Chapter : 26
Ariel immediately turned around and was met with Jayson’s dark eyes. There was a folded test report in his hand, and Ariel felt her heart suddenly squeezing anxiously.
She immediately rushed forward and snatched the report away from him.
“Did you
read it?”
Jayson quietly looked at her pale face. “Why so anxious?”
He had seen the paper slip out of her pocket when he came over, and he’d simply picked it up for her. He hadn’t been able to peek at it yet. 1
“You’re thinking too much, Mr. Larkin,” Ariel said, relaxing a little before completely calming down.
Jayson just looked at her as the cogs turned in his head. “You seem to like addressing me as ‘Mr. Larkin‘ lately.” Ariel hurriedly stuffed the test report into the folder and asked, “Is there a reason why you came looking for me?” She didn’t explain that it was because Nancy had brought it up in the past. Also, they were going to get divorced very soon. It would be better for her to address him as “Mr. Larkin” anyway.
“Are you sick? Where does it hurt?” Jayson asked, changing the topic as he gave her a once–over with his cold eyes. Maybe this was one of the rare moments when he looked concerned about her.
But, of course, Ariel knew that this had nothing to do with whether or not he was concerned about her–especially since she witnessed how antsy and anxious he had been when he knew Nancy had caught a cold.
She knew that his words of concern were nothing more than a formality of sorts. He didn’t actually mean it. He had always paid attention to mannerisms too. He might be a cold and aloof man, but he would still occasionally pretend to be nice with his pleasantries. That had nothing to do with his sincerity, however.
In the past, Ariel had felt moved by Jayson’s so–called concern before. But now, she just felt stupid about it.
“It’s nothing much. I also came to visit Uncle Leo,” Ariel answered faintly, to be polite.
“Nancy is ill,” Jayson suddenly said.
Ariel looked at him, waiting for him to continue his sentence.
She couldn’t tell what he was feeling. There were no emotions in his eyes. He was so cold and emotionless with her, his lawfully wedded wife, that she found it laughable.
11
“She went to Faye Tech to see Chad Hockney, but she was forced to wait in the snow for an hour and caught a cold, Jayson continued, taking out a box of cigarettes from his pocket. He then took a stick out, and just as he was about to light it, he suddenly put it away.
“What are you trying to say, Mr. Larkin?” Ariel asked, meeting his gaze.
Did he think that Chad refused to see Nancy because of something she’d said to him?
Jayson narrowed his eyes at her and asked coldly, “What were you doing at Faye Tech that day?”
It was as expected. Ariel had been right. Jayson was here because he wanted her to explain things to him. He wasn’t the least bit concerned about why she was at a hospital in the first place.
“You may not know this since you seldom mingle around with common folk like us, but after leaving Bluum Corp, naturally, I need to find another job somewhere, don’t I?” Ariel answered in a calm voice.
However, Jayson still looked at her questioningly. “What kind of a job could you even get at Faye Tech anyway?”
He then chuckled lightly, the smile never reaching his eyes. Ariel,
on the other hand, understood what he actually
meant.
To him, she was nowhere near Nancy’s level of brilliance. Naturally, he would think that it was extremely stupid of her to resign from Bluum Corp.
“You don’t have to concern yourself with that, Mr. Larkin.”
Ariel had no intention of keeping him up–to–date with her life. They were going to be strangers again very soon anyway. There was no need for this.
Moreover, Jayson didn’t even bother asking her why the food she had made for Betty ended up with Nancy at the hospital. He should have recognized that it had been from Ariel, and yet, he had silently allowed Renee to do such a thing.
In a way, Ariel had sort of become Nancy’s nanny.
Was it really because Jayson didn’t care about tiny details like these? Not really girl, hotove ple
respected Ariel from the very beginning.
It was more because he had never
Ariel wasn’t crass with her words, but there was an unmistakable coldness to her, and Jayson had already noticed it. Ever since that day, Ariel had been acting weirdly like this.
Jayson thought that there had to be a limit to everything. He was going to tell Ariel to calm down. She had to figure this out by herself.
He then sneered and said, “Since you’ve started working at Faye Tech, I don’t care if you’re an assistant or whatever, you should give more suggestions to Chad. He needs to be more considerate when dealing with things and with people. He should be more tactful, especially since he’s the leader of the company.”
Ariel could feel her eyes shaking.
Jayson was standing up for Nancy. He felt sorry that Nancy had been sidelined on purpose. What he just said sounded as if he was chiding Chad for being inconsiderate, but he was actually chiding her and telling her that ” enough was enough“.
Ariel didn’t like wasting time and energy arguing over mindless matters like these. However, that didn’t mean she liked being dragged into this kind of drama and being made the scapegoat.
She lifted her eyes and asked, “Have you never considered the possibility that she just isn’t qualified enough?”
However brilliant Nancy may be, she still hadn’t managed to produce any results to back herself up. Who did she think she was, demanding that someone as esteemed as Chad Hockney see her just because she wanted to?
It was only then that Jayson frowned a little. Then, he said coldly and matter–of–factly, “She had all the qualifications needed with me backing her up.”