Aaron is half-naked, lying face down on his bed with silver needles sticking out of his back.He is distraught at Katrina, refusing to answer his call. It doesn"t help when William rubs salt on his wounds with his sarcastic remarks.
There"s no place for Aaron to vent his anger. He can only scold William instead. "This is none of your business! Focus on your job!"
"Yeah." William frowns in displeasure at being used as a punching bag. He p.r.i.c.ks one of Aaron"s acupuncture points harshly.
"Ah!" Aaron fails to restrain the pain and shouts, "William! Can"t you be professional?"
William says slowly, "Grumpy, man! Weren"t you taught not to offend your doctor? Especially the doctor treating you!"
William is a very vindictive doctor. But despite his retaliation, he doesn"t dare go too far. When Aaron gasps, he pulls out the needle carefully. If he keeps this up, he won"t have a job by tomorrow.
Katrina doesn"t fall back to her fear of being dominated by Aaron. She hangs up determinedly without waiting for a response.
Seeing Katrina hang up on someone, Marcellus is afraid that she may be in some trouble. "Katrina, what"s wrong?"
At Marcellus"s question, she quickly stabilizes her mood and explains casually, "Oh, it"s nothing. It"s an acquaintance from elementary school who wants to borrow money to gamble. I refused."
Katrina is unable to let Marcellus know about Aaron"s existence. She is eager to draw a clear line with Aaron. Someday, she will find the right moment to tell Marcellus what she has gone through with the other man.
But not now.
Her relations.h.i.+p with Marcellus is still new. She still feels embarra.s.sed to talk about such a sensitive topic with him.
"By the way, Katrina, if it"s inconvenient for you to talk to Mr. Anderson about what happened, I can talk to him instead."
Earlier, Winnie and Sophie came to the police station to confront Katrina about the division of the Anderson property. Although Marcellus wasn"t present during the whole incident, he heard Winnie"s voice through the phone.
Knowing Katrina"s character, Marcellus, knows that she will be unwilling to accept it.
But recently, with the exception of Carl Anderson, the rest of the Anderson family has been attacking her from all directions.
And it happened again today.
Marcellus offers to deal with the situation on Katrina"s behalf because he is afraid that she will get hurt again by the Andersons.
As her boyfriend, he will take her place and negotiate with them, so she wouldn"t need to think of such unpleasant things.
Katrina knows Marcellus"s offer is out of kindness. But since this is her own affair, she wants to handle it on her own.
Even if the rest of the Anderson family doesn"t treat her well, she still has her uncle.
She doesn"t know why Carl would want to give her 10 percent of the family property. She is even shocked by the news.
But it only further proves Carl"s kindness to her. If she lets Marcellus handle it for her, it would be somehow disrespectful to him.
Katrina says firmly, "Thank you, Marcellus. But I"m going there tomorrow to make things clear with Uncle Anderson personally."
"Katrina, I"m your boyfriend. You don"t need to thank me. I"ll drive you there tomorrow."
Katrina blinks in surprise. "Don"t bother…"
"It"s not a bother. Don"t worry, and I won"t go in. I"ll wait for you outside. It would only worry me to let you go there alone."
At Marcellus"s insistence and consideration, Katrina can"t decline anymore. She finally nods. "Okay."
Despite the short time, Marcellus seems very comfortable with his new ident.i.ty as her boyfriend, insisting on supporting her in any way he can.
Katrina isn"t used to it.
Because her parents died when she was young, Katrina is used to being independent. If she can solve the problem by herself, she won"t trouble anyone if she can help it.
When she was at school, she saw girls transform after getting a boyfriend. They acted pettishly and asked their boyfriends to do everything for them.
Katrina doesn"t find this strange. It seems natural for girls to be spoiled by boys.
But she doesn"t feel comfortable changing in such a short amount of time.
When they reach Katrina"s apartment, Marcellus gets out of the car to walk Katrina to the entrance. "Katrina, have a good rest. Don"t worry, and you will always have me through everything."
Katrina doesn"t invite Marcellus inside, and Marcellus doesn"t dare overstep. He stands next to the car and watches her make her way upstairs. Although Katrina has agreed to be his girlfriend, he is still respectful towards her. Probably because of the delicate situation, he is more careful.
Back home, Katrina takes out her phone, intending to call her uncle.
Although she doesn"t know if what Winnie said is true or not, she still has an obligation to figure it out and settle matters. Otherwise, it would be troublesome to be bothered by the Andersons for this reason.
As soon as she dials the number, Katrina hangs up quickly.
Winnie already suspects that she has an improper relations.h.i.+p with her uncle, thinking it is the reason that Carl is giving her a portion of the family property.
This time, she is careful about keeping her uncle at arm"s length. Even a simple phone call could be misunderstood. For fear that Winnie will get the wrong idea again, she is unwilling to dial Carl"s cell phone number.
After hanging up, Katrina chooses to call the landline of Anderson"s house.
The servant Eva picks up the phone. "h.e.l.lo, who is this?"
"Eva? This is Katrina. Is Uncle at home?"
Hearing Katrina"s voice, Eva is obviously surprised on the other line. "Miss Miller? Mr. Anderson is in the study. Let me get him."
Not long after, Carl picks up the phone. "Katrina," he says, "why not call me on the cell phone?"
Katrina evasively sidesteps the question by saying, "Uncle, are you free tomorrow? I have something to ask you."
Carl seems oblivious about his wife and daughter going to the police station and making trouble for Katrina. He says brightly, "I"ll be home in the evening. You haven"t been back for a long time, why don"t you come home? We can have a family dinner. I"ll ask Eva to cook some dishes you like."
"Uncle, thank you for your kindness," Katrina replies to his enthusiastic invitation. "But I have a dinner appointment tomorrow night. Can I come to you after dinner?"
Given the circ.u.mstances, it seems inappropriate to be asked to dine with the Andersons.
Not noticing the strangeness in Katrina"s behavior, Carl chooses to respect her decision.
"Alright."