Helena was so horrified by Ms Hudson's reaction that she rose to her feet with furrowed eyebrows as her entire body trembled. She had never seen anyone celebrate such awful news.
"You're just unbelievable," said Helena.
"Hey, don't blame me for celebrating." Ms Hudson chuckled. "Don't you see this is fate? It's good news!"
Helena sighed with her head low. "It was foolish of me to believe that hearing about Martha's poor health would make you change your mind."
Ms Hudson got more comfortable as she excitedly cleared her throat to make a suggestion. "How about this, I'll pay you a specific amount of money every month until Martha dies. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut."
Helena breathed hard, shaken by Ms Hudson's suggestion. "You're just evil."
Ms Hudson leaned back in her seat as she rolled her eyes. "You just greatly improved my mood. My son disappointed me earlier when he disobeyed me but that's alright. I'll deal with him. He's my son after all and no one can change that. If you're not interested, get out."
Helena chuckled with disbelief. "No matter what, I'll make sure to get that DNA test."
"I warned you last time." Ms Hudson glared. "I'll send you to your grave if you dare."
"Then do it! My last mission in this life is to reunite the two of them. Since I have nothing more to say to you. I'll leave."
"To check if Martha's still alive?" Ms Hudson cackled.
Seeing how Ms Hudson only found amusement in Martha's poor health, Helena regretted going to her.
When Helena headed to the door, she stopped in her tracks when Ms Hudson asked her to stop.
"I'm glad Martha's dying, but I want to know if she's really Ethan's biological mother."
Helena furrowed her eyebrows at the sudden change. "But you s-"
"Do you want this or not?"
"I want this more than anything."
"Fine, but until the results are out, stay away from my son."
Helena rushed back to the table and rummaged through her bag. She then took out a comb with Martha's hair strands and placed it on the table. "I came prepared."
Ms Hudson scoffed, then took the comb with a poker face and told Helena the results would be ready in two days and she would give her a call.
Satisfied with Ms Hudson's decision, even if it was sudden, Helena nodded and left with hope that the truth would reflect in the DNA test results.
~
Natalie was back home with her father and he sat on the couch with her on the floor, still in her wedding dress but had taken off the jewelry.
She rested her head on his lap and there were a few of her friends present as they all tried to comfort her. Tears constantly trickled down her face as she complained about how she had worked so hard only for Ethan to leave her at the altar.
She also couldn't come to accept the fact that he had chosen to go to Olivia at that moment.
"It's all because he received that phone call," she said quietly.
She then came to a realization as she sat upright and said it all happened because of Olivia. With gritted teeth, she repeated it a second time as she got up but her father instantly got up as well and placed his hands on her shoulders and asked her to sit back down.
With a frantic gaze and sinister grin, she blamed Olivia once again and her father couldn't help but worry at what she was scheming.
When she attempted to run out, he pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her to calm her down and as he gently spoke to her with words of comfort, she was silent, then broke down again as she held onto him tightly and asked why it happened to her when she deserved none of it.
He then promised her he would speak to Ms Hudson once again since he couldn't get a hold of Ethan.
~
Since Olivia was fast asleep, Ethan came to the kitchen to get something to drink and he found Angela there with puffy eyes. He wondered if she was still crying and when she nodded, he chuckled and assured her that Olivia would be alright.
"I was so scared," she said. "By the way, your suit looks very different from the ones I usually see."
"It was for the wedding ceremony."
Angela covered her mouth for a second with wide eyes. "I hope I called when it was already over."
He explained to her that she called when they were at the altar and were about to begin with the wedding vows.
With a gasp and wide eyes, she took a step back and held onto the wall for support. "Oh no, I disrupted the wedding!"
"Don't worry about it. I left because I was so concerned about Olivia."
"Wait, you really left Miss Natalie at the altar? Ms Hudson will kill me when she finds out I caused all this!"
"As long as I'm here, I won't let her do anything to you."
"But she's so scary when she's furious and this obviously infuriated her a-"
"Don't worry about it."
"The guilt is now killing me." She covered her mouth with both hands.
Angela then tilted her head when she thought of something that didn't make sense to her. "Come to think of it, Sir, you could've just called the doctor to come here or had given me her number so I could communicate with her. That way, you would've carried on with the wedding ceremony."
"Well...."
There was a long pause from Ethan and just when it seemed that he would speak, he took a sip from his drink.
Angela waited for a while for him to speak but it never happened. She then covered her mouth to hide her silent chuckle as she watched him struggle to justify his decision. She was certain she knew his reason.
Her expression then turned to one of fear as she imagined Ms Hudson's reaction to the news that the call she made was the reason he left. She even suggested going to Ms Hudson to apologize but Ethan told her there was no need and she made the right decision when she called him.
After assuring Angela, he sighed deeply as he thought about how he was in trouble more than Angela due to how he left. He was aware that he would have to deal with the consequences.
Soon enough, he composed himself, ready to face what would come his way since he had turned off his phone to avoid any communication with his mother or Natalie.
~
After Ms Hudson had made arrangements for the DNA test, she had received a phone call from Mr Philip, who had demanded to meet her and though she didn't want to, she agreed to it just so she could hear what he had to say even though she already knew what the topic was about.
When she arrived at the restaurant which she had suggested as their meeting place, she nonchalantly sat down and ordered something to drink.
Mr Philip instantly inched forward as he lightly hit the table. "How could you order something to drink at a time like this?" he asked.
"Well, we're at the restaurant, aren't we? What am I supposed to do? Sit here and pretend I can't help myself to something to drink?" She giggled.
He noticed the difference in her mood and his heart broke more than it already did. "What's gotten into you? Did you have a sudden change of heart? Are you glad that Ethan left my precious daughter at the altar?"
"I'm just happy but I have my own reasons."
He sighed to compose himself. "So what now?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm asking about the wedding."
She looked at him with wide eyes then burst into laughter at how she found him desperate for Natalie to get married to Ethan. "Shouldn't you be with Natalie right now. I'm pretty sure she needs you yet here you are, asking about another wedding?"
He clarified that if not for how much it broke his heart to see Natalie so broken, he wouldn't have been at that table. She didn't deserve any of what happened to her. He also added that despite how she didn't care about Natalie and the wedding anymore, he couldn't bear to see his daughter in the pitiful state she was in so he needed clarity on the way forward.
It took a while for Ms Hudson to respond and as she took another sip, she shrugged. When she put down her glass, she bluntly told him she didn't know what was next.
He clenched his fists under the table at how she didn't care at all. He then reminded her that the main reason the two of them had arranged that marriage for their children was so she could have control over a region she could never get her hands on before that.
As soon as she heard that, she narrowed her eyes and inched forward. "Hold it right there. Do you think I'm more concerned about losing control over a region than I am about losing control over my son?"
"Are you saying you care more ab-"
"Yes, the most important thing to me is my relationship with my son. And just like Olivia, Natalie doesn't deserve him either. Your daughter is such a stupid girl who thought she had the upper hand."
"I won't allow you to insult my daughter."
She scoffed. "I already did."
She took one last sip from her glass then got up without saying anything more to him.
When she got to her car, she instructed the driver to take her to Olivia's apartment. Despite her good mood, thanks to the horrible news about Martha, she needed to deal with Ethan.
~
When the doctor mentioned to Ethan again that she needed to leave, he shook his head with disapproval and assured her that he would double the amount if that was what it would take to keep her there until the following day.
She told him she had agreed to it before but something urgent came up and she needed to leave. She assured him she would return in a few hours but he wasn't too comfortable as he feared that something might happen to Olivia while she would be away.
She assured him that she would only take a few hours and Olivia still wouldn't be awake by then.
In the end, he agreed to it but hoped she would return as soon as possible.
After she left, he headed back to Olivia's bedroom so he could be with her.
When he sat back on the chair, he noticed that she had switched sleeping positions and her hair covered her face. Slowly, he moved it out of the way then gently trailed his fingers along her cheek as he remembered her response when he had mentioned to her that he didn't get married.
Relieved that she was attended to before things could get worse, he held onto her hand once again but this time, kissed it as he promised that nothing would ever happen to her or their baby.
Right after his promise, he kissed her hand a few more times but stopped when he remembered how he couldn't answer Angela's question on why he didn't just let the doctor attend to Olivia without him having to leave his own wedding. He then sighed deeply as he thought about his reason.
Suddenly, he flinched when he heard screaming from Angela and violent shattering which made him instantly rush out.
When he got downstairs, his mother stood a few feet away from Angela, who was on her knees and shattered pieces of a vase right near the wall behind her.
He noticed how furious his mother was as she blamed Angela for everything that had gone wrong and he realized Angela must have attempted to apologize.
Ms Hudson insulted and belittled Angela in every way possible and she was so terrified that she placed her hands and face on the floor as she begged Ms Hudson for forgiveness.
Only infuriated even more, after learning it all started with Angela, she reached for another vase so she could launch it at Angela as she believed she called just to stop the wedding.
Right before she could launch it, Ethan rushed in front of Angela and Ms Hudson's eyes grew wide at how he protected Angela.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked. "Move out of the way! I'll make her regret ruining everything!"
"No, you won't," he said, spreading out his arms to shield Angela even more. "All she did was call. I was the one who made the decision to leave."
"If not for that phone call, you would've never left."
He looked back at Angela and instructed her to get up but Ms Hudson yelled for her not to move.
He looked back at Angela once again and told her to only listen to him because she directly worked for him and it took a while because she was so terrified but the assurance from him that he wouldn't let his mother hurt her was enough to make her rise to her feet.
"You could've seriously injured Angela," he said as he looked at the shattered vase.
"That's the least she deserves. And where's that good for nothing? She obviously put that lowlife behind you up to this!"
"Do you even know what happened to Olivia for Angela to call? She wa-"
"I don't care about Olivia." She exhaled deeply to control her anger. "Before I get my hands on her, I-"
"I won't allow anything to happen to Olivia and my baby."
She scoffed. "Well, I'll deal with her later. Since I came here for you, we're leaving right now and we have a lot to talk about when we get home. Get whatever stuff you came with and meet me outside."
"But I-"
"I said get your stuff and meet me outside!"
"Olivia's n-"
"I said we're leaving!"
When she turned around to head outside and took a few steps, she was certain that he would soon follow her, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard him firmly speak.
"No, I'm not leaving."