After ending the call and noticing that it was about time, Roxanne headed downstairs to prepare dinner for the children. Archie and Benny were sitting on the carpet, playing with Lego.When they saw their mother, they exchanged a brief glance, but they did not continue bombarding her with questions.“I have work to do tomorrow night. Aunt Madilyn will be keeping you company, okay?” Roxanne told Archie and Benny about the arrangements for the tomorrow night over dinner.Upon hearing that, they looked at her in puzzlement. “Why do you have to leave at night? Is it a business-related social event?”Roxanne had never hidden anything about work from Archie and Benny. She said patiently, “There are new developments for the project that I’m working on with Mr. Damaris. I need to attend a contract signing ceremony tomorrow.”Archie and Benny looked at each other as the same question surfaced in their minds. “Will Mr. Damaris be there too?”We still remember Mr. Damaris! He’s Daddy’s love riv
The following night, after getting ready, Roxanne headed downstairs and prepared to leave to meet Jack. The moment she descended the stairs, however, Archie and Benny stopped her. “Mommy, isn’t Mr. Damaris picking you up?” Despite waiting for a long while, they saw no signs of Lucian. They had no choice but to think of ways to stall for time. Roxanne was confused when she heard their question. “Mr. Damaris wants to meet our collaborators early, so I’m going there by myself. What’s wrong?” Unable to think of a response on the spot, Archie and Benny exchanged a look, then flashed a grin and shamelessly blocked Roxanne’s path. “What’s up with you two?” Roxanne bent down and stared into their eyes. Archie and Benny fell silent again. “But Mommy, Aunt Madilyn hasn’t arrived yet,” Archie said in piping voice. Roxanne glanced at the time. Madilyn should have left work by now. Although they had agreed in the morning that Madilyn would come right after work, she was still nowhere to b
A flash of self-mockery flitted across Roxanne’s eyes. She was worried that Lucian might find trouble with Jack because of her, but it turned out that she had gotten it all wrong.All the while, Lucian was finding trouble with her because of Jack.Seeing the change in the woman’s expression, Lucian realized that what he had just said might have been too suggestive.With his brows knitted together, Lucian was prepared to explain himself, but Roxanne beat him to the punch.“Since it’s business-related, you can reason with Mr. Damaris himself. I’m merely a researcher in this project. Both my words and my presence don’t carry much weight, so even if I’m not there at the ceremony, it can still proceed without a hitch.”Roxanne looked at the man in front of her with a tinge of mockery in her gaze as she continued, “I’m just an insignificant member of the project. If don’t attend the ceremony today, my colleagues will a*sume I’m unsociable and bring me trouble in the future. Mr. Farwell, pl
Roxanne felt conflicted as she realized she had inadvertently betrayed Lucian. I wonder what Lucian will say when he finds out…“Come on, Roxanne. We’re going to be working closely together from now on, so it’d do us good to spend more time with each other,” Larry chimed in as well.Left with no other choice, Roxanne recomposed herself and a*sented with a smile.The three of them left the private room and went straight to the banquet hall on the third floor.Roxanne was shocked when she stepped out of the elevator.Everyone involved in the project was already waiting for her in the banquet hall. It was as though they already knew the signing of the contract would be successful.They all flocked over to Roxanne with their gla*ses raised.“Mr. Damaris says you played a huge part in resolving the issue with our supply of medicinal herbs, Dr. Jarvis! Here’s a toast to you!”“It’s truly amazing how a young woman like you could make such great accomplishments in the medical field!”Just li
Without saying anything, Lucian reached out to grab Roxanne’s hand and pulled her into his embrace. Jack knew his boundaries. Although he was holding on to her, he didn’t use a lot of force, so Lucian was able to snatch her from him with ease.“What are you doing, Mr. Farwell? Dr. Jarvis gave me permission to send her home. How will I explain myself if she finds out I handed her over to you?” Jack asked with a frown.The elevator came to a halt on the first floor.“Roxanne is my ex-wife. Given our relationship, I don’t think I need your permission to send her home. You will stay away from my ex-wife in the future if you know what’s good for you, Mr. Damaris,” Lucian said menacingly without looking back as he helped Roxanne out of the elevator.Jack, who was still standing inside the elevator, had a nonchalant look on his face when he heard that. “Really? In that case, I suppose I’ll have to leave her in your care, Mr. Ex-husband!” he said in the most sarcastic way possible.Lucian pa
Madilyn fell speechless when she heard that. What? I have to go to work early tomorrow? It wasn’t until she noticed Archie and Benny winking at her that she understood what they were playing at. “As much as I would love to stay and look after Roxanne, the workload at the hospital has been pretty crazy lately. Would you be able to look after her for me, Mr. Farwell? If not, I’ll have no choice but to take a day off tomorrow,” she said with a sigh. Feeling satisfied that Madilyn was playing along, the kids shifted their gaze back to Lucian and waited for his reply. Since he had intended to stay and look after Roxanne all along, he simply met their expectant gazes and nodded in response. This is a little strange, though… I remember Archie and Benny being mad at me for a really long time when I casually mentioned their biological father. I thought they’d hate me very much, and yet, they’ve been helping me win Roxanne back lately. In fact, they’re putting in as much effort as Estella.
At the sight of Roxanne’s pale expression, Lucian leaned in to look into her eyes with a frown. “How is it? Do you feel any better?” In her condition, Roxanne couldn’t hear him at all. After vomiting, she collapsed onto her bed and mumbled, “Ugh, it feels terrible…”Lucian’s heart ached for her when he heard that. After getting up to take off the shirt that she had puked on, he went out to wash his hands and poured her a cup of water for her to gargle with.When he returned to the room, he saw Roxanne standing on her feet. She was taking off her clothes as if there was no one around. While doing so, she continued to mumble, “I… I want to shower.”The sight of her stripping jolted Lucian back to his senses. He hurried to her side to hold her back. “Stop taking off your clothes.”Annoyed, Roxanne threw him a look of displeasure and insisted, “I want to shower. Move aside!”While she was speaking, she began to unbuckle her bra.Lucian quickly looked away, stunned.By the time he turned
After watching the children enter the kindergarten, Roxanne turned to Lucian with mixed emotions and started, “The boys told me that it was you who sent me home last night.” Lucian nodded noncommittally. He averted his gaze from her and looked to the side as if nothing had happened.In truth, he couldn’t help recalling the scene from the night before at the sight of her face.Roxanne trailed his gaze, only to see his car that was parked by the roadside.Thinking that he was in a hurry to leave, she decided to get straight to the point. “Can you tell me how we ran into each other last night?”Lucian’s face turned cold when Roxanne mentioned their encounter. “We happened to run into each other in the hotel elevator.”Even though he didn’t describe how he had wrestled her away from Jack’s arms, Roxanne had no trouble imagining it.Given his temper, he must’ve been infuriated to see me together with Jack. It goes without saying that something unpleasant must have happened between them.N
Roxanne was rendered speechless at that. After all, it was indeed true that the three of them had been in charge of the project since the beginning.Naturally, I wouldn’t shoot myself in the foot, so that leaves only Jack and Colby. That being said, I don’t want to doubt any of them since one of them is the project leader while the other is my longtime partner.Seeing how adamant she was, Lucian felt his anger rise. “If I remember correctly, Jack had something to do with the fire incident at the research institute previously as well.”Hearing that, Roxanne gave him a confused look. Why would he say something like that?She then said, “Mr. Damaris left after delivering those medicines, so what do you mean when you said that incident has something to do with him?”Not wanting to get into an argument with Lucian, she reined in her temper and added gently, “You of all people should know how those medicines came to be, so why would Mr. Damaris do something that won’t benefit him at all?A
After a long pause, Lucian tamped down the emotions in his eyes and said calmly, “I’ve asked the specialists to check on you. They’ll be here soon.” No sooner had he said that, several specialists came rushing over.They were horrified when they saw Roxanne sitting up in the hospital bed. “Ms. Jarvis, please lie down quickly. There’s still residual toxins in your body that has yet to be flushed out. We want to perform a check-up on you, then prescribe some targeted medication.”She was very clear-headed when it came to her condition, and she replied, “There’s no need for that. It has been cleared.”The others frowned, their expressions reflecting their disbelief. “How is that possible?”We all saw for ourselves how serious her condition was yesterday. How could she have gotten better after just one night’s sleep?Roxanne merely smiled and did not say anything.Utterly incredulous, a few of them stepped forward to check on her.After they did so, everyone could not help but feel dumbf
Roxanne patted Archie’s and Benny’s heads soothingly. “Mommy, how are you feeling? Do you feel any discomfort?”Archie and Benny stared at her with concern.Roxanne could see her pale expression reflected in her children’s eyes, so it was completely understandable that they were really worried.Roxanne stated apologetically, “I’m all right now. I must have scared you guys yesterday. I’m sorry for that.”Benny reminded her in his childish voice, “You have already apologized to us yesterday! Also, we don’t need you to apologize because we only want you to be healthy and well!”Roxanne felt touched by their words, and a smile spread across her face.“Essie is also worried about Mommy. She was so scared she burst into tears when she dreamt that you fell unconscious.”When Benny noticed Estella hiding behind the other children, he took a step back so Roxanne could see her.Estella’s head was lowered as she sneaked a peek at Roxanne.She remembered Roxanne flatly refusing to let her call t
The following morning, Roxanne had already woken up by the time Lucian did. Her brows remained furrowed while she removed the needles for herself. Lucian glanced at his empty palm, then shifted his gaze to look at the woman before him. In a hoarse voice, he asked, “When did you wake up? Why didn’t you wake me up?”Roxanne was too focused on the task and only realized the man was awake after hearing his voice. She hesitated for a moment, then continued with what she had been doing.“You look like you were sound asleep. Besides, I am feeling better now, so I didn’t wake you up.”She did not spare the man a glance as she spoke.It was worth noting that Roxanne felt as if it was like a dream when she woke up to the sight of Lucian taking a short rest while holding her hand tightly earlier.But soon after, the memories of what happened last night while she was half-asleep came to her mind.She knew very well it was not a dream. Lucian had indeed taken care of her for the whole night.For
It was Lucian’s second time hearing Estella addressing Roxanne in that way in the period of merely one night. When Lucian saw the girl’s timid look, he frowned but could not bring himself to say anything to her.Once Estella realized her father was not asking her to change the way she called Roxanne, her eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Archie and Benny with delight on her face.If Roxanne had not been asleep, the children would have cheered out loud.Confusion danced across Lucian’s eyes at the sight of their happiness, but he did not ask them any questions. The only thing he said was, “It’s getting late, so hurry back to sleep.”After making sure that Roxanne was fine and receiving the unexpected surprise, the children quickly agreed to that and followed Lucian out of the ward.After sending the children back to the ward next door, Lucian found his heart skipping a beat as he looked at the way they were staring at him.I think I know why they’re happy now.“Daddy.”Estella wa
Roxanne was someone who knew how and when to keep a distance from others. Even if she were to find out what happened that night, she would only a*sume that Lucian was being helpful by stopping Jack.Lucian was certain about that.Jack paled.“I just want to take a look at her. Also, there’s something I want to ask her about,” Jack said, wanting to find out more about the situation this time.However, seemingly having read his mind, Lucian uttered, “The three of us are the only ones here. There’s no need for you to put up a show, Mr. Damaris.”Jack frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”“I’ve already gotten my men to look into it. There were only three people who were involved in this experiment at the research institute.” Lucian’s tone was cold as he spoke. “The other person has been working with Roxanne for many years. I doubt he has the need to do something stupid like this. Therefore, you’re the only suspect left.”Jack was taken aback.He never thought that someone w
Jonathan brought the children to the restaurant and ordered a bunch of food for them. However, they didn’t appear to have any appetite.“I thought you all were hungry?” Their reaction confounded Jonathan.In response, Estella slowly took a bite of a dessert. I’m not hungry. I just don’t want to stay with that bad lady. Why is she still hanging around the hospital after Daddy asked her to leave?Archie and Benny were also pretty distracted.They only left with Jonathan because they wanted to give their parents some private time.Nonetheless, ever since they left the hospital, they started to regret their decision because they recalled their parents always argued whenever they spent time together.They were afraid the same scenario would occur again.“You three aren’t actually hungry, am I right?” Jonathan grinned when he saw through them.In response, the children lowered their heads guiltily with tightened fists.A tinge of confusion flashed past his eyes when he saw the children act
“Roxanne?” Lucian’s heart wrenched as he walked over to the hospital bed and called out softly to the person lying there.However, Roxanne’s eyelids were heavy. She wanted to respond but lacked the energy. Sleep was all she wished for.Lucian grew increasingly gloomy as she became more drowsy.After a long time, he angrily opened the ward door and glared at the specialist waiting outside.“M-Mr. Farwell…”One of the specialists had stayed behind and waited outside the door just in case, following Roxanne’s sudden headache earlier.The specialist did not expect that he would have to face the furious Lucian alone, and he shuddered internally.Lucian’s face clouded over. “What injection did you give her? Why is she so sleepy after the shot?” he asked.When the specialist heard that, he exhaled in relief before a*suring him, “Well, this is because Ms. Jarvis was tormented by pain for the whole day and also suffered a drastic change of emotions earlier, we added some sedatives to the pain
Lucian couldn’t hear what Jonathan told them, but he did notice the rapid change in their facial expressions. It didn’t take long before Jonathan successfully convinced the kids to go with him.“I’ll take the kids out for a meal and bring them back here in a bit. You should go keep Dr. Jarvis company!” he said with all three of the kids standing next to him.Lucian nodded. “Thanks a lot.”Jonathan simply let out a casual chuckle and led the kids into the elevator.There was still a hint of doubt in Lucian’s eyes as he watched the elevator doors close, but he figured it would be safe to entrust Jonathan with the kids.After taking a few seconds to recollect himself, Lucian turned around and made his way into the ward.Unbeknownst to him, Roxanne had heard his footsteps from inside the ward. Realizing that Lucian was coming in alone this time, she quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I can’t force you to accept me after this incident,