Chapter 3
Before Emily could even take a step, two figures quickly approached from inside, grabbed her, and pulled her into the room, right up to Sophia's hospital bed.
"Oh, it's Dr. Rivers," Sophia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Sophia sat up in bed, her cheeks flushed, and shot Emily a look full of contempt.
Emily wasn't in the mood to argue with her. She turned to leave, but Sophia's voice rang out again, dripping with sarcasm, "So, Dr. Rivers, I heard you're getting married soon, too. When's your big day?"
The word "too" stung Emily.
She froze, feeling like someone had just squeezed her heart tight.
She answered slowly, "I'm not getting married."
She'd already made up her mind to step aside and let Andrew be with Sophia.
Sophia let out a mocking laugh, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Dr. Rivers, at your age, you're still this stubborn? If I were your boyfriend, I would've run for the hills ages ago with how spoiled you are."
As soon as she finished speaking, a man's cough sounded from outside the door.
"What's going on in here?" Andrew's voice called out.
Emily looked up and saw Andrew coming in, a pink lunchbox in his hand.
When Andrew saw Emily, he instinctively hid the lunchbox behind his back. "Emily, what are you doing here?"
"This is my workplace. I'm a doctor. Why wouldn't I be here? Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Emily shot back.
Her eyes landed on the pink lunchbox in Andrew's hand again, and this time, she could clearly see the sticker on it. [For My Princess Only].
She and Andrew used to put stickers like that on their lunchboxes, too.
But that was ages ago, back when they were still in school.
A sour ache welled up inside her as she quietly waited for Andrew to respond.
Just then, Sophia jumped out of bed barefoot and darted over to Andrew, chirping like a little sparrow. She grabbed his sleeve and shook it playfully. "Andrew, you're here."
Andrew barely reacted, absently nudging her aside before explaining, "Emily, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just dropping off lunch for Gary's girlfriend."
After he finished, Andrew shot Sophia a sharp look.
Sophia pulled a face, clearly annoyed, but forced herself to play along. "Dr. Rivers, my boyfriend's always busy at work, so I have to ask Andrew to bring me lunch."
Emily replied, her voice flat.
Watching the two of them put on such a lame performance, Emily gave a forced, expressionless smile. "I've got work to do."
As she turned to leave, she caught, out of the corner of her eye, Sophia and Andrew's pinkies entwined together.
After Emily left, one of Sophia's friends leaned over and asked, "Sophia, who was that lady just now?"
Sophia jumped in right away. "She's got serious issues. Keeps insisting she's Andrew's girlfriend. If Andrew doesn't play along, she says she'll come after his whole family with a knife.
"Andrew had no choice but to ask me to help him lie to her. Otherwise, she'd be chasing me around like a mad dog."
Andrew just nodded silently, not saying a word.
Neither of them noticed that someone had been standing outside the door for quite a while.
Emily never would have guessed that, as Andrew's actual girlfriend, she'd be accused of being mentally unstable.
Her heart ached so much that it had gone numb. She lamented that all the years of affection she had invested were for nothing.
She handed in all her resignation forms to Candice, planning to pack up her things and leave the hospital that afternoon.
While tidying her room, a nurse rushed in. "Dr. Rivers, it's bad. Patient in Room 9 is hemorrhaging, likely a miscarriage, but she's crying to save the baby. You're the best doctor in our department."
As soon as Emily heard "Room 9," she instantly realized it was Andrew's girlfriend's room.
The words miscarriage and baby cut through her heart. Each syllable felt like a blade twisting inside her chest.
But as a doctor, she didn't hesitate. She set down what she was holding and hurried after the nurse to the operating room.