CHAPTER 13: CHAPTER 13: PRESIDENT FORREST’S INFERTILITY

A man’s familiar, deep voice, thick with suppressed anger, rang out. Zinnia Lawrence looked up to see Jenson Forrest striding over.

He was impeccably dressed in a suit, his broad shoulders basking in the sunlight. He looked as noble and composed as ever, yet he was carrying a food container.

He had gone out to buy breakfast for Crystal Sutton this early in the morning.

Zinnia stared blankly as he approached, a chill seeping through her veins and gathering in her heart, slowly turning to ice.

"Crystal, what happened? How could you just hit someone? Don’t you know you hit a pregnant woman?" Rose Lowell shouted, holding Crystal, who was on the ground clutching her stomach as if she couldn’t get up. Rose glared accusingly at Zinnia.

The commotion had already drawn a crowd, who surrounded them and pointed fingers at Zinnia.

In an instant, she had become the target of public criticism. Zinnia stood there, numb.

Jenson had reached them, his expression cold and stern as he stared at Zinnia. "What happened?"

Zinnia stiffened her neck. "I didn’t hit her, and I certainly didn’t push her!"

"Then did the wind blow her over?" Jenson furrowed his brow.

She might as well have been, Zinnia thought.

Just then, Crystal stood up, leaning on Rose for support. Her expression was pained, but she tugged at Jenson’s sleeve.

"Jenson, it’s not my sister’s fault. My appetite has been poor lately, and my blood sugar was low, so I lost my balance." Her expression, however, was one of aggrieved endurance, telling a completely different story.

Zinnia couldn’t stand her damsel-in-distress act and spoke coldly.

"Did you hear that? She lost her own footing. Can I go now?"

Her hardness only made Crystal appear more fragile and innocent by comparison.

Honestly, it takes a special kind of talent to be such a world-class ’white lotus’.

Zinnia had no interest in playing mind games with this ’green tea bitch’. She turned to leave, but her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

The force of the man’s grip made Zinnia stagger. She turned to face Jenson’s cold, handsome face.

"Apologize."

A flash of triumph crossed Crystal’s eyes, and she said urgently, "Sister, I’m fine. Just say you’re sorry so Jenson won’t be angry."

Zinnia stared at Jenson. Under these circumstances, he actually wanted her to apologize to Crystal?

She let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Apologize? Fine."

She nodded, then suddenly raised her hand and slapped Crystal across the face.

SMACK!

The crisp sound echoed, and the surrounding crowd gasped.

Crystal was stunned by the slap. When she came to her senses, she covered her face and dove crying into Jenson’s arms.

"Jenson..."

Zinnia raised her hand again, this time aiming for Jenson.

A scumbag and a bitch. Neither should be left out, of course.

But her wrist was caught in a fierce grip. Jenson’s face was livid as he glared at her, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Zinnia Lawrence, apologize! Don’t make me say it a third time!"

He paid no mind to Crystal, letting her cling to him.

The sight infuriated Zinnia.

Her own husband was protecting his mistress, ordering her to apologize again and again.

She yanked her hand from his grasp, her eyes turning red.

"Take a good look at both sides of her face! Next time you want to frame someone, at least don’t be so stupid!"

Leaning against Jenson, Crystal stiffened and instinctively covered her face.

Zinnia let out a scornful laugh and pushed her way through the crowd of onlookers.

Jenson frowned and pulled Crystal off him. She staggered back a step and was caught by Rose.

Jenson’s gaze fell on Crystal’s face, and his eyes grew cold and sharp.

The left side of Crystal’s face was red with a clear handprint. However, given the direction she had fallen, her right cheek should have been the one that was struck—but it was perfectly fine.

He hadn’t noticed such an obvious flaw because his attention had been entirely on Zinnia, not sparing Crystal a single glance.

Crystal grew flustered under his piercing gaze and started to cry.

"Jenson, I really was dizzy and lost my balance. My sister was right to get angry and hit me..."

Jenson’s gaze deepened. "Then why did you ask her to apologize? Do you think you’re worthy?"

Crystal clutched her stomach. "I’m sorry, my stomach hurts a little. I was scared and spoke without thinking..."

Ultimately, Jenson was worried about the child. Just last night, Crystal had shown signs of a miscarriage.

He motioned for Rose to support Crystal properly and led the way toward her hospital room.

Watching the man’s retreating back, Crystal bit her lip so hard it nearly bled. She had been far too careless today.

Inside the hospital room, Rose helped Crystal lie down. Her face was now swelling even more, and she looked at Jenson with tears of pain in her eyes.

She thought he would at least say a few words of concern, or perhaps criticize Zinnia. But he just stood there silently, watching Rose bustle about getting an ice pack.

Crystal felt wronged and disappointed. She hadn’t been hit by anyone since she returned to the Sutton Family.

She held the ice pack to her face, hissing in pain. "I really envy my sister. With Jenson spoiling her, she can do whatever she wants..."

Crystal already messed up by being so careless. This is hardly the time to beg for pity, let alone try and throw Zinnia under the bus, Rose thought, feeling Crystal had lost her mind. She gave Crystal a discreet tug before turning to Jenson with a warm, fawning smile.

"Young Master Forrest, did you bring this breakfast for Crystal? That’s wonderful! She was sick this morning, and we were just about to get her something to eat..."

She reached for the insulated container in Jenson’s hand.

The breakfast was actually for Julia, but he had just seen Zinnia bring breakfast for his sister as well.

Seeing Rose’s misunderstanding, he didn’t bother to explain and simply let go of the container.

Crystal immediately sat up, her face lighting up. "Jenson, what did you buy? Can you eat with me? I..."

Jenson cut her off. "I have things to do. You need to learn some discretion. Don’t go wandering around for no reason."

With that, he strode out of the room.

The door closed, leaving the smile frozen on Crystal’s face. Rose opened the food container. Inside was a colorful breakfast; even the wonton wrappers were multicolored. It was clearly food meant to entice a child.

The stinging pain on her cheek flared up again. Fuming, Crystal threw down the spoon she had just picked up, grabbed her phone, and called her mother, Mandy Lowe.

Mandy arrived quickly, her eyes immediately landing on the red, swollen mark on her daughter’s face.

"Crystal, who did this to you!?"

Crystal hastily tried to cover her face. "Mom, I just accidentally bumped into..."

"Nonsense! That’s clearly a handprint! Someone hit you!" Mandy was furious. Rose took the opportunity to step forward.

"Crystal, don’t hide it from your aunt. Auntie, this is what happened—"

*

Jenson left the ward and walked quickly to the elevators. When one didn’t arrive right away, he took the stairs, climbing five floors to the pediatric ward.

But when he pushed open the door, he found only Julia Forrest eating on the bed, a maid arranging flowers in a vase nearby.

"Where’s your sister-in-law?"

"Seventh Sister said she had something to do, so she left right after dropping off the food," Julia said, blinking. "Brother, you haven’t made up with her yet, have you?"

Jenson shot her a cold glare and turned to leave.

Julia pouted. What a terrible temper. I guess one womb can only produce one little angel.

After leaving the hospital, Jenson called Zinnia twice, but she didn’t answer.

When he returned to Stellar Group, Timothy Cohen immediately approached him.

"President, the team from Chase Group has arrived, and the meeting is ready."

Jenson nodded and strode toward the conference room. Just as he reached the door, he ran into Miles Chase, who was coming back from the restroom.

Miles was one of Jenson’s childhood friends, with a roguishly handsome look that contrasted with Jenson’s cool demeanor, though they shared a similar, impressive height.

He scrutinized Jenson, his hands in his pockets, and raised an eyebrow.

"Tsk, Third Brother, you’ve got a dark cloud hanging over your head. Let me guess, you had a fight with your Zinnia?"

Jenson walked past him without a glance. "And I predict you’ll run your mouth so much today that it’ll sprout sores."

Miles was speechless.

Okay, he’s definitely pissed. They really did fight.

He hurried to catch up, not daring to provoke him further, and got down to business.

"I sent the revised proposal to your WeChat. Did you get it?"

Chase Group and Stellar had a joint project. The proposal was already finalized, but a new situation had come up that morning, so Miles had rushed to revise it, finishing just on his way over.

For convenience, he had sent it directly to Jenson’s WeChat.

Jenson nodded and took his seat at the head of the table. He handed his phone to Timothy, who immediately pulled up the new proposal and projected it onto the large screen.

As everyone was engrossed in discussion, a series of WeChat notification sounds suddenly rang out from the phone connected to the screen.

[Reproductive Health Center requests to add you as a friend]

[Infertility Private Hospital requests to add you as a friend]

[Renowned Reproductive Specialist Dr. Wan requests to add you as a friend]

[Professional Fertility Angel Doctor requests...]

[Weak Sperm Savior requests...]

[Reclaim Your Manliness requests...]

DING! DING! DING!

The phone kept chiming incessantly.

PFFT... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!

After a moment of eerie silence, Miles was the first to break it, spraying a mouthful of tea all over the table and letting out a series of earth-shattering coughs.

All the meeting participants were dumbfounded.

Holy shit! President Forrest is actually infertile? Now that we know such an earth-shattering secret, will any of us make it out of this conference room alive?