Chapter 86 What’s Not to Like
Sophie looked at Arthur's guilty expression, knowing full well she had achieved her goal. What she wanted was exactly this - Arthur's guilt. Only this way would he focus his attention on her instead of being constantly drawn to Aria.
Arthur had no idea what Sophie was thinking. At this moment, his heart was indeed filled with guilt, and everything else had been pushed to the back of his mind.
Sophie got hurt because of him. He really couldn't just leave her here alone.
That night, Arthur didn't go home. Instead, he stayed at the hospital with Sophie...
Early the next morning, after the doctor finished rounds, Arthur finally went home. As soon as he arrived, Elizabeth came up to him.
"Arthur, where were you last night? Why didn't you come home?"
"Had some things to handle at the company. It got too late, so I just crashed there."
Arthur didn't tell Elizabeth the specifics. He was worried she might unknowingly mention it to Aria, which could cause some unnecessary misunderstandings and make things complicated.
Elizabeth didn't think much of it and just nodded, saying with concern, "You still need to take care of yourself. Don't push too hard."
"Yeah, I know. Where's Aria?"
Arthur looked around the house but didn't see Aria anywhere, feeling a bit puzzled.
Usually at this time, she hadn't left yet. Why wasn't she around today?
Elizabeth was also confused. "She should be at the studio, right? Is her car here?"
"Still here."
It was precisely because Aria's car was still in the garage that Arthur asked Elizabeth.
Elizabeth paused and called over a servant.
"Did Aria go out?"
"Yes, she left early this morning. It seems a friend picked her up."
Hearing the servant's words, Arthur's brow immediately furrowed. "A friend? What friend?"
What friend would come to the house so early in the morning to pick her up?
The jealousy jar in Arthur's heart uncontrollably tipped over again.
"I'm not sure..."
The servant felt the pressure coming from Arthur, her voice trembling slightly.
Elizabeth, seeing this, gave the servant a look signaling her to leave.
The servant quickly went about her business, leaving only Elizabeth and Arthur in the living room.
Only then did Elizabeth look at Arthur. "Arthur, what are you doing? Aria has her freedom to make friends too. If you're this controlling, how can she stand it?"
She knew her son's temperament, and precisely because she knew, she didn't say too much.
But she felt she still needed to remind him at the right time - couples need to give each other some space.
Hearing this, Arthur looked at Elizabeth, took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and nodded slightly. "I know. I'll handle it. I'm going upstairs."
Arthur didn't want to say more. He didn't want Elizabeth getting too involved in matters between the two of them.
Elizabeth nodded in agreement. "Okay."
After Arthur went upstairs to freshen up, he still couldn't calm down. He took out his phone wanting to call Aria, but ultimately held back. Unconsciously, he opened the front gate's surveillance system.
When he saw the car Aria got into, a dark gleam flashed in his eyes.
Lance?!
Where did she arrange to go with Lance so early in the morning?
At this moment, Arthur was already consumed by an emotion called jealousy. His whole mind was filled with images of Aria and Lance together.
Arthur tried to calm himself down but found he couldn't. Whenever he quieted down, he would think about what might be happening between them...
He still made that call.
While waiting for the phone to connect, Arthur's heart couldn't stop feeling restless.
When the call finally connected, the restlessness in his heart seemed to find an outlet and burst out. "Where did you go?"
As soon as Aria answered the phone, she heard Arthur's interrogation. Her expression changed slightly. "To work. Why?"
"Don't you need to drive to work?"
"Is there something you need?"
Hearing Arthur's obvious intention to pick a fight, Aria's tone became impatient too.
Arthur immediately sensed her attitude change, and his mood became even worse. He said through gritted teeth, "What? Feeling guilty?"
Aria just found it ridiculous. What did she have to feel guilty about? He stayed out all night without feeling guilty - what did she have to feel guilty about for going to work?
"You stayed out all night without feeling guilty. What do I have to feel guilty about?"
Aria knew that continuing to talk with Arthur at this point would only lead to a more intense argument. She didn't want such a ridiculous argument to affect her mood for the rest of the day.
"I don't know what you're freaking out about so early in the morning. I don't have time to listen to this. I'm busy. Hanging up."
Aria didn't give Arthur a chance to respond and hung up directly, leaving only the beeping sound for Arthur.
Arthur's face immediately darkened. Aria just hung up on him like that?
She hung up on him so mercilessly?
What did she mean by this?!
Arthur was absolutely furious at this moment!
She really dared!
Arthur called Aria again, but the call didn't connect. Instead, it indicated call forwarding.
Damn it! This woman - what did she take him for? They weren't even divorced yet! Was she really not taking him seriously at all!
While Arthur was fuming on his end, Aria couldn't care less about his thoughts. She had her own things to deal with.
"What's wrong? Was that your husband calling?"
Lance, sitting beside her, saw Aria angrily hang up the phone. He raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone carrying a hint of teasing. "Had a fight?"
Hearing this, Aria glanced at Lance. Seeing his gloating expression, she felt speechless. "Lance, you don't have to be so obvious about enjoying my misfortune."
Lance looked at Aria leisurely, the corner of his mouth curling up. "Do I? Is it that obvious? Let me manage my expression a bit then."
...
No need.
"Alright, alright, stop putting on an act."
Aria gave him a helpless glance but didn't continue the topic.
"So what's the problem on your end? Why did you pick me up so early?"
The reason Aria didn't drive today was partly because she barely slept last night and wasn't in good shape, worried it might affect her driving.
Another reason was that Lance sent her a message in the middle of the night saying his friend had some issues with the bonsai plants and asked her to come check them out early.
Since it was so early and she wasn't in good shape anyway, she agreed to let him pick her up.
"Yeah, my friend said he doesn't really like these bonsai plants and wants to replace them. He asked me to bring you over early to see if we can switch them for something more suitable."
Lance explained the reason. Aria couldn't help but pause - it was just this issue? And he needed her to come over so early? It seemed Lance had too much free time.
But customer requests naturally needed to be met.
"What doesn't he like about them?"