Chapter 290
Chapter 290
The moment Cordelia walked into the room, all eyes snapped to her.
Juliana burst into tears, her voice choked with sobs. "Is it because you just don't like me? Ever since you came back, it's been nothing but chaos around here! And now Hanley's head over heels for you too, taking away everything that was mine. Are you happy now?"
It seemed like she had been holding those words in for ages, and after she let them out, she ran out of the room crying.
Cordelia was speechless.
This was utterly ridiculous.
She frowned, clearly annoyed, when suddenly, Hanley didn't chase after Juliana. Instead, he approached her. "Cordelia, I'm sorry, I..."
He stumbled over his words, unable to finish his sentence.
Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
Without missing a beat, Little Parrot transformed into Sass Queen and said, "Hanley, grow a backbone, will ya? Can't even handle your own drama and now dumping it on Lia? Think she's easy to bully? Your engagement's off, stop dragging her into your mess. Lia's biggest wish right now is for you to keep your distance and not trouble her anymore!"
Hanley's face turned beet red. Standing there in his school uniform, he finally managed to say, "I'm sorry, I'll sort it out," before he hurried off after Juliana.
When school was over, Cordelia and Merry headed home.
Sanderson's new venture hadn't taken off yet, so the older folks were meeting up in his study.
Arriving home, they found Lorna preparing snacks, planning to take them up to the meeting.
Seeing Merry, Lorna suddenly handed her a peeled apple.
Merry looked puzzled. So did Cordelia.
Lorna smiled. "Go on up, get some rest, take a shower. When did you get back?"
Merry, still confused, took the apple and went upstairs.
Lorna then pulled Cordelia aside, "Lia, did you hear? Bland's got a girlfriend now."
Cordelia was clueless.
Realizing Cordelia wasn't much into pop culture, Lorna explained, "Merry idolizes Bland. Some fans get really upset over news like this. She must be heartbroken."
Cordelia was lost. "But she's been smiling all day."
Lorna had an epiphany. "That's just her putting on a brave face!"
Cordelia was silent.
"You know, when your best friend is going through heartache, she might want to cry it out, talk about it. Why don't you go upstairs, keep her company? It's the weekend
tomorrow; you girls can stay up and chat. She needs your support right now!"
Cordelia didn't know how to respond.
Lorna clenched her fist, encouragingly. "You can do it!"
Cordelia finally got it. Lorna wasn't just being overbearing; she was teaching her how to be a good friend.
"Okay," Cordelia agreed reluctantly.
As she headed upstairs, the study door swung open.
Dagmar led the way out, followed by the others, all of whom straightened up and respectfully greeted, "Miss Cordelia!"
After exchanging pleasantries, Sanderson saw them out.
Outside, Dagmar expressed her concerns. "Mr. Delaney, are we really switching industries? Pharmaceuticals is a whole different ball game from hardware."
Sanderson nodded. "I understand
your worries, but the hardwareContent rights belong to NôvelDrama.Org.
sector is declining. We need to innovate And don't worry about competing with the big
1
conglomerates. Pharmaceuticals is the future. Right now, we just need to find a chemist capable of synthesizing D-Acetylneuraminic Acid."
Dagmar nodded, committed to the task.
Once she left, Lorna asked, "Why are you so fixated on this drug?"
Sanderson shared his vision. "It's a medication for mental illnesses. My father has been suffering for years. Louie says it's effective, but no one has managed to produce it yet. I want to give it a shot."
Tears welled up in Lorna's eyes at the thought of her father-in-law, once a brilliant scientist, now shadowed by illness. Sanderson had never imagined that after breaking ties with the Delaney family, he could go to such lengths for her.
But, in a world where certain drugs were deemed impossible to develop, could they make the impossible possible?
Sanderson finally spoke up, "There
aren't many Who venture into
developing these kinds of
medications, mainly because the profit margins aren't that great But
money isn't an issue for us right
now. I just thought, I should do
something for dad's illness."
After a long day, Cordelia retreated to her bedroom. Following a soothing bath, she noticed the absence of the usual dinner call from downstairs and instinctively reached for her book on the periodic table.
Her recent dedication to memorizing vocabulary had paid off, allowing her to tackle this entirely English book with confidence.
As she flipped through the pages, a loose sheet fell out, revealing a chemistry problem:
The sheet listed several chemical elements and challenged the reader to predict the chemical reactions necessary to synthesize D-Acetylneuraminic Acid.
Having spent considerable time with the book, Cordelia felt she had gained significant insight. Now was the perfect moment to test her self-taught chemistry skills.
With this thought, she pulled out a piece of paper and began to work through the problem.