âWhoâs the one wasting the docâs time, huh?â Ellinor quipped, visibly annoyed. She grabbed Patricia by the collar and shoved her toward Xenia, âIf Ms. Howard here wasnât busy running her mouth, Iâd be done talking to the doctor by now!
Patricia stumbled and fell onto Xenia, seething with anger By the time she regained her footing and tried to interrupt Ellinor, it was too late.
Ellinor told the doctor, âBesides his usual diet, the patient also drank a beverage none of us had tasted beforeâ
The doctor took this seriously. âWhat kind of drink are we talking about?â
âHe downed a big glass of pomegranate juice freshly squeezed by his own mother. Doc, thereâs some residue of the juice on this napkin, maybe the hospital can run some tests on it to see if thereâs anything harmful With that, Ellinor handed over the stained napkin that she had used at the Howard familyâs dinner table, where she tasted and then spat out the juice.
The doctor nodded right away. âAlight, weâll test it right away and see if thereâs something fishy with this pomegranate juice.â
Ellinor nodded back, âGreat, thanks!â
Then, the doctor went back to the ER to arrange the test.
After watching Ellinor hand over the sample to the doctor, both Xenia and Patriciaâs faces dropped.
Before heading to the hospital, Xenia had ordered the house staff to clean up all the remaining juice and destroy all evidence Who wouldâve thought Ellinor would spit out the juice on a napkin and bring it to the hospital? This was just too much!
What could she do now? Once the hospital got the test results, she couldnât refute anything Balfour squinted at the mother-daughter duo, recalling how Xenia kept pushing Ellinor to drink the juice at dinner.
His face turned serious, Xenia, I hope thereâs nothing wrong with your juice! If something happens to Eyran because of this, it wonât just be swept under the rugh Xenia felt even more unsettled after Balfourâs warning But she couldnât show it, so she faked calmness, Balfour! I can understand if others suspect me, but how could you? Weâre family! Byran is my son, how could I possibly harm him?â
Balfour stared coldly at his stepmother and snorted sarcastically. âWho was the juice originally intended for? Need I say it out loud? When Byran wanted to drink it, you were reluctant. You just didnât have a good reason to refuse. I saw everythingâ
Theo frowned. Balfourâs suspicion made him feel uneasy and he clenched Ellinorâs shoulder tightly Thank god Ellinor was cautious. What could have happened if she didnât taste it and spit it out?
He shouldnât have agreed to let her go to the Howard familyâs house alone.
Balfourâs harsh words left Xenia speechless Patricia thought for a moment, her eyes reddening as she defended her mother, âBalfour, how can you talk to Mom like that?
Mom only squeezed fresh juice for our guest out of kindness today. Byran is her own son, how could she possibly let him drink it If there really was poison in the juice?â