Chapter 1
It was pouring rain, and my husband, Oscar Moore, a doctor, went out of his way to drop off his intern, Amelia Hart, at her apartment.
Despite being six months pregnant, I didn't care about my own condition. As soon as I stepped inside, I told him straight up, "I want a divorce."
Oscar looked at me, exhausted and totally stunned.
"Come on, it's just a bit more time in the car. Is it really that big of a deal?" he said.
A bit more time? Seriously?
It was supposed to be a ten-minute drive home, but instead, I was trapped in the backseat, forced to watch them flirt for nearly two hours.
And this was the same husband who gave me the silent treatment for three days just because I drank some lemonade in the car. He said I made the whole car smell like lemons.
But when Amelia said her stomach hurt, he actually went out in the pouring rain to buy her a hot drink and churros.
Seeing that I was dead serious, Oscar looked at my pregnant belly.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. If we get divorced, life won't be easy for you and the baby," he said.
I smiled and stayed silent.
I wasn't planning to keep him either. Why would I keep his child?
*****
The overwhelming scent of disinfectant in the hospital hallway, mixed with the damp air from the torrential rain outside, made me feel even more suffocated and nauseous.
I cradled my belly, now more than six months along, and leaned carefully against the wall, waiting for my prenatal exam.
Today wasn't supposed to be Oscar's turn at the specialist clinic, but Benjamin Haines from his team had to take a last-minute leave, so Oscar was covering for half the day.
After my scheduled checkup, I figured I'd stop by to see him, maybe hitch a ride home.
After all, with the rain pouring outside, the ride-hailing app had nearly two hundred people in the queue, and my phone signal kept dropping in and out.
The waiting area was packed.
Kids were bawling, anxious parents kept firing questions, and nurses were shouting to keep things under control. The noise was nonstop.
I found an empty spot on the bench outside the OB-GYN clinic. I'd barely sat down for two minutes when I saw Oscar's tall figure appear at the clinic door.
He was dressed in a crisp, immaculate white coat, and you could see the exhaustion from a long night of surgery etched on his face.
But when his eyes swept over the crowd, they were still sharp and aloof.
This was the Oscar I knew was calm, efficient, and absolutely intolerant of chaos or rule-breaking.
As the youngest associate chief physician in the cardiology department at the city's top hospital, his professionalism and adherence to rules were ingrained in him.
I'd always thought that was one of his strengths.
Just as I was debating whether to call out to him, I spotted a figure moving through the crowd with practiced ease, heading straight for Oscar's clinic.
That figure— Was that Amelia?
I frowned.
Amelia was an intern who'd joined the department just over a month ago. She was young, pretty, and always knew how to sweet-talk people. When she smiled, she had this timid, innocent look that made her seem harmless.
The first time I met her at the hospital, I thought she was bursting with youthful energy.
But the thing was, she had no business being around Oscar, especially not in this kind of intimate way.
Oscar had an unspoken rule. To avoid unnecessary trouble or distractions, he always ended up with male interns or assistants.
It wasn't something he insisted on at first. But a few years ago, after several young female doctors and med students tried to get close to him, like "accidentally" spilling water, messing up reports, or asking for help late at night, he got fed up.
So he took the initiative and let the teaching department know.
Eventually, it just became an open secret in the department.
Even Megan Estes, the administrative secretary, knew that when handing over documents, Oscar would only take them from across the desk. He'd never reach out and risk an accidental touch.
So what was the deal with Amelia?
"Mr. Moore!" Amelia called out, her voice purposely gentle and sugary. "Sorry to bother you, but my stomach really hurts."
Oscar shifted to the side, his face unreadable.
He opened the clinic door and gestured for Amelia to go in.
Then, turning to the patients and their families who'd been waiting forever, he said deadpan, "Just a moment. I need to handle something urgent."
The crowd outside started grumbling in low voices.
"What the heck? We've been waiting all morning!"
"Something urgent? That girl looked totally fine to me."
"Isn't Dr. Moore supposed to be a stickler for the rules? Now he's letting someone cut in line?"
Oscar didn't even flinch, like he couldn't hear a thing.
Just as he was about to close the door, his gaze swept over the crowd and spotted me sitting quietly in the corner.
For a brief moment, our eyes met, and I saw a flash of surprise in Oscar's expression.
But it vanished almost instantly, replaced by a hint of annoyance that was barely visible.
He didn't say anything. He shut the clinic door with a thud, blocking everyone out.
My heart dropped.
Was it ten minutes? Or twenty? The clinic door stayed firmly shut the whole time.
The grumbling outside just kept getting louder, and the nurses' efforts to calm everyone down didn't help at all.