Chapter 134
Matthew stared at her intently, saying nothing.
His eyes held a thousand emotions.
Regret. Heartache. Grievance. And something deeper—longing he couldn't put into words.
But Evelyn instinctively ignored it all.
She lowered her head. "Where's your phone? I'll call someone to come take care of you."
"Don't." Matthew turned his face away.
"Be reasonable. Stop acting childish. I don't have the Perkins family's contact info. I need to use your phone to call them."
"I've already cut ties with the Perkins family."
"Then your assistant?"
"It's too late. I don't want to bother him."
Evelyn nodded, her tone calm. "Got it. I'll just call Miss Elikin. I happen to have her number saved."
"Evelyn!" At those words, Matthew suddenly exploded in anger.
Face deathly pale, he lunged for the phone in her hand.
"What are you doing? Give me back my phone!" Evelyn snapped back, furious.
But the next second, his face twisted sharply.
The movement must've aggravated his injury. He swayed, almost falling, but his hand still gripped her phone in a death lock.
His knuckles turned white, clutching it like some precious treasure he refused to let go.
Evelyn froze in shock.
She quickly pressed the nurse call button, half-worried, half-angry. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"
"You're the only one who'd push me into someone else's arms!" Matthew's eyes turned bloodshot. Suddenly, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Bright red against the white sheets. Horrifying.
"If you don't want to stay, then just go! Don't bother with me!"
"Nurse!" Seeing him spit blood, Evelyn panicked. She bolted toward the door.
Just then, a nurse pushed in. She swiftly wheeled Matthew to the MRI room.
Evelyn ran up and down, handling his admission paperwork.
By the time she finished, it was well past midnight.
Matthew's test results had come back.
He lay in bed, eyes weakly closed, face white as paper.
Evelyn flipped through the report, her frown deepening.
The car accident itself wasn't serious. The real problem was his stomach.
She remembered his stomach had always been weak. She used to make him soup constantly, cooking all kinds of stomach-friendly meals.
Three years ago, his stomach had gotten much better. But now the report read: gastric bleeding, gastric ulcer.
Worse than when she'd first met him.
This was the result of long-term irregular eating.
"Did you eat dinner?" she asked.
Matthew stayed silent.
"I'm asking you!" Evelyn's anger flared. "What kind of CEO treats his own body like this? When your assistant comes to pick you up, don't let him think I abused you."
Matthew's face darkened. He shook his head, then grudgingly muttered, "Why do you even care?"
"You're bleeding internally!"
"You don't need to worry about me!" He was still sulking.
"Fine. Then I'm leaving. I have a proposal to finish tonight anyway."
Evelyn grabbed her bag and walked out of the room.
Matthew froze, watching her leave.
His heart ached even more now.
Back when his stomach acted up, Evelyn would personally make soup, personally feed him medicine.
He'd grown so used to that meticulous Evelyn. That considerate, gentle Evelyn who took care of him.
Remembering all those moments, he felt his heart was about to shatter.
Outside the room, Evelyn opened her laptop, though her mind felt unsettled.
Did Matthew really think she'd wait on him like before?
Did he think she was still that Evelyn—the one who'd keep coming back no matter how cold he was to her?
Dream on!
Let him throw his tantrum. Whether he starved or not had nothing to do with her. He deserved it!
But thinking of his test results, she still picked up her phone and ordered him a light meal.
After placing the order, she sighed in frustration. 'Evelyn, you're pathetic. Can't you be a little harder-hearted?'
Whatever. She'd just consider it an act of charity.
She pushed the thought aside and started working on her proposal.
She'd already revised the Dairy Haven Group proposal countless times. The bidding deadline was just a week away.
She stared at the screen, tweaking here and there, but still felt something was missing.
Evelyn focused intently on her work, unaware that Matthew was peeking at her through the crack in the door.
He'd thought she left. But she was sitting right outside, revising her proposal.
So... did she still care about him?
Evelyn, deep in concentration, seemed to glow. He couldn't look away.
However long Evelyn worked, Matthew watched.
When the delivery person handed the food to Evelyn, Matthew scrambled back to bed in three quick steps.
The movement aggravated his injury. He grimaced in pain.
But the moment Evelyn pushed open the door, he forced his expression back to neutral.
Evelyn walked in carrying the bag. "Your dinner. Eat."
"My hand hurts... Feed me..." Matthew opened his eyes, mumbling groggily.
Such an act.
Evelyn sneered inwardly.
The test results showed he was perfectly fine.
She was too soft. Why was she even showing sympathy for this scumbag?
"Either eat it yourself now, or I'll dump it on your head. Your choice."
Seeing her unwillingness to back down, Matthew chose the former.
Pouting, he reluctantly took the food and ate with exaggerated slowness.
When he finished, Evelyn checked her watch. Perfect timing.
That person should be arriving any moment now.
Right on cue, the sound of high heels echoed outside.
"Matthew, what happened to you?"
Matthew's face, which had just regained some color, immediately darkened at the sound of that voice.
He looked at Evelyn, eyes reddening.
But Evelyn ignored him, gathering her things to leave. "Mr. Perkins, since someone's here to take care of you, I'll be going."
She was worried about Matthew, yes. But she was also clear-headed enough to know she needed to keep her distance.
So when she'd ordered the food, she'd also notified Sloane.
"Miss Gray, thank you so much!" Tears streamed down Sloane's face as she bowed deeply to Evelyn. "If something happened to Matthew, I don't know how I'd go on living..."
"Don't mention it. But Miss Elikin, here's Mr. Perkins's test report. You might want to look it over."
Sloane took the report. Seeing the words "gastric bleeding" in bold, she froze for a moment.
She'd never known Matthew had stomach problems.
But she lowered her eyes, pretending to be well aware. She thanked Evelyn again. "Thanks for the reminder. That's just how Matthew is—irregular schedule, always forgetting to eat. That's why his stomach problems got worse... I'll definitely pay closer attention from now on."
Evelyn nodded and left.
Matthew watched her polite but distant demeanor, feeling even more miserable.
His gaze followed Evelyn's retreating figure heavily, watching until she disappeared at the end of the hallway.
He didn't look away for a long time.