Chapter 25
He picked up the phone again and called Tracie.
The service desk answered, “The number you’ve dialed is not in service area.”
‘Not in service area?
‘Where has Tracie gone?’
It hit him then. Even though Tracie had been constantly pestering him, which annoyed him, now that he wanted to reach her, he couldn’t.
‘Looks like I’ll have to wait for Tracie to come to me.’
Meanwhile, Tracie had already landed at Delight International Airport in Yrarc, Stophis.
It was 2 AM in Stophis.
After landing, Tracie grabbed her luggage and left the airport, heading straight to the hotel she had booked. She slept until morning.
Which was 4 PM back in the country. Tracie received a call from Rico. “Mom, it’s morning in Stophis, remember to have breakfast and don’t skip it.”
“Okay, I’ll listen to you.” Tracie’s voice cracked with emotion as she replied.
After breakfast, she headed to the exhibition.
This was an integrated elderly care exhibition organized by Stophis’s most renowned architectural institution. Tracie was eager to learn and also wanted to discuss her plans with the Stophis designers to see if there was anything she could improve.
As she entered the exhibition hall, she heard a distant yet familiar voice. “Tray? Is that you? Tray?”
Tray?
Tracie froze.
There was only one person who ever called her by that name.
She turned around quickly, and the person was still looking at her. “Tray, is that really you?”
“Mrs. Mueller?” Even though they hadn’t seen each other in nine years, Tracie immediately recognized Earline
Mueller.
“Tray, six years ago, you told me in an email that you got married, and your husband’s family is the prestigious Stan- ton family from Truatol. But… why are you still dressing so simply?” Earline looked at Tracie with concern.
Tracie glanced down at her outfit.
A plain white T-shirt, a black windbreaker, jeans, and white sneakers.
It was indeed a simple outfit.
But it wasn’t that she couldn’t afford better clothes.
After a long flight and a full day of walking around the exhibition, she simply chose to dress comfortably.
“Tray, are you still struggling like you were ten years ago?” Earline asked, her voice full of concern.
“I’m doing well now, Mrs. Mueller,” Tracie replied, carefully avoiding mention of her impending divorce. She hadn’t even told Earline that she had changed her name and identity.
She didn’t feel it was necessary to burden others with her personal troubles.
After all, she wasn’t particularly close to Earline.
Earline was a Osewood-Stophis.
Ten years ago, she had flown to Osewood to search for relatives. When she couldn’t find anyone, she contracted a contagious disease and nearly died.
During her bedridden state, the cost of a nurse was a staggering 700 dollars a day, but no one dared to care for her-ev- eryone was afraid they would catch the disease and die too. –
At the time, Tracie was 17.
It had been a year since she had been kicked out of the Everett family.
Even though she was no longer part of the Everett family, she still went by the name “Tray Everett.”
At 17, with no education or work experience, she couldn’t find a job in Truatol and was broke. So at night, she slept on benches in hospital lobbies.
By chance, she overheard a conversation about a wealthy Osewood-Stophis woman who was paying a high price for a
nurse.
The problem? The woman had a life-threatening contagious disease, and no one was willing to take the job.
So Tracie became Earline’s nurse.
Earline called her “Tray.”
During that time, Tracie cared for Earline’s most basic needs-helping her eat, cleaning her, and attending to her daily. Miraculously, after a month, Earline recovered.
And Tracie didn’t catch the disease.
However, once Earline was well again, she became cold and distant, refusing to speak to Tracie.
Tracie understood.
