Filed to story: Snatched a Billionaire to be My Husband Book (Cora & Byron)
Instead, she was warning Jane to cease ordering Mia to find fault with her, lest she expose the audio recording, which would bring them down together.
By then, Jane had lost all interest in continuing the conversation with Cora and excused herself, claiming that she had to check on a patient.
Cora, in turn, returned to Flora’s ward after completing her task.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing about Jane’s departure, Flora showed a great interest in her affairs.
“Dr. Yoris is really good-looking. She must also be doing well at work, right? By the way, does she have a boyfriend now? Or is she married?”
Cora had a grudge against Jane because of the latter destroying her phone, so Flora’s repeated mention of Jane infuriated her.
“Could you please stop talking about her? Why are you so interested in her? It’s like you think she’s your own daughter!”
In fact, Cora wanted to question Flora if her deep concern for Jane was because she was the daughter of Flora’s first love.
However, considering that bringing up Flora’s first love had caused her emotional distress in the past,
Cora chose her words more carefully.
Still, Flora’s expression stiffened when she heard that.
Upon noting that, Cora tried to lighten the atmosphere, not wanting to upset her mother further.
“Mom, I’m not trying to make any accusations. I just feel down that you seem to care more about Jane and haven’t been asking about me.”
She reminded herself that she couldn’t afford to lose her mother after already losing her father.
Again and again, she told herself to let everything else go for Flora’s sake.
Thankfully, her words seemed to bring Flora back to her usual self.
“You have nothing to worry about, my dear. I just think that half of your burden would be reduced if she could save us half of the operation fee. That’s why I showed her more care. It’s all for your own good, you know?”
Cora felt touched by her mother’s words.
She felt that Flora was genuinely kind to her, even going as far as engaging in a cordial conversation with the daughter of her first love just to try to lessen her financial burden.
However, Flora suddenly asked,
“Why didn’t you tell me you have a boyfriend?”
“Me? A boyfriend? Who told you that?”
Cora asked.
However, she felt that it was an unnecessary question after posing it.
Flora had been staying in the hospital for some time. Due to the Lane family’s bankruptcy, their relatives had cut ties with them, so hardly anyone came to visit Flora, and she had no contact with outsiders.
Besides the attending doctors, Matt and Sally, the only person who could keep Flora updated about the outside world would be Jane, who had just left.
Sally knew better than to burden Flora with her daughter’s relationship problems, as it would likely trigger Flora emotionally.
Matt couldn’t possibly have done it either, for he wasn’t even aware of Cora’s relationship problems.
So, by process of elimination, Cora figured Jane would be the one who relayed the information to Flora.
As expected, Flora replied,
“It’s Dr. Yoris! She mentioned that your boyfriend works as an assistant. He seems nice and looks good.”
Flora also added,
“I don’t expect much from your partner as long as he’s a good person. By the way, you should introduce him to me someday.”
Although Jane’s positive message brought a smile to Flora’s face, Cora couldn’t help feeling dismayed.
Thus, when Flora asked about meeting her boyfriend, Cora didn’t respond directly.
“Let’s talk about it later.”
Deep down, she knew that she couldn’t possibly show her current partner to Flora.
Firstly, Byron wasn’t Carter, which was who people believed him to be. He wasn’t merely an assistant.
Secondly, Byron was in charge of their relationship and wasn’t one to try to please others. Naturally, he wouldn’t meet Flora at the hospital just to please her.
Lastly, but most importantly, after the unpleasant incident at Breezy Tides, Byron seemed to have unilaterally ended their relationship. Days had passed without her seeing him, and she hadn’t heard a word from him either.
Cora intended to pack Byron’s belongings and mail them to him after going home that day.
Under such circumstances, it was even more improbable for her to introduce him to Flora.
Flora, however, seemed adamant about it and was persistent in trying to persuade Cora.
“You’re eligible for marriage now. I will be relieved if this can be settled before my operation. With that, I will have good news for your father even after I passed away in case the operation failed.”
“Mom, cut that nonsense. There’s a high success rate for the operation, and Matt will do his best to help you recover…”
Cora had yet to fully come to terms with her father’s passing, and any mention of his absence was deeply painful for her.
Her head was buzzing, and she was already feeling down. Despite that, she got herself together and did her best to comfort Flora.
Flora and Gabe were her two remaining family members, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing them.
“There are always risks in an operation. Being a medical student, don’t you know this better than anyone else? I would like to meet your boyfriend before the operation to see if he’s worthy of your trust for a lifetime.”
Flora rambled on.
It had been a while since Cora last saw her speaking animatedly, showing that she still had much concern for her daughter.
“Just tell me when you can introduce him to me. I won’t leak it to anyone.”
Touched by her mother’s concern, Cora finally gave in.
“All right, I’ll check out his schedule.”
Cora regretted her decision as soon as she said that.
There was no way she could find a boyfriend to introduce to Flora that quickly.
She and Byron were nothing more than friends with benefits. Moreover, they hadn’t been in touch since
Jane’s birthday party. Besides, Byron wouldn’t help her in this situation.
“That’s a promise, then. I’ll have to change out of my hospital gown when you bring him over.”
Flora seemed delighted and started searching for her clothes near the cabinet.
“I’m sure I left some of my clothes here. Why can’t I find them?”
It had been a while since Cora had seen Flora in such high spirits. She figured her promise to introduce her boyfriend to Flora might not be such a bad idea after all.
When worst came to worst, she could resort to finding a temporary stand-in at a talent market.
After Jane separated from Cora, she returned to her office.
Inside, she found her mother, Sara, already there, holding a few boxes of snacks and instructing a doctor,
“Keep one box for Jane and share the rest with your colleagues.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Sara Yoris, you are so kind! Would you care to take me in as your servant? I have studied medicine and can handle a scalpel!”
The doctor joked after taking the snacks from Sara, to which she chuckled.
“You kids love to talk nonsense. Go out and have some snacks before they melt. They won’t taste as good if that happened.”
“In that case, I’ll give you and Dr. Yoris some space.”
After the doctor left, Jane took hold of Sara’s hand.
“Mom, why are you here?”
“I brought a few sets of clothes for your father and some of your favorite snacks,”
Sara replied.
“Will Dad be away from home again?”
Jane’s dissatisfaction with William was evident in the way she spoke.
Despite never having to worry about food and clothing growing up, she rarely saw her father, let alone interacted with him.
“He’ll be attending a seminar and will leave for outstation right after work today.”
Sara seemed disgruntled as well. Throughout her long marriage with William, she rarely ever spent time with him, for he spent far more time with his patients than with her.
However, they soon changed the topic. After all, they were already familiar with William’s prolonged absence at home for months on end.
“I’m just here to remind you to go on dates with Byron when you have time. Don’t be like your father, who spends all his time in the hospital. You’ll regret when someone else takes your place on the wedding altar when you’re this close to standing on it.”
Sara didn’t drop by Jane’s office just to bring her some snacks.
The core of the matter was Byron’s reluctance to get engaged with Jane during her birthday party, which left Sara feeling anxious.
Her anxiety only flared when she noticed Byron seemed to regard Cara differently. She was determined to make Jane the winner.
“I know.”
Jane wasn’t too keen on having a conversation about Byron with her mother because she, too, found Byron’s feelings unfathomable.
Their parents had supported their relationship, and Byron never denied anything when his friends joked about Jane being his fianc?e when they were both present on important occasions.
Yet, when it came to setting the matter in stone, he would dance around the subject.
“What’s with that response? You need to take the initiative in some things. You can’t just wait for Byron to decide everything,”
Sara advised.
She was concerned that Jane might end up like her father, focusing all her attention on her career and offering Byron to someone else.
“Speaking of which, didn’t Byron give you an anklet before? Why haven’t I seen you wearing it?”
While trying to share her experiences as an elder, she casually brought up the anklet Byron got at the auction. Jane averted her gaze at the mention of it.
The truth was that she never got the anklet even though she was certain Byron would be gifting it to her as her birthday present.
Thus, she unwrapped Byron’s present for her after returning from Breezy Tides, only to find a set of diamond jewelry in the gift box.
Although the diamond jewelry was also an expensive present in and of itself, the anklet was far more meaningful to her.