You Want Me Back? Sorry, Request Rejected Chapter 20

You Want Me Back? Sorry, Request Rejected Chapter 20

Rowan thought he’d seen right through Elise’s intentions and turned his back on her in a huff.

“Mommy, there’s no way Daddy is ever going to love you the way he loves Sabrina. You should just give up and stop causing trouble already. But… I mean, I do feel bad for you, too. If you could just stop nagging all the time and try to be a little gentler, maybe Daddy’s attitude toward you would get a bit better.

“Also, you owe me an apology for today. You were mean to me just now!” He went on and on, but he never got the apology he was waiting for.

When he turned around, he saw that Elise had already gotten into the cab waiting at the curb, and it had driven off a good distance.

Rowan’s face flushed bright red with anger. He glared in the direction the car had gone and shouted at the top of his lungs, as if venting, “Mommy, with that kind of attitude, there’s no way Daddy, Regina, and I are ever going to like you!”

After that, he trudged back to Sabrina’s hospital room, looking completely crushed.

Regina stared at him, puzzled. “Didn’t you say you were going to get the soup Mommy made? Sabrina’s still waiting for it. Don’t tell me you didn’t get it.”

“How could I not? Of course I’ll get it!” Rowan snapped, raising his voice in irritation.

That night, Rowan suddenly came down with a high fever. He kept mumbling in his sleep, “Mommy… Mommy, the soup…”

Calvin sat by his bedside, eyes filled with exhaustion.

“Mr. Fulton, I still can’t get through to Mrs. Fulton,” Evan said awkwardly, not sure what else he could do.

What on earth had gotten into Elise lately? If he remembered correctly, this was the second time she’d pulled a stunt like this.

A cold glint flashed through Calvin’s eyes. He was clearly and unusually angry. “Are you really going to throw a fit to the point that you’ll ignore your own kid? I truly underestimated you, Elise.”

Meanwhile, at the apartment, Elise saved the client requirements Shannon had just sent over and double-checked all the notes before finally calming down and focusing. She planned to start drafting the designs that very day.

She had a particular habit whenever she designed—she had to cut off all contact with the outside world.

Back in the day, the first piece that had won her a national award had been completed after she spent seven days and seven nights holed up in the studio. She hadn’t left her desk once.

Any outside distraction would throw off her train of thought. Most of the time, if she didn’t grab the flash of inspiration the second it appeared, it would be nearly impossible to get it back.

To be safe, Elise switched her phone to airplane mode. She was afraid that every time she checked the time, the gossip headlines about Sabrina and Calvin would pop up and stir up all her emotions again. Sure, she’d let go of the marriage, but that didn’t mean there were no lingering feelings.

…

Elise stayed indoors and designed for three days straight. During those days, she even had dreams about going over the tiniest details of the clothes.

On the morning of the third day, she powered straight through and finished the coloring on the pants and the logo design at the hem. After organizing all the drafts and sending them to Shannon, she got an almost instantaneous reply.

Shannon: “Liss, you’re a legend! This is insane!”

Her praise loosened the knot of anxiety in Elise’s chest. This “spiritual revival” collection was her way of knocking on the door of the design world again. She was going to use this to smash through every barrier in front of her. After this, she would work even harder and push further into the modernization of classical arts.

She smoothed out the extra drafts on the table, her direction growing clearer and more firmly set in her mind. After turning everything in, she finally let herself catch up on sleep.

It wasn’t until later, when she remembered to turn off airplane mode, that she realized her phone had been blown up with calls. Calvin, Evan, Sabrina, Regina, and even people from Tranquility Estate…

She frowned, a bad feeling creeping up on her. She also saw WhatsApp messages from Calvin.

Calvin: “Rowan has a high fever. Come to the hospital.”

The message was from three days ago, at 3:00 am.

Elise froze. Her fingers tightened around the phone without her noticing. Why had Rowan suddenly come down with such a high fever? He’d been perfectly fine when she saw him during the day. He’d been healthy enough to stand there and go head-to-head with her, insisting that he would choose Calvin…

She lowered her gaze, a shadow falling over her eyes. She thought back to how, in the past, whenever either of the kids felt even a little unwell, she would stay by their bedsides and care for them without any rest.

She’d been there every moment they’d been sick, and yet, all they ever remembered was her nagging. They’d scolded her for hanging around the hospital room when she wasn’t a doctor—it wasn’t like she could actually cure them.

A bitter smile tugged at Elise’s lips as she wiped away the faint dampness at the corner of her eye. What difference would it make if she went now?

After that first message, Calvin had sent several question marks. Then, he’d followed up with a string of accusatory texts.

Calvin: “As a mother, don’t you think you’ve gone too far?”

Calvin: “Rowan just wants a bowl of the soup you always make.”