Chapter 2

Lynn was rather taken aback. “Dr. Thorne, I didn’t expect you to know the patient’s husband.” Lysander took a long, deep stare at the familiar face in front of her. There were hints of bewilderment, surprise, unease, but most of all—concern for the woman inside. Although he seemed to be doing a good job restraining himself, he couldn’t hide the look of distress and urgency on his face. “Are you her…” Lysander glanced into the operating room, “husband?” Lynn interjected, “Yes, that’s him. He’s the one who signed the surgery consent form.” Lysander felt a chill all over her body. Her face didn’t look too good either. “I see.” Josiah gritted his teeth. “Lysander, I’ll explain this to you later.” Lysander forced herself to calm down, maintaining her professionalism as a doctor. She then took a deep breath and said, “Don’t worry, the surgery was successful. Both the mother and child are safe. They will need to stay in the hospital for a few days for observation and IV fluids to maintain the pregnancy. If everything goes well, they can be discharged this weekend.” Josiah was visibly relieved. “That’s great.” After a pause, he added, “Lysander, thank you for your hard work.” “It’s nothing. Regardless of whose wife she is, as a doctor, I will do my best to treat her.” Lysander returned to her office, drank a glass of cold water, and took a while to calm down. After about ten minutes, there was a knock on the office door. She heard his voice outside saying, “Lysander, it’s me.” Lysander stood up and went to get the door. Josiah looked better than before, but his eyes were still red, and the furrows between his eyebrows had not completely disappeared. She just noticed now that there were bloodstains on Josiah’s white shirt, the clothes were wrinkled, and there were large water stains on the cuffs. There were two possibilities: either he got amniotic fluid on him when he carried that woman to the hospital, or it was from her tears just now in the ward. She turned around and returned to her seat, asking lightly, “Have you visited her?” Josiah nodded slowly. “Yes, she’s asleep.” “She…” Josiah said, “The child is not mine.” Lysander suddenly felt relieved, and she sat back in her seat as if all her strength had left her. “She got into a car accident and was found in critical condition. I was the one who brought her to the hospital. Later, I received a notification that surgery was needed, but the surgery consent form could only be signed by a family member, so I…” Lysander came to a realization. “I asked my assistant to get the family member’s consent.” “I know now,” Josiah said. “There were too many people, and it was not convenient for me to explain this to you at the door of the operating room. If others knew that I was not her husband, no one would be able to sign for her, so saving her life was the priority.” Lysander got the full gist of it, and she felt a little guilty. Silly me. How could Josiah, such a gentle and steadfast person, possibly have an affair? He must have come across the car accident on his way to the company and couldn’t bear to see the pregnant woman in distress, so he hurriedly brought her to the hospital. “Is everything at your company okay? I’m here, so you don’t need to worry about that pregnant woman.” Josiah opened his mouth, seemingly on the fence about something. “Lysander, I…” Lysander asked, “What’s wrong?” In the end, Josiah shook his head. “The company is fine. Are you done with your work? I… I’ll wait for you outside. We can go home together.” After she finished the surgery, the pregnant woman would have nurses taking care of her, so she had nothing else to do. Changing out of her white coat, she took out the prenatal examination report from the drawer, folded it, and put it in her wallet before picking up her bag and leaving. Lysander was already very familiar with Josiah’s white Porsche Cayenne. She saw it at a glance and quickly walked over. From a distance, she could smell a pungent tobacco scent. In the dim light of the night, Josiah’s tall figure leaned against the car window. A small, orange light dot could be seen flickering in the dark. Lysander frowned and walked over, asking, “Why did you start smoking?” Josiah was startled, and the cigarette in his hand fell to the ground. Lysander then noticed that there were already about ten cigarette butts on the ground, all seemingly smoked by him. He was acting a bit out of character today. “What happened exactly?” Josiah shook his head, but there was visible fatigue between his brows. Yet, he still gentlemanly opened the car door for her. “It’s just work stuff. Come on, get in the car.” “Is it serious?” “It’s nothing.” Lysander got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. After a while, Josiah finally got into the car, started the engine, and stepped on the gas pedal. “Stop!” Lysander immediately called out to him. Josiah was startled by her sudden shout. “What’s wrong?” Just as he spoke, they heard a grumbling voice from outside, cursing, “Are you blind? Look where you’re going! Can’t you see me standing here? Can you afford the responsibility if you hit me?” Josiah used to pick her up from the hospital often, always being careful and never making mistakes. Something must’ve gotten into him today. Fortunately, the person didn’t pursue further and just left after a few curses. Josiah pursed his lips tightly, restarted the car, and merged into the traffic. Lysander was a bit worried. “Are you really okay?” Josiah looked a bit troubled and impatient. “I said I’m fine.” Lysander was stunned for a moment. She remained silent and never said anything else. After a few minutes, Josiah’s slightly apologetic voice sounded. “I’m sorry, Lysander. I’ve been dealing with a lot lately. My mood isn’t the best, and I didn’t mean to snap at you.” Lysander nodded slightly. “Okay, just drive carefully.” “Yeah.” There was a momentary silence. “Lysander.” “Yes?” “That woman just now…” Josiah licked his lips, seeming hesitant to speak. “The one you operated on, she’s alone in the hospital. Do you think she’s okay?” Lysander chuckled. “So, you’re thinking about her.” “No, I wasn’t thinking about her. I’m just concerned.” “There are nurses in the hospital to take care of her, and the hospital will also contact her family to come over.” “What if her family can’t make it?” “How do you know?” Josiah opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. He merely kept his eyes on the road ahead as if focusing on driving carefully, just like what she said. After that, there was silence all the way. By the time they arrived home, the sky was slowly getting brighter. Josiah parked the car in front of the house, didn’t even get out of the car, and said to her through the car window, “You rest well. I have to hurry back to the company to deal with some things.” Lysander nodded. As for whether he really went back to the company, Lysander didn’t want to ask. Having too keen of a sixth sense could sometimes be a bad thing. If she were more easy-going, perhaps she could pretend that nothing unusual had happened tonight. … This Saturday was Josiah’s thirty-first birthday, and Lysander and Josiah had agreed early on to go back to the old house together. She had worked a night shift the night before and got off work at eight o’clock on Saturday morning. As she was about to leave, she opened her wallet and looked at the prenatal examination report, which she had folded into the size of a matchbox and quietly placed in the compartment of her wallet. This was the birthday gift she had prepared for a long time, but now she was hesitating, unsure whether to give it or not. Lysander put the wallet back in her bag, changed out of her white coat, and got ready to leave work. Suddenly, her phone rang. It was her bestie, Daphne. “Lysander, I just saw your husband going home with a pregnant woman!”