Chapter 24- The call from Erica
When Charles reached the general ward, he couldn’t find Angelina in her bed. He didn’t see Lucy either. He frowned deeply and looked around. He asked the nurse about Angelina and learned that she was moved to the VIP ward. Charles’s mood lightened, and he went straight to the VIP ward.
He saw Lucy chatting with Angelina happily. Angelina looked weak and pale, but she was smiling, and Charles heaved a sigh secretly. They turned their heads to look at him when they sensed his presence and smiled at him.
Lucy looked delighted. She approached him, held his hands, and said, “I am so happy. God has finally heeded my prayers. He sends a man to help us. I am so thankful to that man. See, this morning he arranged to move Lina here. I wish I could thank him personally.”
Charles smiled and said, “Yes, he is no less than a blessing to us. I also want to thank him, but...” He sighed and added, “Anyway, we should now follow the instruction of the doctor carefully.”
Lucy nodded and said, “Okay, let me buy you breakfast. You must be hungry.”
“No… I don’t have much time. I got to go to the office.”
“It won’t take long. Wait a while.” Lucy didn’t listen to him and exited the ward in a hurry.
Charles sighed and shook his head helplessly. Then he looked at Angelina, knitting his eyebrows slightly. She was staring at him with a pang of guilt. He walked to her and sat on the chair next to the sickbed. He leaned over the chair and gazed at her inquisitively, drumming his fingers on the armrests.
Angelina also leveled the stare with him. She couldn’t control her heart from beating faster under his piercing gaze. She blinked a few times and kept looking at him timidly. After a long time also, when he didn’t say anything, she couldn’t stay silent anymore and asked, “What? Why are you staring at me for?”
He didn’t reply immediately. He still stared at her with lots of questions in his eyes.
Angelina felt discomfort. She turned her head on the other side and said, “You are so creepy. Don’t stare at me like that.”
He opened his mouth and said fiercely, “You have disappointed me. You hid about your illness from me. What were you thinking? You don’t consider me your close one, do you? You think of me as an outsider. Isn’t it?” He snorted and added, “When did you change so much? Remember, we used to share everything. We never hide anything from each other. Then what makes you hide such a big thing from me? Even Lucy didn’t mention it to me. You surprised me.”
His tone was low, but the tinge of sadness paired with resentment didn’t go unnoticed by Angelina. She was sore in her heart. She pursed her lips and said, “I didn’t want to make you worry.”
Her voice was inaudible, but Charles guessed it right. He sneered, “You don’t want me to worry! But you are ready to give me pain.”
Angelina looked at him and tried to explain it, but he raised his hand to stop her. “No, don’t say anything. I am angry with you. No explanation could justify your action.”
He exhaled deeply and ran his fingers through his hair as if he was trying to calm down. “It was my fault as well. I should have asked the doctor in the first place. Anyway, right now, I don’t want to argue further on this matter. I only want to see you be cured. So you have to be careful. Rest well and don’t stress out. Follow the instructions of the doctor. Do you hear me?”
Angelina didn’t respond and only looked at him blankly. After a while, she burst out with laughter.
Charles frowned deeply and peered at her with his mouth slightly open, dumbfounded. “What are you laughing for?”
Angelina controlled her laughter with great difficulty and said, “You act like a guardian.”
“You…”
Charles was so angry that he wanted to knock on her head, but before he could do anything, the door of the ward pushed open. They both looked in the direction of the door and saw Lucy entering the ward with a tray full of food in her hands.
Lucy smiled and asked, “You two just fought, didn’t you?” Amusement was evident in her eyes.
“No, Mom. We are not fighting. I was just laughing at Charles.” Angelina giggled the moment she finished speaking.
Charles was stunned. He wondered how she could laugh at such a serious topic. Only she could do such things. He stared at her with disbelief.
“Lina.” Lucy glared at her and scolded, “Don’t irritate him.” She then smiled at Charles and said, “Come and eat first. You may be late to the office.”
Lucy placed the tray on the center table, and Charles sat down on the sofa. She brought sandwiches and coffee. He grabbed the sandwich and started eating quietly while Lucy walked to Angelina with a sandwich in her hand.
Just as he took a few bites, his phone started ringing. Munching the sandwich, he took the phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. It was an unknown number. He answered the call casually, “Hello.”
“Is this Mr. Shaw?” A female voice came out of the phone.
“Yes. May I know who this is?” He took another bite of the sandwich and started munching.
“I am Erica… Erica Barrett.”
Charles frowned and stopped munching, totally bewildered. He wondered why she called him. Recently, she was replaced by another model, and he thought she might be calling for help from Aidan. But Charles didn’t want to talk to her. He was also aware of Aidan’s order not to allow her to enter the office. He came to his senses and said, “Miss Barrett, I can’t help you. Sorry.”
Just as he was about to disconnect the call, he heard her yelling on the other side of the phone, “Mr. Shaw, please. Don’t cut the call. There is something I need to tell you.”
Charles put the phone on his ear again and asked, “What is it?”
“I have something to tell you. But I can’t tell you it on the phone. Let’s meet somewhere.”
Charles chuckled and said, “Miss Barrett, your tricks won’t work on me. You are not anymore the brand ambassador of our company. The contract with you has already been terminated. ‘Thompson and Co’ has nothing to do with you. So, please, don’t call me again in the future.”
“Wait, please. Listen to me.” Erica sounded impatient. “Listen, Mr. Shaw. I don’t want anything from Thompson and Co. I don’t want to be the brand ambassador anymore either. I want to say something to you. It’s about Abigail.”
Charles skipped a beat to hear the name, Abigail. His expression darkened, thinking that Erica was using Abigail’s name to make her things be done. He was now angry, and his fist on his lap tightened. Gnashing his teeth, he squeezed out the next words coldly, “What do you have to do with Miss Mills? Don’t implicate her, I am warning you.” His tone was heavy with a tinge of threatening.
“I am not implicating her. I want to help her. Please, come and meet me at Ambience. I will be waiting for you at 7 in the afternoon.” She ended the call after saying those words.
Charles pulled out the phone from his ears and stared at the screen, completely astounded. He wondered what Erica had to say about Abigail.
His trance was broken by Angelina’s next words, “Are you alright?”
He glanced at her and said, “Yeah. It’s a work-related thing. Nothing to worry about.” He stood up and added, “I am leaving. And thank you for this.” He showed Lucy the sandwich in his hands. “See you in the evening.” He smiled and bid them goodbye.
Charles buried his head in the work soon after he reached the office. Ever since Thompson and Co had signed the contract with Voyage Groups, the workload had escalated twice. He always ended up staying late at the office. But now that Angelina was in the hospital, he wanted to go back early to accompany her for a while. And what’s more, Erica Barrett also fixed an appointment at 7 o’clock. He wanted to finish the work as soon as possible.
He was going through a file when he heard tapping on his desk. His eyes moved from the file to the person standing beside his desk. He was pleasantly surprised to see her, and a smile appeared on his face involuntarily.
She also smiled at him but her smile was crafty. She lifted her chin high and said arrogantly, “I want to meet your boss.” She showed him the thermos in her hand and added, “I came here to have lunch with him. Can you call and inform him that I am here?”
Charles chuckled and looked down momentarily, only to look up at her again. “You don’t have to ask permission from him. After all, he is your fiance. You are welcomed to his office at any time. You can directly go there.”
He emphasized the word ‘fiance’ mostly to remind himself of her relationship with Aidan. But the bitterness spread within him the moment he said the word.
Not only him, but she also felt pain in her heart to hear this word. He only thought of her as his boss’s fiancee. Why couldn’t she figure out this earlier? She knew she didn’t need Aidan’s permission to go to his office, but she naively wanted to talk to Charles, which is why she came to him. Asking him to phone Aidan to inform him of her arrival was merely an excuse to spend a little time with him. But in the end, he reminded her again of her relationship with Aidan. She sneered in her mind at her stupidity. She snorted and said, “Yes, I know who I am. You don’t have to remind me. But the rules are the rules, and everyone has to abide by them. I don’t want to have the privilege of being the FUTURE WIFE of the CEO.”
She purposely stretched the words ‘future wife’ and toyed the diamond ring that Aidan put on her ring finger last night as though she was flaunting it in front of him.