A Replacement Bride

Chapter 51

There was a well-stocked pile of Chinese medications available in her laboratory and some of them were collections of more than twenty years. Theodore knew that she enjoyed concocting odd medications, so he had gotten everything ready for her before building this laboratory. This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

Katherine remained inside for two hours. When she got out of the laboratory, Theodore was not quite done yet.

Coincidentally, it was Beatrice's turn to step forward. As she glanced at the patient on the hospital bed who was intubated all over his body, her face turned slightly pale.

There was a crowd gathered around watching her and they could not bear to see Beatrice in such a troubled state.

One of them decided to speak up and comfort Beatrice, "Beatrice, you shouldn't force yourself to go through this if you can't do it. You achieved great results in the two rounds earlier, so I'm sure you would be able to pass the test even if you gave up this round."

"Yeah. This patient has been here for years and there hasn't been a proper treatment plan developed for him, so it's normal for you to not know what to do."

Katherine listened in as she stood by the side and she could not help frowning.

She shot a look at the people who had voiced out before going over to Theodore and asking in a lowered voice, "Are these people here for the interview?"

"The only one here for the interview is the girl in the middle. The others are staff who work here." Theodore lifted his head and scanned the room. He noticed his granddaughter being surrounded by

several male researchers and each of them was busy giving their suggestions. It was hard to not frown at that sight.

"Excuse me while I handle the situation." Theodore wore an upset look on his face.

He was the one who had voiced out personally to hire Beatrice at the laboratory and he originally thought that her professional knowledge from university was sound. Besides, she could always answer the questions he directed at her with ease. However, he did not expect her to have such a reaction during the actual clinical trial.

Truth be told, he was very disappointed by that.

After all, Katherine was two years younger than Beatrice and yet the former was good enough to operate her own laboratory. Not only was she great at treating patients, but she was also very gifted in the research field, far surpassing people of her same age.

"All of you right there, go down right now. There is a test going on and we're not in a supermarket. This isn't the place to joke around. You, leave the room right now."

Theodore never gave preferential treatment to anyone at work and he was very strict with his own granddaughter too. Therefore, she was not exempted from that rule either.

Beatrice's face turned as pale as a sheet and she voiced out feebly, "Grandpa…"

As soon as Theodore heard that, his expression took a turn for the worse. "This is a place for research and it's a formal workplace; it's not the place for you to claim familial relationships. In this place, I only have laboratory rules and work on my mind. This is no place for a granddaughter to seek her grandfather. Since you're unable to answer this question, then step down and let someone else come forward."

He was exceptionally strict and his sentence caused Beatrice to tear up instantly. As such, she covered her face and ran out of the room.

Meanwhile, Katherine shook her head and exchanged a few words with Theodore before walking out of the door. She was no longer interested in the recruitment process today.

She had just walked out of the research institute when she noticed Beatrice standing by the side with red-rimmed eyes. Clearly, Beatrice was waiting there for her arrival.

She looked at Katherine and she could not contain the wave of jealousy that washed through her.

Added to the fact that Beatrice had embarrassed herself in front of Katherine, Beatrice felt humiliated and discontented.

"Do you enjoy watching me make a fool of myself?" Beatrice bit on her lower lip gently and voiced out to stop Katherine upon noticing that she ignored her and was about to leave.

Katherine paused in her tracks and turned around to look at Beatrice with a slightly perplexed expression. "Are you talking to me?"

"Ha! Stop the facade! Yes, I'm talking to you. You waited to see me make a fool of myself earlier on, huh? I'm warning you. Don't think that just because you're good enough to get into the research institute, you're far superior to everyone else! You're nothing to me!"

Beatrice gripped her fist tightly from the humiliation and glared furiously at Katherine, who was in front of her. She was so tempted to leap up and attack the woman before her out of rage.

Katherine lifted her brows and smiled before scanning Beatrice from top to bottom. Subsequently, she nodded solemnly. "Yes, I am indeed far superior to everyone else. At the very least, I'm much better

than those who lose their temper after failing to join the research institute. Do you have anything else you'd like to find out?"

"You!" Beatrice's eyes were bright red from the anger. Since young, she had never experienced such humiliation and deliberate provocation.

Katherine was nonplussed and unperturbed about Beatrice. She had just finished concocting the ointment and was in a hurry to bring it back to the clinic for Keith to use.

Beatrice noticed that Katherine had disregarded her anger and merely walked past her. Katherine disappeared in the distance, but Beatrice's simmering anger persisted.

Beatrice bit her lip and stared intently at Katherine's back with a venomous look in her eyes.

In the meantime, Joaquin watched Katherine leave and his eyes fell to Beatrice, who was by the doorway, for a brief moment. Subsequently, he noticed that she lifted a hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. As soon as he approached her, he saw that her eyes were red-rimmed and her milky-white dainty face was currently flushed. She obviously looked like she had been crying.

Joaquin linked her behavior to the words she had spoken to Katherine at the doorway and his expression darkened significantly.

"What's wrong? Did someone bully you?"

He opened his car door and alighted from the car before reaching out to ruffle Beatrice's head as he asked in a tender, low voice.

At that point, Beatrice teared up much worse than before, and it took her quite some time to shake her head and speak up with an aggrieved tone, "I'm f-fine."

"What did you say to the person at the doorway? Do you know that woman?" Joaquin realized that something must have happened after noticing Beatrice's reaction.

There was a flustered look in Beatrice's eyes and her eyes flickered slightly before she hurriedly denied it by waving her hands. "N-Nothing… I didn't say anything to her. W-We…"

However, she could not contain herself to finish her sentence as she sobbed while covering her face.

"You're sobbing and yet you're telling me that everything's fine?" At that point, Joaquin's patience was running thin.

He was, in fact, quite immune to a woman's tears, so he merely felt a wave of frustration upon seeing Beatrice sob loudly. The slight sense of sympathy he felt for her dissipated completely due to her hesitancy.

Joaquin could not help frowning and this was an extremely unpleasant feeling for him. His patience for her seemed to be decreasing day by day over time.

"I-I didn't get chosen as a lab assistant. Joe, I'm so sad. Could you stay back and keep me company today?"

Beatrice's eyes were reddened and she lifted her head to look at him expectantly.

Lowering his head, Joaquin looked at her face and remained silent for quite some time before finally nodding.

…

After Katherine left the research institute, she took a cab back to Ben's clinic.

By then, Keith had regained consciousness and he was sitting on the bed as he played some video games. It was obvious that he was in a foul mood from the ugly look on his face and he was exceptionally hostile even while playing his game.

Katherine lifted her brows gently and walked over to him. She took out a box of ointment from her pocket and flung it over to him. "Apply this on your face."

As soon as Keith heard the word face, the hostile look on his face deepened and he instantly flung his phone to the side and looked at her unhappily.

She pulled out a chair to sit down. "Apply this first. You look too ugly right now and I really don't want to talk to someone with a swollen face like you."

As soon as Keith heard that, his expression turned uglier.

However, he had to obey his elder sister, so he obediently took the unlabeled box on the bed and opened it despite his unhappiness. There was a mild scent that hit his nostrils and from the smell of it, he instantly felt invigorated.

Slightly dubious, he squeezed out some ointment and slowly applied it onto his face.