Chapter 136 If I Want to Do It, I Will
At worst, she just had to suck it up and deal with it, deal with tutoring Aaron for three months! Or maybe, Tristan would bounce back to Velvet City before that. Katniss wasn't about to believe she couldn't handle it!
Katniss, like a pissed-off cat, spat out some harsh words, but Tristan? Scared? Yeah, right.
Not only did he not get mad, but he also laughed, took a drag of his cigarette, and blew the smoke right in her face. "This ain't about whether you need cash or not. I'm a playboy, and if I wanna do it, I will!"
The smoke made Katniss hack like crazy. She yanked her jaw free from his grip, and with all that coughing, she ended up clutching his fingers tight.
As she bent over, his forearm pressed snug against her slim waist, not an ounce of extra flesh.
She coughed until tears streamed down her face. Seeing this, Tristan put the cigarette back in his mouth and finally reached out to gently pat her back.
Worried the ash might fall on her, he turned his head slightly.
After a bit, Katniss stopped coughing. Realizing she was still holding his hand, she angrily bit down on it.
Tristan, wincing in pain, took the cigarette out of his mouth. "Let go!"
Katniss refused, but he didn't yank his hand back. It wasn't until she tasted blood that she let go.
Her cheeks still flushed with anger, she defiantly said, "Bastard, if you got the guts, come at me!"
She didn't believe that without using power and influence, she couldn't take him on!
Tristan, intrigued, looked at the bleeding bite mark on his wrist, the teeth marks clear as day, just like the time he had done it roughly and then she had left a mark on his shoulder. It'd probably take a few days to heal again.
Suddenly, he had a wicked thought, his throat tightened, and the horn of the G-Wagon outside suddenly honked, snapping him back to reality. "Let's wait and see," he said before turning and leaving.
In the G-Wagon, Ryan smacked Aaron on the head. "What the hell are you doing?"
Aaron, holding his head in grievance, didn't have time to explain before he saw Tristan coming out. He immediately scrambled from the front seat to the back.
Aaron said, "I couldn't see clearly from there!"
So he had moved forward a bit; who knew he would accidentally honk the horn.
"Even if you could see clearly, it's not for you to watch!" Ryan quickly unlocked the car and respectfully watched Tristan get in.
Tristan tugged at his tie, lazily leaned back in the seat, and without turning his head, said to Aaron, "From now on, mess around at home."
"Got it." Aaron understood what he meant: Tristan still didn't force him to obediently attend classes.
When Jesse left, he was directly escorted into Juliet's car, sitting angrily in the corner.
Juliet ignored him and dialed up Michael. "Forget about it; that chick's bugging Jesse again, she's a real pain. But no worries, I gave her a piece of my mind today, right in front of Tristan. He didn't even lift a finger to defend her, so he's probably just messing around, doesn't give a damn about her."
Michael thought for a sec and said, "Him doing nothing is the best protection."
Juliet caught on quick and asked, "You serious?"
"Either way, I need you to handle this for me." Michael added, "Mr. Jenkins has been in Nightfall City for over a decade and ain't planning on coming back. I'll back the family business."
The Jenkins Family's business was still rooted in Velvet City, mostly tied to the Astor Family.
So whether it was a carrot or a stick, Juliet had no choice but to play along.
"We're all family, no need to stress. Leave it to me." Juliet agreed without a second thought, and after hanging up, she saw Jesse's face was pale with anger. She patiently coaxed, "I won't hurt you, you can't trust some outsider over me, right?"
Jesse turned away. "You won't hurt me, but she hasn't either! We're not what you think, you just tore into her, how am I supposed to face her now?"
"You still wanna see her?" Juliet angrily punched Jesse's shoulder. "Forget it. As long as I'm breathing, you won't see her! That kind of woman is just a toy for rich guys, and you treat her like gold? What about our family's rep?"
Jesse's face turned pale with anger. "Mom, can you chill? We don't even know what really went down between her and Tristan. I think Tristan, with all his power, doesn't seem like a good guy. Maybe he forced Ms. Grey... Ouch!"
"You're driving me nuts! Tristan is not someone you can badmouth like that! I gotta knock some sense into you!"
The car was filled with angry shouting and chaos.
But no matter how much Juliet scolded, Jesse was convinced that Katniss was a good person.
Juliet had gone too far, and he needed to find a time to properly apologize to Katniss!
Katniss plopped down on the couch, tidied her messy long hair, and ran her fingers through it, lost in thought.
Her peaceful life was disrupted, turned into chaos. She needed to calm down to find a breakthrough.
Compared to a year ago, what reassured her now was that she held some power. She wasn't completely at the mercy of others.
The sudden ringing in the quiet room interrupted her thoughts. She glanced at the phone screen and quickly pushed down the complex emotions in her heart.
It was a call from Matilda. As soon as she picked up, Matilda's excited voice burst through. "Katniss! Get to the hospital, quick! Mom woke up!"
Her breath caught, and without a word, she hung up and bolted out the door.
The neon lights had just flicked on, and the roads were pretty empty. She floored it, running two red lights to get to the hospital as fast as possible.
Sophia had already been wheeled into the operating room, and Matilda was waiting outside, her eyes red from crying.
"How's Mom?" Katniss asked, panting as she skidded to a stop next to Matilda.
Matilda snapped out of it, quickly pulled her to sit down, and explained through tears of joy, "Mom opened her eyes just now. She looked at me, but she didn't respond when I called her. Luckily, Dr. Perez was still around, so he quickly got her into the operating room."
"Really?" Katniss was over the moon, and Matilda threw herself into her arms. The two hugged tightly, crying tears of joy.
Not long after, the light in the operating room went out.
Terry came out, took off his mask, and smiled, "Katniss is here too. You must have been worried. It's good news; your mom's physical signs are basically back to normal. She's awake."
That sentence made Katniss's tears fall uncontrollably.
"There's good and bad news," Terry added. "She's not fully recovered; she just opened her eyes. Her consciousness will gradually come back over time, but we can start using targeted cancer therapy on her now."
Her bodily functions returning to normal meant her metabolism would kick in, and cancer cells might come back too.
Using targeted therapy now could cure the cancer.
"Thanks, Terry." Katniss had just finished thanking him when her gaze fell on Sophia being wheeled out of the operating room.
From a distance, she could see Sophia's eyes open. Although they were expressionless, at least there was life in them.
She and Matilda rushed over, pushing Sophia back to the ward, reminiscent of the scene a year ago when they sent Sophia into the emergency room.
Terry then explained a bunch of things they needed to watch out for and the possible reactions to the targeted therapy.
Katniss patiently took notes. After about an hour of conversation, she returned to Sophia's side.
"Katniss, look, Mom is conscious!" Matilda couldn't wait to show Katniss. She called out to Sophia, "Mom, if you can hear me, blink your eyes."
The next second, Sophia's open eyes blinked.
Katniss was so happy she couldn't stop smiling, tears streaming down her face, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.
Even though it was just a blink, it was a good start!
It was the weekend, so Katniss and Matilda camped out in the ward for two whole days.
Except for when Sophia closed her eyes to sleep, they stayed right in her line of sight.
But time flew by, and soon it was Sunday night.
Katniss was getting ready to head back to work. She held Sophia's hand and said, "Mom, I gotta go to work to earn money for your treatment. You need to get better. If you hear me, blink your eyes."
Sophia's eyes moved slightly and then blinked.
Katniss was super satisfied with the response. She told Matilda to take good care of Sophia and then left the hospital.
Maybe because of Sophia's quick progress, she was in a rare good mood, full of energy.
After a busy Monday, she saw on her schedule that she was supposed to tutor Aaron that night, and she remembered Tristan was in Nightfall City.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she took out her phone and sent Aaron a message on Facebook: [Is Tristan home tonight?]
Aaron: [Are you coming to tutor me or to see him?]
His reply made Katniss frown. She dodged the topic and replied: [Didn't you say you were coming to the tutoringcenter?]
Her words clearly showed she didn't want to go to Celestial Villas.
But Aaron didn't give her a chance to refuse. He replied: [No, if you want to tutor, come to my house.]
With her hopes dashed, Katniss couldn't ask more. She packed her things and headed to Celestial Villas.
The door was opened a crack. She called out a couple of times but got no response, so she pushed the door open and went in.
This wasn't the first time this had happened. Her wary eyes scanned every corner of the house.
She was on guard against Aaron's tricks and also checking if Tristan was there.
After confirming there were no "traps" on the first floor, she slowly walked up to the second floor and saw Aaron coming out of the study on the third floor.
Aaron was holding books for 8th grade, and he nodded at her. "What are you dawdling for? Today, I want to have the lesson in the glass conservatory on the top floor. You have two minutes to get up here."
With that, he turned and went up to the conservatory.
Katniss didn't have time to think about what he was up to. She quickened her pace. The top floor of the villa was a glass conservatory, kinda like the one at the Forbes Mansion in Adelaide.
But only half of the conservatory was filled with plants; the other half had a 6-foot easel, set up as a studio.
Before Katniss could see the painting on the easel clearly, she heard the door slam shut behind her. She turned around to see Aaron locking the door from the outside, waving the key at her with a smug and arrogant look!
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