Chapter 401: Somewhat Normal
Of course, that also meant that I wouldn’t have the Torex last name, and neither would our children if we ended up having them in the future.
The decision probably wouldn’t have been reached had it not been for Harvey’s support. In the end, the boss had to give in on this. For the boss, this was a very big deal because the decision held significant symbolic meaning. Publicly, it would look like Hayden had been disowned from his family.
"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" I asked.
"Of course, it is. We’ll be freer to do whatever we want to do without the Torex last name on our backs and it’s not like I’ve been disowned for real. Within Torex, I will always be Hayden Torex. I’ll have access to everything that a Torex should have. It’s not all bad," Hayden replied with certainty.
Since he seemed so sure about it, I didn’t have any objections about it either. Hayden assured me that this move would somehow help us move on with what we wanted to do with our lives. For Hayden, that was running his hospitals and clinics to help the poor. For me, that was reconnecting with my old life and building my career as a professional artist.
Time passed by in a flash, luckily both Hayden and I had some achievements to show for that. After working hard with the design team and then supervising the renovations of the gallery for the next two to three months, the art gallery was ready for its opening day. I held a very small gathering to celebrate the official opening of my first ever art gallery.
It was a great chance for me to reconnect with my university friends and professors. After putting my personal life on hold for a long while, I managed to step back into my old life with a powerful big and new change.
"Wow! Congratulations. This is just amazing!" Jenny exclaimed excitedly.
"Thank you. I’m so happy that you could make it," I replied happily.
"Not just for the opening of this gallery but for your wedding as well. I knew that there was something going on between you and Mr. hot guy even though you kept denying it," Jenny teased me before laughing quite loudly.
I missed her laugh, and I missed all my friends that were here. Hopefully, I’ll get to see more of them now that I’m trying to live life as normally as before.
"You should have your art exhibition here, I’ll host you for free, seriously," I suggested.
"I’ll definitely take you up on it. Don’t you worry. I’m sure this place will be very successful. You’re really starting to make a name for yourself. I’m sure with this place, you’ll get so many more clients," Jenny said with confidence.
"Thank you. I truly hope so," I replied, hopefully.
Today was just the opening of the gallery with my small group of friends; however, I hoped that soon, I would have enough artwork to fill up the entire gallery so that I could host an exhibition of my own in my own art gallery. I also just recently started accepting art commissions again and this time live portrait sessions are on the table.
I wasn’t the only one that made significant progress. Hayden’s project took a few leaps forward as well. The hospital structure that we visited was completed. It was much faster than I had anticipated but with that much funding that went into it perhaps it wasn’t that surprising.
According to Hayden another smaller clinic had been completed as well and because of that Hayden had been busier recently travelling to the hospital.
Despite our formal removal from the Torex group and family, Hayden still retained all the luxury and wealth that came with his birth in a very convenient way. That also included the support from his family for funding for his project. Since he wasn’t truly disowned, Hayden still had access to all his wealth. Hayden would always joke about how his project was funded by dirty money from the mafia.
"Just like Robinhood, you know. Paying and giving back to the society," Hayden said half-jokingly.
Just like we had agreed before when he took me to visit his hospital, we developed a routine to fly around from the mansion to the hospital. I tried to make myself as flexible to his schedule as much as possible. When we stayed at the mansion, I would work at the studio in the mansion or at the gallery. When Hayden worked at his hospital, I would work at the studio inside the house.
Overall, everything worked out fine.
It all turned out as I had imagined in my mind, if not better. Just as I had wished, I got to see new sides of Hayden that I never saw before. Every time I learnt something new about him, I felt so excited.
Since Hayden started working as a doctor again in his hospital, I got the chance to see him in action as a doctor more often than ever before. At first, it was a sight that I had trouble wrapping my head around. However, I soon got used to it and I also developed a sense of respect for him and the work that he does.
"So, where does it hurt? Here? What about here?" Hayden asked a young boy who looked clearly malnourished.
The boy was admitted to the hospital along with his mother after suffering from a case of extreme domestic abuse from his father. His mother was also a victim of the abuse. It didn’t take me long to learn that almost all patients that got admitted to Hayden’s hospital had some disturbing baggage of some kind.
It wasn’t just their lacking financial status that made them seek for help here, usually there were other factors as well.
--To be continued…