Godfather Of Champions

When Wood changed into a new track suit that he brought from the training ground and exit the bathroom, he could see through the thick glass window that his mother’s ward was full of people. Doctors, nurses, and also Twain and Woox, who were pushed to the outside.

The doctors all looked serious and solemn, and Wood had his heart in his mouth when he saw that. He had a bad feeling about it, and he could not stop himself from rushing into the ward. He pushed everyone in front of him away, he could not have cared less about who those people were. When he finally made it into the circle, he saw his mother smiling at him.

Wood’s rapidly beating heart finally calmed down after he saw that. The first thing he asked when he calmed down was to ask the doctor, “How is my mother’s condition?”

The doctor replied without even looking up, “We’re still checking.”

Wood knew that being hasty now would not have any results, so he walked over to Twain as he saw him beckoning him.

“Let’s get out of here. There are too many people here, let’s not disturb their work,” Twain pointed to the visitor’s area outside.

The three of them took a seat outside and watched as the people inside were busy with work. Miss Vivian kept going in and out and she was so busy that her face was flushed and sweat glistened on her neck.

Twain and Woox sat on the couch but Wood could not sit for long. It was not long before he stood up and looked into the ward from the window, peering at the busy crowd.

After a while, Wood realized that there was another person next to him. Tony Twain’s reflection appeared on the window.

“Don’t worry, your mother will be fine,” Twain said.

Wood did not reply to that, instead, he asked him a question, “Woox asked you to come back? I heard you were holidaying in Los Angeles.”

A smile broke out on Twain’s face as he laughed silently.

“I’m afraid you might do something silly,” Twain said as he smiled.

Behind them, Billy Woox had already left when Twain stood up to walk towards Wood. He left the place to the two of them so that they could be totally alone, and they could then speak their minds.

“I’m not doing something silly, I considered for very long.”

“As long as one night?”

Twain turned to look at Wood. Wood only had eyes for the bustling scenes inside the ward.

Wood obviously was not in the mood to discuss about this with him now. The fact that he did not reject him with an aggressive tone showed that he had matured a lot, and that he was showing Twain a lot of respect. After all, Twain brought him up himself and they were like father and son.

When Vivian came out again, she did not walk towards the exit, instead, she walked straight to Twain and told him, “Madam would like to see you, Mr Twain.”

That surprised Twain, and Wood also could not help but to look at him.

Twain pointed to himself as he looked at Vivian with lots of questions on his face. Vivian nodded.

Twain did not rush inside but waited outside by the door instead. He waited for the doctors to leave before he entered the ward. Wood saw his mother say something, then Twain turned to close the door.

Looks like it was a confidential talk.

※※※

Twain sat down in the same chair as the one Wood sat in earlier, then held Sophia’s thin hand naturally.

“Why are you here, Mr Twain?” Sophia was very soft as she was still very weak. It was a good thing the room was very quiet and Twain could still hear what Sophia was saying, “I heard from George that you’re accompanying Shania and your daughter in Los Angeles.”

“Woox asked me to come back,” Twain was thinking in the back of his mind. If he told this patient in front of him that Wood had decided to retire, he was afraid that Sophia might not be able to take the blow and faint again. That would be disastrous…

As the thought flashed across Twain’s mind, he decided not to tell Sophia for now. He had better let her rest well for now. If Sophia’s condition became better, Wood would not think about retiring anymore.

As for the reason why Woox called him, it was not something that could not be explained. Wood and Twain were very close, and Sophia had also known Twain for many years. Now that she was hospitalized and she was even in a coma, how could he not be here?

“You should rest and recuperate; Wood is still waiting for you.”

Sophia looked towards the large glass window and she saw Wood standing outside, focusing all his attention on her.

“That kid… I can never stop worrying about him,” it seemed like she was chiding him, but she sounded full of pride and there was a smile on her face.

Twain turned and looked at where she was looking at.

When he realized that they were both looking at him, Wood averted his gaze and he saw Vivian Miller who was waiting at the door. Vivian was looking at him too…

Twain found out that Wood seemed to be acting strange outside and he looked back at Sophia.

Sophia continued to say, “It’s all thanks to Mr Twain that George can have the accomplishments that he has now. At first, I was merely hoping that he would get a proper job and not get into trouble all the time like the thugs in Sneinton…” She stopped to catch her breath. She was still very weak and could not speak too much at one go.

“But I didn’t expect George to become a star one day. I have to thank Mr Twain for that.”

“Hey, we’re good friends, aren’t we? Twain waved his hand, “Besides, that was all due to George’s own hard word. I’ve seen so many talented people who were not willing to put in the hard work. George only got his accomplishments today because of his diligence, that has nothing to do with me.” The first part of what Twain said was true. A person who had talent, but was unwilling to work hard, was not worth cultivating. Wood was indeed the most hardworking person he had ever seen. It might be because of his family’s situation which caused him to have no sense of security about life. In order to have a better life, he had to work doubly hard. But the second part of what he said was wrong. No matter how talented and hardworking someone was, if he did not have the opportunity, he would still amount to nothing. A sharp blade needs someone to wield it too.

Sophia did not care about Twain’s humility, she continued saying, “George is a stubborn child, but he listens to you. I hope that Mr Twain can continue to guide him…”

“My words are not as effective as yours, Madam,” Twain replied with a laugh, “Take care and recuperate, Wood is waiting for you.”

Sophia nodded.

※※※

When Vivian realized that Wood actually turned to look at her, she knew that there was no way for her to avoid it this time. Rather than turning away, she would rather be more open, and so she took the initiative to talk to Wood, “Now that your mother is awake, you should be very relieved now, right Mr Wood?”

Wood did not expect her to take the initiative to talk to him and he was stunned for a little. Even though he appeared to be calm, he was contemplating if he should reply, and if he was to reply, what should he say?

The problem was regarding Vivan’s question… He was very happy that his mother was awake, but he was not relieved yet.

However, he found another topic to talk about, “How is my mother’s condition?”

Vivian was put in a spot because of this question. That was because the specialist doctors were not optimistic about Sophia’s illness. Even though she was awake, she was not out of danger yet. The illness had been tormenting Sophia’s body for a very long time and her immunity system was already destroyed by it. Any minor illness would bring upon disastrous results to Sophia. However, was it really a good thing to tell Wood these? Judging by his feelings for his mother, if he knew about the truth, it would just be another heavy blow for him.

When she thought about it that way, Vivian smiled and told Wood, “It’s getting better.”

After saying that, she could see Wood breathing a sigh of relief. She felt guilty for lying to a good man.

Just when the both of them were feeling the awkwardness of this conversation, the door opened.

Twain appeared at the door and said to Wood, “Go see your mother, George.”

Wood hurried into the ward past Twain. He was in such a hurry that he even forgot to close the door.

Twain was the one who closed the door behind him, then he looked at the nurse, Vivian Miller, who was still waiting outside.

“Thank you for taking care of Sophia.” This famous Englishman who was almost as famous as the queen was nodding at her to express his gratitude.

“It’s my job…”

“We’ll have to trouble you to continue taking care of her in future.”

Looking at his sincerity, Vivian did not reject. However, she cautiously asked a question, “I heard that Mr Wood is going to retire, is that true, Mr Twain?”

Twain did not expect this girl to ask such a difficult question right off the bat. He touched his nose and looked at her awkwardly.

When he was on the way here, Woox had told him that someone from the media had caught wind of the news that Wood might choose to retire. Someone from the hospital had leaked this news to the outside. It should be someone who overheard the conversation between Wood and him and leaked the story out to the media. However, they did not know who the leak was at that time. Even if they did, they would not be able to do anything to that person.

But when he thought of someone being so nosy, Twain felt uncomfortable. He had never had any fond feelings for the media, which he felt were troublemakers.

Could this girl be the one who leaked the news?

The girl was still waiting for Twain’s answer. She looked up at Twain, who was half a foot taller than her with questions in her eyes. As Twain stayed silent, her questions turned into an awkward situation. She had obviously realized that she had asked a difficult question.

If they continued to stay silent, would this girl be so embarrassed that she would leave with her face in her hands? Twain had an evil thought in his mind. When he arrived, he caught her gaze twice. Twain did not see anything wrong with her gaze both times. Even though he could not be sure, Twain was more willing to believe that this girl did not sell any information to the paparazzi. Once he thought about that, he could not allow the girl to continue feeling awkward anymore.

“Yes, there’s a possibility of that.” He did not deny it.

“Ah!” Vivian exclaimed in shock, but she quickly covered her mouth. Her beautiful eyes were wide open as she looked at Twain, then turned to secretly look at George Wood through the glass window.

Twain was suddenly interested about this interesting girl. He asked, “Are you a football fan, Miss Miller?”

“Not really,” Vivian shrugged her shoulders after she recovered, “it’s just that, it’s difficult for me to not know about football as a local living in Nottingham, isn’t it?” She asked Twain.

Twain chuckled. She was indirectly praising him for his influence in leading the team some years back. Who would not like to be praised? Twain suddenly liked this well-behaved girl a lot.

Next, the two of them chatted a little about some other topics. Twain knew that she was the nurse who was in-charge of taking care of Sophia. So, he reminded her as a joke that Wood was a very stubborn person, and he was not someone whom others found easy to get along with. He told her not to take what Wood said seriously. Actually, he was also reminding her not to let the emotions of the patient’s family affect her work. After all, the nurse in-charge of taking care of Sophia controls Sophia’s life. If they were in China, Twain would have given Vivian a big, fat red packet.

Vivian did not think much about it, instead, she started talking about the first time she met Wood. Her story was interesting, and her tone had no trace of grievance at all. Twain enjoyed it very much. He had a good time communicating with this girl.

As Wood left Sophia’s ward, Twain could not detect any change in his emotions from his face. He told Wood to have some rest, at least get some more change of clothing from home if he was still insisting to live in the hospital. Vivian took the opportunity of them talking to enter the ward and help Sophia lie down, cover her with the blanket properly, ensuring that none of her limbs were out. Next, she started to copy the data on the monitoring devices into the report.

“This is a good nurse,” Twain praised.

Wood grunted in agreement.

“Go get some rest. I think you should just stay here, I’ll get someone to get you some clothes.”

Wood did not object to it. He took another look at his mother who was resting on the bed, before he turned to get some rest in the visitor’s room.

At this moment, the door opened behind him.

Billy Woox who just left appeared in front of them again, but there were two more people behind the old man…

One of them was very prominent. His tall frame blocked the whole door so much so that one could not even see his face. Other than Aaron Mitchell, Twain could not think of anyone else who might appear here. Next to Mitchell was another person who was peeking in, this was naturally the “Little Monkey”, Gareth Bale!

Twain was surprised at the arrival of these two, but the level of his surprise could not be compared to how surprised the two of them were to see him.

“Boss!!” The two of them shouted at the same thing. The volume was so loud that they thought that it would have summoned some reporters over.

“Long time no see, pals,” Twain waved at them as he gave them a greeting.