Chapter 188: Chapter 188: Blessing in Disguise
She seemed to be staring at Ariana Grant’s face all this while, prompting Ariana to touch her own face and ask, "What’s up? Is my face injured too? The doctor said my face is fine."
"No, it’s not that..." Ashley Shaw glanced at Warren Prescott.
Warren knowingly avoided eye contact, saying, "I’ll go get some medicine for grandpa," and then he left.
Elder Prescott had to take anti-rejection medicine every day, so he would come to the hospital to pick it up every ten days or so.
Ashley nodded and only after Warren left did she ask Ariana, "Are you okay now?"
Ariana curled her lips slightly and said, "To be honest, there was a moment just now when I really felt like life wasn’t worth living anymore, but guess what...?"
"What happened?"
"When I walked out, I heard the nurse saying her delivery of braised chicken rice had arrived, and my tears just couldn’t help but drool out of my mouth."
"Pfft..."
Ashley laughed.
Ariana continued, "So, I suddenly felt that living is actually pretty good. If I died, I’d never get to eat good food again, or even play games. I heard The Underworld still hasn’t started offering WiFi services, which sounds incredibly boring, so I need to live well and live happily. I’m also looking forward to pigging out once my stomach recovers."
Ashley’s eyes suddenly turned red.
She remembered Ariana’s fate in their past life.
"Why? Why are you crying? Didn’t I already tell you, I’ve figured it out?"
Ashley forced back her tears.
"No, I just got something in my eyes."
"Oh, yeah, it’s a bit dusty in here."
A doctor happened to be walking by, overheard their conversation in the corridor, and gave a meaningful look.
That look clearly said: The two of you shouldn’t be in the ER, you two should be seeing a psychiatrist.
Ashley and Ariana both understood the doctor’s look, exchanged a glance, and laughed.
The doctor looked at them with even more pity, shook his head, and quickened his pace.
"Oh right, I still need to go pay the bill. Let’s go to the billing department. I must get this money back from Jade Coleman!"
Ariana referred to her as "Jade Coleman" and not "my mom."
This slightly stirred something in Ashley’s heart, and she asked, "How do you plan to handle this?"
"I’ll handle it however it needs to be handled. I’m planning to take legal action. If she values Hailey more and can treat me so harshly, why should I still acknowledge her as my mom?"
"Have you thought it through?"
"I’ve thought it through."
"Alright, whatever you decide, I’ll support you."
Ariana paused in her tracks and reached out to stop Ashley’s arm.
"Thank goodness I still have you."
"I’ll always be here."
The two soon arrived at the billing office.
There, they saw Warren Prescott again.
Warren came over with a few slips and handed them to Ashley.
Ashley thought they were billing slips, ready to reimburse him immediately.
She took them and found they were injury assessments.
Ashley looked astonished.
"This..."
"I thought you might need these, so I asked the doctor to do an assessment for you."
"Indeed useful," Ashley nodded. "We’re planning to take legal action to resolve this matter."
She then glanced at the assessment results, showing minor injuries.
She immediately frowned, "How is this still considered minor? I’ve got stitches."
"The length of the wound doesn’t meet the requirement for serious injury," he added. "This kind of assessment can’t be faked."
Meaning that if it could be faked, he would’ve already done it for them.
"We don’t need it faked, it’s just unexpected that so many wounds are still considered minor."
Ashley had no experience in this area and only understood after Warren’s explanation that serious injury indeed required very severe damage.
She thought any bleeding constituted a serious injury.
"How do you know all this?" Ariana marveled.
"Experience, I was beaten to serious injury once before."
Ashley looked up in shock.
Then Warren said, "It was when I was in elementary school, they didn’t know how to go easy with the blows and hit me on the head."
No wonder she didn’t know; it was from his elementary school days.
"I’ll arrange for a lawyer for you. Let’s use the same one fighting The Hayes Family; it’ll handle both matters together, including the last time your mom caused Ashley a concussion."
Ariana was eager for a free lawyer and immediately nodded, "Great! Thank you, Young Master Prescott."
"Stop calling me Young Master, this isn’t the old days. From now on, just call me Warren along with them."
Warren paused, glancing lightly at Ashley as he said, "Of course, if you prefer calling me ’the mourning girl,’ I don’t mind either, it just doesn’t feel very auspicious."
Ashley’s face gradually turned red.
From embarrassment.
Warren really had a way of stabbing you with his words, always able to hit a sore spot.
Ariana also felt awkward, and on top of the embarrassment, there was a hint of guilt.
Because it was her who actually came up with the nickname "the mourning girl."
But now her survival instincts kicked in, and she dared not admit it, so she had to let her good sister continue taking the blame for her.
"Well..." Ariana broke the awkwardness and said, "Ashley and I have discussed it, and since you helped both of us, we wanted to ask you when you’d be free to come over for dinner?"
"Anytime."
"Then... shall we set a date?"
"Sure."
Ashley, who had been worried about when to bring up the meal invitation, didn’t expect Ariana to settle it with just a few words.
As she breathed a sigh of relief, Warren suddenly looked at her and said, "Your friend is more sensible than you."
A big question mark popped up in Ashley’s mind.
What did he mean?
When she offered to return the favor, she also said the same thing, the only difference being one proposed having a meal at home, while the other suggested eating out; how did that make her the less sensible one?
But there wasn’t much point brooding over it; he had agreed to come over, after all.
Just then, Ariana asked, "By the way, what’s happening with Jade Coleman right now?"
Warren gave a puzzled look.
Ashley explained, "Jade Coleman is her mother."
"Oh," Warren nodded and said, "She’s being detained in Damian Ford’s car. Since you plan to take legal action, I’ll have him take her to the police station now. Police might come to investigate, so when you go back, don’t touch anything at home, preserve the evidence."
"Okay."
"Also, I’ll say this now, Ariana, this is considered domestic violence. If you want her legally punished, you’ll have to start from Ashley’s side. She and Jade Coleman aren’t legally family, so I’ll have Assistant Lowell handle her injury assessment as well."
"Oh, okay." Ariana nodded, but felt a bit confused inside.
Was she really going to go this far?
Warren continued, "Isn’t your family’s house case due for trial soon?"
"Yes, next week."
"Perfect timing then; with this happening, it’s highly likely the house will be ruled in favor of your dad. Your initial appeal was for the house to go to your dad, so it seems fortune has come out of misfortune."