The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

Charles took off his disposable gloves and observed his injured hand in the corridor.

He was about to go downstairs when he bumped into Gwendolyn coming back from the restroom at the corner.

Gwendolyn had just finished a video conference. She washed and sanitized her hands to prevent bringing bacteria

from the computer mouse to Benedict before returning to the ward.

When she faced Charles, she immediately noticed the bloodstains on his hand. By the time Charles tried to hide his

hand behind his back, it was already too late.

“You’re injured?” she asked.

Charles smiled casually and replied, “It’s nothing. I slipped and fell on my way here.”

Observant as always, Gwendolyn sensed something unusual about him. “Even if you really slipped, you wouldn’t

have gotten such an injury given your skills. Don’t tell me that your hand happened to hit a nail on the ground as

you fell.”

Charles chuckled. “You know me well, Gwen.”

“The laboratory has top-notch security measures and cleanliness. How is a sharp object like a nail going to end up

on the floor? Don’t try to deceive me. What really happened?” Gwendolyn asked.

Charles shrugged indifferently. “It seems impossible to hide anything from you, Gwen.”

A few minutes later, when the door to the ward was slowly opened, Benedict, who was devouring a piece of durian,

quickly threw the remaining of it into the trash and hastily wiped the corners of his mouth.

Gwendolyn entered the ward.

Although Benedict’s actions were swift, he still couldn’t escape Gwendolyn’s eyes.

“Is your meeting finished, Mommy? Actually, there’s no need for you to rush back here. I know your work is

important. I’m already used to receiving the drip alone. I can handle it myself,” Benedict said.

Gwendolyn said nothing as she calmly walked to his bedside.

Her gaze inadvertently fell on the corner of his mouth, where there were still traces of durian flesh. The room was

filled with the pungent smell of durian.

Benny clearly loves eating durian. Why did he throw away the remaining piece as soon as he saw me coming in?

Gwendolyn silently took a tissue from the bedside table and gently wiped the corners of Benedict’s mouth.

He smiled obediently, his face showing no signs of abnormality.

However, Gwendolyn’s expression grew increasingly serious as a thought flashed across her mind. “Did you cause

the injury on Charles’ hand?”

Taken aback, Benedict’s disgust toward Charles quickly grew rampant again despite having dissipated slightly.

“He’s such a petty person. I can’t believe that he immediately went to tattle to you, Mommy! Why didn’t he tell you

that it was all voluntary on his part, that he agreed to fulfill my three demands? I didn’t force him,” Benedict

complained.

Sighing, Gwendolyn explained, “He didn’t tattle on you. I happened to meet him in the corridor, and I asked him. He

insisted that he accidentally injured himself, and it had nothing to do with you.”

Then, she continued, “But I’m the one who gave birth to you. I know you the best. If you want to retaliate against

him, he will surely comply with guilt. This is just my guess.”

Benedict remained silent.

Charles didn’t take the opportunity to strike back. Maybe I’ve thought too poorly of him all this time?

It was the first time Benedict had seen Gwendolyn, who was always gentle and considerate, being so serious with

him. Although he had wrongly accused Charles, he still felt a little aggrieved.

“Mommy, are you going to reprimand me on behalf of Charles? Do you think I’m a naughty child who caused

severe injuries to Charles’ hand? Are you going to punish me?” Benedict asked.

“Yes…” Gwendolyn sighed again.

“Now that I’m sick, I can’t go to kindergarten like Zendy, and I can’t make any new friends. I have to receive daily

drips and endure the pain. All I want is to make things difficult for Charles and to make him back off from bothering

me. Who knew he would actually chop the durian with his hand…”

Benny, who had always been strong and rarely cried, had a faint redness in the corners of his eyes.

However, he stubbornly kept his eyes wide open because he refused to let the tears flow.

Gwendolyn’s heart ached when she saw that.

Benedict was indeed extremely sensitive. She hadn’t said anything yet, but he had already imagined so much.

As Gwendolyn cradled him in her arms and patted his back patiently to comfort him, she said, “I wasn’t going to

reprimand or punish you, Benny. I know that you made three forgiveness requests to Charles, and I fully support it.”

Surprised by her response, Benedict looked up at her.

“Really? You’re not angry at all, Mommy?” he asked.

Gwendolyn touched the tip of his nose gently. “What’s there to be angry about? Charles caused your hospitalization,

so you made him chop the durian and feel the pain too. It’s fair.”

She wouldn’t suggest such retaliatory behavior to Benedict under normal circumstances, but now that he had

already done it, she had no reason to object.

Benedict was a tad surprised. “I thought you were going to scold me, Mommy…”

“Your dad and I will always stand by you and Zendy. We have never thought of you as a bad child. Benny, at the age

of five, you can already solve high-school-level Mathematical Olympiad math problems. You’re truly our talented

child, Benny,” she said while gently patting Benedict’s back.

Then, she continued with a serious tone, “However, revenge must have its limits, Benny. Although I support you

unconditionally, you can’t go too far as to cause harm to someone’s life or hurt someone just because you don’t

like them. In these extreme cases, I won’t support you. Instead, I will punish you if you do so.”

Gwendolyn supported her child unconditionally, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t have limits.

As long as people don’t mess with me, I won’t offend anyone. I won’t actively cause trouble, but I’m also not afraid

of it when it is needed. These principles cannot be changed.

Benedict listened attentively and nodded firmly. “Don’t worry, Mommy. I understand. But Mommy… why is your

expression so strange?”

Since Gwendolyn entered the room, she had been holding her breath while speaking.

Now she could barely hold it any longer.

This room… is so, so smelly!

For someone who couldn’t stand any foul smells and never ate durian, this odor was worse than the stench of

diarrhea.

The reason she had a serious expression on her face when she entered the room was also because of the stench.

It was an expression she would make when enduring the stench, but she didn’t expect it to give Benny the wrong

impression that she was angry.

Now that Benny opened his mouth to speak, she really couldn’t hold her breath anymore because he had eaten the

fruit.

With him in her arms, it felt like she was facing an attack of durian breath at close range.

My preciously nurtured child… How can his mouth be as smelly as if he had eaten sh*t…

“Mommy?” Not knowing what was wrong, Benedict moved closer.

As the foul smell filled her nose again, she was about to lose it.

“Q-Quickly finish eating the durian. I’ll go out and get some fresh air and come back later with some air freshener.

This durian smell is just… too much.”

As she spoke, she decisively put Benedict back on the hospital bed and hurriedly left the ward.

Looking at Gwendolyn’s frantically retreating figure, Benedict pouted to himself. “Mommy’s expression just now… It

seems like she’s disgusted with me…”

Whitney had just finished her entire day shift as a waitress and handed in her resignation to the manager at half

past seven in the evening.

Although she had only worked for a few days, she still received the daily wage according to the number of days she

worked.

Grateful, Whitney bowed repeatedly.

After taking off her waitress uniform, Whitney rubbed her sore shoulders as she walked out of the restaurant.

In the afternoon, she had asked a friendly and approachable colleague about the practice of exchanging gifts on a

first date among high-class elites.

It turned out that Jessamyn hadn’t lied to her.

Hence, after finishing work, she went shopping in the nearby shopping district.

What will be a suitable gift for Charles considering his status?

A watch? A wallet? Or cologne?