Chapter 202 Hiding Someone at Home? Feeling Guilty?
Hearing the distress in Sophia's voice, Arabella immediately grew concerned. "What's wrong? Did you and Zachary have another fight?"
Lately, Sophia had been venting to her quite a bit about her home life.
Being a stay-at-home mom could drive anyone to the breaking point, it seemed.
Sophia took a shaky breath, her voice dejected. "Yeah, we got into it over something stupid. He said some really hurtful things, and I want to just leave, but I don't know where to go with Lily, especially since she's got a cold right now."
"Don't panic! Listen... I don't have anything urgent going on. I can leave work. Why don't you bring Lily over to my place? I'll head home and get things ready."
After reassuring Sophia, Arabella didn't have time to overthink the situation. She quickly told Ella she was leaving and headed out.
When she arrived at her apartment, Sophia was already waiting outside with her daughter.
"This neighborhood is really nice—everything you need is right here. Very convenient," Sophia observed. This was her first visit since Arabella had moved.
Arabella noticed Sophia's puffy, red-rimmed eyes and sighed inwardly before ushering them inside.
Lily was coughing weakly, looking listless. Arabella touched the child's forehead and felt the telltale warmth of a low-grade fever. "Have you taken her to the doctor? Did they give you any medicine?"
Sophia looked exhausted. "We went today, actually. The doctor said this particular virus is really nasty—lots of kids have been dealing with it for over a week, going back and forth. This is day four for Lily."
When children were sick, their mothers suffered the most.
Sophia looked worn down, with prominent dark circles under her eyes.
From her appearance, Arabella could guess what the fight had been about.
Sure enough. Her suspicions were confirmed.
"It's related to Lily being sick. I've been handling all the hospital visits by myself these past few days. Today was supposed to be different—Zachary promised he'd come with us. But then he got a phone call this morning and just left. When I tried calling him later, he hung up on me. He wouldn't respond to my messages either."
"By the time Lily and I got home from the hospital, he finally called me back. But instead of asking how Lily was doing, he told me I shouldn't be calling him constantly while he's working, said I was being annoying. I just lost it and we started screaming at each other."
"Actually, we've been fighting about Christmas plans for the past couple of days too."
Arabella looked surprised. "Christmas should be a happy time. What's there to fight about?"
Sophia took a shaky breath and began explaining everything that had been building up.
Zachary blamed her for being a full-time mom who couldn't even take proper care of their child, letting Lily get sick and suffer.
Zachary wanted her to take Lily home for Christmas, but not to her own family—to his parents' house, which would be "more appropriate." She didn't want to go.
Zachary accused her of becoming increasingly moody and unsympathetic to how hard he worked, always expecting him to help with childcare when he got home.
Zachary's social media had been flooded with new female friends—all "clients," he claimed, and he'd blow up at her if she asked too many questions about it, calling her paranoid.
Honestly, none of this surprised Arabella.
This was the reality of countless marriages.
It was exactly why more and more women were avoiding marriage and motherhood, choosing to stay single rather than deal with these complications.
Arabella handed her a tissue and sighed. "I warned you about these potential problems when you decided to become a stay-at-home mom, but you thought he'd be different."
"I really didn't think he'd turn out like this... And now he's always got business dinners and networking events. He comes home reeking of alcohol in the middle of the night. I understand work requires some socializing, but every single night? His body can't handle this pace."
Sophia continued her litany of complaints, clearly at the end of her rope regarding her marriage.
"Honestly, I'm thinking about divorce too. After our fight today, I actually drafted up the divorce papers."
Arabella tried to reason with her. "You really should think this through carefully. Divorce won't solve your current problems. If you're on your own with Lily, you still won't be able to work. Your mother can't help because she's watching your brother's kids. You'd be even more isolated than you are now."
This reality check only made Sophia feel more hopeless, like she was completely trapped.
During a brief lull in conversation, Arabella's phone rang.
She glanced at the screen—Gabriel was calling.
Not wanting to deal with him, she declined the call.
Almost immediately, a video call notification popped up.
Looking annoyed, Arabella got up and walked into the bedroom before answering. "What do you want?"
"Are you at home or at the studio?" Gabriel got straight to the point.
Arabella immediately went on the defensive. "What are you planning now?"
She had just contacted Hazel today about having them talk to Gabriel, and now he was already reaching out. The timing seemed too coincidental.
"I'm bringing over your medicine, and I thought Henry and Isabella could visit for a while."
Gabriel had learned to be strategic—now he always brought the twins along, knowing Arabella couldn't refuse them.
But today his plan backfired.
"Don't bring the children over."
"Why not?"
"My friend is here with her daughter, and the little girl has a cold. I don't want them to catch it."
Gabriel's tone sharpened with displeasure. "Your friend brought a sick child to your place? What if you get infected?"
"I'll be fine. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up." Arabella didn't want to argue and ended the call.
Despite her clear refusal, Gabriel did exactly what he wanted anyway.
The two women were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.
Arabella looked through the peephole and saw Samuel, so she opened the door.
But the moment it opened, Gabriel appeared from the side, took the bag Samuel was carrying, and dismissed him. "You can go back now."
Before Arabella could react, the tall man had already pushed past her into the apartment.
"What are you doing! I have guests—you're not welcome here!" Arabella spun around and grabbed his arm.
Gabriel looked down at where she was holding him, then raised his eyes with an arched brow. "Hiding someone, are we? You seem awfully nervous and guilty."
Arabella turned her head away, refusing to dignify his words with a response.
When Arabella didn't return to the kitchen, Sophia peeked out to see what was happening. The moment she spotted Gabriel, she tensed up. "Mr. Sterling?"
She smiled politely, glancing quickly at her friend, apparently surprised that these two were still in close contact.
Gabriel had known it was Sophia at Arabella's place—she'd mentioned it during their phone call.
His earlier comment had just been playful provocation to get a rise out of Arabella.
"Hello, Ms. Wilson," he replied with polite formality, then looked back at Arabella and said quietly, "Your friend will understand. It's nothing..."
With that, he carried his bag into the apartment and headed straight for the kitchen, placing what appeared to be prepared herbal medicine in the refrigerator with familiar ease.
Sophia watched curiously. "Mr. Sterling, what is that?"
Standing by the refrigerator, he explained, "Herbal medicine for Arabella. She hasn't been feeling well lately and needs some treatment."
"Really?" Sophia looked alarmed, turning to her friend who had followed them to the kitchen doorway. "What's wrong with you? You never mentioned anything. Is it serious?"
Arabella didn't want to make a big deal out of it. "Just some minor issues, nothing to worry about."
Then she fixed her gaze on Gabriel, crossing her arms in a defensive, dismissive stance. "You can leave now that you've dropped off the medicine."
Gabriel closed the refrigerator door and turned to her with a faint smile. "What's the rush? With company here, I'm not going to try anything inappropriate."