As soon as he walked out the door, Milo Sinclair's senior brother immediately gestured for him to keep silent, indicating he should go back to the office to talk.
Once inside the office, Milo Sinclair had just sat down when he asked, "What's wrong?"
This senior brother was a doctor in his cardiothoracic surgery department, surnamed Aldridge, and usually had no interaction with him. Today, he specifically came to find him and wanted to speak away from Shea Thorne, indicating there was certainly something going on.
Aldridge handed Milo Sinclair a paper cup with hot water, pondered for a moment, took a few deep breaths, and then said, "Was that the one just now...?"
He said Shea Thorne, and Milo Sinclair understood, nodding his head.
Aldridge understood his meaning, considered for a moment, and still decided to tell him, so he began searching on the computer while saying, "Here's the thing. Today, a video was posted on the National Medical University student forum, alleging that a girl from F University secretly ran over to Jenson Hall, found the neighbor boy, and crazily claimed to be his fiancée, then pretended to be sick and got chased out."
The hottest topic on the webpage was this, posted at around eleven in the afternoon.
The poster claimed to be someone present at the time and wrote detailed descriptions of how this girl had been pestering her male neighbor, the leading actor in the video, since she went to F University.
She was unrequitedly attentive, cooking, cleaning clothes, and doing household chores, proclaiming everywhere that they were in a romantic relationship, attempting to bind a promising future doctor with these lowly tactics.
Then, he described in detail how the girl shamelessly came to find the male classmate today and mocked how ridiculous the shopping bag she was carrying looked.
Shopping bag, clothes.
Milo Sinclair seized on these two keywords and recalled what Shea Thorne said that morning: "Mrs. Crawford mailed us winter clothes, and I am taking them to him. His house is across from mine, and since my dad was often away, she cared for me when I was little."
So, this post was about Shea Thorne and Miles Crawford.
And it had distorted the simple act of delivering clothes into making her out as a deluded, self-deprecating sycophant, commonly known as a 'bootlicker.'
Afterward, Aldridge clicked on the video below the post, and in the video's angle were Shea Thorne and Aldridge's student, Isla Bishop, whom he had once arranged an introduction.
Shea Thorne was seen clutching her chest, pale-faced and sweating profusely, unable to stand without Isla Bishop's support, surely she'd have collapsed otherwise.
Fragile yet harmless, she held her ground, questioning, "Are you being mean to me? Have you forgotten, we have a marriage agreement, yet you treat me this way?"
"There is no marriage agreement between us! That was your dad coming begging shamelessly to my house for marriage, I'm telling you, don't show up in front of me again in the future!"
When others advised her to rest, she insisted, "I am not a little sister, I am Miles Crawford's fiancée."
Even when in pain close to fainting, she didn't forget to look at the person hidden in the video, full of expectation, asking, "Are you letting me leave too?"
The video ended here, followed by vivid descriptions of how Shea Thorne rolled out of the lab like a drenched dog back to Delinquent U as a society's bottom layer delinquent.
But Shea Thorne did not return to Delinquent U; instead, she went back to Milo Sinclair's place and is currently in his office.
After the video finished playing, Aldridge explained, "Originally, I didn't know about it, but when Isla Bishop came back, she mentioned this. The post emerged, and I saw her in the video. I asked and then learned it happened over at your place."
He took it as idle gossip, as Isla Bishop consulted him regarding Shea Thorne's symptoms and their relation to her chest and lungs, not intending to inform Milo Sinclair.
National Medical University's forum doesn't have much gossip; it's generally about helping students with academic difficulties.
But as soon as this post went out, it sparked a massive response for three reasons: discrimination among students, romantic scandals at Jenson Hall graduate school, and being pointed out as Milo Sinclair's students.
Although Isla Bishop, appearing in the video, was Aldridge's student, based on the video's audio, National Medical University students accurately discerned that many people there were Milo Sinclair's students, even listing their full names alongside them in the video.
The fact that Aldridge personally came to show him proves he noticed the issues within.
Milo Sinclair's sharp eyes fixed on Shea Thorne's pale face, gently placing the paper cup on the table.
"Click," a light sound.
...
Alone in Milo Sinclair's office, Shea Thorne had not been there long when her phone showed a refund notification; the inspection fees she had just paid were fully refunded.
This Milo Sinclair indeed knows how to preserve one's dignity.
Not long after, Milo Sinclair returned, changed his clothes for an outer jacket, and said, "I'm ready, let's go."
They took the nearest stairs to the parking lot, and from afar, Shea Thorne saw several pretty nurses conversing, pointing at her, but she didn't mind it, figuring she'd eventually be linked to Milo Sinclair, given her current observations.
"Your hospital's nurses are really pretty." Shea Thorne praised, none of them wore heavy makeup; their innate beauty was their true appearance.
"They're selected through layers upon layers, so their image is obviously better." Milo Sinclair drove towards the previously reserved restaurant, mentioning not a word about the video.
Shea Thorne, unfazed by the morning's incident, followed Milo Sinclair to have a lavish meal, with quite a hearty appetite.
After lunch, Milo Sinclair maintained silence while driving. At a red light, he called, "Hey, notify them I'm coming over soon."
Shea Thorne seemed puzzled, wondering what he was doing and where he was going?
"You have something? Where are you going?" Shea Thorne inquired, hadn't he said he'd be free in the afternoon to accompany her to the National Conservatory of Music? Now, what was this all about?
The direction seemed like he was heading to National Medical University.
"Something came up at the institute, can't accompany you today." Milo Sinclair explained without showcasing much emotion, "Once I finish this, I'll take you out tonight."
Shea Thorne didn't ask further, given the importance, she knew the issues at National Medical University were pretty significant.
Following Milo Sinclair into the office, he asked her to wait here while he left.
Seemed he was off to tend to business. Shea Thorne, full from her meal, felt sleepy and took out her phone to play some single-player games, soon discovering Sharon Somerset frantically @ her in their roommate chat group.
Sharon Somerset: "Ariana, you have to look! It's infuriating! Judgmental like dogs!"
Rhonda Ford: "So disgusting, even stealing a friend's boyfriend to boot, belittling you on top, then abandoning you in plight! With such a mindset, what kind of doctor?! I demand Jonah Bell sever ties with Miles Crawford! Such a scumbag should never be near us, could be contagious!"
The top of the group messages contained a link, Shea Thorne clicked the page which redirected to the web showing a campus post from National Medical University, titled "Jenson Hall's Desperate Clinging Girl! Aspire to High Branches!"
Below the link, Shea Thorne saw herself infinite times defamatory in the author's words, after the short video, mocked endlessly for attempting to reach beauty like a toad eating swan meat.
Shea Thorne's right eye twitched wildly—did Milo Sinclair see it too? Is that why he dashed back?
Does he also think she's Miles Crawford's bootlicker? Is he upset with her for seeking out Miles Crawford? And what about Miles Crawford now, is he in danger? Will Milo Sinclair retaliate against Miles Crawford for this?
Moreover, doesn't her behavior of keeping two strings on her bow typify common playgirl actions? Might Milo Sinclair believe she's a "female Poseidon," maintaining him in a fishbowl as a standby?
With such thoughts, Shea Thorne and Ariana Thorne couldn't sit still, immediately getting up to leave the office, heading towards Miles Crawford's place—she had to clarify, can't let Milo Sinclair misunderstand.
Ariana Thorne: Can't let Miles Crawford get hurt.
Even Ariana Thorne had implicitly agreed, thinking Milo Sinclair would drastically crush Miles Crawford.