Chapter 211 Why Does He Look Like He Wants to Eat Her?
Alaric inspected her, and finding nothing seriously wrong, frowned and said in a low voice, "Don't you watch where you're going?"
Cordelia rubbed her nose, embarrassed, and muttered under her breath.
"Who told you to stop so suddenly?"
"It's like when you're driving and someone suddenly hits the brakes—I'll rear-end them. Same logic."
Alaric regarded her without expression. "Rear-ending is your fault."
Cordelia paused, then went along with it. "You're right—it's all my fault for not keeping a safe distance."
Alaric's face immediately darkened.
Cordelia stared at his suddenly gloomy expression, baffled.
She'd already admitted her mistake—why was he even more upset?
Men's thoughts were impossible to read.
The Stone family's driver pulled up at the Stone Manor entrance. Seeing Cordelia's luggage in Alaric's hands, he hurried over to help.
He reached respectfully for the bag, but Alaric held on tightly.
The driver gave an awkward, respectful smile and said, "Mr. Hughes, let me take the luggage."
Alaric released the bag and said quietly, "Put it in my car."
The driver understood that Alaric intended to drive Cordelia himself.
As the driver moved toward Alaric's car with Cordelia's luggage, she glanced at her watch and frowned.
It was getting late.
She walked past Alaric and said calmly, "Mr. Hughes is so busy, and you've already taken time today to bring things for Atlas. I won't trouble you further."
With that, she descended the steps and climbed into her family's car.
The driver cast a careful glance at Alaric's grim face and awkwardly placed the luggage in the trunk.
Thankfully, he wasn't Alaric's subordinate—otherwise, he'd spend the day trying to read his moods.
Once the driver got in, he started the car and drove off.
Alaric stood on the steps, watching the Stone family's car disappear. He exhaled heavily, tugging at his tie; irritation showed in his deep eyes.
Robert drove up to the Stone Manor entrance when he saw Alaric, then got out to open the door for him.
He had just opened the back door when he heard Alaric said quietly, "Go to Ravenshollow."
Robert froze, then replied quickly, "Mr. Hughes, today's schedule says Sunset Ridge Town."
There had no plans to go to Ravenshollow.
Alaric adjusted his tie and said in a low voice, "Isn't there a project starting in Ravenshollow?"
Robert nodded. "Yes."
But that project wasn't supposed to start until next month.
Alaric said coldly, "Then we'll do a surprise inspection."
Robert, confused, nodded. "Okay."
If Alaric wanted to go to Ravenshollow, he must have his reasons.
Robert might not understand, but his job was to follow Alaric's orders and arrange travel.
On the way, Robert notified the CEO's office that Alaric had changed his schedule.
At the airport, Cordelia arrived early and waited about ten minutes before seeing Deborah approaching with her luggage.
Deborah was already in her sixties. Though past retirement age, she still contributed to medical research.
Cordelia had always respected women like her.
"Ms. Ramirez, let me take that," Cordelia said as she walked over and took Deborah's luggage to check it in.
Deborah waited on the side.
After Cordelia finished checking in, she returned to Deborah's side, and they went through the boarding gate together.
Throughout, Cordelia remained attentive to Deborah.
"Girls your age from well-off families usually aren't very good at taking care of others," Deborah observed.
"Your father raised you well."
Hearing this, Cordelia smiled politely. "If my father heard you say that, Ms. Ramirez, he'd be so happy."
Deborah smiled. "When I saw you at the awards ceremony, I thought you looked familiar. Yesterday, when I was talking to Brandon about you, I finally remembered."
"When Aurora was hospitalized, you often came to our ward to visit her."
As Deborah said this, Alaric and Robert entered the cabin.
Alaric stopped in his tracks, a shock hitting him; his gaze fell heavily on Cordelia, his expression intent and scrutinizing.
Cordelia didn't notice Alaric standing nearby. She looked at Deborah, lost in thought.
Cordelia had little memory of Deborah, but she remembered Brandon Robinson clearly.
Brandon had been Aurora's attending physician.
Seeing Cordelia's slightly puzzled look, Deborah smiled and said, "You might not remember me, but I saw you many times."
Cordelia forced an awkward smile. Back then, her mind had been completely focused on Alaric and Aurora, and she rarely noticed anyone else.
So aside from Aurora's attending physician and head nurse, Cordelia had no recollection of the other medical staff.
"Ms. Ramirez, I'm sorry. I was young then and forgot."
Deborah sighed softly. "I'm getting old too—my memory isn't what it was. I only remembered yesterday when Brandon mentioned it. I didn't expect you'd actually become a doctor. This profession is demanding—given your family background, you must have struggled quite a bit, right?"
Cordelia had been pampered by the Stone family since childhood, so studying had been difficult for her.
But having persisted all these years, looking back at when she first started—memorizing cases, professional terms, and knowledge she barely understood—it didn't seem as hard now.
Robert watched Cordelia talking with Deborah and finally understood why Alaric had given up first-class seat to sit in economy.
It was because Cordelia was here.
Robert glanced at Alaric's expression. Seeing his dark eyes and sullen complexion, he guessed Alaric was upset that Cordelia had been talking with Deborah the whole time without noticing him. He decided to take the initiative to greet Cordelia.
"Ms. Stone."
Hearing Robert's voice, Cordelia looked up and froze when she saw Alaric standing nearby.
"You're in economy class too?"
Alaric had said he was going to Ravenshollow too, so seeing him on this flight wasn't strange.
What was strange was that Alaric was in economy.
That didn't fit his image—his seat should be in first class.
Robert glanced at Alaric and saw he was just staring at Cordelia without speaking. He wished he could speak for him.
When Alaric remained silent, he smiled awkwardly.
"Yeah."
"Where are your seats?" she asked softly. As soon as the words left her mouth, she caught Alaric's dark, unpleasant gaze fixed on her.
She pressed her lips together, confusion in her eyes.
She hadn't provoked him—why was he looking at her like he wanted to devour her?