Ariel was caught slightly off guard by the sudden question Gradually, the realization of what Jayson actually meant dawned on her pretty yet impassive face.

Jayson had simply put on an act since Betty was listening to their conversation beside him. He wasn’t really asking Ariel to stop by the hospital.

Ariel kept her head low and flipped through the sketches. Her tone was calm and steady. “It depends on what time 1 finish work later.”

After pausing for a few seconds, Jayson replied slowly, “Alright, remember to eat your meals.”

Without giving her the time to respond or say anything, Jayson hung up right away.

Ariel didn’t think much of Jayson’s seemingly caring reminder for her to eat her meals. It was all part of the act. There wasn’t an ounce of sincerity in those words.

Ariel swiftly put what happened during the phone call out of her mind. She put down her phone and continued to do her calculations on the sketches.

At the hospital, Betty’s eyes rounded with annoyance when she saw how quickly Jayson had ended the call. “Why were you in such a hurry to hang up? It’s not like someone’s chasing you or something.”

Jayson lowered his head and looked at his laptop. His brows arched. “She hasn’t eaten yet. We’ll only take up her time if we keep talking to her on the phone.”

For a moment, Betty was rendered speechless. “It sounds as if you know a lot about her daily habits.”

After a moment’s consideration, she asked, “Have you explained the matters relating to the Spencer family to Ari? Have those issues been taken care of?”

Jayson said nothing. He typed on the keyboard with one hand. He merely curled his lips in response to Betty’s questions.

Betty was exasperated upon seeing that response. “Don’t even think about fooling me with some lame excuse. You know very well about Ari’s feelings for you. I’m warning you! Stop fooling around with another woman. Enough is enough!”

After taking a pause, she said sternly, “You didn’t cross the line with her, right? If you don’t do something about that girl from the Stanton family, don’t blame me when I decide to interfere and send the girl away.”

Jayson stopped typing on his laptop. He was still smiling faintly. Yet, it was clear–judging by the look in his eyes -that Jayson had no intention of backing down. “Grandma, you know me. I’m never one to regret the things that I do.”

He was never one to easily yield, either.

Betty’s heart missed a beat. She was momentarily stunned as she came to understand the underlying meaning behind Jayson’s firm remarks.

She gave up eventually and decided to not make any further comments. She took her phone and turned it on. ” Help me save Ari’s new number in the contact list.”

Jayson hummed nonchalantly in response. He clicked on the latest phone record shown on the screen and took a glance at it.

After typing “Ari” in the name section, he saved the number on Betty’s phone and passed the phone back to her.

172

Betty was still feeling a bit puzzled. Then, she suddenly recalled something. “Did Ari just change her number today? She already told you about her new number, right?”

Jayson didn’t even look up from his laptop. He merely humed.

After work, Ariel went back home to rest. She didn’t stop by the hospital.

It was just something Jayson had said since Betty was listening in on them.

Ariel was so exhausted after having made sure any issue that might arise from one of their tech department’s members leaving had been taken care of accordingly. She was in no mood to think about anything else.

If it weren’t because Jayson’s side had poached one of their employees for Veyo Solutions, Ariel would be working on preparing the plan for their new project right now.

The next day, Ariel and Chad met Augustine Herbert, the head of production department of the company Alan was working at, in the morning to learn more about the feasibility of adapting renewable energy in their new project.

Fortunately, everything was pretty much just as Ariel had expected. Their meeting helped her gain a better, more structured idea for the direction of their upcoming project.

Augustine tried to invite them to join him for lunch.

However, Chad had already made a reservation at a restaurant. Moreover, Ariel needed to discuss the finer details of their project planning with him, so he politely declined the offer.

Augustine saw them off by the building’s entrance. While they were there, he noticed the nearby office building undergoing renovation.

He couldn’t help saying in a slightly envious tone, “I was in Heincove last night for a business trip, and I just got back this morning. I met Bluum Corp’s Mr. Larkin at a tech exhibition yesterday. He was introducing Ms. Stanton to some people working in the industry.”

While Ariel showed zero reaction, Chad narrowed his eyes. “Oh? Is that so?”

Veyo Solutions‘ office, being so close, was all anyone in the area could talk about lately. Augustine was no exception. He went ahead and shared his thoughts. “Veyo Solutions has come into the spotlight ever since they announced that they’re launching the business.

“Our employees can see their office building on the way to or from work. Some of us have also spotted Mr. Larkin’s car here a few times before. He probably couldn’t bear to see Ms. Stanton overwork herself, so he had personally helped with handling a lot of things.

“I saw with my own eyes yesterday how Mr. Larkin had gone on a business trip to Heincove with Ms. Stanton even though he was still injured. He was trying to help her select and recruit people at the tech exhibition.”