Chapter 534

After a long pause, she finally asked, “Was there anything else?”
Jasmine was in the middle of sipping her juice, momentarily confused. “Hm? Anything else?”
“Anything else your dad did for your mom on his own initiative.”
Jasmine set her glass down, frowning in thought. “No, that’s it. After that, Mom got sick and came down with a fever. Dad took care of her the whole time. He said kids catch things easily, so he wouldn’t let me near her. I didn’t see Mom again until she was better.”
Hearing this, Vesta paused. “So it was your dad who looked after your mom when she was sick?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Vesta lowered her gaze and looked at Jasmine. “Was it your great-grandmother who told your dad to do that?”
Jasmine shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. Mom started running a fever before dawn yesterday. As soon as Dad found out she was sick, he took care of her himself and called to have Dr. Blake flown in by helicopter to see her. Great-grandma only found out Mom was ill after Dr. Blake arrived.”
Vesta could more or less guess who this Dr. Blake was he was fairly well-known around the Capital, after all.
She asked, “After Dr. Blake arrived, your dad kept looking after your mom? So your dad spent all of yesterday taking care of her?”
Jasmine nodded. “Yeah, he didn’t leave her side until she got better.”
Vesta fell silent.
Yesterday, she’d tried calling Thorne. At first, he didn’t answer. She started to worry something had happened, so she called Coy, who told her that Thorne had just been in touch, said he had something urgent to handle, and pushed all his meetings to today.
Relieved but still uneasy, she called Thorne again. That time, he picked up, telling her it was nothing serious-just some business at the family estate that he couldn’t leave unattended for the moment.
She hadn’t pressed for details. She’d assumed it was just routine trouble at the estate.
But now it was clear: Thorne had canceled all his work and claimed to be tied up at the estate, all so he could stay home and take care of Charlene?
Noticing Vestǎ had grown quiet and was staring intently at a journal, Jasmine assumed she was absorbed in her reading and didn’t want to disturb her left to her own devices, Jasmine grew boredband glanced toward the door, sighing. “Why has Dad’s phone call taken so long? He still isn’t back.” s
No sooner had she spoken than Thorne walked through the door.
He caught her comment and ruffled her hair. “Getting hungry?”
“A little,” Jasmine admitted.
After a few words with Jasmine, Thorne noticed Vesta still staring at her journal in silence. He asked, “Is something in there giving you trouble?”
He was clearly implying that if she didn’t understand something, she could ask him.
Vesta turned her head to look at him.
Thorne’s attitude toward her seemed unchanged from before. And yet, his attitude toward Charlene was clearly different now.
Sensing she was lost in thought, Thorne asked, “What’s on your mind?”
Vesta shook her head, about to say something, then stopped.
She had brought the journal out with her because there were plenty of articles she didn’t quite understand hoping Thome could help heemake sense of them. s
But now, hearing his offer, she Official source is.net
suddenly realized-if it were
Charlene reading these journals, Thorne probably wouldn’t just ask if she was confused. He’d likely dive right in eager to discuss the more complex arguments, debate controversial points, and dissect potential mistakes in the articles with her. s