Chapter 5

After thinking it over, Jessica still felt that bringing Michael along was not a good idea.

"Forget it, I'll go by myself. Chris has a strange personality—he might offend you. You can get some rest. Tomorrow you still have to take Jordan to the hospital for an IV. Let’s not get delayed."

After saying that, Jessica didn’t even give Michael a chance to object and left with her car keys.

Michael stood in the living room for a long time, then turned and looked around the whole house, finally pushing open the door to Jessica and Chris’s bedroom.

Jessica really didn’t like Chris, did she?

When he first arrived, he had noticed that there were no men's toiletries at all, yet Jessica hadn’t realized that.

Michael felt that it saved him a lot of trouble.

Because of a problem with his passport, Chris had spent several days trying to resolve it, missing the first round of exchange studies. A fire simmered quietly in his chest—he knew all of this was Jessica’s doing. She was forcing him to show up.

But for the sake of a smooth divorce, he still didn’t say anything.

Language classes started, and Chris spent every day either in class or interning at the hospital.

When Jonathan heard that he couldn’t go abroad, he told him to wait for the next semester. In the meantime, a hospital that had requested him long ago had him come in for work. With Jonathan making the connection, Chris started working for the first time in five years.

He moved to a different hotel. He knew very well that if Jessica wanted to find him, she would succeed no matter where he went.

Work and study filled up his week. Busy and fulfilled, Chris once again felt invigorated—he finally felt alive.

He had thought he wouldn’t run into Michael until the divorce was finalized, but unexpectedly, Michael showed up at the hospital where he was interning—with Jordan.

“You must be Mr. Green.”

Chris, still in a white coat and fresh off the operating table, was heading toward his office when he heard the voice and turned his head.

Michael smiled at him. “Hello, I’m Michael.”

His voice matched the one on the phone, and he did indeed have the look Jessica liked. No wonder she had thought about him for so many years.

Chris instinctively looked for Jessica, but instead locked eyes with Sophie’s disdainful glare.

“What are you doing here? You didn’t follow us here, did you?” Sophie sneered. She had known Chris wouldn’t obediently leave the house. After all the fuss, here he was pursuing her sister.

Chris looked away, nodded slightly at Michael, and turned to leave.

But Michael didn’t seem willing to let him go, stepping forward to block his way.

“Mr. Green, let’s talk.”

Michael’s fake smile made Chris uncomfortable.

What was there to talk about between a recently-returned first love and a cast-aside, soon-to-be-divorced husband?

Chris frowned and declined. “I still have work.”

Before Michael could speak, Sophie hurriedly interrupted, “Michael is being nice to you. Don’t be so ungrateful!”

The noise had already drawn some attention.

If the security guards were alerted, it would only reflect poorly on him.

Chris sighed. “What are you getting at?”

Michael said nothing, only gestured toward the fire escape.

Inside the fire escape.

The emergency exit light hung at an odd angle, and the cement floor was littered with cigarette butts.

“You’ve moved out already?”

Michael crushed a cigarette butt with his shoe, dragging a long black streak across the floor.

He said “moved out,” clearly implying he already saw himself as the master of Jessica’s home.

Chris sneered, his gaze fixed on Michael. “Mr. Hall, since you already know, why come here to humiliate me?”

Michael didn’t respond. He sucked in his cheeks, then said slowly, “Mr. Green, don’t tell me you’re trying to play hard to get—trying to keep Jessica thinking about you this way?”

Even Chris hadn’t thought of it like that. If it worked, it would be the first time she had thought of him.

No wonder she had been so attached to Michael all these years.

Chris laughed bitterly. “I’ll be divorcing Jessica soon. Actually, I should already be abroad. If not for...”

If he had already decided to leave, why was there still a sliver of hope buried deep in his heart—hoping that Jessica would stop him?

She was so busy, and these days Michael and his daughter were always with her...

What was he being delusional about?

Chris gave a pained smile.

“I don’t believe you’d give up someone like Jessica.” Michael acted as though he had heard a joke.

“So, in your eyes, Jessica is just a tree that gives good shade, is that it? Then her taste must be awful.”

After saying that, Chris pushed open the fire escape door and stepped out.

Michael gave a few sinister laughs, then suddenly pulled a fruit knife from behind and slashed his own arm.

“Chris, you want a divorce? I’ll help you out...”

Chris turned back and tried to grab the knife, but it was too late.

The sharp blade cut through Michael’s tailored suit and left a long gash on his upper left arm.

Blood dripped to the ground.

Michael’s face turned pale.

For the first time, Chris hated being a doctor.

He quickly turned and yelled, “Patient in need of surgery—send him to the OR!”

Sophie was waiting outside the fire escape. Hearing this, she grabbed Chris’s arm. “What did you do?”

Chris kept walking.

Sophie yanked his arm again. “I said, what did you do?”

Chris shook her off impatiently. “If you’re still worried about your beloved’s safety, then get your ass into the fire escape!”

This suspicion had long taken root in Chris’s heart. He had always felt Sophie treated Michael with excessive warmth.

The pampered second daughter of the Wilder family actually came to the hospital to accompany Michael. In an ordinary family, maybe that would be considered care between in-laws. But she was Sophie—born with everything.

Her attitude toward him said it all.

Love and hate were clearly defined.

Sure enough, Sophie stared at him wide-eyed, as if he had hit a nerve.

After a moment, she snapped out of it and ran into the fire escape.

Jessica arrived quickly—likely right after getting a call from Sophie and leaving work in a rush.

Michael’s wound wasn’t too serious. He was cruel to himself, but his instinct still protected him. It only nicked a blood vessel.

But that was enough for Jessica to charge in with righteous fury.

So when she pushed open the office door, full of rage, Chris wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“You stabbed Michael with a knife?”

Chris gave a bitter smile. “Is that really what you think of me?”

Jessica snapped back, “Isn’t it true? You’ve been fighting with me over him this whole time!”

So everything he had done these days was, in her eyes, petty jealousy over Michael.

“Michael cut himself.”

“You think I’d believe that? Has Michael gone mad—hurting himself just to frame you? You think you’re worth it?”

Those last words made it hard for Chris to breathe. He stared at her intently. “He framed me. Jessica, why can’t you just believe me—just once?”

‘Just this once—’

If she believed him now, then maybe these five years wouldn’t have been for nothing.

But every hope he had pinned on her always ended in disappointment.

“You’d better pray he’s okay.” Jessica flung out those final words and left the office.

Her high heels clicked crisply across the hospital floor.

Chris collapsed helplessly into his chair.

In the end, she didn’t even bother closing the door behind her.

In the wound-cleaning room, Jessica pulled up a chair and sat beside Michael.

The cut was long, but thankfully not deep.

Michael looked pale. “Jessica, did I do something to upset Mr. Green?”

Jessica shook her head. She couldn’t get Chris’s expression out of her mind.

From what she knew of him, he didn’t seem like the kind of person who would do something like that.

Had she really misjudged him?

Michael didn’t get the reaction he wanted and kept pressing, “Jessica, if I’m really causing trouble here, I can take Jordan and move to a hotel.”

Oh right, Jordan was still sick.

All this drama these past two days had made it hard for the child to recover.

Things had gone too far today—it was just childish.

Had she been indulging Chris too much all along?

With that thought in mind, Jessica reassured him, “No, stay. You didn’t do anything wrong. He hurt you—I’ll make sure he apologizes to you in person.”

Michael nodded, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Just then, Sophie burst through the door. “Jessica, you’re finally here! Chris dared to stab Michael with a knife! Aren’t you going to do something?”

“Well, when his passport is ready, he’ll be gone anyway!”

When Jessica heard that, she suddenly stood up and asked, “Where is he going?”

Sophie was startled and blinked. “He’s going abroad. Didn’t you know?”