Marrying Jayson had been the only choice Ariel had after a series of events. She couldn’t argue with Chad’s words.

Chad stood up. “I’ll go get you some water. Wait here.”

Ariel glanced at the IV drip; it was almost empty. She considered calling the nurse to remove the needle.

The emergency room was busy, and she couldn’t find any free nurses. After taking a few steps, she leaned against the wall to rest.

Nearby, she overheard a conversation.

“Guess who I just saw? Mr. Larkin from Bluum Corp! He rushed into the hospital just now!”

el though

Ariel thought she might have misheard.

Jayson was here? Was he here to visit her?

It seemed unlikely. He never paid any attention to her.

Then the two women continued, “He came with a super beautiful woman. He looked so worried about her.”

Of course.

Ariel wasn’t disappointed, as she hadn’t expected anything from Jayson.

They were already strangers anyway.

“By the way, it looks like they were here for a prenatal checkup,” one woman whispered.

Even though Ariel knew Jayson was here for Nancy, hearing the words “prenatal checkup” made her instinctively touch the area of her womb, which would soon lose its ability to bear children.

Her legs felt heavy, like they were made of lead.

The pain in her chest made her realize that some things weren’t easy to let go of, no matter how hard she tried. “Why are you running around when you’re sick?” A man’s voice came from behind her.

Ariel turned and was surprised to see Lucas.

With one hand in his pocket, he looked at her. Ariel couldn’t help but wonder how much of the gossip from the women nearby he had overheard.

Ariel cleared her dry throat. “What are you doing here?”

ཅན རྒྱུ བ ཋཝཾ རྐུ

Lucas replied, “Someone called me and said you fainted. They needed your ID and medical card.”

It was only then that Ariel remembered that she had used this phone number for years. Many years ago, Lucas had set himself as her emergency contact on it.

He had said that he would show up right away whenever she needed him.

But now…

“Sorry,” Ariel said. “My friend didn’t know.”

Lucas stared at her for a while, then stepped forward and took her wrist. He expertly removed the IV needle and pressed down on the spot. “You fainted from a cold? Ari, you’re still the same. Always playing these tricks to get my attention.”

Back in the day, there had been many suitors around him, and Ariel would often get jealous. She’d fake being sick to get him to come to her.

Ariel looked down at his hand holding hers. She calmly pulled her arm back and distanced herself from him. “You didn’t have to come.”

Lucas looked at her, thinking she was just throwing a tantrum.

“Just text me next time. Don’t call directly,” he said, leaning against the wall. “Otherwise, Wendy might get jealous.”

“Okay, I won’t do it again.”

Ariel didn’t argue. Explaining herself seemed pointless. Actions spoke louder.

Lucas studied her. Her reaction was too calm. In the past, she wouldn’t have tolerated him favoring another

woman.

He wasn’t sure if Ariel was playing it cool or if she had something else in mind.

After a moment of thought, he realized that when a woman was upset, she’d need some gesture or gift.

Lucas stepped closer and ruffled Ariel’s hair. Then, he bent down to look at her. “Is this enough?”

When Ariel met his carefree gaze, she wanted to push his hand away.

But when she looked up, she saw Jayson and Nancy standing together not far away.

Jayson’s gaze was cool as he watched her and Lucas interact, as if he were an uninterested observer.