Chapter 36 Hadn't Been Good At Lyingt
In the San Raffaele Hospital
When James notices that, sets down the files and walks over to Eliz.
"By the way, I happened to be on duty last night, and your mother came to the hospital to see you," James said to Eliz. He had almost forgotten to inform Eliz, and he turned on his heels.
"What?" Hearing his remarks, Eliz became
fully awake. She sprang up from the chair!
"About eight o'clock. She left without saying anything when you were not around," James replied.
Eliz's face turned pale. 'Oh no, my mom showed up at the hospital to see me. Would she expose my pretense? she thought.
Looking at the caller ID, Eliz answered the phone with her trembling finger.
"Liz, are you free now? Come to the company as soon as possible," replied Elizabeth in a calm tone.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Knowing about the incident, Eliz didn't dare to say no. On the way from the hospital, her mind was in quite a dilemma as she was thinking about how to explain it to her mother.
Eliz arrived at the Campari Group soon.
When she opened the door of the office, she saw Elizabeth sitting at her desk while reading some documents.
"Eliz, how are you doing recently ?" With a modest grin on her face.
"Not bad." Eliz bit her lips, not daring to look at Elizabeth's eyes. She hadn't been good at lying ever since she was a kid. To know she was lying, her tell the sign was always the fact that she refused to look at the person she was lying to.
"You haven't changed at all, Liz. You're still a bad liar," said Elizabeth.
"Mom, I didn't lie." Eliz looked up at her mother, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I went to your hospital last night, wanting to ask how your blind date went, only to hear from your colleague that you weren't in the hospital these last few days." Elizabeth set down her coffee cup with a loud 'thump.' Eliz knew that to be a sign that her mother was getting impatient.
"I... I'm living with my colleague now since it was uncomfortable living in the hospital. Her house isn't that far, so she asked me to live with her." Her voice was trembling now, and her fingers fidgeted around the fabric of her clothes.
"Really? Which colleague of yours? A man or a woman?"
"How did your blind date go? I heard someone was calling you sister-in-law. Who is your husband? Why didn't I know?" Elizabeth clenched her jaw when Eliz continued to be silent. She had worked tooth and nail to give her daughter the best education and made sure that she had everything she could've ever wanted or needed, and here she was, lying to her right in her face.
She knew Eliz better than anyone else did. If she found herself trapped in a lie, she'd just keep silent, just like what she was doing now.
"Tell me!" Elizabeth slammed her hand on the table.
The atmosphere around them started to tense up as Eliz lowered her head. As much as Elizabeth was angry at her, she really couldn't find it in herself to say what had happened, and what she had gotten herself into.
"It's just my colleague," Eliz stated firmly.
"Shame on you, child! Do you think I'm that stupid? Tell me! What did you do?" Elizabeth pronounced each of the last words for emphasis. Elizabeth stood up. Her face was red, and her voice was near to screeching. Eliz couldn't bring herself to look her mother in the eye anymore.
"I didn't do anything!"
"Slap!" the loud sound echoed in the office as Eliz's face was whipped around upon impact.
Elizabeth drew back her hand, trembling from what she had done. She had done everything, she had asked everything, yet Eliz was still lying to her.
Eliz stilled from the impact, feeling her left cheek pound from the pain. She was already sad from her fight with Pierce the other night, and here was her mother, who had now continually misunderstood her words. Even if she had done something humiliating, it was all for the family.
"You're being ridiculous. Get out, and the next time we meet, I prefer a better explanation than your bullshit lies!" Elizabeth always had a sixth sense when it came to her daughter, and she knew that what Eliz was saying was nowhere near what happened to her.
Eliz's vision started to blur as she stumbled out of the office. She sniffled, pushing through the people that blocked her path. In all her life, her mother had never treated her like this, never!
With tears pouring over her cheeks, Eliz paid no heed as she ran down the sidewalk, not minding the cars that were speeding along the road.
Before she could go any further, she found herself an inch away from being hit by a car. The car screeched to a halt as the driver stuck his head out of the window. "Do you want to die, bitch? Get out of the road!"
Eliz didn't know how long she stood there, in the middle of walking crowds and chasing cars. She didn't care. Suddenly, a strong force pulled her over, and she closed her eyes.
When nothing happened, she opened her eyes only to see that she had fallen into a warm embrace. She looked up.
It was Damien!
"Doctor Navarro, what a coincidence to meet you here!" Damian said, not commenting on her appearance as he warmly smiled at her.
Eliz lowered her head, ashamed that she had to meet Damian under such circumstances. "Thank you."
"Doctor Navarro, you really shouldn't have done that. Life is precious, and you, as a doctor, should've known that. Don't do this..." he whispered seriously.
"Let me give you a ride. You don't look well," offered Damien.
"No, thanks. I can handle it." Eliz shook her head.
Heaving a sigh, he shook his head. "You are stubborn," he teased lightly. "As you wish."
Although Damien was unable to drive Eliz back to the hospital, he didn't leave until he saw her safely head towards the hospital.
At Menarini Group and Petra Design Ltd.
Damien knocked on the door of the CEO's office.
"Come in, please!" Pierce's solemn voice rang from inside.
"Why so serious, Pierce?" As Damien came into the office, he comfortably looked at Pierce as if he was a lifelong friend.
"In the office, call me Mr. Aleotti." Pierce didn't even raise his head, but he did frown at the tone Damien was using. From the looks of it, he was up to something.
"Okay then, Mr. Aleotti. Invite me to sit?"
Damien said jokingly.
"I came here today to talk with you about some personal affairs,"
Damien said with a wide smile.
"If that's the case, it's work hours. I don't have time for you,"
Pierce sneered in disgust. He had always hated Damien's poking into his personal life. He was poking into his personal life.
"My dear cousin, you're so cold. No wonder your woman's crying on the streets." Damien choked back a laugh, leaning into his seat. There was a wicked glint in his eyes, one that he always had whenever he had the upper hand against his cousin.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Pierce growled out, ears perking up at the mention of a woman.
"I went out just now and saw her standing on the sidewalk crying. She was almost hit by a car if it weren't for me." He crossed his legs leisurely, but there was a sneer written all over his face. He glanced Pierce up and down, unimpressed by his reaction.
"I have a lot of women. Do specify," Pierce drawled out, but on the inside, he was already trying to keep his anger at bay. There was no way his cousin would pull one over him.
"Really? If Dr. Navarro heard this, she'd be deeply disappointed!" Damien cackled out, the arrogance never waning from his voice.
At No.520 Haibin Road
"So why are you crying?" Pierce asked, firmly placing his hands on Eliz's shoulders, trying to soothe her.
"Can you stop asking?" Eliz's cheeks reddened from the previous events.
"Okay, let's stop talking about this." Pierce compromised, reaching out his arms to hold her. There was a rare tenderness in his eyes as Eliz leaned in on his chest, snuggling into the warmth of his skin.
"Could you please not let my mom find out that we live together?" Eliz drew back, biting her lips.
"What's wrong?" There was anger in his voice as Pierce asked, drawing back. Was it that shameful to live with him?
"It's not that," she said as if she could read his thoughts. "I just don't want to bother you. Please." Eliz folded her hands to plead with him.
"Okay," Pierce answered without any expression.
"Thank you for everything..." She moved her body as she looked up at him with a small smile, her finger trailing down his arm.
That night, Eliz had a nightmare again.
The cry woke up Pierce, who was lying beside her. When he saw Eliz thrashing around the bed he sat up.She was having night mare again.