It was still that apartment.
Fan En was also there.
However… at this moment, Fan En was obediently sitting on a chair, occasionally wiping the sweat from his forehead, while looking at Hawke, who was not far away, with his back to him, opening the apartment's refrigerator and looking inside.
At the same time, the corner of his eye also glanced at the beautiful blonde woman beside him, who was not only pretty but also had a very special demeanor.
Just then.
With a thud.
Fan En jolted, looking at Hawke closing the refrigerator door, he composed himself and continued to relay the information he knew about Amy Kloe.
Hawke listened quietly.
After he sent Amy Kloe to New Amsterdam Hospital for VIP treatment, he went to Osborn Biological Industry Building to find Gwen.
Gwen also knew about Hawke finding his biological parents while using the Time Stone to enhance his power.
Just as Hawke said.
He held nothing back from Gwen.
And so.
After S.H.I.E.L.D. found Amy Kloe, Hawke brought Gwen here.
Gwen was currently looking at a yellowed photograph in her hand, her gaze turning to the crib that seemed out of place in the room.
The thirty-square-meter apartment was already crowded, and although it was tidied up very cleanly, no matter how much it was cleaned, it still felt a bit full.
Only the crib remained in its original state.
But… the crib was empty of a baby.
Gwen pursed her lips, also looking at the heavily tattooed Fan En, who was sitting on the chair, wiping sweat and talking.
Fan En's initial words were very fragmented.
But as he spoke, thinking that Hawke had not chosen to vaporize him at first, he gradually calmed down.
Hawke leaned against the bar, his expression calm.
Actually, Fan En did not know much information.
Regarding Amy Kloe, he actually learned it from the previous apartment manager.
Although he was a gangster, if he had the opportunity, he still hoped to own his own property apartment.
This was why he did not resist when his boss sent him here to collect rent and management fees.
Compared to fighting and killing, he preferred this kind of trivial but very lively atmosphere.
After a while.
Fan En racked his brains, confirming that he had told all the information he knew about Amy, then cautiously looked at Hawke, who was leaning against the bar.
"Boss, that's all I know."
"Hm."
Hawke nodded expressionlessly.
Fan En swallowed.
"Then I…"
"Go."
"Thank you, Boss."
"Thank you."
Hearing Hawke's words, Fan En's surprise showed, and with a whoosh, he stood up from the chair, speaking excitedly as he walked towards the door.
But just then.
"Wait a moment."
"…Boss?"
Fan En, who already had one foot out the door, felt a jolt in his heart, looking nervously at Hawke's eyes.
He was afraid Hawke's eyes would suddenly glow gold.
Hawke looked at Fan En with a calm expression.
"You said you wanted to own a property of your own?"
"Uh…"
"I'll help you fulfill that wish."
"Garr."
Hawke looked at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent standing at the door, who was relatively familiar: "I'll trouble you."
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Garr heard this and did not hesitate.
"Alright, Mr. Phoenix."
"Thank you."
Hawke said thank you, then waved his hand at Fan En.
Fan En was slightly stunned.
Garr had already taken Fan En out, and closed the apartment door behind them.
Hawke's gaze once again swept around the apartment, then he looked at Gwen standing in front of the crib, and smiled.
"I am a kind person."
"I know."
Gwen smiled slightly, then followed Hawke's gaze to the crib in front of them, which was definitely over twenty years old, then looked at Hawke beside her: "Hawke, your mother had no choice but to abandon you and Anya."
Hawke hummed calmly.
An orphan, attending public school, with no outstanding skills, and a heart problem unsuitable for strenuous labor, after her husband died, still had two children in swaddling clothes; the only outcome was her own demise and the two children entering the adoption system.
This was inevitable.
The most important point.
One of the children also inherited her heart disease.
It would be better if they entered the foster care system, where they could get free surgery, truly free, with no need to repay it when they grew up.
But if they stayed with her, the hospital would need to see money first.
So… Amy putting him and Anya at the church door at that time, seemingly abandoning them, was merely choosing a slightly better option among the worst choices.
If she continued to keep Anya with her, Anya might not even live past ten years old.
Hawke thought of Anya, who had undergone heart surgery at the ages of three, seven, and nine, his gaze slowly shifted, then landed on the photographs on the wooden cabinet.
The next second.
He looked at Gwen: "Actually, I saw her when I was little."
Gwen was slightly stunned, looking at Hawke.
Hawke chuckled, recalling fragments of his memory: "That was when Anya and I were five years old, going to a foster home. When we entered the door, I felt someone watching me, but when I turned my head, I didn't see anyone."
In his memory, he hadn't seen anyone.
But… Hawke, who had shrunk his past timeline, could now move freely within his past timeline.
So, at the time node of that five-year-old year, Hawke saw Amy, hiding under a big tree, wearing a faded old dress.
At that time, Amy was not as thin as he had just held her.
"When Anya and I entered that foster home, she left."
"She probably thought we had been adopted by the foster family, so she didn't want to bother us anymore. After that, she never appeared in my memory again."
"But in reality…"
Hawke shook his head as he said this, looking at Gwen: "Just as that family was about to adopt us, their relatives died in a car accident, leaving two children behind, so Anya and I went back."
Gwen knew that Hawke had never been adopted by any foster family, but she did not know about this particular incident. She pursed her lips and held Hawke's hand: "At least, you know now that your mother cared about you and Anya."
Hawke looked at Gwen, who was full of concern, and smiled slightly.
His heart was actually calm.
After all, he was a transmigrator. If he had grown up with Amy, he wouldn't mind having a family, even if it was a broken one.
But he had never seen Amy since he was a child, at least not before he had shrunk his timeline.
So… Hawke didn't have that "mother" emotion for Amy; at most, he just felt a little sympathy looking at the layout of this room and at Amy, who was still living in the past.
As Gwen had always said.
He, Hawke, was a kind person at heart.
And one more thing.
His sister, Anya.
Still, the same words, although Anya, after she began to remember things, no longer clamored for her mother like other children.
But Hawke knew very well that Anya still hoped to have a mother.
If Amy had intentionally abandoned them, he would never have come here.
But that wasn't the case, and from a certain perspective, it was he who had created such a past.
New Amsterdam Hospital.
VIP special ward.
Amy, lying in bed, had a breathing tube inserted, surrounded by various monitoring systems, as if she were sleeping.
And she seemed to be dreaming, and it was a beautiful dream.
Hawke looked at Amy in the hospital bed, who was only forty-two this year, but looked like a sixty-year-old woman at first glance. His right hand slowly extended.
A lifelike, translucent, small and agile Phoenix circled in his right palm, then merged into Amy's body on the bed, which, though rescued in time, was already riddled with holes.
Gwen, standing aside, silently watched this moment.
Just then.
"Shhh! Shhh!"
"…"
Gwen turned her head to look.
In her sight.
The ward door was gently pushed open, and Sharon was waving at her.
Gwen blinked, then, following Sharon's gesture, walked outside, closed the door, and looked at Sharon.
"What's wrong?"
"The Bison Gang is gone."
Sharon whispered, "Tell Hawke that we are analyzing Amy Kloe's life experience; give us some time to deal with it."
Gwen listened to Sharon's words, first stunned, then shook her head.
"Sharon, Hawke is not a demon king."
"I know."
Sharon replied without hesitation, but saying so did not prevent her from continuing to look at Gwen with the same expression as before.
Gwen opened her mouth, remembering Hawke's feat of taking on two opponents in the Atlantic Ocean, and nodded.
"Alright, I'll try to persuade Hawke."
"Thanks, Gwen."
Sharon heard this, gave Gwen a hug, then shrugged: "Actually, I also believe in Hawke, but you know, the Security Council is afraid, so I'm just an ordinary Agent."
Gwen chuckled.
"You, this ordinary Agent, manage thousands of Agents."
"I am the First Agent, after all."
Sharon also smiled, then got to the point: "By the way, how is Mrs. Chloe?"
Gwen smiled: "The Doctor rescued her in time, so there shouldn't be a big problem."
Even if there was a problem, wasn't there still Hawke?
Sharon nodded thoughtfully, looked at Gwen, thought for a moment, and lowered her voice: "Hawke asked me to acquire a property for him in Westview, Jersey City. You know about this, right?"
Gwen thought Sharon was going to say something else, and smiled as she looked at Sharon.
"Whose phone did Hawke use when he told you?"
"Yours."
"Then do you think I know or not?"
"…You're right."
Sharon realized, then looked at Gwen: "Are you two also moving to Westview? Was that your suggestion?"
Gwen smiled.
"Who said we are moving to Westview?"
"That house is for Mrs. Chloe."
"…" (End of chapter)
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