Chapter 3

"If you don't want to be fired, increase the anesthesia and proceed with the surgery."

Under Adrian's powerful presence, the anesthesiologist ultimately compromised.

Darkness surged like a tide. I suddenly found myself back in that bright afternoon when I first met Adrian.

By the basketball court, the boy I'd secretly loved for three years ran toward me in a white shirt.

"Hey," he smiled as he handed me a bottle of water, "can you hold this for me?"

My heart pounded, but he forced the water into my hand.

The teasing from the crowd made my face burn red.

That was Adrian Whitmore!

The most popular guy in school!

He actually used the most clichéd yet passionate way to pursue an ordinary girl like me.

He would brave a high fever to bring me an umbrella when I was trapped in the lab by a rainstorm.

He would climb a tree and jump into my third-floor dorm to bring me medicine when I was sick, not caring that he fractured his bone in the process.

At the school talent show, he loudly confessed:

"Lena Parker, my future must include you."

His eyes were full of burning passion.

I stood there, my cheeks impossibly hot.

That night, we first tasted love. He cupped my face and said:

"Lena, I'll be good to you forever. So good that you can never leave me."

The scene shifted to my mother suddenly developing a rare serious illness.

I had just discovered I was pregnant but hadn't had time to tell Adrian yet.

Mrs. Whitmore had always been strict with Adrian. She said he could play around with me, but couldn't marry me.

I didn't want Mrs. Whitmore to think I was approaching Adrian for money.

But the astronomical surgery costs were enough to crush all my hope and dignity.

Just when I had nowhere to turn, Mrs. Whitmore slowly pushed a check in front of me.

The amount was exactly my mother's surgery cost.

"Miss Parker, the Whitmore family urgently needs a strategic marriage alliance now, but he's ready to secretly sell a kidney to secure investment because of you. Someone from your background can't help Adrian at all. You'll only become his burden."

I tried to explain, tried to plead. I even thought about telling Adrian the truth no matter what.

But that afternoon, while I was struggling and hesitating, I witnessed Adrian being forced to drink until he had stomach bleeding, all to secure investment.

Yet he texted me, pretending to be strong:

"Lena, I'm going abroad on business. I might be gone for two weeks. Be good at home and wait for my surprise."

Before I could reply, the hospital urgently contacted me:

"Miss Parker, your mother's condition can't be delayed any longer."

The cruel reality made me reach out and take that check, light as a feather yet heavy as a thousand pounds.

Mrs. Whitmore personally sent me to the procedure room, then acted with me, establishing the fact that I despised the Whitmore family's downfall and ran off with a rich old man while carrying a bastard.

Sharp pain yanked me violently from the tangled memories. My body curled into a ball, drenched in cold sweat.

Adrian's anxious roar reached my ears:

"Doctor!"

When I fully regained consciousness, his face was cold, and every word stabbed:

"Good that you're not dead."

It must have been too much anesthesia that made me dream such delusions.

Was Adrian actually concerned about me?

"Report any discomfort immediately. The lab needs the data."

As he finished speaking, the artificial heart sent distinct stabbing pains and persistent suffocation.

But none of it compared to the pain of Adrian hating me.

This was fine.

My heart would finally stop aching for him.

Flora Reed would replace me and love him properly!

Along with the three children I bore for them.

"Adrian, Miss Parker doesn't look well. Should we call a doctor?"