Chapter 2

I clenched the blanket until my knuckles ached, cold sweat breaking across my forehead.

Evelyn wet her lips. When she spoke, her voice sounded rough.

"There was a reason this time.

"Thomas's parents only care about money. They're trying to force him to marry him off to a 50-year-old widow in his hometown.

"Arthur, I know you. You're not the kind of person who could stand by and watch a young man's life get ruined."

Evelyn lifted me up on a moral pedestal so high that if I said no, I would become the cruel one.

But I had just survived a life-or-death surgery yesterday. The second she walked out, the heart monitor went off. I almost died on that operating table.

And still, Evelyn showed no real concern for me. All she wanted was my forgiveness.

Every word out of her mouth carried her helplessness and her pity for Thomas.

For a moment, my vision blurred. I suddenly felt like I didn't know the woman in front of me at all.

Evelyn had cried in front of me three times in her life.

The first time was after I was diagnosed with kidney failure and needed an expensive transplant.

She had just started working as a literature professor back then, but she took every lecture, every paid talk, every side job she could find.

People called her greedy. They said she had sold out, that all those years studying literature had come down to chasing money.

But she never cared.

She told them, "What good is dignity if I can't even keep the man I love alive?"

When my condition flared up, Evelyn cried as she begged me to hold on until she could pull the surgery money together.

I had been so happy then. I thought I had married the right woman.

And yet, the love Evelyn had sworn would last forever had barely survived three years of marriage.

The other two times she cried before me were because of Thomas. She chose me with her words, but every instinct in her body still protected him.

When I didn't answer, Evelyn let out a long, tired sigh.

"Thomas isn't like you. He has both parents, but they only treat him like a paycheck. You grew up with one parent, but your dad loves you."

Every explanation only made her pity for Thomas more obvious.

I turned my face away, disappointment settling cold in my chest.

"Then take care of him. I'll have the divorce papers sent over after I leave the hospital."

Evelyn's head snapped up. "The surgery was successful. What are you still upset about?"

I gritted my teeth and was about to answer when the sharp crack of a slap cut through from outside the room.

Through the window, I saw Dad standing there, furious, laying into Thomas.

Evelyn didn't hesitate. She rushed out and shoved Dad hard enough to send him crashing to the floor. Something cracked on impact, and the sound turned my blood cold.

She pulled Thomas behind her and snapped, "How could you bully my student? He came all this way to congratulate Arthur on a successful surgery! He didn't mean any harm."

Ignoring the pain, I forced myself to the doorway as fast as I could.

The moment I saw the blood on Dad's forehead, my eyes burned.

"Evelyn, has my dad ever treated you badly all these years? How could you lay your hands on an old man like that?"

Dad rushed to my side and steadied me, worry written all over his face.

"I knew something was wrong between you and Evelyn months ago. I thought maybe after the surgery, the two of you would work things out.

"But I never imagined she'd turn out no different from your mother. In the end, she still cheated. And she had the nerve to bring her new man here. I've got to stand up for you!"

Dad's words hit me straight in the chest. My nose stung, and I nearly broke down right there.

Thomas's face flushed red.

"Sir, don't run your mouth when you don't know anything!"

Evelyn gently touched the red mark on Thomas's face. Then she looked back at Dad, her brows drawn tight.

"You're old enough to know better than this."