Chapter 12 Feeling Uneasy for No Reason
Watching Shawn's energetic manner, Daisy felt the weight on her chest lift considerably.
She smiled. "Okay, I'll listen to you."
Only then was Shawn satisfied. She eagerly opened the bag she'd brought and pulled out coffee beans and chocolate like she was presenting treasures. "Come on, try these first, perk yourself up. Look at those dark circles under your eyes—what time did you stay up till last night?"
As they were chatting, Daisy's phone on the lab bench rang.
She glanced at the caller ID, her expression softening, and answered, "Hello, Grandma."
"Daisy dear, are you busy? I'm not interrupting your work, am I?"
"No, I just finished a set of experiments and I'm taking a break. Grandma, why are you calling at this hour?" Daisy walked to the window, unconsciously lowering her voice.
Ever since she married Vincent, Grandma worried about her every single day, afraid she'd be mistreated marrying into a wealthy family. She'd secretly wiped away tears several times.
Grandma still didn't know about the divorce. She didn't dare tell her.
"Your youngest uncle is back in the country! Says he's been transferred back to lead some big project, and he'll be staying for good!"
Grandma's voice was full of joy. "Your grandfather is over the moon. He insists on having a whole roasted lamb feast at home as a welcome-back party. So I'm calling to ask if you're free this weekend—you must come! Your youngest uncle hasn't seen you in years, and he's always asking about you."
Youngest uncle? A vague image floated into Daisy's mind—her mother's youngest brother, who went abroad to study early on and had been working at a top research institute overseas. He couldn't make it back for her wedding because of a critical project, and they hadn't been in much contact over the years.
She hadn't expected him to return home.
A warm feeling welled up inside her.
"I'm free, of course I'm free." Daisy immediately replied. "I'll definitely come this weekend."
"Good, good, good!" Grandma was delighted. "Remember to dress up nicely. Your youngest uncle is bringing quite a few promising young men—let them meet you too!"
After chatting about family matters for a bit, Grandma reluctantly hung up.
Shawn, who'd been listening nearby, came over with a teasing look. "Oh, a family gathering? With promising young men too! Daisy, this is a great opportunity."
She even bumped Daisy's shoulder.
Daisy gave her a helpless pat. "What are you talking about! It's just a regular family dinner."
"Okay, okay, regular dinner." Shawn chuckled without teasing further. "Want me to drive you there this weekend? I've got nothing else going on anyway."
"Sure."
Over the next few days, Daisy threw all her energy into the experiments.
The NaMetre project had entered a critical material testing phase. Since it was safety-related, she practically lived in the lab, terrified of the slightest mistake.
That afternoon, Daisy was working carefully in the fume hood. Beside her, a colleague who'd recently joined was handling a highly reactive sample under her guidance.
"This solution is highly corrosive. You must be very careful when handling it." Daisy watched her. "It's okay to go slow—just keep your hands steady."
Elsie was already nervous, and hearing this made her even more careful. She held her breath and operated with extreme caution.
Perhaps she was too tense. Right after Daisy spoke, Elsie's hand trembled, and the pipette tip hit the beaker wall.
There was a clang as the beaker tipped over completely, spilling the solution all over the lab bench.
Elsie panicked and quickly grabbed a cloth to wipe it up.
Daisy's eyes widened. "Don't move!"
She reached out to stop her, but in her panic, Elsie pressed the cloth right onto Daisy's hand, firmly pressing it into the solution.
Before Daisy could feel the pain, Elsie screamed, nearly in tears. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Hart, I didn't mean to! What do I do? Can you rinse it with water?"
Daisy didn't have time to explain and rushed to the faucet to rinse, quickly saying, "Dilute it with water first, don't touch it directly with your hands! Amy! Activate the emergency ventilation in the fume hood!"
"Got it."
Although she rinsed immediately, her hand had already been corroded by the solution. A burning pain spread across her palm.
Daisy bit her lower lip, cold sweat beading on her forehead, but she kept rinsing.
Just then, the lab door opened.
It was Ethan, wearing protective gear, led in by an assistant.
"Mr. Reed, this is our internal lab environment. If you look over here..."
As soon as Ethan entered, he saw Daisy's pale face and smelled a faint, pungent odor in the lab. His brow furrowed immediately.
He walked over quickly. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
Only then did Daisy remember she'd scheduled Ethan's visit today. Embarrassed, she said, "Have the assistant show you around first. I'll be done in a moment."
Ethan's brow remained furrowed.
Being an expert himself, one sniff of the smell and one look at her rinsing told him everything.
"You got hit with corrosive solution? How could you be so careless? Rinse for fifteen minutes. My car's right downstairs—I'll take you to the hospital."
"It's fine. At the hospital they'd just give me ointment to apply. I have some here."
At that moment, Elsie came over like a child who'd done something wrong, tears in her eyes, holding the ointment and stammering, "Ms. Hart, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I'm so clumsy, always causing you trouble, and now I've gotten you hurt."
Seeing her state, she was clearly badly shaken.
"It's okay, just be more careful next time."
When the fifteen-minute emergency rinse was up, Daisy turned off the faucet and reached for the ointment.
"Let me help you. It's not convenient to apply it yourself." Ethan said, taking the ointment from her hand.
Her palm had clearly lost a layer of skin and was alarmingly red, with a ring of small yellow blisters around the edges. After rinsing for so long, she couldn't feel the pain anymore.
It was just that after rinsing with cold water for so long, her hand was numb and cold.
Daisy wanted to say it wasn't necessary, but Ethan had already washed his hands under the faucet, then took her hand and carefully applied the medicine to her palm.
Throughout the process, his fingertips occasionally brushed against Daisy's uninjured skin, bringing a slightly cool sensation.
His breathing was light, and as he leaned in slightly, his body carried a faint, clean scent of soapberry mixed with a hint of wood, dispersing the smell of corrosive solution from Daisy's nostrils.
Daisy looked at him somewhat dazed. His movements were very practiced.
A pampered heir to a business empire actually knew how to care for someone so carefully and properly.
"I spent a few years in labs abroad. I've seen plenty of these small accidents." Ethan seemed to know what she was thinking. He looked up at her and smiled. "This doesn't look too bad now, but if it hurts badly tonight, you must go to the hospital, okay?"
Daisy pressed her lips together, feeling like she was back in school, her cheeks flushing slightly as she said quietly. "Thank you, Ethan."
Ethan finished applying the medicine and was washing his hands, about to wrap her hand with sterile gauze, when there was a commotion at the lab door.
"Mr. Black, you can't go in there."
With that voice, the lab door suddenly opened, and Vincent entered with a dark expression.
Seeing Vincent's sudden appearance, Daisy instinctively pulled her hand back, and at the same time felt an inexplicable... panic in her heart?