Chapter : 61
A wave of mortification washed over Ariel, rooting her to the spot. Evelyn’s seemingly innocuous words felt like a dismissive assessment, reducing her to an object of scrutiny.
Just to bear a child, she had to be assessed for her qualifications! She was completely insignificant compared to someone like Nancy, a PhD graduate from a top foreign university.
Little did they know, their words were a painful reminder of her impending reality. Once she began her medical treatment and surgery, her chance to bear children would be gone forever.
It clicked. That explained his lukewarm attitude toward intimacy before their divorce. Maybe even back then, he’d already decided that she wasn’t good enough to bear his offspring.
Ariel didn’t want to know how Jayson responded. The way he brushed off Betty’s expectations at dinner made it clear that he had no intention of having a child with her. He most likely agreed with Evelyn.
She gripped the bottle tightly and returned to her room. Her breaths came in shallow pants, and her lips slowly lost color.
Mechanically, she opened the bottle and swallowed the pill dry.
A brutal bitterness spread through her mouth, but she couldn’t tell if it came from the pill or the sharper ache in her chest.
She closed her eyes briefly and calmed her emotions.
Now that she wasn’t sleepy at all, she turned on her laptop to review the project proposal. The year–end launch was approaching, and she had many key details to oversee.
After adjusting some core data, she returned to bed and picked up a book. She had been carrying a few aerospace engineering texts with her lately and had extracted useful theories through algorithmic modeling.
Just then, the door opened, and in walked Jayson. His gaze landed on Ariel sitting under the warm orange light.
She looked up at the sound and seemed surprised to see him. Hadn’t he left yet?
Jayson walked up to the wardrobe as his eyes swept over the title of the book in her hands-“Spacecraft Orbit Determination: Theory and Applications“.
He’d read that once. It had high academic and technological value, and he’d recently recommended it to Nancy. She’d struggled through it.
“You understand the book?” Jayson casually asked as he pulled out a change of clothes. There was no outright mockery, but the way he asked made Ariel uncomfortable.
Her gaze stayed on the page as she replied, “More or less.”
She had studied this book thoroughly a few years ago. Now, she was just rereading it to see if she could gain new insights.
Jayson narrowed his eyes slightly and observed the mild–tempered Ariel. “You’ve been working pretty hard lately, “he commented.
Ariel looked up at him and could sense an undertone in his voice. Was he implying that she was imitating Nancy
and trying to follow in the latter’s footsteps?
Ariel found the idea ridiculous, but she didn’t bother explaining. Whatever he thought was his own business.
Jayson said nothing more as he passed the bed and walked toward the couch. Just as he turned around, he noticed her laptop screen was still on.
A thought seemed to cross his mind as he stopped and fixed his eyes on the screen.
Seeing that, Ariel’s expression changed instantly. She hopped out of bed and slammed the laptop shut with a cold face. “What did you see?”
It was only then that his gaze shifted back to her face. There was a rare, sharp, defensive, and almost irritated look in her eyes as if the laptop held some untold secret.
In truth, he hadn’t seen what was on her screen, but her strong reaction reminded him of a secret he’d once stumbled upon on her laptop.
Was her current overreaction because of the deeply buried secret in her heart?
Jayson’s expression turned icy as his lips arched into a cold sneer.
Instead of answering her question, he picked up his clothes and left.
A