Chapter 1

Eight years after I broke up with Greyson Tromp, we met in the hospital. He brought his wife for a prenatal checkup and happened to have their consultation with me.

I wore a mask and carefully examined the condition of her baby. The intern beside us asked how they ended up together.

Elise Jacob said smugly, "You have to fight for a handsome guy. To get the best, you have to fight for it! He used to like someone else. To win his heart, I stirred up trouble between them, causing them to misunderstand each other and gradually drift apart.

"Later, they had a really bad argument, and I hid the apology letter he asked me to pass on to that woman. I still keep it as our token of love. That woman was pregnant at the time, and I used every means to get rid of her baby!"

After they left, I removed my mask. My hands instinctively rested on my stomach. There was an ugly scar beneath my clothes. It was from when Greyson forced me to abort our baby.

A few days later, Greyson came kneeling before me, holding that apology letter and a divorce agreement.

…

I looked up, my heart skipping a beat.

I never expected to run into Greyson in such circumstances after eight years. He had brought his wife for a prenatal checkup.

Due to their striking good looks and Greyson's gentle and considerate nature, everyone thought they were the perfect match. They were incredibly curious about the couple.

During the ultrasound, an intern could not help but ask, "How did you two meet and get together?"

Elise raised an eyebrow and smiled smugly, answering, "I stole him, of course! He had a childhood sweetheart back then, and they were really close, but I had to get what I wanted! That woman was stupid. I pretended to be friends with her and then secretly sabotaged their relationship. She probably married a lowly man after that. Maybe she's even on her third child with him!"

Her tone was light and cheerful, as if she were talking about something amusing. "But in the midst of it, my husband wanted to get back together with her and wrote her an apology letter, which I hid. I have it hidden at home. It's basically my trophy."

The atmosphere became a little awkward. Seeing everyone's strange expressions, Elise half-jokingly added, "Why are you all so tense? I was just kidding! Life isn't that dramatic."

Everyone looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief after hearing her explanation.

My expression remained unchanged, but my hand holding the instrument was still trembling nervously.

After the examination was over, it was time for me to end my shift.

While changing, I overheard the interns chatting.

"Those two make the perfect match. A handsome man and a beautiful woman, how perfect!"

"Yeah, why would she need to snatch a man from someone else when she's so beautiful? She must've been joking."

"Good-looking people have good genes. She doesn't even have any swelling or stretch marks!"

I took off my mask and placed a hand on my stomach. Beneath my clothes were dense stretch marks and an ugly scar. Staring blankly at the ultrasound machine, only I knew Elise had not been joking.

It was just that I had been abroad for eight years and had long since let go of what happened back then. It did not matter whether there was a misunderstanding between us anymore.

The next second, Greyson returned, having left something behind. Seeing me, his expression was complicated. "Nicola Tromp, long time no see."

Greyson seemed unchanged, except that the edge in his eyes had reduced.

"How have you been?"

After a long silence, I heard my own dry voice respond, "Without you, of course, I'm fine."

He seemed somewhat taken aback, a hint of sorrow in his eyes.

My relationship with Greyson was complicated. He was sickly as a child, and a fortune teller once said that adopting a child of the same age could ward off bad luck. When he was 12, the Tromp family adopted me, and I became their adopted daughter. I even changed my name to Nicola Tromp.

After that, Greyson stopped getting sick, and his health gradually improved, but I often fell ill. Greyson firmly believed it was because of him, so he doted on me very much. After starting university, we naturally became a couple.

"Nicola? It really is you. I thought it was just a coincidence." Elise's voice pulled me back to reality. She sized me up, her eyes filled with disdain.

"Didn't you drop out of school? How did you become a doctor? Or are you still relying on sleeping around..." Her pause was perfectly timed, carrying a hidden meaning.

I only returned from abroad last year and had medical experience overseas. I skipped management training and became an attending physician directly. Due to my introverted personality, people did not really know about my situation, though they were curious.

My tone was impatient. "You can see my resume on the hospital's app."

She scoffed. "Changed to the academic vixen route, huh? You sure are good at this."

The interns exchanged glances. I picked up my bag from the desk, my expression cold. "Didn't you already tell the truth behind what happened back then during your examination just now?"

Elise's expression changed abruptly.

Everyone realized then that what she said during the examination was true. The interns now looked at her with disdain.

I just wanted to get away from these people. It was already past my work hours, so I grabbed my bag and left.

As I sat in the car, the facade I had put on crumbled. I slumped over the steering wheel, feeling utterly exhausted. I could feel that my eyes were burning.