Chapter 111 Things Got Pretty Heated Last Night!
While it was perfectly normal for babies to spit up, the nanny had experience with these things. But today's combination of vomiting and diarrhea was clearly different from usual, which was concerning.
When Arabella heard about it, her face tensed and she hurried over to check.
Everyone was gathered around whispering when Gabriel came downstairs.
He hadn't changed clothes yet, still wearing loose, comfortable loungewear, and hadn't even fixed his hair—the disheveled look gave him a touch of decadent appeal.
"What's going on?" Seeing everyone clustered around the babies, he spoke up.
Arabella didn't look at him, acting as if she couldn't hear. Mary turned to respond, "Mr. Sterling, Henry and Isabella aren't feeling well—they're throwing up and having diarrhea. Should we take them to see a doctor?"
"Vomiting and diarrhea?" Gabriel's expression tightened as he quickened his pace toward them.
Henry and Isabella, now dressed in fresh clothes, definitely didn't look as lively and active as usual. They seemed listless, their little faces scrunching up periodically as they made small "hmm" sounds, as if something was bothering them.
"Let's take them to the hospital," Gabriel said, touching Henry and Isabella gently. He didn't understand these things, but felt that getting a doctor's diagnosis would be most reassuring.
Arabella also thought they should get them checked out.
In the five months since their birth, Henry and Isabella had been quite healthy. This was the first time anything like this had happened, and she was at a loss too.
But she couldn't go today.
After hesitating for two seconds, she glanced up at Gabriel briefly, then looked back down at the children. "I have important work this morning and can't take time off. You take them, and I'll try to come by during lunch."
She and Ella had to present their project proposal to management today—she couldn't get away.
Having just started the job, she'd already taken time off once before. It wouldn't look good to request leave again so soon, especially since she was one of the main presenters and her absence would be particularly problematic.
When Gabriel heard this, his gaze sharpened. "That damn job of yours—is it really worth ignoring your sick children?"
"That's not it. I really do have something important today." She kept her head down, but lifted her face slightly when giving this response.
The silk scarf around her neck shifted, revealing dark reddish marks on her skin. Gabriel caught a glimpse and his eyes narrowed, his expression momentarily dazed.
Clearly, he was remembering scenes from the night before.
Seeing his look, Arabella suddenly realized what was showing and quickly tugged at the scarf, pressing it down with her hand.
Both pretended nothing had happened.
Gabriel, probably thinking about his rough behavior the night before and feeling guilty, didn't give her more trouble for the moment. Instead, he instructed Mary, "I'll go upstairs and change. Get things ready—we'll head to the hospital in a bit."
"Alright," Mary nodded quickly.
Hearing that he was letting her leave, Arabella told Mary, "You go to the hospital first. I'll contact you as soon as I finish at the office."
Though Mary didn't approve, she understood Arabella's dilemma and actually tried to comfort her, "Don't worry. The twins have strong constitutions—it's probably just indigestion."
Arabella nodded. She really wasn't comfortable with it either, but she had to make choices.
When Gabriel came back downstairs dressed, Arabella had already left.
Suppressing his displeasure, he set off for the hospital with Henry and Isabella in tow.
On her way to the office, Arabella received a call from Sophia.
"Arabella, I asked about that landlord for you last night. They won't go any lower on the rent, and they want six months paid upfront plus a security deposit. All told, you'd need close to twenty thousand dollars," Sophia said helplessly.
The night before, they'd looked at the apartment together. Arabella was quite satisfied with the place itself—she just hoped to pay monthly rent and put down a smaller deposit, so she'd asked Sophia to negotiate further.
Unfortunately, the landlord was adamant.
"Then forget it. I'll keep looking," Arabella sighed with resignation.
After hanging up, she leaned against the subway handrail in frustration, pondering what to do next.
Life's harsh realities were hitting her full force right now.
Going straight from college to marriage, she really hadn't experienced much of society's challenges. Now that she needed to support herself, she was discovering that reality was far from what she'd imagined.
At the office, Ella was already waiting for her.
Zane came to find them, bringing both women along to present to management.
Seeing Arabella, Zane was all smiles again, proactively showing concern, "Arabella, you look a bit tired. Didn't sleep well last night?"
Arabella smiled politely and immediately perked up, "No, I'm fine."
Ella, knowing Zane's intentions, smirked slightly. "Mr. Wright, how come you never show concern for me?"
Zane chuckled and replied bluntly, "You've got plenty of people concerned about you—you probably don't need mine."
"Jerk!" Ella cursed back without ceremony, not treating him like a boss at all.
With the sick children on her mind, Arabella just wanted to finish work quickly. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and the company's VP was quite impressed with her on first meeting.
"New hire? Name's..." After hearing the presentation, the balding VP Allan Jennings looked at Arabella with obvious appreciation.
Zane immediately chimed in, "Arabella."
"Mm... your performance was excellent, and the presentation materials were very thorough. If you run into any difficulties with future work, feel free to contact your supervisor anytime, or email me directly. I'm always happy to help outstanding employees." This middle-aged, balding VP clearly had ulterior motives.
Arabella instinctively disliked Allan and replied coolly, "Thank you, sir."
Seeing Arabella's cold attitude, the VP could only smile awkwardly to save face, "Anyway, very good. You're excellent—keep it up. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."
Leaving the conference room, Ella approached and said quietly, "That Mr. Jennings has a bad reputation. You should be careful around him."
Arabella frowned immediately, looking at her with confusion, "Are there no normal men in this company? You warned me about Zane before, and now this guy..."
Ella smiled meaningfully, "There's no man who isn't a horndog. Looking as tempting as you do with that killer body, who wouldn't want a romantic evening with you?"
After saying this, she paused and couldn't help glancing at Arabella's neck area, "Even though you and your husband are headed for divorce, he's still obviously obsessed with you, isn't he?"
At first Arabella didn't understand what prompted that random comment, but when she noticed Ella staring at her neck with raised eyebrows and a knowing look, she suddenly realized what was happening and quickly adjusted her scarf.
Ella's grin turned even more mischievous, "Things got pretty heated between you two, huh? Or did he assault you? If it's the latter, you can call the police—protecting yourself is what matters most." Her smile faded as she spoke, her expression turning serious.
Arabella's face flushed red, her ears burning, "No... that's not necessary. This will all be over soon."
Since it was private business, Ella didn't pry further, and they dropped the topic.
Arabella checked her phone—it was almost eleven. She wondered how things were going at the hospital.
She slipped into the restroom to call Mary.
Unfortunately, the call didn't go through.