At the sight of Lucian’s condition, Roxanne couldn’t help frowning. Conversely, Estella merely heard that her condition was contagious but didn’t see the red spots on Lucian’s body. She shrunk to the side pitifully, refusing to allow the two adults to touch her further.
Gathering her wits about her, Roxanne dipped her eyes. When she saw Estella curled up in a ball, her heart clenched painfully. “Come over here, Essie. Let me have a look at you.”
Estella shook her head, replying timidly, “No, it’s okay. I’ll infect you, Ms. Jarvis.”
Her words had Roxanne’s eyes stinging. Smiling, she coaxed, “I’m not afraid. I’ve treated patients with similar conditions in the past and have suffered from this condition previously. Therefore, I won’t be infected anymore.”
Even Lucian was momentarily stupefied to hear that, mistakenly assuming that she was speaking the truth.
Estella scrutinized Roxanne suspiciously for a long time. Only when she had ascertained that the latter didn’t seem to be lying, and she was indeed feeling so awful that she couldn’t put up with it any longer did she slowly inch over to Roxanne and stretch her hand out.
Roxanne stroked her head to comfort her before reaching out and taking her wrist to diagnose her condition.
At the side, Lucian stared at the woman in front of him with a dark look in his eyes.
Her expression when she spoke earlier had me duped as well. But on second thought, she hadn’t even checked Essie over. So, how could she have known whether her condition was contagious? Thus, her words earlier were only meant to console Essie.
By the time realization dawned upon him, Roxanne had already started taking Estella’s pulse. There was no point in him saying anything then. A strange feeling welled within him.
She has no idea of her relationship with Essie, yet she’s willing to take such a colossal risk to diagnose and treat her…
For a moment, he even regretted bringing Estella over.
I should’ve brought Essie to the hospital. At the very least, I could have prevented Roxanne from being infected.
While Roxanne was checking Estella over, Archie and Benny trotted in curiously.
Earlier, they vaguely heard some noise outside, so they got up to have a look. To their sheer surprise, they spotted Lucian’s car in the courtyard.
They initially thought that he came alone, so they wanted to come over and sneak a look to ascertain whether the two adults were having a row again.
Unexpectedly, no sooner had they reached Roxanne’s bedroom door than they caught sight of Estella sitting on Roxanne’s bed pitifully with red spots dotting her exposed wrist and neck. She appeared as though she was gravely ill.
Seeing that, they both wore worried expressions on their faces. They hastily sprinted over to the bed to have a look at Estella.
In the room, both adults were preoccupied with their respective thoughts. Estella, on the other hand, was itching badly. No one noticed Archie and Benny’s approach.
Lucian was the first to notice them.
When he saw them dashing in without warning, his brows abruptly knitted together, and he warned in a deep voice, “Don’t come in.”
Regretfully, it was already too late. Archie and Benny gingerly touched Estella’s neck with worry written all over their faces. “What’s wrong with Essie, Mommy?”
It wasn’t until Roxanne heard their voices that she jolted back to reality and shifted her gaze away from Estella’s wrist.
The instant she laid eyes on their outstretched hands, her pupils constricted.
Withdrawing their hands, Archie and Benny looked at each other in bemusement.
“How itchy!” Benny lowered his head and glanced at his wrist, only to see red spots similar to the ones on Estella’s neck dotting his wrist.
Shortly after, Archie’s arm also started itching. Archie and Benny gazed at Roxanne blankly, not understanding what had happened to them.
A glint of self-recrimination flashed across Roxanne’s eyes when she saw that they had both gotten infected.
If only I had closed the door earlier, I would’ve noticed their entry in time and stopped them from approaching. Then, they wouldn’t have gotten infected…
“It’s so itchy, Mommy.” With a frown marring his countenance, Benny stretched out his hand to scratch the itch.
“Don’t touch it!” Roxanne hastily ordered.
As her words rang out, Lucian stepped forward and grabbed Archie and Benny’s hands to prevent them from simply scratching their itches.
Just now, he didn’t dare touch them out of consideration that he was already infected. That was why he didn’t physically stop them.
Since they had also been infected then, that was no longer a worry.
Meanwhile, Estella already had that experience. While refraining from scratching her body, she pinned her eyes on Archie and Benny as she apologized, “I’m sorry. This is all on me…”
When Archie and Benny heard that, they endured the itch assailing them and comforted her instead. “We asked for it. It has nothing to do with you.”
After saying that, it occurred to them that Estella had suffered such torment for an indeterminably long time. Gritting their teeth, they turned solemn and said to Lucian, “Let go of us, Mr. Farwell. We won’t scratch anywhere!”
Since Essie can endure it, we can naturally do the same! We need to be good role models for her!
Lucian eyed them both skeptically. Only when he was sure he couldn’t detect any signs of lying did he slowly loosen his hold on them.
Sure enough, Archie and Benny didn’t touch the red spots on their bodies throughout it all.
“Ms. Jarvis…” Estella muttered with much difficulty out of the blue.
Roxanne’s heart lurched. She dropped her hand from Estella’s wrist and touched the girl’s face instead.
When they came over earlier, the red spots hadn’t yet spread to her face.
Right then, however, her entire face was stained red.
With a single touch, Roxanne discovered that Estella was already running a slight fever. At once, her heart sank.
“What’s wrong?” Lucian inquired with a frown, his expression likewise darkening a shade.
Shaking her head, Roxanne merely murmured, “I’m stepping out to make a call.”
After saying that, she instructed the three children, “I’m going out for a while. Don’t touch the red spots on your bodies.”
In response, the children nodded obediently.
Having obtained their agreement, Roxanne pivoted and left the room.
His brows scrunching together, Lucian touched Estella’s forehead. Upon detecting that she was running a fever, he initially wanted to step out after Roxanne to ask about her condition. But it was clear that someone needed to keep the children company, so he could only give that plan up.
At the door, Roxanne rolled up her sleeves and took a gander at her arm. Unsurprisingly, red spots had also manifested on her arm.
Since they were adults, their resistance was stronger than children. For that reason, Archie and Benny developed a reaction as soon as they touched Estella, while she and Lucian were infected slowly.
If her diagnosis was correct, Estella’s symptoms obviously indicated an allergy due to bacterial infection.
As time dragged on, the symptoms would only worsen.
She and Lucian would still be fine, but the three children would inevitably have to suffer quite a bit.
Worse still, Estella had already developed subsequent symptoms.
At the thought of the children inside, Roxanne didn’t dare delay things anymore. She whipped out her phone and called Colby right away.
She initially thought that she would have to wait for a while before he answered, as it was late at night.
Unexpectedly, the person on the other end picked up the call mere seconds after it was connected.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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