Chapter 17 My upbringing was all eaten by you
Isabella called a taxi and went to the hospital.
In the lobby on the first floor, she ran into Tobias unexpectedly.
Isabella ignored him and walked right past him.
But Tobias couldn't pretend he hadn't seen Isabella.
In this huge hospital, Isabella's cheap red wig was simply eye-catching, and her alternative appearance gave off an air that clashed with everything about this hospital.
When Isabella didn't take the initiative to greet him, Tobias had no choice but to stop and call out to her, "Isabella."
Isabella turned around and looked at him with confusion in her eyes, which were surrounded by smoky makeup. "What?"
Tobias took a deep breath. "How long are you planning to keep up this rebellious act?"
Isabella's mouth, painted with purple lipstick, curved into what seemed like a puzzled expression. "?"
She hadn't provoked Tobias.
Knowing he was a germaphobe who disliked her, she had paid for a taxi herself.
Knowing he didn't like her getting close to him, she would rather take a detour when she saw him.
Tobias frowned. "What happened with Bianca was your fault to begin with. Mom only made you kneel as punishment, and you're so unwilling. What exactly do you want?"
Isabella had started breaking the rules ever since this incident.
He could only assume she was resentful about how this matter was handled.
But it was her fault in the first place—what right did she have to be resentful?
Isabella hadn't wanted to bring this up again, but since Tobias mentioned it himself, she could only sneer. "I was the one wrongly accused, I was the one punished. Did I say anything? Didn't I accept it all? Now you're asking me what I want? Is it you guys who want something, or me?"
She found it strange—hadn't she suffered enough injustice already?
Being scolded and punished wasn't enough. What more did Tobias want from her? Did she need to kneel before Bianca every day to show her repentance?
Tobias's expression darkened even more. He stared at her intently. "Looks like you still don't know what you did wrong!"
"Still saying you were wrongly accused."
"Completely unrepentant."
"I just didn't do it." Isabella met his gaze and shouted loudly, "I didn't push her!"
"There's no one else but you!"
Isabella looked at his self-righteous, ugly face, and the hatred in her eyes deepened.
She clenched her fists and loudly voiced the suspicion she had never dared to speak aloud. "You just want to destroy the evidence so you can frame me. Stop pretending!"
"Tobias, you and Bianca are in this together. You deliberately wouldn't let me see the surveillance footage because you have a guilty conscience!"
Isabella said with disgust, "You're deliberately framing me!"
In her past life, she had never considered that Tobias's refusal to let her see the surveillance footage might not just be because he was convinced it was her. More likely, he had already watched the footage but deliberately wanted to pin this on her, suppressing her to strengthen Bianca's position in the family, which was why he wouldn't let her verify it.
People connected by blood could kill her—what couldn't these people do?
Isabella felt that these people's viciousness might run even deeper than she had imagined.
Isabella's string of accusations and questions caught Tobias completely off guard.
He frowned in disbelief. "What did you say?"
He destroyed evidence?
He had a guilty conscience?
He framed her?
What kind of talk was this? She was even turning the tables, saying he and Bianca were working together, saying he deliberately slandered her?
But Isabella couldn't be bothered to waste more words with Tobias. She turned and walked away.
After saying all that, how could Tobias let her leave?
"Isabella, stop right there and explain yourself."
Isabella didn't look back, and her pace quickened.
Seeing her completely ignore him like this, Tobias's face flushed with anger and embarrassment. "I'm talking to you. What kind of attitude is this? Isabella, where are your manners?"
Only then did Isabella stop and look back at him.
"You ate all my manners! So now I don't have any."
Tobias was instantly furious.
The commotion had gotten loud enough that many people were casting strange looks their way.
But Tobias had already lost his rationality from anger over what Isabella said and had no time to care about the surrounding gazes.
"Stop!"
He walked over quickly, reaching to grab Isabella's hand.
"Don't touch me!"
The moment her fingertips were touched, Isabella frowned deeply. The resistance in her heart made her reflexively push Tobias away.
Tobias fell to the ground.
He fell pretty hard.
Tobias clutched his painful knee, his whole face scrunched up.
He struggled to push himself up from the floor.
As if afraid he would get up and cause her trouble, Isabella quickly and ruthlessly kicked his knee.
Tobias's already painful wound felt like it was about to split open.
But worse than the wound was his heart.
If Isabella's push just now could be considered accidental, this was definitely intentional.
Isabella had actually kicked him with all her might!
He found it hard to believe and digest this huge fact.
"Isabella, you..." Tobias raised his hand to point at her, so angry his lips were almost trembling.
Isabella angrily threw what she was holding at his face, then turned and ran.
Tobias hadn't even seen clearly what Isabella had thrown at him.
When the object hit his face and fell into his palm, he looked and saw it was a piece of bread.
The bread still had a ring of teeth marks on it, clearly bitten by Isabella.
Tobias almost fainted from holding his breath.
"Dr. Taylor..."
Several nurses saw him sitting on the ground in such a sorry state and kindly ran over to help him. "What happened? Do you need help?"
"No need." Tobias said coldly.
He stood up on his own, trying hard to control the anger in his heart. "I'm fine."
"Dr. Taylor, that girl just now... should we call the police for you?"
"No need."
Afraid they would meddle, he pretended nothing had happened and said, "It's not a big deal, just a misunderstanding. Don't call the police. I know her. We'll handle our own issues privately. You don't need to worry about it."
"Okay, understood."
Watching these people disperse, Tobias turned around, and his previously unconcerned expression instantly became extremely angry.
Being unrepentant was one thing, but now she was even twisting the facts, saying he and Bianca had teamed up to frame her!
Thinking about it, Tobias actually laughed in anger.
Despite not having much education, her little mouth was quite good at talking.
Tobias walked into his office and looked at his assistant Aiden. "Tell security that after work at six, I want to review the surveillance footage from August 23rd."
Aiden was puzzled. "Dr. Taylor, why do you want to see that?"
Tobias clenched his fists.
He squeezed the bread until it was almost deformed, but facing Aiden, he had to put on his usual expression. "Nothing, just taking a look."