a desolate place, how worried would Joey be if he couldn’t find Anna?"
She paused and said, "I’ll take you to your uncle, okay? He’ll be worried if he can’t find you."
Anna hesitated and nodded.
At this time, on the path at the entrance of the village, Joey was anxiously looking for Anna.
Early in the morning, Anna kept crying and clamoring to go home.
He tried to coax her again and again, but he failed. When he went back to his room to get his cell phone, Anna was nowhere to be found.
Thinking that Anna was too young and unfamiliar with the place, Joey was sweating profusely.
"Anna..."
As he shouted, he suddenly saw a few figures not far ahead.
He hurriedly ran over. When he saw Janice, he was surprised. Then he looked at Anna who was held in her hand. He hurriedly ran over.
"Anna."
Joey held her in his arms.
"Where have you been? You scared me." He was blaming Anna, but his tone was very gentle.
Anna sobbed pitifully.
Janice and Yvonne stood there, staring at the two of them.
Somehow, their moods got bad as well.
Janice comforted, "Now you’ve found her. It’s all right."
Only then did Joey recall the two of them.
He put Anna to the side and nodded at Janice. "Why are you here?"
Janice knew his doubts and quickly explained, "We came to the village for the interview on behalf of the TV station. Just now, we met Anna, and thought you must be anxious to find her, so we accompanied her here."
Hearing this, Joey spoke gratefully, "Thank you."
"My pleasure."
Janice looked around and asked, "Did you come here with Anna that day?"
He nodded and said, "Why don’t you go to my home and have some water to rest for a while?"
Janice just wanted him to say so. Upon hearing this, she immediately agreed.
After that, she and Yvonne followed him to his residence.
It was a small and dilapidated old wooden house. The entire building was filled with the smell of rotten wood.
Janice looked around and couldn’t help but frown.
"No wonder Anna wants to go back. This place is really not suitable for children to live in. Why don’t you go to the town? At least there is B&B there."
Joey did not say a word. He held a black calabash and poured two small bowls of water for the two.
Janice received it and took a sip, tasting the sweetness of the spring water.
She put down the bowl and looked into Anna’s big and bright eyes. Then, she took some compressed biscuits and other snacks from her bag and handed them over.
"Anna, do you want to eat them?"
Anna glanced at the snacks and looked subconsciously at Joey.
It wasn’t until she received permission from Joey that she timidly extended her hand.
"Thank you."
Janice stroked her hair. "You’re welcome. Eat them."
Anna then started eating in small bites.
Janice looked around the house. Her attention was attracted by an old-fashioned frame hanging on the wall.
There were a few old photos in the frame. Perhaps because these photos were too old, they had become blurred.
...
However, Janice could vaguely see a girl whose eyes curved like crescent moons when she smiled.
Those eyes looked familiar.
She couldn’t help but turn around to look at Anna.
She didn’t know if she was mistaken, but she always felt that those eyes were very similar to Anna’s.
Then she thought, "Could the girl in the photo be Sophie?"
She asked, "These photos..."
"Oh, it’s the owner of this place." Joey hesitated for a moment before replying.
Janice was stunned. She thought, "The owner of this place? So this house belongs to Sophie?"
She also thought of the details that Wanda had told her about adopting Sophie.
<Sophie’s mother sacrificed herself to save Nathan, so Nathan brought her back to the Batemans to raise her.
So she was living here before she came to the Batemans.>
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help returning to those photos and fixing her eyes on a photo.
Although the photo was faded, she could still make out two adults and a child.
It looked like a family photo.
Only then did Janice think of a problem. <I have only heard information about Sophie’s mother. What about her father?
After her mother passed away, shouldn’t it be her father’s responsibility to raise her? >
However, Janice had asked Christopher before, and he told her that her family had never appeared in recent years.
She thought, "It doesn’t make sense."
The more she thought about it, the stranger she felt. But at this moment, a phone suddenly rang. It was Joey’s phone.
He took his phone out and glanced at it. His eyes lightened when he saw the screen, and then he walked out of the door to answer the call.
Janice watched him leave. She paused for a moment, then followed him.
In the yard, Joey answered.
"Sophie, you finally return my calls. How long do I need to stay with Anna here? She’s not used to this place, and wants to go back."
On the other end of the line, Sophie was impatient.
She said, "She is just young. She will get used to it in a few days. Can’t you amuse her with something?"
"Plus, where’s the doctor you mentioned earlier? She’s not used to the environment here; I’m worried that she won’t be able to take it."
"Got it. I’ll find the doctor as soon as possible. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up."
Joey still wanted to say something, but the other side suddenly hung up. He listened to the beeping sound from the phone and put it away in disappointment.
"Does she have a fever?" At this moment, Yvonne, who was in the room, suddenly shouted.
Janice didn’t eavesdrop anymore and hurriedly came back.
Joey also heard the scream. He then rushed into the room.
The two of them returned to the room one after another. Anna was lying on the reclining chair, while Yvonne was sitting next to her and feeling her pulse on her wrist.
Both Janice and Joey were stunned when they saw this.
This was especially true of Joey. His expression was unusually nervous, and he couldn’t help but clench his fists.
"My friend is a doctor. Let her see what’s going on." Janice explained.
Upon hearing this, Joey’s fists, which were hanging at his side, slowly relaxed.
Yvonne examined her carefully and finally said to them, "This child’s pulse is unusual. Have you ever taken her to the hospital for a checkup?"
Upon hearing Yvonne’s question, Janice turned to look at Joey.
...
Joey did not reply, but his face was a little pale. He paused for a moment before saying, "She is very healthy. But it is humid in the mountains. She caught a cold last night, but she will be fine after taking some medicine. I still have something to do, so I won’t keep you. Please go back."
Joey gave them the order to leave.
"Why are you..." Before Yvonne could finish her words, Janice stopped her because she could see that Joey was unhappy.
"Then we’ll go back first. Take good care of Anna."
After saying that, she turned to Anna and said, "We will go back first. You have to listen to what uncle says."
Then, she waved her hand and left with Yvonne.
After the two left, Joey hurriedly returned to the room, took out a few bottles of medicine from his luggage, and hurriedly fed her the medicine.
"Why did you stop me? That kid is seriously ill. He’s lying." When they left the house, Yvonne broke away from Janice and complained.
Janice sighed in resignation. <How could I not see that Joey is lying? However, it’s obvious that he doesn’t want us to know. It will be useless for us to argue with him. We can just wait and see instead of annoying him. After all, Joey loves Anna than anyone of us.>
She said, "I know he’s lying, but have you thought about why he said that? Isn’t it just because he doesn’t want us to know that Anna is a sick child? As a doctor, you should have seen many families like this. Please understand."
"But even so, he can’t see the child’s life as a joke. Although I only feel her pulse and can’t diagnose what kind of disease it is, I’m sure that it’s definitely serious. If they continue to stay here, she can’t last more than three days. I’m not exaggerating."
After that, Yvonne left angrily.
Watching her leaving figure, Janice felt a little helpless. She thought, "If Yvonne is true, then wouldn’t Anna be in danger?"
Then she hurriedly picked up her phone and sent him a message. "I live in the town’s school. If you need any help, you can come find me."
She sent out a message and chased after Yvonne.
Inside the room, Joey read the message and then threw his phone aside with a frown.
He thought, "What should I do?"
By the time Janice and Yvonne returned to the town’s middle school, it was already evening.
The night in the little town was particularly quiet.
The sound of children reading books was heard on campus, neat and loud, full of vitality.
"Yvonne, don’t be angry." Looking at Yvonne who was still angry, Janice said in resignation.
Yvonne turned to look at her and said indignantly, "I’m not angry. I just think that he’s too ignorant. Does he think that there’s no illness if he doesn’t admit to it? Does he know that the best way to treat illness is to face it?"
Janice thought, "How could I not understand this? However, Joey is different."
Although she didn’t know why he did this, she had a hunch that he had a reason for it.
"Let’s go back first. Maybe we can’t even sleep at night." Janice patted her shoulder.
Yvonne snorted in disdain.
After returning to the temporary residence, Janice called Christopher.
The moment the call got through, Janice asked, "Did you go to see grandpa today?"