Christopher Hart woke up early, anxiously hoping.
Alia had said she would co to the hospital to deliver soup today, but she hadn’t ntioned what ti.
After asking the caregiver about the ti several tis, which left the caregiver baffled, "Mr. Hart, do you have so kind of ergency? Should I call for you?"
He wanted to call, but when the words reached his lips, he changed his mind, "No need, it’s nothing."
He closed his eyes to continue resting.
But sleep evaded him.
Agitatingly waiting, not knowing how much ti had passed, he suddenly opened his eyes, inexplicably asking, "Do I look scruffy with a beard all over my face?"
The caregiver stared at him and assessed, "Mmm, a bit."
"Help shave."
Shave?
The caregiver was startled.
"What’s wrong, don’t you have a razor?" Not hearing any activity, Christopher raised his voice and asked.
"Oh, no, we have one, we have one... I’ll go prepare it right away." The caregiver, assured he had heard correctly, hurriedly agreed and turned to prepare the tools.
Applying the shaving cream and starting up the electric shaver, it didn’t take long for Mr. Hart’s face, which had sprouted quite a beard over these past days, to be cleaned up completely.
His handso face regained its past allure, and due to weight loss, his features and jawline appeared even more sharply defined.
"Mr. Hart, all done."
"Mhm." He responded, then slightly twisted his head, sniffing his own scent, "Do I sll bad?"
The caregiver: "..."
What was going on with Mr. Hart today?
"I want to change my clothes and the bed sheets and quilt cover."
Ever since that day when Alia Garcia helped him turn over and wiped down his body, he insisted on wearing clothes to the doctor, so now he was no longer in a state of undress.
However, the patient’s gown and bed sheets had just been changed yesterday, and it had only been one night...
"Didn’t you hear ?"
"Yes, I will go get clean clothes and bed sheets and quilt cover from the nurse."
The caregiver looked at him as if he were a monster and went out to find a nurse.
By the way, he called in a male nurse to help, who swiftly changed him inside and out, and also changed the bed sheets and quilt cover.
For won, vanity is for those who court their delight.
Today, that "woman" was Mr. Hart.
With everything in order, his anticipation grew even more.
"What ti is it now?"
"It’s almost ten o’clock, Mr. Hart. Do you want to sleep a bit?"
It’s almost ten o’clock, and she still hasn’t co. What’s the delay? Or did she change her mind and doesn’t want to co?
He planned to act with pride, indifferent if she didn’t show up, but that pride lasted less than three minutes before he caved.
"Make a call."
He gave a phone number, and the caregiver dialed it, putting it on speaker.
The "du-du" sound on the other end repeated, but call was not picked up. His anxiousness grew; she was supposed to co, but didn’t, and now she wasn’t answering calls – could sothing have happened?
"Mr. Hart, no one is answering..." The caregiver waited a long ti, then reminded him in a low voice.
Lying stiffly, his complexion turned anxious, and he quickly commanded, "Call Benny Palr."
There was a phone book next to the landline, which listed the contact information for major family and friends.
The caregiver located Benny Palr’s number and called right away.
"Benny, I can’t reach Alia. Check with the property managent or think of sothing to make sure. See if she’s still at ho."
His woman and child both lived in a villa owned by a good brother, which Christopher had known from the start.
Thus, being unable to contact Alia, he imdiately thought to reach out to the "landlord."
Upon hearing this, Benny was indeed speechless, "I’m busy as hell every day, and now I have to go find your woman and child?"
"Hurry up!"
"I got it, wait!"
He hung up irritably, then first called Alia Garcia, and as expected, no one answered.
Worried that sothing might have happened, he imdiately called Fuller and received the reply, "Mrs. left the house about half an hour ago."
Half an hour from ho but unreachable, fearing an accident, Benny quickly notified Lucas King and asked him to send soone to look for her.
————
The "missing" Alia Garcia had just t up with Snow Fitch and the two rushed into a building.
She had seen a WhatsApp voice ssage from her best friend asking her availability to et a boss for an investnt discussion just as she was leaving the house.
She couldn’t ask for more!
So, they agreed upon a place, and she hurried over.
"My darling, this boss is well acquainted with my dad. I ntioned it to him, and he seed really interested. He wants to et with you. If it goes well, investing a billion isn’t a problem!"
"Really?!"
Alia was tempted, and secretly started planning in her mind how to negotiate upon eting.
It all happened so suddenly, she was completely unprepared.
Upon reaching the office, the boss’s secretary only invited Alia inside, asking Snow to wait outside.
"Go on... call if anything cos up, or if it’s inconvenient to talk, just send a WhatsApp!"
"Okay."
Alia entered alone, Snow waited outside, flipping through her contacts to continue searching for potential partners.
After a while, her best friend hadn’t co out yet. She sent a WhatsApp to inquire how the talk was going, but received no reply.
Thinking they were deep in conversation, Snow didn’t worry too much, until her phone rang with a call from an unknown number.
"Hello..."
"Is this Snow Fitch? I’m Benny Palr. Have you heard from Alia Garcia?" His tone was urgent and tense. He didn’t wait for Snow to finish answering and interrupted with the question.
Snow was startled, "Alia, she..."
Snow hesitated, unsure whether to tell the truth—because Alia had repeatedly emphasized that this matter must not be disclosed to Christopher.
But Benny was too clever; seeing her fumble, he understood everything.
"You two are together, aren’t you? What’s with her phone? I’ve been calling non-stop, and she won’t pick up!"
Snow asked instead of answering, "Why are you looking for her?"
"Why am I looking for her?" Benny, sounding exasperated, thought ’she isn’t my woman, why would I look for her?’ "Of course, I’m not the one looking!"
"Then..."
"If she had a fight with Christopher and doesn’t want to answer the phone, she at least could let soone know she’s safe! That guy can’t find her and is going crazy!"
Snow was baffled, "They... had a fight?"
"How would I know! Just get her to call back the hospital room quickly, I’m worried the delay may cost soone’s life!" Clearly exasperated by the pair of them, Benny gave a terse instruction and then hung up.
Snow stared at her phone, confused.
Just a mont of no contact, and this fuss?
Though she complained internally, she still didn’t dare delay and stood up to find Alia.
After the secretary helped to announce her, before Snow could go in, Alia ca out instead.
"Huh? It’s over? How did it go?"
Snow Fitch asked, and before Alia Garcia could answer, the boss ca out smiling and said, "Think it over again, I am quite sincere. Little Snow, try to persuade your friend too."
"Snow, let’s go!"
Alia Garcia didn’t bother to respond and just pulled Snow Fitch away.
Inside the elevator, Snow Fitch was confused, "What happened? He isn’t harassing you, is he?"
"No. He did say that if I agreed to his terms, he’d be willing to invest a hundred million."
"Then... what are the terms?"
"He knows about my relationship with Christopher Hart and said that if there were a chance in the future, he’d like to help him promote cooperation with Seal-Cloud Corporation."
Ultimately, that person’s interest in investing was a sham; his real aim was to climb the ladder through her connection to the influential Christopher Hart.
She had gone to great lengths precisely to avoid troubling that man.
But after going in circles, she was back where she started—what was the point?
"Oh..." Snow Fitch understood and nodded, "So that’s his angle. It’s typical of a businessman to think three steps ahead, always considering their interests. It’s not entirely blaworthy."
"Yeah, no rush, we’ll look for soone else."
As she finished speaking, sothing suddenly occurred to Snow Fitch. "Right! Benny Palr called because he couldn’t reach you on your phone, and Christopher Hart can’t find you; he’s going crazy! He also ntioned that you two had a fight or sothing—I didn’t quite understand... Anyway, you better call him back ASAP!"
Alia Garcia frowned, puzzled, "My phone not reachable? I didn’t hear it ring at all!"
"Did you hear the WhatsApp ssage I sent you just now?"
"You sent a WhatsApp ssage?"
While speaking, Alia Garcia took out her phone and had an epiphany, "Ah! I was accompanying Hope to sleep last night, and I was talking to a colleague about sothing. I didn’t want the constant ringing to wake her, so I put it on silent and forgot to switch it back!"
"How did I get hold of you this morning then?"
"When I left the house, I happened to look at WhatsApp."
"Alright then..."
As they spoke, Alia Garcia took out her phone and lit up the screen—sure enough, there were over a dozen missed calls!
Knowing Christopher Hart’s volatile temper, he must have blown his top after not being able to find her for so long!
Luckily, he wasn’t in any condition to move right now, or there would be a complete disaster!
"Did you two really have a fight?"
"No... how could I be in the mood to quarrel with him right now? I simply told him I’d visit him today and haven’t shown up yet—he’s probably furious over that," explained Alia Garcia, as she found the hospital’s landline number in her contacts and dialed.
She was ready for it, but when the thunderous roar of the patient erupted through the phone, she still couldn’t help but move it away from her ear imdiately—
"Alia Garcia! What are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you! Did you forget what you promised yesterday?"
After the yelling subsided, she brought the phone back to her ear, "Um... Last night, I was with Hope and set my phone to silent. I forgot to turn the sound back on this morning."
"Are you brainless? How could you forget that?"
"Hey! Cut it out! I was busy this morning, what’s wrong with being delayed a bit? Why are you losing your temper over it?"
"Delayed a bit? It’s already afternoon! And if you were held up, couldn’t you have let know?"
Alia Garcia rolled her eyes, unapologetically retorting, "Sorry, I genuinely didn’t think of that."
After all, their relationship had long been strained; she wasn’t in the habit of reporting back to him on everything.
"Fine, I’ll be there soon. Hanging up."
After ending the call, Snow Fitch stared at her intensely. "You two... what’s the situation now? Are you making up?"
"No."
"Then...?"
Ah!
At this point, Alia Garcia sighed, "His examination results weren’t good, and it’s highly possible that he won’t recover to normal. The shock has hit him hard, and lately, he’s been neglectful and uncooperative with the doctors. I have no choice but to go see him, to intimidate and entice him, and sotis to cajole him."
"Ah... that bad, huh! Based on how booming his voice was, I thought he was recovering well!"
Alia Garcia snarked, "Even if he’s on his last breath, his anger can still shake the earth."
Snow Fitch was montarily speechless, then expressed her concerns, "If he’s going to be like this for life, are you really going to stick by him? And you say this isn’t making up?"
Alia Garcia didn’t know how to explain to her best friend, her expression full of frustration as she said, "I’m not in the mood to think about that right now, let deal with the company’s issues first."
Back in the car, Alia saw the thermos on the passenger seat and sighed again—she’d forgotten to bring him the soup.
It was already noon...
She wondered if it was still drinkable.
She had to hurry over.
However, against her hopes, she encountered a traffic accident in the tunnel beneath the river, which delayed her for another hour or so.
By the ti she arrived at the hospital room, it was one in the afternoon.
She hadn’t eaten lunch, her stomach growling. She thought about pacifying him in the room first, then finding a fast-food restaurant to fill her belly.
Pushing open the hospital room door, the caregiver saw her and almost burst into tears, "Miss Garcia, you’ve finally arrived! Mr. Hart has been waiting..."
"You get out!"
The Mr. Hart lying on the bed didn’t even let him finish his sentence, dismissing him coldly.
The caregiver didn’t dare say more and quickly disappeared.
Alia, starving, didn’t have the energy to confront him. She walked to the bed, carrying the thermos, and said softly, "You’ve had lunch, right? The soup’s been sitting too long, I don’t even know if it’s still good."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the lid of the thermos was unscrewed, a dribble of steam falling into the soup, accompanied by a whiff of warm, aty odor that assaulted her senses.
Ugh, it was slightly nauseating.
With a frown, she waved her hand, stepping aside a bit, "Forget it, just pour it out, it’s not fresh anymore."
"Give it to ," said the stern face on the bed, his thin lips pressing out two words.
Alia looked over, "What did you say?"
"I said give it to ! Do you want to starve to death?"
Alia glared, realizing, "You... you haven’t eaten anything since this morning, just waiting for to bring you the soup, have you?"
The man’s lips remained sealed, not uttering a sound.
She had said she would bring soup today; if he had eaten already and couldn’t drink the soup, wouldn’t it be a waste of her effort?
So he just waited, with an empty stomach.
"You really are..." Alia looked at his stubborn and literal manner, so angry she couldn’t get her words out straight, "Christopher Hart, can you not be so childish? Don’t you know your own condition? And you’re starving yourself for half the day!"
"If you know what my condition is, then why didn’t you keep your word?"
"I... I told you sothing ca up!" Alia looked at him, she had intended to give him a good scolding, but then she thought arguing with this man was like casting pearls before swine, so she stopped.
"Never mind, I’ll order sothing. You can’t drink this soup, it might have gone bad..."
"I want the soup."
"You..."
"If we order now, it will take at least another half hour. I’m afraid I’ll be reporting to King Rhys before the food even arrives."
"..." Alia knew he was exaggerating, but with the thought of him being hungry for so long, she didn’t feel like arguing and poured him a bowl.
Sitting by the bed, she muttered to herself, "Disasters last a millennium. You didn’t die falling from the seventh floor, so you probably won’t die from a bowl of spoiled soup either, right?"
The man paid her no attention, but his chin, half-raised beneath a handso face, tilted toward her hand, clearly urging her on.
Alia pursed her lips and clenched her teeth inwardly, swallowing her displeasure, and carefully fed him.
Spoonful by spoonful, the bowl was finished quickly.
Honestly, she felt the soup... was a bit off, and didn’t know how he could stomach it.
"Christopher Hart, has your sense of taste gone off?"
The man’s expression didn’t change, "A bit gamy."
"..." So he did notice. Alia felt embarrassed, and although he couldn’t see her, she blushed with discomfort.
"That’s enough... If your mother finds out I gave you spoiled soup, she would definitely send soone to hunt down."
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