Chapter 6

Camilla froze. The person on the other end of the phone… was her younger sister, Charlotte?

A wave of relief washed over her, and her tone softened. "Jeremy's being mean to you? That's impossible."

Charlotte was about to graduate from university and had only recently started her internship. She didn't live at Sloan Manor with her parents. Instead, she rented an apartment in the same neighborhood as Camilla's place, so she often dropped by the house as well.

Over the past two and a half years, even though Camilla and Jeremy were giving each other the cold shoulder, Jeremy had always treated Charlotte and Harriet with the same thoughtfulness as before.

He obeyed their every request without complaint, as if he had no temper at all.

So hearing Charlotte say that Jeremy was being mean to her sounded completely absurd to Camilla.

But Charlotte kept sobbing away without bothering to explain anything. And after crying for a while, she abruptly ended the call.

Camilla stared at her phone, brows drawn tightly together. She glanced at Zachary, her lips parting a little. She wanted to ask if they could reschedule the trip, but she couldn't get the words out.

In the past, whenever she had agreed to something with Zachary, only for Jeremy to disrupt their plans, Zachary would get upset, even though she promised to make it up another time.

A patient's emotional state was extremely important for recovery. Compared to that, Charlotte's unhappiness wasn't even worth consideration.

After all, Camilla firmly believed Jeremy was incapable of being mean to Charlotte.

Zachary noticed her hesitation, so he suggested, "Why don't we go to the beach another time? Charlotte sounded pretty upset. Something must have happened. We should check on her."

Camilla looked at him in surprise before sighing. "You've always been such a considerate person, unlike Jeremy. All he does is throw tantrums at me."

His last temper tantrum had been going on for over two years now. She'd had enough of his stubbornness.

…

Charlotte sat outside the operating room, her eyes red-rimmed. It was obvious she had been crying. A while ago, she felt indignant and aggrieved. She hadn't done it on purpose anyway. How was she supposed to know that Daniel was so weak and sensitive that just a few words would cause so many issues for him?

Desperately wanting someone to complain to, she'd immediately called Camilla. But she didn't even know how to explain the situation, so she just kept crying, as if she wanted to release every bit of grievance she felt.

It was only after the call had ended that it suddenly hit her that she wasn't holding onto her own phone. It was the one she'd snatched away from Daniel, and Jeremy seemed to have said that it belonged to him.

Before she could dwell on that, the light above the operating room door went out, and Jeremy walked out.

Charlotte jolted and shot to her feet, her face nervous and uneasy. "Is that patient alright?"

Jeremy shot her a look. When it came down to it, Charlotte was only a university student. Thanks to the Sloans, she'd grown up in a very sheltered environment as well. She lost her head at the slightest thing.

While one could say she was innocent and naive, she was also incredibly dumb. She didn't even know about the condition of the patients in the ward she was assigned to.

"His condition has stabilized, so he's out of danger." Jeremy removed his mask.

Hearing that, Charlotte finally released the breath she had been holding. She started taking deep breaths.

However, Jeremy suddenly stepped closer. The hallway lights cast his shadow forward, covering her completely.

Charlotte stared at him blankly. His clothes were already soaked through. He reeked of sweat. Normally, she would have frowned in disgust and told him to stay away, complaining about how unpleasant he smelled.

But now, unexpectedly, she felt reassured.

She watched as sweat slid down Jeremy's face, trailing down his jawline and throat before soaking into his collar. She had to admit that he was actually quite handsome.

For some reason, Charlotte remembered what he had said back in the ward earlier.

"I'll definitely save him." His voice had been icy, yet somehow, it had comforted her.

Jeremy stared down at Charlotte, who had fallen into a daze again. The irritation in his eyes intensified, and his voice became even colder.

"Charlotte Sloan. Do you know the patient's name? Do you know what his condition is?"

Charlotte froze. She snapped back to her senses and met his dark gaze, the coldness making her shudder. She had no choice but to answer honestly, "I don't."

Jeremy snorted. "I've seen which wards you've been assigned to. This patient is hospitalized in one of them, yet you don't even know anything about him or his condition.

"His name is Daniel Harris. He has late-stage uremia. If you had learned even the most basic medical knowledge, you would know that patients at this stage of their illness are often in an extremely fragile mental state."

Charlotte's gaze darted to the side. She was too scared to meet his eyes.

"I… didn't learn about that."

Jeremy snorted. "You didn't learn about that? Throughout these years, have I not taken the time to go over every detail covered in your textbooks and learning material? You're the one who didn't bother retaining any of the information!"

He pointed toward the medical staff who were still finishing up inside the operating room.

"A hospital isn't like an ordinary company. You can't make a mistake and excuse yourself by saying you didn't know. Every mistake can cost someone their life! If you only came here to complete your internship requirement, then just stand aside and do nothing."

As Jeremy spoke, all the emotions he had kept bottled up inside him for years burst out.

"The Sloans are supposed to hold a prestigious standing in the field of medicine. But if they raise a daughter of the family to have such disregard for human life, then just how much of that reputation is actually deserved, huh?"

His words were harsh, alright. He was even criticizing the entire Sloan family.

Charlotte was stunned by the anger in his voice. She couldn't believe it. For three years, he had always meekly endured everything the family did to him. Yet now, he was openly rebuking her and the Sloan family to her face.

Although she knew she'd made a mistake, she also believed that she wouldn't have had such an extreme reaction if Jeremy hadn't given Daniel those videos to watch in the first place!

All at once, she felt deeply aggrieved. Her eyes reddened as she glared at Jeremy. Her tears started glowing once more.

Seeing her reaction, Jeremy found the whole thing meaningless. Charlotte was just a medical student who hadn't even graduated yet. She hadn't been exposed to the true gravity of life. She would only understand this feeling once she'd experienced doing everything in her power to save a person's life, only to fail in the end.

Without saying another word, he turned to leave.

But at that moment, a hostile voice rang out. "Who are you to have the nerve to criticize the Sloan family?"

The familiar voice made Jeremy's footsteps stop abruptly. He turned toward the corner at the end of the hallway.

Camilla and Zachary were both standing there.