Chapter 624
“Mm,” Barney merely hummed in response and nodded lightly, without any denial.
“Dr. Smith, don’t you know that your honesty hurts me? How can you treat me like this?” whined Arius with a pitiful expression.
Am I being disregarded by Dr. Smith as his mentee?
“What does your being upset got to do with me? I only care about Sophie’s feelings. How other people feel is none of my business.”
Barney had always been a straightforward person. It was not as if Arius knew him for the first time.
“All right. It’s my fault for shooting myself in the foot!” Arius felt rather dejected. They don’t understand what it feels to lie in bed all day long and to be confined to this tiny ward!
Seeing how dejected Arius looked, Sophie could not help but feel pity for him.
“All right. Why don’t you stay for another three days? If your condition improves, I’ll allow you to be discharged. How about that?” Sophie made a deal with Arius.
Sophie had a soft heart for Arius, but she had to be stern for the sake of his health.
Arius was touched. “I knew this would happen. You’re the only person in this world who still cares about me. Not like someone who forgets about his old mentee after he has a new one. Hmph!” Arius then turned and side-glanced Barney.
Barney simply snorted in response to Arius’ accusation.
He did not care about how Arius thought of him.
Sophie was the most important person in his mind right now. Her future possessed infinite possibilities, and he could not wait to uncover her potential.
Just then, Georgina came to deliver Arius’ medication. She was not surprised to see Barney and Sophie there.
Georgina knew about Arius’ identity. She took a liking to him the first time she met him. Hence, during these two days when she was less busy, she deliberately came to deliver his medication personally.
Thus, everyone could sense that she was interested in Arius.
“Professor Gullifer, it’s time for your medication,” Georgina reminded gently.
“You can place them there. I’ll take them in a while.” On the other hand, Arius did not feel the same toward Georgina.
He learned that Barney intended to recruit Georgina into International Medical Association.
Since they would become colleagues soon, he wanted everyone to interact comfortably.
Georgina was rather upset when Arius did not make any eye contact with her.
However, she could understand Arius’ response or the lack of it.
An exceptional talent like Professor Gullifer would have met various women in his life. Why would he pay particular attention to a plain Jane like me?
Sophie shook her head when she saw Georgina’s dispirited expression. She waited for Georgina to leave before asking Arius, “Did you do or say something misleading?”
Arius retorted, “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Can you come straight to the point?”
“Georgina seems to like you.” Sophie was not entirely sure but came to that conclusion as Georgina’s expression reminded her of the time when Felix was crazy over Ysabelle.
Arius kept silent.
Barney raised his head too. “I’m warning you. You’d better not play with people’s feelings. Georgina is a nice girl, so if you don’t like her, stop leading her on with your misleading actions.”
Most people were not able to handle disappointment when they had expectations.
“Woah, are you both serious? She genuinely likes me?” Although Arius had a high intelligence quotient, it could not be said the same for his emotional intelligence.
“By the way, don’t mention this to anyone. After all, she’s a girl. Do be considerate of her feelings. Don’t make it awkward for everyone.” Sophie came to know Georgina’s personality after interacting with her for some time.
“Okay, I got it!” Arius did not think much of Georgina since he was not interested in her anyway. However, since Sophie had voiced it out, he had to respond. Only Sophie’s words mattered to him in this world.
Meanwhile, it had been three days since Willow was taken away by the police. Charmaine had been resisting the urge to call Sophie for help, but ultimately she relented.
However, Sophie had long blocked Charmaine’s number.
Thus, she could not get through to Sophie at all!
Charmaine then tried to contact Sophie through other means, but no matter how she tried, Sophie remained out of reach.
Charmaine was very distressed about the current situation, but her hands were tied.
To add on to her distress, Yale had not come home for the past three days!
Every time she called Yale, he would brush her off patronizingly. He no longer had her in his heart!
In the end, Charmaine went to the police station alone to visit Willow.
Willow could not believe that it took Charmaine so long to visit her!
“Mom, are you truly abandoning me? Did you believe that Sophie would listen to you? Haven’t I told you that I’m the only person who will obey you? So, you can’t abandon me. Do you understand?” Willow was getting emotional.
“Please hurry up and think of how to get me out of here. I can’t stay a minute longer. You have no idea how bad the food here is that I can’t bring myself to eat it.”
It had only been three days, but Willow had lost quite a bit of weight and looked disheveled, a far cry from the wealthy heiress she used to be.
“Willa, what exactly did you do? Why did they capture you?” Charmaine could not make any sense of what was happening.
“Mom, I’m in this state today because of Sophie. She was the one who framed me. You have to believe me.” Willow felt resentful and could not take it anymore.
“What did she accuse you of?” Charmaine needed to know what happened that led to the predicament.
“What else can she accuse me of? Anyway, you need not know too much. You still have some money, right? Get some connections to settle my case. I honestly cannot stay here any longer.” Every minute spent at the police station was torture to Willow; she could not take it anymore.
“Yes, I still have some money! Let me think of something. Don’t worry, darling!” Ultimately, Charmaine still felt that Willow was more considerate as a daughter than Sophie. Thus, she would never give up on Willow.
As for Sophie, Charmaine never felt that the former treated her like a mother.
In Charmaine’s eyes, Sophie was a heartless and unreliable person. Her only hope was Willow.
In the next few days, Charmaine went around setting up connections to try and get Willow released. However, despite using the last bit of all her savings, all her efforts were futile.
It came to a point where Charmaine was barred from visiting Willow when she made her way to the police station.
“What do you mean I can’t visit her? I only want to see my daughter for a while. What’s wrong with that?” After spending so much money and seeing no positive results, Charmaine was getting desperate.
“I’m sorry. We’re following orders from the higher-ups. The case Willow Tanner is involved in is a serious matter. Hence, she’s not allowed any visitors,” the policeman explained.
“Who gave the orders? Can you tell me who it is? Is it Sophie Tanner? Was she the one who instructed you all to do so?” Charmaine was fuming over the atrocity of the order. “How could she do that? Willow is her sister, yet she is so heartless to want to force her into a dead end!”
Right then, Sophie appeared at the police station after receiving a call asking her to come down and give a statement about Willow hiring a hitman to kill her. It was then Sophie overheard Charmaine’s conversation with the policeman.
“So I’m that kind of person in your eyes, huh?” Sophie remarked coldly. Tristan gave Charmaine an icy stare as well.
