Chapter 61
61 Wilted
“Hm? You’re admitting you were wrong–wait, what?”
Eugene’s expression shifted.
“You…”
He thought for a second he was hearing things.
“What did you just say?”
Scarlett shoved the wilted sunflowers back into his hands with clear disgust.
“Mr. Eugene, I appreciate the gesture, but maybe save it for someone else. I can’t accept it.”
“Scarlett? You’re actually rejecting these flowers? Do you know how hard I worked to find them?”
Sunflowers were oddly rare today. He’d gone to several flower shops before one finally had a few left .
He bought them without a second thought.
Wasn’t that enough to show his sincerity?
As her brother, he had already taken a step back. And instead of meeting him halfway, she was calling him
out?
Back in the day, since he was a doctor and Scarlett was studying medicine, they’d had a lot in common.
Even when he needed live subjects for experiments, Scarlett would volunteer without hesitation.
And those experiments could easily be fatal if anything went wrong. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ƒindNoᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access s of novels early and in the highest quality.
His friends even joked-
You didn’t get a sister . You got a suicide squad member .
Among his whole social circle, Scarlett was the only one brave enough to risk her life for him. And she still regularly won awards at school.
It gave him major bragging rights.
So when he took her out, he’d act a little nicer than usual.
That only made Scarlett work even harder to support his medical career.
Over time, it gave him the feeling that even if he told Scarlett to die for him, she’d go without question.
She used to be so obedient. So submissive. What changed overnight?
No –no , that’s not it.
She was doing this on purpose./
She must think he came here today to ask her for something.
51 Wilted
That’s why she kept disrespecting him .
Her goal …
His gaze darkened.
Her goal must be to get him to agree to some conditions. Probably to earn better treatment than Rebecca once they were both back with the Joyner family.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt the flowers weren’t the problem at all. It was Scarlett – too vain. Too ambitious.
“Scarlett.”
His face was filled with annoyance.
Even contempt.
“You always pull these little stunts. No wonder no one likes you.”
Scarlett was confused.
What did she say that was so offensive?
No wonder the old saying goes: if the words don’t land, even one sentence is too much.
She never should’ve said anything to Eugene.
Before she could reply, Eugene went on.
“I don’t know what tricks you pulled to impress John.”
“But out of respect for him, you can still use my resources.”
Scarlett almost laughed.
His resources?
He meant using her as a test subject and then, maybe if he felt generous, letting her observe how medicine was processed in the hospital.
Back in college, many programs would organize visits to hospitals, with senior professors explaining the whole process.
There was nothing secret about it.
She used to think Eugene was just helping her learn more. Now she realized he was just brushing her off.
“You should keep your resources. What crows consider treasure might not suit a swan.”
Eugene’s face darkened. “You’re still not satisfied? Still playing hard to get ? ”
Scarlett realized they weren’t even operating in the same universe–conversation was pointles
Fine. Dust to dust, trash to trash. Time to wave goodbye to this fool.
61 Wilted
She waved him off and turned to leave.
“Scarlett, stop right there!”
Eugene saw that she was clearly annoyed and didn’t want to deal with him.
His pride took a massive hit.
He wanted to drag her back to a dark room and lock her up until she remembered her place.
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But just as he was about to act, he remembered how John had spoken about Scarlett–with such admiration.
He clenched his jaw and forced himself to stay put.
“You better remember–the Joyner family is not a place where you can do whatever you want!”
With that, he shoved the wilted sunflowers back into her arms and stormed off.
Scarlett went quiet.
Fine, leave–why drop this eyesore on her?
She no longer saw Eugene through the filter of family.
At this point, he was worse than some random loser off the internet.
People who had been watching started to leave now that the scene was over.
She spotted a trash can nearby and walked over.
In the past, she would’ve treated anything from the Joyner family like a treasure.
Now all she thought was-
Yeah .
Trash belongs in the trash .
“Scully?”
A voice called from under a nearby streetlamp. Connor walked over quickly.
When he saw the bouquet in her hands, the smile on his face froze.
He was holding a fiery red bouquet of roses.
“You accepted someone else’s gift?”
His voice sounded hurt, but he still hurried over to her.
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