Ignored When Chasing: Why Cry After I Got Engaged-Chapter 189: What If I Go Blind Again?

When Damian Hawthorne woke up, Cecilia Nathan was right there beside him.

"You’re awake?" Seeing him open his eyes, Cecilia Nathan let out a long sigh of relief. "The doctor said you have low blood sugar. Have your eating habits been irregular lately?"

After she spoke, Cecilia pursed her lips.

Damian Hawthorne had always had an irregular diet.

He was an extremely picky eater. The Hawthorne family had gone through more than a dozen chefs without finding one he was happy with. It wasn’t until Cecilia started cooking for him herself that Damian Hawthorne’s diet slowly became more regular.

But now that she no longer cooked for him, Damian Hawthorne’s eating habits had likely reverted to how they used to be.

"What do my irregular eating habits have to do with Miss Nathan?" Damian Hawthorne’s voice was cold, and he didn’t even spare her a glance.

Those two words, "Miss Nathan," were so distant and cold.

Cecilia’s heart clenched.

No matter what had happened in the past, Damian Hawthorne had never been this cold to her.

"You’re right, it has nothing to do with me. Your body is your own, but it also belongs to the Hawthorne Group. If you collapse, what about the thousands upon thousands of employees and their families who depend on you?" Cecilia grew angrier as she spoke. "And your eyes! You’re so careless with your own health. Is that fair to the person who donated them?"

Damian Hawthorne sneered. "What does fairness have to do with Miss Nathan?"

Cecilia froze.

’Right, what does this have to do with me?’

’But his eyes... they have everything to do with me...’

’And that was the one thing she couldn’t say.’

Cecilia took a deep breath and stood up. "I’ve said too much. The doctor said you’ll be fine, you just need to watch your diet. I have to go."

Damian Hawthorne’s magnetic voice sounded. "Does it really have nothing to do with Miss Nathan whether I live or die?"

"What if I go blind?"

"Damian Hawthorne!" Cecilia frowned, cutting him off. "Can you stop bringing up your eyes all the time?"

Cecilia had to admit, every time Damian Hawthorne mentioned his eyes, she would tense up.

But lately, for some reason, Damian Hawthorne acted as if he knew she cared about his eyes.

"Your eyes are your own organs. You’re right. If you go blind, it has nothing to do with me."

Cecilia stared at him intently. "So, Damian Hawthorne, you need to take good care of your eyes. If you go blind, I’m not the one who gets hurt. You are."

Afraid she would break down if she stayed any longer, Cecilia quickly walked away.

At the door, Chloe Sutton was still waiting for her.

"How is he?" A grown man just fainting in a hospital like that... Chloe found it unbelievable.

Thinking of Damian Hawthorne’s comment about going blind, Cecilia said coolly, "Physically, he’s fine. Mentally, though, I think there’s something wrong with him."

Chloe coughed, then wrapped an arm around Cecilia’s waist. "Come on, my dad said he’s already booked a restaurant. He’s just waiting to treat you to a big meal."

"Thank your dad for me." Cecilia smiled, happily accepting the kind gesture from Chloe and her father.

Over the years, Chloe’s father had been very good to her. Among all of Chloe’s friends, her family had been the least well-off, but Chloe’s father never minded. He even offered to sponsor her education.

He only gave up on the idea after learning that Cecilia already had a "sponsor."

Even though the Nathan family had altered her identity, they wouldn’t go so far as to let someone else be her sponsor.

Her "sponsor" all these years was, of course, a false identity created by Linden Nathan.

Even though he couldn’t sponsor her, Chloe’s father, Gavin Sutton, still looked after her, sometimes buying her a gift whenever he bought something for Chloe.

"My dad said he has a new project and there are some parts he doesn’t quite understand. He was hoping to ask you about it." Chloe didn’t stand on ceremony with her. Ever since Gavin Sutton found out she was Selina Nathan, he would occasionally discuss company projects with her.

"Then let’s hurry over..."

...

After Cecilia left, Damian Hawthorne got out of the hospital bed.

But just as he got to his feet, a call came in from Frances Bennett. "Damian, haven’t you been researching AI lately? As it happens, my nephew works in that field. Do you want to talk to him?"

"Have him send the proposal to Justin Bell first."

"Oh, but we’re family. I just think we don’t have to go through the company for everything, you see..."

Damian frowned, suspicious. "Are you short on money?"

Frances Bennett rarely interfered in company business. Her behavior today was unusual.

Frances coughed and said quickly, "No, no, I just want to help."

"Then follow the proper procedure. Have him give the proposal to Justin Bell. If it passes, we can discuss the next steps."

With that, Damian Hawthorne hung up the phone.

Listening to the BEEP BEEP BEEP from her phone, Frances’s face went pale with anger.

"How did it go, Frances? Will my cousin cooperate with us?" The speaker was the child of one of Frances Bennett’s distant relatives, a recent university graduate who couldn’t find a job and had come to her with a proposal.

Frances had given it a brief look, thought it was feasible, and decided she wanted to secure the project. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

If she could secure it, she could then get Damian Hawthorne to allocate over a billion, and the money would be hers.

The thought of Caleb Kramer’s exorbitant demands gave Frances a headache.

She didn’t dare call the police.

And she certainly didn’t dare let Damian Hawthorne know that she wasn’t his biological mother.

"Frances, you need to hurry up with this project. I was the best in my field at my university, and I’ve even won a world-class AI award. I didn’t just show this project to you; the Sutton Family here in Korsyth has also extended an olive branch."

"The Sutton Family?" Frances’s voice rose. "You mean the family of that artist, Chloe Sutton?"

"That’s right. In all of Korsyth, the Sutton Family was the first to get into AI development. They’re very capable. Frances, if you’re not interested, I’ll just go and partner with them directly."

"No!" Frances stood up. "I will definitely secure this project for you. Keep it under wraps for now, and don’t show it to anyone else."

...

When Cecilia and Chloe arrived at the Sutton residence, Gavin Sutton gave them a warm welcome.

"Cecilia, welcome, welcome..." Seeing Cecilia Nathan again and remembering she was the daughter of the wealthiest man in the country, Gavin Sutton found himself acting reserved.

Cecilia noticed Gavin Sutton’s nervousness. She smiled, handed him a gift, and said, "Mr. Gavin, I’ve always seen you as an elder and a family member. Even though I’m Linden Nathan’s daughter, that won’t change our relationship."

"Good, good, you’re a good kid." Gavin Sutton finally relaxed and said with a chuckle, "As it happens, there’s a project I was hoping you could vet for me."

"This project was supposedly brought to me by a relative of the Hawthorne family. Although the person is a recent graduate, he claimed he knows you and only brought the proposal to me because Chloe is your friend. He said if we were to partner, he would give us priority. But I’ve looked at this project..." Gavin Sutton trailed off.

’A relative of the Hawthorne family?’

’A recent graduate?’

Cecilia thought for a moment, and an image of one of Frances Bennett’s nephews came to mind. He had studied programming and just so happened to be graduating this year.

Back when she used to cook for Frances Bennett, this person had been on summer break and would come to the Hawthorne estate for meals every day. He was bossy toward her, ordering her around like she was a maid.

Now he had graduated, and instead of going to the Hawthornes, he had come directly to the Suttons.

"Mr. Gavin, I don’t know this person well, and I doubt any project of his would be very reliable."

Hearing Cecilia’s words, Gavin Sutton breathed a sigh of relief.

The other party had used his status as an "acquaintance of Cecilia" to negotiate the partnership, so Gavin Sutton had found it difficult to refuse him outright.

"That’s good to hear. I looked at the project, and while it looks fine on the surface, it would be extremely difficult to implement. It’s one of those projects that looks pretty but is nearly impossible to execute." No longer holding back, Gavin Sutton laid out his thoughts on the proposal. "I don’t think this person is trustworthy. He seems like a fraud."