Chapter 160 Infuriated
Just as the situation was caught in a stalemate, Arius came out from the operating room and walked toward them.
“Excuse me, madam, may I know what are you trying to do? I can see that you’ve been bothering my friend. Do you have anything personal against her? Because if you do, you might want to stop before anything happens.” Arius pulled Sophie away and stood face to face with Constance. Sophie stood behind him quietly as if Arius was a defensive mother hen.
Constance was frightened when she heard Arius’ warning. He was not someone she could afford to offend. She slumped to the ground on her knees, begging Arius to treat his son.
“Dr. Gullifer, please! I’m sorry I was rude. Please forgive me. I really didn’t know you were the person I wanted to see. I would never say something so insolent if I knew it was you.” Arius and Constance were not expecting things to take such a dramatic twist.
A frown settled on Arius’ face as he thought about what Constance just said.
“Does who I am even matter here?” he asked. He was not interested in getting an answer. Instead, he turned toward Sophie and gestured at her to leave. “Come on. We should get some rest. It’s been a long day.”
“Sure.”
Both of them completely disregarded Constance’s request. To them, her going on her knees meant nothing.
Constance, on the other hand, got upset when she saw them leave. She clung to Arius’ trouser cuff.
“Dr. Gullifer, please! I beg you! Please save my son. You’re the only hope we have!” Arius was the last resort Constance had, so she did her best to implore the man to change his mind, but as a doctor, Arius was already desensitized to the inevitability of death.
“Let go,” he said curtly.
To him, there was no way he would agree to help her after what she did to Sophie. After all, Arius never once thought he was a benevolent saint who had the obligation to be kind to everyone.
He pulled back his leg and walked off with Sophie, leaving the distraught woman on the ground, speechless.
Her shoulders slumped in devastation as she watched them walk off. That was her last hope and losing it shattered her pride.
She could not believe that the person she once belittled turned out to be the same person she had to count on to save her son.
Since they had turned her down decisively, she could not think of any other way to solve the problem at hand.
The opportunity was so close, and yet she failed to seize it.
Just as she was at her wits’ end, she suddenly thought of Josiah. Sophie had always listened to everything the old man said. Yes! I should go talk to him!
Meanwhile, Sophie went to see Josiah despite how tired she was.
When she arrived, Charmaine and Willow were already there. Sophie did not greet them but walked over to Josiah straight.
“Grandpa, you should get some rest. You have surgery tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about me. I know what I can and can’t do.” Indeed, Josiah took good care of himself. This surgery was a priceless opportunity for him to recover, but he knew the stakes were high. If things went wrong, it would be the end of him.
“Soph, Willow and I are just here to see how he’s doing. That’s all.” Charmaine broke the ice trying to explain their visit when she saw that Sophie was being cold toward them.
“Mom! You don’t have to explain yourself to her. We’re just here because we care about Grandpa.” Willow was resentful toward Sophie because she lost everything because of Sophie, so it went without saying that Willow could not keep her calm when Sophie was around.
“I don’t care about what brings y’all here. Just make sure you’re not disrupting his rest,” she said, turning toward Josiah.
“Grandpa, I’ve had a long day, so I’ll go rest first. I’m just right next door. I’ll come again with Arius in a bit. Is that okay?”
“Sure. You don’t have to worry about me. Go on and get some rest.” Josiah did not want to keep her any longer. He could tell from her face that she was dog-tired.
“All right. See you in a bit.”
With that said, Sophie walked out of the room without saying goodbye to Charmaine and Willow.
“Grandpa! How could you be so unfair?” Willow was dissatisfied when she saw their interaction. She never understood why Josiah gave Sophie everything when both Sophie and she were his granddaughters.
Josiah kept quiet. He actually wondered why the two women came to see him that day. He doubted that they came just because they cared for him.
“Dad, how could you give such a huge portion of your shares to Sophie? You’re going through surgery tomorrow. What will happen if, you know, anything goes wrong?”
That was enough was Josiah to know the true motive of their visit.
His heart chilled at the realization. He could not help but wonder if he brought his children up the wrong way. His son, and even his granddaughter, were only interested in the inheritance they would receive from him.
None of them actually cared about his wellbeing.
“Willow, do you still not know why I like Sophie better? You know she will never ask me anything like this. She never once coveted what the Tanners have.”
Anger rose within him as the old man spoke.
“I’ll say this once and for all—Tanner Group will go to Sophie. None of you is changing my mind on that.”
The door suddenly opened, and Morgan came in. When he saw that Josiah was flustered, he quickly came over to calm him down.
“What’s the matter? You need to calm down. This is not good for you. There’s a surgery coming tomorrow.”
“Morgan, please see them out. I don’t want to see them again,” Josiah instructed without having another thought.
Josiah thought he would be able to come to terms with their greed since he had already seen much worse over the many years of his life, but when he actually heard them utter it, Josiah was still incensed. In fact, he was so furious his body started shaking.
Morgan was dismayed when he saw that. He looked at the two women disapprovingly.
“Mrs. Tanner, Ms. Tanner, I’m sorry but both of you might have to leave. Please do not come to visit Old Mr. Tanner again.” The butler had served Josiah for years and had always followed his master’s words to the letter.
Charmaine and Willow were appalled when they heard such harsh words from Josiah.
“Grandpa, we don’t mean it that way. We just want to—”
“Get out.”
The two women looked at each other uneasily. They had no choice but to leave.
“What should I do now, Mom?” Willow fretted in disappointment after they went out of the ward. “No one from the four important families will ever set eyes on me now that I have nothing. How could Grandpa be so unfair!”
“Hush. I heard that the chances of getting through the surgery are very low,” Charmaine said.
Although she tried comforting her daughter, Charmaine was still worried. She felt everything was not going her way, but there was nothing she could do either.
“It’s no use complaining anymore,” she told her daughter. “I will hold an art exhibition for you. Mrs. Zales is also an oil painter, just like Mrs. Laird, so she will be interested in your works. We’ll see what we can do from there.”
Charmaine had already given up on the Laird family. She had decided to put all her eggs in the Zales family’s basket.
Charmaine’s suggestion put Willow at ease. The thought of marrying Clayton cheered her up. Well, jokes on you, Sophie. I’ll marry Clayton one day.
“I will work hard, Mom. I’m really good at drawing oil paintings. My teacher even complimented me the other day.” Willow’s teacher was also an eminent oil painter. She had promised to bring Willow with her to an exhibition a few days later.
Charmaine felt relieved when she heard that. She patted Willow’s head in approval.
“Good. I’m counting on you, Willow. Don’t disappoint me.”
Although sometimes Charmaine still wondered if she betted on the wrong child, she knew there was no point thinking about the what-ifs anymore.
Things had already turned out that way, and Sophie was not someone she could control, but she could with Willow.
Over in the other ward, Sophie felt energized after taking a nap.
After she woke up, she went over to conduct a final check on Josiah with Arius.
“Grandpa, don’t tell me you were upset just now,” Arius asked knowingly as he looked at the charts. “You know you can’t get agitated before surgery right.”
