Seeing her legs give way and about to collapse to the ground, she couldn’t help but cry out. If she fell like this, her already injured foot would break again.
She closed her eyes in fear, and at that moment, a pair of strong arms caught her tightly.
Isaac’s familiar voice sounded, “Why are you alone?”
Lara opened her eyes in surprise and found herself in Isaac’s arms. His deep eyes were staring at her. She quickly pushed him away, “I… I just wanted to go to the bathroom.”
“I’ll carry you.” With that, Isaac lifted her horizontally and carried her to the bathroom.
The man walked out gentlemanly and closed the door behind him.
After a while, Lara stood up, flushed the toilet, and carefully walked out of the bathroom, holding onto the door. As soon as she stepped out, Isaac stepped forward again, lifted her horizontally, and placed her on the hospital bed.
“Didn’t you hire a nurse?”
The man casually asked while peeling an apple.
Lara didn’t dare tell him why the nurse left. She smiled awkwardly, “The nurse had something urgent. Why are you here?”
Isaac grabbed a bouquet of flowers he had brought and handed it to Lara. “I hope you recover soon.”
A warmth filled Lara’s heart. If only Franklin treated her as well as Isaac did.
Unfortunately…
She sniffed the flowers lightly. “They smell wonderful.”
She handed the flowers back to Isaac. “Can you put them in the vase for me?”
There was a wide-mouthed vase on the table. Isaac nodded and stuffed the entire bouquet into the vase.
“How are you feeling today? Is your foot better?”
“Better,” Lara said absentmindedly. “Today… Franklin…”
Isaac raised an eyebrow subtly and glanced at Lara. “I’m here to visit you, so let’s not talk about my brother.”
Lara’s face stiffened. “Okay, fine.”
Isaac secretly sneered. Did she really think he was a fool?
Ridiculous!
But on the surface, he remained gentle and considerate. “Do you want some water?”
Lara shook her head. “No.”
Why drink water? Drinking water would mean more trips to the bathroom, and how could she manage that alone?
“By the way, my friend brought some very good painkillers from abroad. Should I get you some?” Isaac said as he took a box out of his pocket.
He handed the box to Lara. “There’s a spoon inside. Take a small spoonful each time, but don’t take too much.”
Lara was skeptical. “What kind of painkillers? Are they effective?”
“I heard they make you forget pain entirely. They’re very effective for pain relief. If your foot hurts too much, you can try it.” Isaac stood up after speaking. “Remember the dosage I told you. I’ll leave for now and visit you another day.”
“Bye.” Lara said goodbye and picked up the small bottle to inspect it. The bottle was blank with no brand or label. How could it be effective?
She tossed the bottle aside and picked up her phone again.
If only she could call Franklin. She wondered if he would visit her.
Her foot was injured because of him; why wouldn’t he come to the hospital?
Thinking this, she called Franklin, but the phone rang for a long time without an answer.
Angrily, she called again, several times in a row, but no one answered.
“Damn it! I’m hospitalized because of you, my foot is broken, and you won’t even answer my call? That’s too much!” Lara grew angrier by the minute.
She called her assistant. “Find Sylvia’s contact information for me, no matter what method you use.”
“Miss… that’s not appropriate,” the assistant hesitated.
“If you don’t help me find it, I’ll find someone else, and you’ll get fired,” Lara said firmly, making the assistant shiver. “Okay, okay, please wait.”
About ten minutes later, the assistant sent Sylvia’s contact information to Lara.
Lara immediately dialed the number. The call was quickly answered by Sylvia’s cool voice. “Hello, who is this?”
Lara spoke slowly, “Miss Andrews, this is Lara. My foot is injured, and I hope Mr. Maskelyne can visit me. If he can’t come, you can.”
“You need a doctor for your injury, not my husband,” Sylvia replied indifferently.
It sounded as if Franklin had injured her foot.
Just as this thought crossed Sylvia’s mind, she heard Lara say, “My foot was broken thanks to Mr. Maskelyne. If he doesn’t want to make headlines, he’d better not be so heartless and visit me. Maybe then I won’t notify the media.”
“Lara, do you think you can threaten me?” Sylvia laughed lightly, her voice crisp. “Go ahead and notify them if you want.”
“Sylvia, don’t think that just because you’re married to Franklin, you will be his wife forever. The president doesn’t like you at all. Sooner or later…” Lara angrily retorted but was interrupted by Sylvia, “Fine, I’ll wait for that day.”
With that, Sylvia hung up.
Lara stared furiously at the disconnected call. Sylvia hung up? She didn’t even ask why or show any curiosity?
Lara had prepared a whole speech but didn’t get to use any of it.
It felt like punching a soft pillow.
Infuriating!
Sylvia hadn’t hidden her contact information after returning to Aettosa Hipps Family, so it wasn’t surprising that Lara found it.
She found it somewhat amusing.
She thought for a moment and called Franklin. “Did you injure Lara?”
Franklin was handling official business when he heard her question and paused. “It’s a long story…”
After listening to Franklin’s explanation, Sylvia couldn’t help but laugh softly. “How mean are you? You injured her foot so badly she’s hospitalized. She’s demanding that you visit her!”
Franklin could only reply with a tender voice, “Honey, don’t tease me.”
He paused and added, “Lara was at fault. That’s why I was harsh on her.”
“Alright, I understand,” Sylvia laughed. “She threatened to go to the media, but I don’t think she has the guts because… it would be a scandal for her too.”
“If she dared, the Fox family would have confronted us already; it’s clear she hasn’t told Donald,” Franklin felt an urge to touch Sylvia’s face but restrained himself as he was still working. “Be good; I’ll call you after I’m done.”
“OK,” Sylvia said and hung up.
As soon as she hung up, she received a call from Jaden. “Boss, we discovered a dense forest in southern Aettosa with what seems like an underground research facility.”
“We followed the map here; it seems this is the location indicated on the map. We didn’t find any treasure or anything else.”
Sylvia’s expression tightened. “You found the location on the map?”
“Yes. This is almost certainly the place indicated on the map. Boss, do you want to come personally to confirm or should we explore the research facility first?” Jaden was near the underground research facility.
His team had been monitoring this place closely recently to avoid missing any crucial clues.
“Alright, explore cautiously without alerting anyone,” Sylvia instructed immediately. “Be careful.”
“Yes, Boss,” Jaden replied and hung up.
Sylvia sighed and looked out at the gloomy winter sky.
“Sis, are you in your room?” Jenna’s voice called from outside, interrupting Sylvia’s thoughts.
She composed herself and called towards the door, “Yes, come in.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Jenna pushed open the door and entered with Mollie.
Mollie held an exquisite gift box as she approached Sylvia.
“Sylvia, Jenna, this is a Christmas gift your uncle and I prepared for you two earlier since you were in the transplant pods and couldn’t come out. We planned to give it to you once you were out,” Mollie said with a smile as she opened the gift box.
Inside were two identical Christmas sweaters.
As a designer herself, Sylvia immediately recognized them as limited-edition Christmas sweaters from an international brand.
“These are too valuable.”
“They’re not,” Mollie handed one sweater to Sylvia and the other to Jenna. “They are your sizes. Twins often grow up wearing matching clothes; since you never had that experience, we thought we’d give you matching outfits so you could try it out.”
“Even though… maybe now it’s not something you need anymore. But as twins, it’s worth trying.”
Mollie smiled as she walked out of the room. “Try them on. I’ll leave now.”
Sylvia hadn’t expected Clare and Mollie to prepare matching Christmas sweaters for them.
Her nose tingled with unexpected emotion.
Jenna blushed slightly as she looked at her sister. “Sylvia, I’ll change right here!”
“Okay,” Sylvia nodded and began changing too.
Soon, both sisters walked out of their room wearing identical red Christmas sweaters that exuded festive cheer and warmth.
“It feels like twins should dress like this…” Jenna said with a cheerful smile at Sylvia.