Chapter 783 Stop Pretending
While Benedict jutted his chin in silence, Elise was able to see through the mild-mannered nature hidden beneath his unforgiving behavior. Because of that, she began to feel more comfortable around the man, with whom she then tried to ingratiate herself. “Can I depend on you for help from now on, Uncle Benedict?”
Benedict stood in place and looked down, pondering for a short while before he turned around and looked Elise in the eye. “We might have fallen out back then, but I never said I’d abandon you.”
Aw! Everyone in the Joslin Family is so kind. At the thought of that, Elise felt her heart melting, extending her arms to hug Benedict, as if Anastasia was hugging her uncle. “Thank you so much, Uncle Benedict.”
In that instant, Benedict’s heart raced like a jackhammer as he took a deep breath and tried his best to keep a straight face. Then, he calmly replied, “No worries.” Yes! Yes! My niece is finally doing something to coax me! “Ahem!” Benedict pushed her away, intentionally distancing himself from her while pretending to feel annoyed with that. “Have a little decency, would you? You’re a grown lady. People are going to laugh at you if they see you doing that.”
“They can laugh all they want.” Elise seized Benedict’s arm and said, “Because they’re probably just jealous of me for having such an awesome uncle, so I’m not worried about that at all.”
Upon hearing that, Benedict eventually burst into laughter in amusement, whereupon the two of them proceeded to chat happily while walking away. “You’re always unpredictable because I’m sure you’re going to complain about me for being bossy again one day!”
“Nope, that is not going to happen. I like it when you boss me around, Uncle Benedict.” Elise felt as if she had completely lived her life as Anastasia. After all, she slowly began to soften up because everyone in the family seemed to love her a lot.
A few minutes later, the bright sunshine was blocked by a few emerging dark clouds just as the weather took an unexpected change. Meanwhile, Benedict suddenly held his right knee and sank to his other one. At the same time, his face twisted in pain while his forehead began to be covered with cold sweat.
“Are you alright, Uncle Benedict?” Elise held the man’s arm, preventing him from collapsing onto the ground.
“Take me into the house.” Benedict spoke with a painful voice but eventually managed to overcome the pain with his willpower and Elise’s help and got into the estate.
Upon taking the man to the couch, Elise was joined by Benjamin, who instructed Noa to send for the doctor after the maid heard the commotion and came to investigate what was going on. “Get the doctor now!”
As soon as the maid nodded and ran out the door, Elise quickly turned her attention to Benedict, who had already rolled his trouser leg up. She then saw a huge bruise on Benedict’s leg, unable to believe that it was the same leg he kicked Miguel with. “How did you get this?” Elise crouched down and took a closer look at the bruise, feeling surprised to see such a severe injury on Benedict. After all, it was caused by a delay in the treatment, but considering the Joslin Family’s wealthy background, Elise couldn’t understand how something like this could happen to Benedict.
“Do you really not remember anything about it?” Benjamin asked.
“Did I have anything to do with that?” Elise was confused.
Benjamin nodded with a complicated emotion on her face. “Three years ago, Edmond lured you to the moat during winter, saying that you guys were supposed to do some ice-skating there.
When your uncle found out about it, he immediately tried to stop you, but as he got there, the ice beneath his feet cracked shortly before he fell into the water. Although he was rescued an hour later, his knee was left with a permanent injury that would pain him overwhelmingly every time it rained.”
After hearing the story, Elise was taken over by a mixture of complicated feelings on the inside. Anastasia must have been a really rebellious girl when she was still alive. Well, what can I do now anyway besides cleaning Anastasia’s mess for her? Thinking about the situation she was in, Elise had to brace herself for what was coming to her.
With her mouth left wide agape, she was about to order the maid to fetch her silver needles just when Noa returned with the doctor. Therefore, Elise quickly stepped aside and made way for the doctor, standing aside while watching him treat Benedict.
Since Benedict was suffering from Kienbock’s Disease, Elise reckoned that traditional medical treatment was the best way to treat his condition. Nevertheless, the doctor only took a glimpse of Benedict’s bruise before reaching for his syringe, which he was about to inject him with. “His condition seems to have worsened a little, but I’ll give him some imported medicine later and increase the dosage. It should probably help stabilize his condition more effectively.” The doctor explained to Benjamin.
While Benjamin nodded his head trustfully, Elise couldn’t seem to hold in skepticism any longer. “I’m sorry. I mean no disrespect to your professionalism, but don’t you think there’s more you could do? You could have looked into his condition more thoroughly before you prescribed some medicine, couldn’t you?”
The doctor glimpsed Elise as a darkened look flashed across her face, but considering the fact that she was a part of the Joslin Family, he decided to hold in his anger and refuted Elise euphemistically. “A patient’s life is a doctor’s priority, but I suppose I should understand that it is not easy for everyone to understand what medical studies are about. However, that doesn’t mean I can tolerate your doubts about my years of experience and professionalism.”
“With all due respect, my uncle is only suffering from frostbite, which is not something incurable. So, I want to know why it’s still bothering my uncle even after three years. Did you really look into his condition? Why didn’t you continue to let him suffer like that?” Elise replied directly.
“What do you mean? I would have treated his condition if I had known what to do. You know what? I’m starting to think that you’re insulting my credibility.” The doctor lost his cool, his face flustering in anger.
“I have no interest in knowing more about your credibility. All I know is that the longer my uncle’s condition goes untreated, the more likely he is to lose his leg. For that, please hand me a copy of his medical record. I’d like to have a look at it.” Elise stretched out her hand emotionlessly.
“I see what’s going on now.” The doctor pondered and started to point his finger at Elise. “You must be Miss White, the lady who got all the spotlight in today’s feast, right? If you really cared for your uncle, you shouldn’t have let him fall into the water. Showing your fake sympathy now while insulting me isn’t going to change anything. Get off your high horse!”
“Enough. Stop this trivial bickering.” Overwhelmed by the unbearable pain, Benedict interrupted their conversation and said, “None of you is wrong, but for now, please attend to my condition first. Doctor, give me the jab.” Although Benedict’s words didn’t show his stance about whose side he was on, he seemed to have chosen to trust the doctor. In the meantime, Elise quickly found herself at a disadvantage without any apparent way of explaining herself. After all, she couldn’t reveal her talent in the art of healing, considering the circumstances, so she decided to keep a low profile at the moment while researching more about Benedict’s condition until the time was right.
…
On the other hand, the production of the movie, ‘Iron Lady’, was assigned to Jamie’s company. In order to capitalize on the hype and high expectations of the movie, the filming crew spent countless days and nights working on the shooting. Since Elise was the original author and producer, she was needed to supervise the progress on set.
As soon as she arrived at the lounge, the director took her with him and introduced her to the actors and actresses in the dressing room. Nevertheless, what surprised Elise the most was that Jamie managed to recruit Jack to play the leading male character, although she knew she was still a new and barely known author.
“Miss White, it’s an honor to work with you.” Jack made the first move of greeting Elise, who responded with a nod. The next moment, they approached the female protagonist of the film.
“Alright, everybody. Stop whatever you’re doing now and meet the original author of the story—Miss White.”
The director grabbed everyone’s attention before introducing Elise. “Nice to meet you, Miss White.”
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen.”
