CHAPTER 398: CHAPTER 398: ARE YOU ASKING IF ANNA IS JEALOUS?

Anna Thornton remembers that she seemed to have seen Conrad Sterling sick when she was very young; this man’s health has always been very good in her impression.

The next morning, President Sterling seemed completely reinvigorated.

His fever subsided quickly, and although his complexion was still somewhat lacking in color, at least he could continue wearing his suit and look presentable as he went downstairs for breakfast.

But Pop was still worried, staring at the two loops of bandage around his dad’s head.

Before heading to kindergarten, the little one made sure to run over to Conrad Sterling with her backpack on.

She placed her chubby little hand gently on her dad’s knee, mimicking the way her kindergarten teacher comforted the kids, and consoled her dad: "Stay strong! Go, duckie~"

Pop tugged at Conrad Sterling’s clothes, signaling for him to bend down, and blew on the injured part of his forehead: "No pain, no pain~"

Then she pouted her little lips and gave her dad’s face a gentle peck.

After completing this whole set of comforting actions, Pop seemed to feel it wasn’t enough.

She turned her head to look at her brother, Lola, who immediately took a step back and avoided eye contact.

In the end, Pop’s target landed on her mom, grabbing Anna Thornton’s hand and pulling her over to Conrad Sterling, indicating for her mom to comfort her dad as well.

Sitting on the couch looking at stocks, President Sterling suddenly closed the laptop on his lap and looked up to meet Anna Thornton’s eyes, coughing twice.

Anna Thornton: "..."

Although she knew this man was pretending to be pitiful, Pop was anxiously shaking her mom’s hand.

In front of the kids, Anna Thornton eventually relented and gave Conrad Sterling a comforting kiss.

She was even forced by little Pop to blow on Conrad Sterling’s wound, feeling quite foolish.

Because blowing on it would make the pain go away! Mom said so!

What? You ask about President Sterling’s reaction?

He thoroughly enjoyed it, not feeling foolish at all, and instead put on a show to encourage it.

Pop truly is his own, always looking out for her dad’s benefits.

Anna Thornton wonders if the three years of hardship raising her daughter were all for him.

In the morning, Anna Thornton took the two little ones to school. In the car, Lola furrowed his little brows, lifting his head to look outside the window for a while before suddenly speaking: "He’s so useless!"

Even though seeing Conrad Sterling all injured, Lola didn’t react like Pop.

But actually, he was still worried.

Look at how proud this little guy is, clearly wanting to ask about his dad’s injury, yet throwing in a bit of disdain.

Anna Thornton didn’t expose him and went along with Lola’s words: "Isn’t he though?"

"Who hurt him?"

As Lola asked this, Pop perked up her little head to listen in.

Anna Thornton didn’t plan to tell the two little ones about yesterday’s events—it’s all in the past, and she didn’t want to scare them.

So she shamelessly shifted the blame onto Conrad Sterling: "He brought it on himself!"

Scrapper was originally instructed by Ethan Hawthorne to deal with Riley Osborne.

But Riley Osborne was working hard against Ethan Hawthorne, didn’t that man know for whom she was doing it?

Ultimately, it was all part of Conrad Sterling’s plan, wasn’t it self-inflicted?

Moreover, Anna Thornton heard that Conrad Sterling personally arranged for Riley Osborne to be admitted into Crestlight Hospital’s most luxurious private ward yesterday, with a carefully selected medical staff providing 24-hour care.

No one was allowed to disturb her, and Conrad Sterling stayed in front of Riley Osborne’s ward himself yesterday, not leaving until hearing from the surgery room that her condition had stabilized.

He hadn’t even managed to treat his own injuries, which showed how much he cared about Riley Osborne.

What? You ask if Anna Thornton is jealous?

Ha! How could she be!

Even though Anna Thornton was dragged into this unforeseen disaster because she got closer to Riley Osborne.

Yet, Riley Osborne risked herself trying to save Anna Thornton—though she didn’t succeed, Anna Thornton recognized her intention.

Plus, Finn Grant was injured, which would slow down the male and female leads’ storyline. Anna Thornton suddenly found herself with free time, so she and Mary planned to buy a fruit basket to visit Riley Osborne.

Riley Osborne’s shoulder was pierced with a stab that was quite shocking, but fortunately, no vital organs were harmed. Even though the girl looked fragile, she surprisingly had a strong constitution. She was still unconscious yesterday, but today she could already exchange simple conversations with Anna Thornton while lying in bed.

"Miss Thornton... I don’t look good now, right?"

After the surgery, Riley Osborne had residual blood clots in her throat, speaking was difficult, and she needed people to lean down to hear her clearly.

Mary didn’t expect her personality to be as beauty-loving as Anna’s, couldn’t help but tease: "Pale skin and small face are best suited for natural beauty. Even when ill, Miss Osborne is the prettiest in the entire hospital!"

"Really?" Riley Osborne tugged at the corners of her mouth and smiled.

But at the same time, she couldn’t help but look at Anna Thornton with envy.

Riley Osborne was indeed a little beauty with her fair skin and pure appearance, but she felt that compared to someone like Anna Thornton, who had the same fair skin yet exuded a striking beauty, she was still far behind.

Besides, her face got swollen from Scrapper’s kick yesterday, and there were still bruises around her eyes. Even without looking in the mirror, Riley Osborne knew she couldn’t possibly look good now!

"Make sure you get plenty of rest, and if you need anything, feel free to contact me!"

Anna and Riley Osborne didn’t have a close friendship, so after staying in the hospital room for over half an hour, there was nothing left to talk about.

Actually, Anna could see that Riley Osborne was a girl who understood her own limits.

So the line ’if you need anything, feel free to contact me’ was just courtesy, understood by both of them.

Riley Osborne felt bad enough for almost getting Miss Thornton involved this time, so how could she possibly reach out to her again?

So after this, the two of them wouldn’t need to stay in contact.

Even if they were in the same circle, if they happened to meet at a film set in the future, it would be nothing more than exchanging a nod and a faint smile.

However, just as Anna Thornton and Mary walked out of Riley Osborne’s hospital room, she suddenly saw two familiar figures outside the door.

Two men, tall and sturdy, stood straight as pine trees at the door, and their shiny bald heads were unmistakably Mason King and Leo King.

Mason King met Anna’s gaze, showing a broad smile with his white teeth, looking a bit naive.

But Leo King didn’t react at all; he didn’t even look at Anna, maintaining a tense expression the whole time.

"Are you guys sent by Conrad Sterling to protect Riley Osborne?" Anna asked Mason King.

"Yes, Miss Thornton!"

"I understand."

Anna turned back and looked through the half-opened door at Riley Osborne. She was still struggling to hold a small mirror above her head, trying to cover the bruising on her left eye and mouth with strands of hair—her intentions were plain to see.

Despite being so badly injured, her first concern upon meeting was her appearance. Maybe it was because Conrad Sterling was coming later.

Mason King hadn’t seen Anna in a long time, and he was quite excited.

But for some reason, after Miss Thornton asked him a question, it seemed like she wasn’t very pleased.

...

Kindergarten was over, and Pop slipped out of the line of little carrots.

The little munchkin recently enjoyed clinging to the sugar figure vendor’s cart at the school gate, watching the vendor grandpa draw intricate sugar figures, drooling.

"Little one, want a sugar figure? It’s five bucks each!" the old man asked her.

Pop reached into her pocket, her chubby hand grabbing a handful of air and handing it to the vendor grandpa.

The latter: "...You need real money. If you don’t have any, you can ask your parents to buy it for you!"

Upon hearing this, Pop turned back, gazing hopefully at Lola.

"You can’t eat too much sugar!"

Lola’s expression was serious; without adults around, he acted just like a little guardian.

"Just a little bit~"

Pop extended her pinky finger, gesturing as if she wanted only a little.

But her eyes kept glancing at the largest sugar figure on the stand, the one with the most sugar.

"No way!" Lola’s tone was uncompromising.

Pop pouted...

"Little one, want a sugar figure? Uncle can buy it for you!"

Usually, when an adult suddenly talks to a child and uses buying sweets as bait, they mostly have bad intentions.

’Uncle will buy you sweets,’ is often followed by something like ’Uncle will take you to eat more tasty stuff.’

And then, little ones who are greedy and not too bright are led away by child traffickers like that.

As a little adult, Lola immediately sensed the danger and looked up alertly.

And what a surprise it was when he looked!

Standing in front of them was a brawny African man, speaking fluent Mandarin and looking down with a mischievous smile.

Wasn’t this scene already horrifying enough?

Lola was afraid his sister would be trafficked to Africa, so he hurriedly grabbed Pop’s hand to take her back to the kindergarten gate.

After just one step, both little ones were lifted by the scruffs of their necks, their feet dangling off the ground!

"But you need to come with uncle to meet someone!"