Chapter 43 Being Sarcastic

It had been three days since Jonas finished his work. Melinda was shocked when she saw him—his
eyes were dark and sunken, and his facial hair was unkempt. It was an understatement to say that he
looked haggard.

Despite this, he still looked presentable in his tailored suit, and his eyes were still as sharp as ever.

It was the weekend, and Jonas stayed in the company for half a day before coming back to the Gu's
mansion. William's people proved to be quite reliable. Meanwhile, Emily was much better now. As he
took care of Emily every day, he reported the situation to Jonas in real time.

Nelson was playing chess with Melinda. Jonas was standing behind her, watching their game with a
slight frown.

Melinda's fingers tapped against the table, her short elegant nails rasping against wood.

Just when she was about to raise her hand and move a chess piece, a voice came from behind her.

"Move it there," Jonas mumbled. For a moment, Melinda hesitated, wanting to follow Jonas's
suggestion.

She was so focused on their game that she had almost forgotten that Jonas was standing behind her.
At first, Nelson was the one who was winning, but when Melinda took Jonas's advice, the tables had
been turned quickly. Nelson looked at Jonas with dissatisfaction, and leaned over the table with more
concentration.

Finally, the game was all taken over by Jonas. He helped Melinda win against Nelson by a narrow lead.

"Well, how is it fair that I'm playing against two people? It should be against the rules to coach like
that!" Nelson stated as he crossed his arms over his chest. There was, however, a smile on his face as



he said this, as he was glad to see that Jonas and Melinda looked like they were getting along with
each other.

When they put away the chessboard, Nelson excused himself. It was routine for him to take a nap in
the afternoon. Before leaving, Jonas freshened up and changed into his casual clothes.

"Are you going out?" Melinda asked.

It was such a surprising question for her to ask since it had been such a long time since she had shown
any form of care towards Jonas.

"I'm going to see Emily,"

he said matter-of-factly. Looking at his frank manner, she didn't know what to say. She pursed her lips
and looked at Jonas without saying a word.

Inexplicably, under such eyesight, Jonas felt a bit uncomfortable from the guilt he suddenly felt.

Melinda saw this, and forced a slight smile. "Okay, I understand."

After saying that, Melinda turned around and walked away, feeling that she must have been out of her
mind. As soon as she said that, she wished she could bite her tongue off.

They had been having such a pleasant time together that she had forgotten to distance herself from
him. Melinda took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

Jonas tried to shrug it off and went to see Emily. Whenever Emily saw him, her face instantly lit up.
Knowing that he was worried for her made her feel very happy.

In truth, Emily had been actively keeping her distance from Jonas, as if they were just ordinary friends
and nothing more. But he didn't notice that, and just did what he thought he should do.



In the following days, since there weren't a lot of company affairs going on, Jonas went to visit Emily
after dealing with his work. Even though this was the case, Nelson was still dissatisfied with Jonas's
behavior.

Jonas wasn't shallow not to notice the current atmosphere in the Gu's mansion. It was obvious that
both Melinda and Nelson were uncomfortable.

"Jonas, I couldn't help but notice that Mellie doesn't look well today. Maybe you should have a doctor
come over and check up on her? Even if nothing serious turns up, you should still take good care of
her. Don't let her be as weak as before,"

Nelson said in a hurry when he saw that Jonas was about to go out. He then gave a hint with his eyes
to Melinda. When Jonas looked at her, she quickly held the table beside her, acting to be too weak to
stand up by herself.

'Good girl,' Nelson thought as his brows raised in surprise.

"Grandpa, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I don't want to be in the way of whatever Jonas has to do,"
Melinda said.

Afterwards, Melinda bit her lips as if she was bearing great pain and grievances.

Looking at their exaggerated acting, Jonas was left speechless. Finally, he walked over to help
Melinda.

In spite of her strong resistance to Jonas's touch, Melinda leaned against him, making her whole act
even more convincing.

"Take Mellie to your bedroom and have a good rest," Nelson urged again.



After arriving at her bedroom, Jonas called a doctor to have a physical examination for her. Not long
after Melinda lay down in bed, she actually started looking really bad.

It was no longer a part of her act as she always felt ill when she had her period. Her forehead was
sheen with sweat, and her plump lips were pale and trembling.

For the entire afternoon, Jonas took care of Melinda. He felt helpless that he was unable to share her
pain.

Meanwhile, as Melinda looked at Jonas, she found herself getting annoyed at him. There was so much
discomfort she was going through that she couldn't help but lose her temper. Much to her surprise,
Jonas just bore her anger silently.

It took about two days before Melinda turned back to normal. During that time, Jonas had barely left her
side. When Nelson found out about this, he felt a bit regretful as Melinda had not been pregnant yet.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Emily stared at the phone, full of sadness in her eyes. 'Jonas hasn't
contacted me for three days now,' she thought. 'Am I just getting too sentimental? Should I not care
that he didn't come visit me?'

She was going to get discharged from the hospital today, and Jonas had said that he would come pick
her up. After she finished up some of the paperwork, however, Jonas was still nowhere in sight. There
was no other choice for Emily but to leave with her assistant.

'Maybe I should've called Jonas... But he didn't even think to call me when he knows that I'll get
discharged today! Maybe he really doesn't care for me as much as I thought he did.'

As she thought of this, Emily gripped her purse tightly. There was a trace of bitterness in her eyes that
had never been there before.



'No! Jonas can't forget about me. I won't allow it!'

On the other hand, Melinda's period was coming to an end and yet she still felt a bit woozy. Her eyes
stared blankly at the TV as she hugged her pillow, lost in thought.

Emily had gone straight to the Gu's mansion. There was a smile on her face as she stepped inside.

"Tell Jonas and Melinda that I'm here," Emily told one of the servants present.

Little did she know that Nelson was there as well. When Emily saw him, a trace of fear flashed through
her eyes. "Grandpa," she greeted, her voice trembling slightly.

"Emily,"

Nelson replied with a cold voice, but he didn't say anything else. Emily was embarrassed and stood
still. Her hands were clenched into fists, causing wrinkles on her leather bag.

"Mr. Jonas and Mrs. Gu are here," a servant announced.

Gavin spotted two people walking towards this side. The servant only told them that they had a guest,
but did not tell them who it was. Jonas already had a hunch who it was, and these thoughts were
confirmed when he caught sight of Emily.

Seeing her, Jonas quickened his pace to come to Emily's side. Melinda, on the other hand, just walked
unhurriedly, an eyebrow slightly raised.

"How are you feeling? Do you feel better? You shouldn't be wandering around."

Jonas could not help frowning since Emily just recovered from illness. He seemed to be blaming her,
but his words were out of care, which made Emily happy in her heart.

'He really... cares about me,' Emily thought.



"I… Jonas, I miss you,"

Emily bit her lips and finally said in a low voice. She lowered her head as if she was angry with him, but
the words came out more like a light complaint.

It was then that Jonas realized he hadn't visited Emily for a long time.

"Ah, Mellie! You look so much better today. It seems that Jonas has taken good care of you,"

Nelson spoke as soon as he saw Melinda come into the hall. When Emily heard that Jonas was looking
after Melinda, her face changed.

"Emily, long time no see."

Seeing Emily looking at her, Melinda simply greeted her, and then stood next to Nelson. The group of
people then made their way to sit on the sofa to have some tea.

Emily couldn't help cast a sidelong glance at Melinda from time to time. From the way she saw it,
Melinda was deliberately posing as the hostess to annoy her.

However, Melinda wasn't really thinking about such a thing, and had just truly wanted to courteously
greet Emily. After a short while, the tea arrived. Feeling a bit parched, Melinda lifted her cup to take a
sip, but Jonas stopped her. She looked at him in confusion.

"This tea is cold. You shouldn't drink that," he explained.

There was a trace of irresistible softness in Jonas's voice. His lips turned down in a frown and his eyes
were filled with reproach, as if he was upset that Melinda was about to do something that was harmful
for her.

Blinking, Melinda carefully put back her cup of tea on the table.



Seeing this, Jonas smiled with satisfaction and handed a glass of warm water to Melinda to comfort
her.

All the while, Emily had been watching the whole scene silently. Her hand tightly gripped on the cup,
almost making it break. Gritting her teeth secretly, she put down her cup as well and never touched it
again.

After chatting for a while, Nelson went upstairs to take his routine afternoon nap. As soon as he was
gone, the atmosphere between Jonas and the two women was really weird and awkward.

"I didn't expect that your health was so delicate and fragile as well,"

Emily said sarcastically as she looked at Melinda's face, a hint of envy flashing through her eyes.

"I guess I'm getting too old to bear hardships. Besides, it feels so nice to be spoiled. Wouldn't you
agree?"

Although there was a smile on Melinda's face as she said this, it was obvious that she was directly
attacking Emily. Her comment made Emily think of how Jonas had been taking care of Melinda for the
past few days, which consequently left Emily alone in the hospital.

"I always thought that you are a strong woman, not a frail girl like me,"

Emily said with a shrug, her eyes filled with resilience and stubbornness.

"But I am strong. In fact, I am actually very different from you," Melinda said in a meaningful tone.

Just when Emily was about to ask her what she meant by that, Melinda suddenly changed the topic.
"I've read the news some time ago. About some uncultured Internet celebrities. They talked rubbish
and affected their fans. They often spread bad ideas," Melinda said.



"Don't you think these kinds of people are a bad influence? Oh, and by the way, you often go live
stream as an influencer. Are those people really like how they act on camera or is it just so that they
can get more attention?"

Melinda turned to look at Emily confusedly. How could Emily not know the irony behind it? How could
she compare those low-end girls with her!

"Personally I don't think it's the right thing to do, whether or not you're just trying to attract attention to
yourself. This kind of world view just invites nothing but trouble to others. They are so disgusting!"

Since Melinda jeered at her again and again, Emily had no reason to be polite to her any longer. She
knew how to fight back.

"Don't you think these kinds of people are a bad influence? Oh, and by the way, you often go live
stream as an influencer. Are those people really like how they act on camera or is it just so that they
can get more attention?"

Melinda turned to look at Emily confusedly. How could Emily not know the irony behind it? How could
she compare those low-end girls with her!

"Personally | don't think it's the right thing to do, whether or not you're just trying to attract attention to
yourself. This kind of world view just invites nothing but trouble to others. They are so disgusting!"

Since Melinda jeered at her again and again, Emily had no reason to be polite to her any longer. She
knew how to fight back.



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