Eula followed Lance's gaze and saw the bright smile on Deanna's face, which she found extremely annoying. She couldn't vent her jealousy and had to take a few deep breaths to suppress her emotions.
"Alright, I know you and Miss Jones have a good relationship, but you can't keep showing off in front of a single person like me. It hurts, you know," Eula said, half-jokingly, half-seriously.
Without turning his head, Lance replied, "You can find a partner too. Besides..."
He paused, then suddenly turned to stare at Eula, speaking in a deep voice, "I remember telling you before when talking in front of Deanna, don't speak according to your nature. You know your words can easily be misunderstood as targeting someone. Even if it's unintentional, I don't want to see my Deanna feeling wronged."
Eula felt a pang in her heart and didn't want to speak for a moment. She understood the warning in Lance's words, more serious than before. After a moment of silence, she smiled apologetically, "Got it. I'll be careful from now on. I never realized you were such a wife-protector."
She knew she couldn't reveal her feelings now; otherwise, not only would she lose Lance, but their decade-long friendship might also be at risk. Changing the subject, she asked, "By the way, what do you think of the plan I mentioned earlier?"
"I have no objections to it, but if we're going to act, we need to make sure they learn their lesson," Lance said firmly.
Eula nodded, "Of course."
After discussing a few more details, Eula left the estate.
Over the next few days, Deanna and Lance stayed at the estate. During this time, Deanna fell into another deep sleep, longer than before-two whole days.
Lance was terrified and on the verge of losing his temper. When Angelo's examination once again showed no issues, Lance finally exploded.
"She's been unconscious for two days and nights, and you tell me there's nothing wrong? How is that possible?" Lance pointed at the sleeping Deanna and glared at Angelo angrily. "You claim to be the best medical team in the world, but you're just a bunch of frauds!"
Angelo turned pale at Lance's words. The team members wanted to argue but were stopped by Angelo. They indeed had no explanation for Deanna's condition.
Eula stood by, watching Lance lose his composure. She felt uneasy because she had never seen him so panicked. Even when he had a sniper's weapon aimed at his head, he hadn't been this flustered. Now, he was losing control over a woman.
At that moment, Eula found Lance unfamiliar and began to question herself. Could she really take Lance away from Deanna?
No one answered her question or noticed her thoughts. Everyone else was focused on Gunner performing acupuncture on Deanna. When Angelo and the others couldn't wake Deanna, Lance placed his last hope on Gunner.
Gunner couldn't guarantee success but decided to try the Martinez family's secret technique, Nine Rejuvenation Needles. As the needles were inserted into Deanna's head and back, she finally showed some reaction, frowning and making a faint sound.
Lance and Gunner were overjoyed. Gunner continued with the acupuncture while Lance stayed by Deanna's side, calling her name softly. "Deanna, are you waking up?"
Unfortunately, Deanna didn't respond despite his calls. Undeterred, Lance held her hand and stayed by her side.
Eula watched them holding hands tightly, her lips pressed together as a malicious thought surfaced: If only Deanna could sleep forever...
She was startled by her own thought but didn't have time to dwell on it as she heard coughing nearby. Lance's anxious voice followed, "Deanna, are you okay? Mr. Martinez, why is Deanna coughing up blood?"
"It seems my acupuncture triggered an unknown factor in Deanna's body. You can collect this blood for testing; it might differ from previous samples," Gunner explained to Angelo and his team.
Angelo nodded and immediately instructed his team to collect the blood. Meanwhile, Deanna finally started to recover from her discomfort. Seeing the worried faces of Lance and Angelo, she had a bad feeling.
"How long was I asleep this time?"