Chapter 45 Jealousy

Chapter 45 Jealousy

"Beatrice, what the hell are you talking about?"

Arthur felt Beatrice was getting more and more ridiculous. He'd actually felt somewhat guilty about tonight's events, and before making this call, he'd spent quite a while thinking about how to explain things to her.

But now Arthur couldn't be bothered with more talk. He directly told Beatrice about Sloane's fever: "Sloane has a really high fever. We got a doctor to give her a shot but it hasn't gone down. She keeps crying for you."

Hearing this, Beatrice got anxious too. She knew Arthur's character - he wouldn't lie about something like this.

But unfortunately, she was currently in the lab, in the middle of a crucial experiment she couldn't leave.

"Arthur, I'm tied up with something right now and can't get back. Stay with Sloane for now, and call a few more doctors to check on her."

Arthur completely lost his temper: "Beatrice, if you want to throw a fit at me because of tonight, fine, but you need to prioritize. Sloane is your daughter too. She has such a high fever and is crying for you - at least come back and see her."

"I already told you I have something very important."

Beatrice's tone was also getting irritated. How could she not worry about Sloane's fever? But this experiment was the whole team's hard work, and whether it would succeed depended on tonight - she couldn't leave.

"What could you possibly have going on in the middle of the night?"

Hearing Arthur's questioning tone, Beatrice completely lost it too.

So in his eyes, was she just someone who throws tantrums without any sense of priorities?

Beatrice let out a cold laugh: "Didn't you also run to the hospital in the middle of the night? So you can have urgent matters, but I can't?"

Arthur was stumped by Beatrice's question, a rare flash of guilt crossing his face.

She really was angry about tonight.

Arthur softened his tone: "Jennifer tried to kill herself tonight because of me. I had to go."

"The hospital has doctors. What use were you there? Put it this way - if Jennifer was really so serious that even doctors couldn't save her, would your being there have kept her from dying?"

"Beatrice, when did you become so heartless?"

Beatrice couldn't be bothered to keep arguing with him about Jennifer: "Arthur, I really do have something very important right now. Take good care of Sloane, and I'll come back when I'm done."

After saying this, Beatrice hung up directly.

Arthur couldn't help feeling incredulous. In the past, no matter what Beatrice had going on, she would never leave Sloane uncared for.

Maybe she really did have something important tonight, but didn't it also show that in Beatrice's heart, he and Sloane were no longer her first priority?

Realizing this, Arthur felt an inexplicable heaviness in his chest.

When had she started to become like this?

Arthur thought back - his and Beatrice's relationship didn't seem to have fallen apart because of any major incident, but rather, after day after day of coldness and being ignored by him and Sloane, she had suddenly made up her mind to leave.

Sloane, still burning with fever, seemed to sense something in her sleep and cried even harder, constantly calling for mommy.

Seeing this, Arthur reflected for the first time on whether his approach as a father had been wrong.

What happened between him and Jennifer was adult business, and whatever else, Beatrice was Sloane's mother. He should have encouraged Sloane to be closer to Beatrice.

Watching Arthur and Sloane, Marshall sighed and quickly called several more skilled doctors.

After examining Sloane together, the doctors unanimously concluded that the fever was caused by emotional issues.

"Mr. Capulet, has Sloane encountered some upsetting person or situation?"

Hearing this, Arthur thought of how Sloane had been calling for Beatrice in her sleep, and understood.

It seemed his guess was right - he wasn't the only one who felt Beatrice drifting further away; Sloane had sensed it too.

Adults could endure things when they happened, but children couldn't bear as much.

After the doctors left, Arthur fell into deep self-blame over his past inappropriate parenting methods, and stayed by Sloane's bedside all night.

The next day, before dawn, Jennifer's call came through.

"Arthur, how's Sloane's fever?"

Arthur reached out to feel Sloane's forehead: "The fever's gone down. Why are you up so early?"

"I was too worried about Sloane, and I was afraid calling would disturb you both, so I couldn't sleep all night."

That wasn't actually true - Jennifer had been kept awake all night by anger.

She didn't believe Sloane really had a fever at all. She'd spent the whole night imagining what Beatrice was doing after tricking Arthur back home.

Arthur was silent for a moment: "Sloane's fine now. It's your health that needs rest right now. Go to sleep."

"I'm still worried. Could I wait until Sloane wakes up and talk to her for a bit before sleeping?"

Arthur glanced at Sloane sleeping soundly. In the past, he definitely would have agreed to Jennifer's request.

After all, Sloane liked her too, and would surely be happy to get her call after waking up.

But last night he'd suddenly realized that no matter how much Sloane liked Jennifer, sometimes there was just no comparison to Beatrice, her real mother.

Realizing he couldn't let Sloane continue to depend too much on Jennifer, Arthur declined: "Sloane's growing up now. If you keep being so good to her, you'll spoil her. Besides, who knows when Sloane will wake up. You should sleep first."

"Alright, I won't disturb you then."

Jennifer said this with a hint of grievance in her gentle voice, but the moment she hung up, her expression instantly turned vicious.

How could she not hear Arthur's underlying message telling her to stay away from Sloane?

In the past, when she wanted to see or contact Sloane, Arthur never refused - he was even happy for her to be close to Sloane. He would never act like this.

She knew it - Beatrice had ulterior motives in tricking Arthur back from the hospital!

In her rage, blood began seeping through the bandages around her wrist.

Jennifer didn't care. She dialed Melissa's number.

It took a while for the other end to pick up. Through the receiver came Melissa's tense voice.

"Didn't I tell you not to contact me during work hours?"

Jennifer paused: "It's so late, what are you working on?"

"Our lab just made a major breakthrough on a project."

Hearing this, Jennifer couldn't help asking: "Is Beatrice there too?"

"Of course."

Jennifer froze. Had she misunderstood Arthur just now? Had he really gone back because of Sloane's fever, and not because of Beatrice?

But the next words made Jennifer jealous.

"Beatrice is the one who led our team to this major breakthrough."