Chapter 63 What Are You Trying to Pull in the Middle of the Night?
Arabella rolled her eyes at Mary, "He's not a child. Can't he apply his own medication?"
The call was still connected, and Sophia asked curiously, "What happened to Mr. Sterling's eye?"
"Oh... nothing major, just a little accident. Sorry, Sophia, I need to go. We'll talk later."
Not wanting to endure too much of Sophia's well-meaning advice, she seized the opportunity to end the call, taking a deep breath to compose herself.
Mary remained standing nearby, observing for a few seconds before gently saying, "Mr. Sterling keeps complaining about the pain. You should really check on him, Mrs. Sterling. Eye injuries are nothing to take lightly."
Arabella initially wanted to ignore it, but Sophia's words echoed in her mind. Zachary was in a difficult position, and if Gabriel could be persuaded to lend even a little help, it would make all the difference.
For Sophia's sake, she had to swallow her pride and go beg again.
"Fine, I'll go check on him."
She found the temporarily blind Mr. Sterling in the master bedroom, lying in bed with his eyes closed, putting on quite a dramatic performance of severe injury.
Rolling her eyes internally, she walked over and picked up the ointment from the nightstand, reading the instructions first.
Gabriel's voice drifted over, "Did you explain everything to your friend? Were you badmouthing me behind my back again?"
Arabella sat on the edge of the bed, unwrapping the ointment's seal, and stated bluntly, "I'd say it to your face too, so why would I need to hide it?"
That one sentence left Gabriel speechless.
With the ointment opened, applying it presented a problem.
The act of pulling back his eyelids felt too intimate—she wasn't comfortable with it yet.
"I'm all thumbs. I'm worried I might hurt your eye. Should I get Mary instead?" Looking at his slightly squinting eyes, she asked modestly.
Gabriel accused her, "Are you trying to shirk responsibility?"
"What?"
Arabella was exasperated. Since he wasn't afraid, why should she be?
Leaning forward, she held the ointment in one hand and reached toward Gabriel's eye with the other, her fingers touching his eyelid to pull it back.
Gabriel hadn't thought much of it initially, but seeing her position, his heart suddenly tightened. "You're not going to deliberately blind me, are you?"
"Don't worry. I don't want to spend my life taking care of a blind man."
Gabriel was speechless.
The mansion maintained perfect temperature and humidity. After returning home, Arabella had removed her jacket, leaving her in just a round-neck button-up knit top—loose, comfortable, and convenient for nursing.
As she leaned over, the soft fabric naturally fell away. She was focused intently on Gabriel's eye, being extremely careful not to poke his eyeball with the pointed tip of the ointment tube, completely unaware that her chest was fully exposed.
Gabriel hadn't noticed at first either, until she drew closer and a sweet, milky scent wafted into his nostrils, instantly triggering memories.
With the ointment hovering directly above his eyeball, he felt the pressure and instinctively moved his eyes, only to catch sight of that view.
Human nature took over, and his gaze fixed there.
Arabella was squeezing out the ointment when she noticed his eyes wandering, snapping irritably, "Stop moving! Or I really will poke you!"
Gabriel stared at the alluring, tempting sight, his eyes instinctively unable to move away, making Arabella think he was scared into stillness by her threat.
With other matters on her mind, seeing how cooperative he was being, she seized the opportunity to make her request, "About what I mentioned in the car... having dinner with my friend to clear everything up face-to-face—would that work?"
Actually, the dinner and clarification were just pretenses.
She wanted to introduce Zachary to Gabriel.
Zachary had mentioned before wanting her to make connections so he could pursue collaboration with the Sterling Group. She'd felt inadequate for the task and declined.
But now, with Gabriel's baseless suspicions causing Zachary such harm, she felt terribly guilty and wanted to create an opportunity. Whether Zachary could seize it would depend on his own capabilities.
Gabriel was distracted, his mind filled with decidedly inappropriate thoughts. He heard her talking but didn't catch the specifics, so he asked, "What?"
Arabella thought he was refusing and grew anxious, "Your suspicions hurt Zachary. A dinner would be a gesture of reconciliation, and clearing things up would restore my reputation. I don't want to be branded with adultery."
Gabriel finally understood what she meant, but remained silent.
Arabella finished applying the medication to his left eye and released her hold, "This side's done. You can move your eye now to spread the ointment evenly."
"Mm..." Gabriel cleared his throat, his expression strange.
"Since you're not saying no, I'll take that as agreement. I'll arrange it for the next day or two."
"Whatever."
Left eye complete, she naturally turned to his right eye.
Gabriel was thoroughly uncomfortable now, his mind in chaos. Afraid she'd notice, he didn't dare steal glances anymore, instead rolling his eyes upward as much as possible.
Instead, this earned him, "I'm applying your medication, and you're giving me attitude?"
What?
Gabriel's mind went blank as he looked at her in bewilderment.
Fine, no eye-rolling. So he looked back toward her chest.
However, he underestimated his self-control. A few more glances and physiological reactions came rushing in—soon his breathing quickened, blood surged, and he unconsciously swallowed, his Adam's apple rolling sensuously.
Arabella applied the ointment to his eye and straightened up, "All done. Move your eyes again..."
Her words died as she noticed his throat's telltale movement and where his gaze had been focused. Looking down...
"Ugh!" She reflexively covered her neckline, her cheeks instantly flushing red. "You... bastard!"
Gabriel's composure cracked, but he remained defiant, "You're my wife. Sleeping with you is perfectly normal, so what's wrong with looking?"
Arabella was so angry that she was tongue-tied, momentarily unable to formulate a response.
She stood to leave, and Gabriel added from behind her, "You want to make introductions for your friend, right? I don't care whether I have this dinner or not, but whether your friend's law firm can continue existing in this city depends entirely on you."
Arabella, who had reached the doorway, turned around with anger blazing in her eyes, "What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I don't want to sleep in separate rooms anymore—you know what I mean. Also, since it was all a misunderstanding, you have even less reason to pursue a divorce. I've made all the concessions I'm going to make. I suggest you quit while you're ahead and stop having other ideas."
Gabriel leaned against the headboard, his words dripping with superiority, clearly offering charity.
Arabella's chest heaved with fury. After several seconds of tense standoff, she spat out, "Gabriel, you're absolutely shameless! No wonder Emily wanted nothing to do with you!"
At the mention of that name, Gabriel's anger flared too, "We're talking about us—why drag someone else into this!"
"Someone else? That's the woman you could never have, the woman you'll never be able to forget!"
————
The two had another falling out, naturally sleeping in separate rooms again that night.
But Arabella hadn't even fallen asleep when she suddenly received a call from Sophia, "Arabella, you have to help us!"
She jolted awake, immediately sitting up, "Sophia, don't panic. What happened now?"
Sophia said anxiously, "Just now, Zachary got a call from the firm's headquarters saying his business and management capabilities are inadequate, that he's unsuitable to head this branch office, and that he'll have to bear full responsibility for all losses from this incident. Arabella, this afternoon, you said the misunderstanding was cleared up, that Mr. Sterling had stopped pressuring Zachary, right? But the bar association called an hour ago about disbarment proceedings, and just now headquarters called again..."
Before she could finish, Arabella understood.
Gabriel must be behind this!
"Sophia, don't worry. I'll go confront him about it. I'll definitely get this sorted out."
"Okay... thank you so much."
"Don't say that—I'm the one who dragged you into this mess."
After hanging up, Arabella had no room left for pride.
She'd been so happy recently that Sophia had settled in Luminara, that she finally had someone to confide in. She never imagined that this good thing would turn bad, giving that bastard Gabriel leverage over her weakness.
She got out of bed, stormed angrily into the master bedroom, and rudely slammed the door open, startling Gabriel, who was making a phone call by the floor-to-ceiling window.
Gabriel turned to look at her, his expression unreadable in the darkness, "What are you trying to pull in the middle of the night?"