That night, Thorne decided to stay at the hospital.

The next morning, his mother, Claudia, and friends like Tiffany Henderson started arriving at the hospital one by one. When they found out Thorne had been there all night, they urged him to go home and get some rest. Thorne turned to his grandmother and said, “I’ll come back to see you this evening.”

Irma didn’t respond.

As Thorne left the hospital, he made a phone call.

An hour later, the Hawkins and Spencer families received the surprising news that they were being dropped from the project team. They scrambled to get in touch with Vesta.

“It’s Irma’s decision,” Vesta explained. “She had an accident last night…”

The Spencer and Hawkins families hadn’t seen this coming. Garfield Spencer voiced his concern, “So… is Irma also going to demand Thorne break up with you and insist he doesn’t divorce Charlene?”

Vesta pressed her lips together in thought. They discussed the situation a bit more before she ended the call.

Just then, someone knocked on her door, “Director Hawkins, the meeting is about to start.”

“Got it,” Vesta replied, placing her phone down. As she made her way to the meeting room, she accidentally bumped into Charlene, who was deep in a work-related conversation with Quincy.

Even though she knew the collaboration between Neural Nexus Tech and PrimeStar was ongoing, and that PrimeStar’s tech team had to drop by occasionally for system maintenance, she hadn’t expected to run into Charlene today. Charlene noticed Vesta’s gaze and quickly looked away without hesitation.

Around ten in the morning, Charlene was on her way to the restroom when she spotted Thorne. He was leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for someone.

She was about to walk past him without a second thought when Thorne spoke up, “Grandma had a fall last night. She broke her hip and needs a replacement.” Charlene stopped dead in her tracks and turned to him.

Thorne gave her the hospital details and room number, adding, “She’d really like to see you.”

Charlene didn’t reply and was about to leave when Vesta emerged from the office, surprised to see Thorne there. She hadn’t expected him to show up at Neural Nexus Tech, let alone see him talking with Charlene. She paused, biting her lip. Charlene ignored them both and continued to the restroom. By the time she returned, Thorne and Vesta were gone, and she resumed her work.

Around eleven, after completing the maintenance tasks, she and the rest of the PrimeStar team left Neural Nexus Tech and headed back to their own office.

During lunch, Charlene mentioned Irma’s fall to her mom, Helena. Helena was startled and said, “Let’s go visit her at the hospital this evening.”

Regardless of the situation between Charlene and Thorne, Irma had been a great help to the Ross family during their toughest times. Helena felt a deep sense of gratitude that she could never forget. Charlene nodded, “Alright.”

That afternoon, Charlene left work early to have dinner with her family. Afterwards, she and Helena headed to the orthopedic hospital.

“Mom!”

As they arrived at the hospital, Jasmine spotted them and ran over, wrapping her arms around Helena’s leg.