After One Night Stand

Chapter 6

Jaspar was sincere in his love for racing, he had decided from the first time he gripped the steering wheel that he belonged on the racetrack, he had thought about his successes and envisioned his failures, including his accidental injury or successful retirement, every picture of racing he had pictured in his imagination, but he had never envisioned that he would leave the racetrack forever.

With one foot on the gas, Jaspar's car resounded with a loud roar as it roared into the night. He loved racing, loved the feeling of freedom. But his father had a way of punishing him too; he froze his bank account so he couldn't afford to race, they had a really big fight, and his cold war with his father could have gone on for a long time if his mother hadn't mediated it. And he certainly couldn't understand his mother's behavior. If her marriage didn't bring her happiness, then she could have divorced instead of standing up to his father and persuading her son to follow the family's decision.

Although this was all before, his friends and his brothers helped him survive the Canadian stage and he didn't let them down as he took the stage win. His current points tally was very objective and he was on his way to his best ever finish.

But Jaspar still sat in his father's study today to have a final negotiation with him. The negotiations failed, of course, and he admitted that he had lost his temper first, and they ranted and raved at each other, with neither willing to make concessions for the other.

The ending was his slamming the door and driving his sports car back to the race track. Racing was really a great way to forget about reality, and he thought again of the woman who had cried so bitterly in his passenger seat as if she had been betrayed by the whole world, and he felt the same way now.

He didn't know how many times he had circled around, but he stopped midway. Although countless images flashed through his mind at the same time, he couldn't stop to think about any of them, he just felt sad, why did his life turn out like this? The phone had popped up with so many beeps that he almost thought it was his soundtrack. But he didn't want to know any more.

He might have fallen asleep or was still thinking about things, in any case it took him a while to regain consciousness and that beep was still there.

He picked up his phone and scanned it without any hope, and found numerous missed calls from several people, his mother, his sister and Violet, and Jaspar dialed his mother's number.

"What's going on, Mom? I'm fine, I'm at the race track."

The voice on the other end of the line was calm, but Jaspar detected some slight difference, "I'm very happy to hear that you're safe. But your father has something going on and he needs you."

He didn't really have any idea about that; what could have happened to his ever-fighting father?

"Your father had a very serious heart attack and was just admitted to the hospital once not long ago." The last few words of her mother took on a trembling tone, but she managed to suppress her mood swings, "You have to find time to talk again, this time to discuss the results, and not to... not to make your father angry again."

Jaspar hadn't experienced anything like this before, and for a second he didn't even know what the right response was for him to make. He hoped it was just another one of his father's dirty tricks to make him give up, but his mind flashed back to the phone call he had just made and then immediately started the car and rushed to the hospital.

His mind was blank, he didn't know how to face his father who was in the hospital, not to mention that he was aggravated by the fight he had with him.

Violet was waiting for him at the entrance of the hospital, the old white-haired housekeeper who had spent most of her life at Stock and who had watched Jaspar grow up. She led him straight to the VIP ward and gave him a quick rundown of his father's condition.

"Axell's heart condition is very serious and he has been so busy with work in recent years that he will not follow the family doctor's advice seriously at all. Ila and I have persuaded him many times, but he won't listen. Just half a month ago he was admitted to the resuscitation room for continuous late night work, and just a short time after he was discharged from the hospital, he was admitted again because of you."

Jaspar felt a deep sense of powerlessness, and as much as he didn't want to believe that this could really be happening, he saw his intubated father through the glass in the door of the hospital room, drowsy and long gone from the air he'd had when he'd argued with him hours before.

Ila noticed her son and told the nurse to open the door.

"Come in," she said quietly, "and see your father."

Jaspar hadn't been afraid of anything; he'd been able to calmly experience the tumble in his race car when it was knocked off the track. But now he felt he had no control over his legs, and every step he took toward his hospital bed seemed as heavy as if it was filled with lead. His mother's hand on his back was both a comfort and a pressure, and he had to walk to his father's side.

The fear was deepening, his omnipotent father was now as pale as if he had aged dozens of years in a matter of hours, clearly he had the strength to sneer at him when the two of them had met earlier, but now his father was lying in his hospital bed, his face as white as the sheets.

"How is he?" Jaspar looked over at his mother, and he suddenly felt cold, as if every word he spat out carried a chill with it.

"Go outside and talk."

In the lounge next to the VIP room, Jaspar and his mother sat down face to face.

"Why is his heart condition so severe? Doesn't his personal doctor work?"

Ila glanced at her son; she had two children, and her youngest daughter was tired of crying and now resting in the suite. That child had been raised in utter coddling, was eighteen years old yet still couldn't understand many of the issues. But the eldest son in front of her didn't save her either, she admitted he was good, she'd seen him race, and although she wasn't a conservative person, she would have talked him out of his dream if it had been her only son charging at that dangerous speed. But she also wanted his son to be happy, and she didn't like the look of disappointment on her boy's face.

After hesitating for a moment, Ila still spoke, "With your father's current health condition, there is no way he can continue working, but your father will be anxious if you keep refusing to take over the company, and the company cannot afford to be without a CEO."

There was nothing wrong with the reasoning, but Jaspar didn't understand why his parents didn't just tell him the truth, maybe he could be convinced by them after knowing everything, and then his father wouldn't have to lie weakly in a hospital bed.

"Because you were preparing for the competition at that time, your father missed the time to tell you about it so as not to delay you. If your father had told you just now that he had a heart problem, would you have believed him, or would you have thought he was using some dirty trick again?"

Jaspar froze, his mother wasn't wrong, he was angry at the time and could have easily chosen not to believe his father's words once he saw his healthy father.

It was the first time in his life that he felt remorse, he should have calmed down a bit and showed his composure to talk to his father properly instead of just raging and raving.

He had reached the age where racing had brought him courage and guts, but the quality of calmness he had never possessed.

"I spoke to the specialist, your father must drop what he's doing and get treatment right away so he can have a chance to live a few more years."

Ila placed her palm on her son's shoulder, "Things are complicated between your father and I. Although he has never praised my work, he would not be the least bit stingy with the money I spent on studying and buying paintings. Life is like that too, it's impossible to feel satisfied with everything, Jaspar, you need to grow up."

So that was it, Jaspar sat down in his seat and slowly thought about all the facts. He suddenly realized where his responsibilities lay, whether his subjectively wanted them to or not.

Perhaps he really would have to say goodbye to his old life this time.