Chapter 111 Take Cordelia Back
Alaric took his medicine and handed the water glass to Clifford. Seeing Ruth sitting worriedly to the side, he said to Clifford.
"Take my grandmother home first."
"I'm completely fine. Robert will come over in a bit."
Ruth's health hadn't been great these past two years. Alaric didn't want her staying at the hospital too long and wearing herself out for no reason.
Ruth understood what Alaric meant and didn't insist on staying at the hospital.
"Alright."
She agreed, thinking that since Cordelia was also at Sunrise Valley Hospital and was Alaric's attending physician, there definitely wouldn't be any problems.
As Ruth was leaving, she passed by Cordelia's office.
Being an emergency room doctor, Cordelia was almost never in her office - she was probably either in the operating room or out on a call.
After Clifford and Ruth left the hospital, Robert arrived.
When Cordelia finished her work and came to check on Alaric's room, she happened to see him sitting up in bed signing documents.
His expression was serious, his eyes completely focused on the documents in his hands.
She stared at him for a few seconds, feeling a messy sensation in her heart. But quickly, she got her emotions under control and knocked gently on the hospital room door.
Both Alaric and Robert looked toward the door at the same time.
When Robert saw Cordelia, he immediately took the documents from Alaric's hands and left the room on his own.
Cordelia walked in, first picking up Alaric's temperature chart to look at it, then said calmly.
"Try not to eat any irritating foods during this time, especially your morning coffee - you definitely need to cut that out."
Alaric's habit was to have a cup of coffee in the morning.
"Eat more stomach-friendly fruits. I'll make a list for Robert in a bit and have him go buy them."
Alaric stared quietly at Cordelia's gentle face and sneered.
"Dr. Stone has such a good memory. Since you remember I like drinking coffee, don't you remember I don't like eating fruit?"
Cordelia's expression remained unchanged as she looked back at Alaric calmly.
"Given your current condition, even if you don't like fruit, you have to eat it."
"Without my signature, you can't be discharged."
Alaric's face turned cold. "I can replace my attending physician anytime."
Cordelia paused, and when she looked at Alaric again, there was a hint of amusement in her gem-like eyes.
"That's the patient's right. If Mr. Hughes feels I can't treat you properly, you can replace me anytime."
Her voice was calm. After saying this, she gave a few more instructions, mostly about dietary precautions.
Alaric just felt irritated inside. He chose to ignore Cordelia completely and picked up his phone to fiddle with it.
He opened his friends' group chat and saw that Julian had posted a screenshot of Bruce's feed. In the picture, Bruce was holding Cordelia's daughter, posing for a cute photo together.
The child was particularly cooperative, with a sweet smile and curved eyes.
Julian: @Bruce, is this Cordelia and Dominic's daughter? She really looks like Cordelia.
Alaric couldn't help but click on the photo for a glance, then exited with an annoyed look on his face. On impulse, he found Bruce's profile and clicked on it, and sure enough, he couldn't see the feed Julian had screenshot.
His face immediately darkened.
[You're blocking me from your feed?]
Bruce first sent a head-scratching emoji, then replied.
[I just didn't want to make you sad.]
Alaric put down his phone with a cold expression.
Seeing his face didn't look good, Cordelia thought he didn't want to hear her instructions.
She looked at him quietly for a moment, then looked away, thinking that since Alaric would replace his attending physician anyway, she stopped talking.
"Mr. Hughes, rest well."
After saying this, she turned to leave.
Alaric watched her back, silent for several seconds, then just as she was about to walk out the door, he asked in a heavy voice.
"Cordelia, how old is your child with Dominic?"
Hearing Alaric's words, Cordelia stopped and looked back at Alaric.
Her heart was stabbed hard. Her relationship with Dominic had never crossed any boundaries.
She thought that even if Alaric misunderstood her relationship with Dominic, he would still hold a tiny bit of hope deep down, hoping that this child was his.
Perhaps because he truly didn't love her, he didn't have even that small bit of expectation.
Seeing Cordelia looking at him with an ambiguous expression, Alaric frowned.
"Don't misunderstand. We did have a marriage once, even though it didn't end well. But since your child just came back to the country, it's only right that I buy her a gift."
Hearing this from Alaric, Cordelia was actually amused by her anger.
She collected herself and smiled.
"Then I'll thank you on her behalf."
Alaric's eyes darkened slightly.
Cordelia had already walked out of the room.
When Robert came back from outside, he saw Alaric sitting in bed with a cold expression. Clearly his exchange with Cordelia hadn't been pleasant.
Seeing Robert return, Alaric glanced at him coldly and said in a low voice, "Get me a different attending physician."
Hearing this, Robert paused, about to speak, when he saw Alaric rub his temples. "Never mind."
"So we're not changing?" Robert asked.
Alaric immediately shot him a sharp look.
Robert gave an awkward smile, took the documents, and left.
"I'll go back to The Hughes Manor to bring you some food."
Hearing this, Alaric lay back down on the bed. "Cordelia just said I can't eat regular food today."
Only liquid food, and some fruit.
Tomorrow there would be more tests.
"Get me some fruit."
Hearing this, a flash of surprise crossed Robert's eyes. Looking at Alaric's completely cooperative manner, he couldn't help but think to himself - clearly he couldn't let her go, yet he still pretended not to care.
If he had taken action earlier, would Cordelia have ended up having a child with Dominic?
"Alright, I'll go buy some for you right away."
Robert responded respectfully, then left.
After Robert left, the room fell into silence.
After a while, his phone started vibrating like crazy.
Obviously it was messages from Bruce.
Alaric picked up his phone with a dark expression and opened Bruce's messages.
Bruce: [As far as I know, Dominic has already gone back to Astoria. The Gray family's business in Astoria has some problems, so he can't come back to the country for now.]
Looking at this message, Alaric's face was cold.
What did this have to do with him?
He typed out a line on his phone and sent it.
[You want me to help the Gray family's business?]
Bruce: [Of course not. Didn't Dominic steal Cordelia away back then? Now you can win Cordelia back, and you'll even get a daughter out of it. What a deal.]
Alaric's expression became even worse.
Bruce hadn't received a reply from Alaric for a long time and was about to put away his phone when it chimed.
Bruce immediately opened his phone to check.
He saw that Alaric had already sent a message.
[You'd better not let me see you for a while.]
Just a few simple words, but Bruce could already imagine Alaric's angry expression with a dark face.