Chapter 218: Pregnant?
"Then. did you find anything?" Janice asked trying to find out soon enough.
"Not yet."
"If you come out, remember to tell me."
"Okay."
Upon knowing he has agreed, she let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t want him to touch on any bad memories. However, it was also a good thing to get his help. That would mean things would be done much faster..
"Eat something. Your stomach is bad. I insist you eat something. I have specially made seafood porridge for you."
In shorter time than expected, he brought the cooked food to the table.
She sat down, but as soon as she smelled the seafood, she couldn’t help but feel her stomach churn. She immediately charged into the bathroom and vomited. It upset her, She wasn’t going to eat it. Seeing her throw up again, he got really confused.
"You... ... are you all right?"
"I’m fine," She said as tears gathered in her eyes.
"You’re vomiting so badly, yet you still say you’re fine."
He asked sternly as he was sure she was not okay.
"I’m really fine. The doctor prescribed some medications that I should take. I’m sure I’ll be fine after taking them."
As she spoke, she got up and walked to the living room. She took out a bottle of white medicine with her. It was from her bag. This was the vitamin B prescribed by the doctor, which was meant to relieve her sickness. She swallowed the pill in front of him without hesitation, dispelling his worries.
He did not doubt her. He said, "If you don’t want to have porridge, I’ll cook a bowl of noodles or something else."
And he walked away. Upon seeing walk away, she again sighed with relief. At least she wasn’t exposed. At least, not yet. It was only a matter of time for things to peak.
What she did not know was that Christopher was suspicious of her reaction. He had an inexplicable feeling that she was hiding something from him.
On this day, he sat in the office. The more he thought about it, the stranger he felt. What kind of gastric problem did she have that she couldn’t get better even after taking the medication?
So, he called Daniel Pattinson.
In the past, Daniel had studied medicine to become a general practitioner before he left home and inherited his family business by accident.
"Let me ask you a question."
As soon as the phone was connected, Christopher asked.
"Sure, go ahead." Daniel said.
"What sort of gastric illness causes a person to keep vomiting and triggered by sea food?"
"Retching? Are there any other symptoms?" enquired Daniel.
Christopher thought for a second and said, "There doesn’t seem to be any other symptoms, at least, none that I haven’t noticed yet."
"Then... is it a male or female? If it is a female, is she married or unmarried?"
"A woman, married."
On the other side of the phone, Daniel was thinking.
"Probably pregnant."
"Pregnant?"
Christopher was quietly confused when he heard this. To be honest, he had no idea about pregnancy at all.
"Chris, are you going to be a father?"
Daniel teased.
Christopher ignored him.
He pondered to himself, "If she’s actually pregnant, why would she lie to me instead about gastric problems? This didn’t make sense any at all. She ought to come clear about it. At least, that’s what I’m expecting"
Christopher put down the phone and felt that Daniel’s judgment was unreliable.
He thought about the bottle of medicine that she had taken in front of him. Wouldn’t he know what medication it was if he went back and took a look? When he thought of this, he kept on thinking about it. Besides whatever it was, it was sufficient for to get by the awkward situation.
Cecilia happened to knock on the door and came in with a report on the next quarter’s project cooperation report. He flipped through the document and saw that one of the projects had no updates. It was either not filed in time and they just have missed it. He frowned.
"What’s going on?"
Cecilia replied, "Mr. Bateman, this is the business deal you had signed at the exhibition. Rob is in charge. I am not sure why we have not found a suitable partner. And I do not want to be in a hurry in finding one. This is business, the more accurate you are the better,"
However, Christopher still had a puzzled and unhappy expression. This project was
one of the most sought after at the moment. How could they not be able to find a partner?
"Oh yeah, there’s one that’s quite suitable, but it’s always been excluded."
"Mail me all the relevant documents and information you I’d need for this project, including the company you just mentioned about being excluded from the project, would you?"
"Yes sir."
...
Janice arrived at the Taylor Corporation at past three in the afternoon. It was almost later afternoon
Since the last time she had talked to Benjamin on the phone, she had been concerned and worried the entire time. So she specially went down to take a look.
Sure enough, as soon as she entered into the building, she felt the sudden change in atmosphere. There was not a single person at the front desk. This was strange. And most interestingly, she couldn’t even find someone to inquire.
She walked all the way to the elevator, looked at the floor maps, then pressed the floor where Benjamin’s office was located.
After arriving at the floor, she strolled out of the elevator. The same mood continued thereafter, and inside was dead silent, as if there was no has existed there before. The employees looked laid back and lifeless and it didn’t’ liken a seriously thriving business after all. Although Janice had no idea how this place was before, she could tell that it wasn’t an ordinary company now.
She asked directions from one of the employees to the way to Ben’s office and found Benjamin’s office. She couldn’t enter abruptly stood at the door and knocked.
"Come in."
A familiar voice sounded from inside.
She opened the door and entered.
Benjamin was seated, assuming a half-resting posing. He might be having a nap. He is leaning his head on the back of the chair with his eyes closed. He didn’t even look at the people who came in. Not that he doesn’t, but his lounged posture didn’t let him.
She frowned as she walked closer. Was this what he meant when he said he was fine?
She paused and said, "Benjamin."
Benjamin quickly opened his eyes. When he noticed Janice standing in front of him, he shockingly jumped up from his seat. It was a trifled surprising, to say the least. He tidied up his wrinkled clothes in a panic and couldn’t help feeling surprised. "Why... why are you here?"
She didn’t speak. She stared at the stubble on his face blankly.
Only then did he know it. He used his hand to cover his face and quickly rushed into the bathroom next to his office. The sound of running water came from inside. He needed to revive, that’s all. It was nothing unusual in a bustling office space.
She came back to her senses and looked around. She didn’t know what had really happened in this office. Tt seemed strange. There were files scattered all over the place, and documents lying everywhere, be it on the desk or on the floor. There wasn’t even a place to step on. It looked like it had been broken in.
She stooped down and picked up the documents by her feet. She tried to catch fleeting glances of them one by one but they were taken away before she was done.
She looked over in surprise. Benjamin had already hidden behind her in a panic, as if afraid that she would see him.
When she looked over, his expression was a bit unsightly.
"It’s... a little messy here. Let’s find a place more suited to relax and discuss. "
He just casually threw the document aside, took her arm, and walked out. This was a courteous but intentional way of deflecting her attention elsewhere.
When they arrived at the entrance of the company, he opened the car door of the passenger seat and let her in. Then he got into the driver’s seat and drove the car out.
However, he didn’t know that as soon as his car had left, a black Bentley had also followed him.
Christopher was sitting in the back seat. He was lunged quite comfortably. From afar, he saw Janice getting into the car in front of him. He had no time to bother about asking or even generally enquiring the Taylor Corporation. He asked the driver to trace Benjamin’s car.
In the cafe.
"Why didn’t you tell me?"
Janice asked as soon as they sat down.
Staring into her eyes, Benjamin was a little ashamed, but he still pretended to be oblivious. "What did I not tell you?"
"Stop hiding it from me. I know everything. But you keep concealing things unnecessarily here and there, Is it because of me that the Bateman Group targeted you?"
"...No." Benjamin looked away.
The more he acted like this, the more Janice was convinced that her guess was right.
"Let me brutally honest, I saw the contracts that were terminated just now. It was a company under the Bateman Group."
Benjamin knew that he couldn’t hide it anymore, so he admitted. He knew he had come full circle, it’s either he come clean or its’ nothing.
"That is indeed the reason, but more importantly, I’m not good at business. I don’t think I’m prepared for business. Even more, it would have seemed like it."
...
There was a hint of mockery in his tone. It came out unobtrusively. There was no doubting about it.
Janice knew that Benjamin didn’t want to burden her, so she replied, "Don’t worry about it. I will give you an explanation for this matter."
She got up and walked out.
Benjamin realized her countenance suddenly and quickly caught up with her.
"Janice, I’m really okay."
As he came forward to stop her but she just pushed him away.
"It may not matter to you, but to me, I will never be at peace for the rest my life."
She continued to walk on without stopping for a word. Benjamin gave up and sighed helplessly.
Outside, Christopher was sitting quietly in his car. Because of the floor-to -ceiling window, he clearly witnessed everything that was happening in the cafe. He watched as Janice departed.
"Were they quarreling just now?" He thought.
He could recall his face. It seemed familiar. He stared at the man’s familiar face and thought of the photos he had seen before.
"She thought you wouldn’t make it, so she ran away with this man."
So, this was the man?
"Mr. Bateman, should we follow?"
The driver asked as he saw Janice flagged down a cab. Only then did Christopher come right back to his senses. He glanced at her figure which disappeared from sight.
He suddenly felt very agitated.
"Forget it. Let’s go back to the company."
Janice entered the cab and drove straight to the Bateman Group. She couldn’t just let it go. Benjamin was innocent, and she did not want to see him being implicated by her. She couldn’t bear the thought of that. Because of a similar incident in the past that she tried to jump off the building, the company’s security guards and the receptionist were very cautious when they saw her.
Janice knew that they were afraid that she would repeat her actions and so she calmed them, "Don’t worry. Life is precious."
Only then did the security guards behind her relaxed and let go of her.
She arrived at Nathan’s office unimpeded. Denise came out of the office and saw her
walking over from afar. After the incident, her feelings toward Janice had changed slightly. In terms of both courage and the guts to love, she was inferior to Janice. Faced with the same set of challenges, she didn’t have Janice’s solitary courage.
In the past, she had clearly known the reason for her not succeeding at being an injustice of fate. But that day, after she had seen Janice willing die for her lover, she had been brought to her senses in shock.
It turned out that she didn’t love him as she should, or she loved him too shallowly.
But she did not regret it. Living with dignity was the most important thing. That only mattered to her. It was her longing. As for love, it had already become a huddle for her to elevate herself. She quickly retracted the admiration in her eyes.
"The chairman is inside."
Janice froze. She thought that Denise would prevent her as usual.
"Don’t be surprised. The chairman was expecting you. He has already expected that you would come. Go in."
Denise took her bag where her documents were kept and walked away with no expression on her face.
Janice thought about what Denise had said earlier and thought it fitting with Nathan’s stern personality. He must have clearly known what she had done the last time. She sneered and knocked on the door.
Sitting in his office, Nathan was not at all moved by her showing up. He said, "Sit down."
His tone was pretty aggressive and unwelcoming, but it was not as cold as before.
Instead, it was filled with contempt.
She didn’t beat around the bush and directly stated her intentions.
"Please don’t take your anger out on the Taylors because of me. Benjamin didn’t participate in the last incident."
Nathan snorted. "But he’s the one who brought you out."
This was the not root problem. Janice knew that Nathan would use this as an excuse.
He had meant to use, even if he didn’t what was he supposed to do.
"Yes, I can’t deny that, but without him, I will still be able to escape."
What she said was unusually firm and confident. She believed it and was sure about it.
