Chapter 3

I forced him to stay at the clinic and made him take his medicine and treatments every single day.

At first, he resisted constantly. Then he slowly stopped fighting me. In the end, he even started helping sort the medicine and receive patients.

Old Mr. Johnson from next door would often tease him about it.

"Kid, I saw Joanna kiss you that day. Shouldn't you take responsibility for her?"

Zack's ears instantly turned red. His fingers tightened around the paper medicine packet, then slowly loosened, as though he wanted to say something.

But Mrs. Johnson cut him off.

"Oh, forget it. Don't drag poor Joanna down with him. I heard his mother…"

That was when I finally learned why Zack had tried to drown himself.

His father had an affair during the marriage. After getting drunk one night, he beat Zack's mother to death. Once he was sent to prison, Zack was dumped at his uncle's house.

However, how could his uncle possibly treat him well when it was Zack's father who had murdered his own sister?

The neighbors all said Zack had practically grown up in a chicken coop. Every day before sunrise, he had to cook for his uncle's entire family.

On the day he jumped into the river, a group of children had shoved him to the ground and screamed that the son of a murderer did not deserve to live.

Seeing the light suddenly disappear from his eyes, I made a decision on impulse.

I grabbed his hand and announced it to everyone there.

"From today onward, Zack is my father's final apprentice. He's part of the Hemingway family now."

His eyes reddened again. I could not tell if he was moved or just angry at me.

Thankfully, this time he did not refuse.

My father had always given me whatever I asked for. Not only did he take Zack in as a student, he also supported him all the way through school.

From that moment on, we were never apart again, all the way until we graduated from university and got married.

This year marked the eighth year of our marriage.

I was no longer the brilliant, high-spirited genius girl I once was. Now I was a professor so obsessed with developing a targeted drug that I had nearly driven myself insane.

To him, it was probably no surprise that I had become strange.

I crouched down and began cleaning up the mess scattered across the floor.

When I finally finished salvaging the trampled samples, a sudden impulse rose inside me.

I wanted to throw everything into the trash.

But in the end, I carefully locked the samples back inside the cabinet.

We had been husband and wife since we were young.

No matter what, I still could not bear to watch him die.

The next day, I was in the lab as usual, checking data.

Ever since developing the special treatment for my father's terminal illness, my research had made a major breakthrough.

Maybe, just maybe, I really could develop the targeted drug before Zack's condition worsened.

My phone suddenly rang.

It was the dean.

"Ms. Hemingway, your latest paper has been accused of plagiarism. Please come to my office immediately."

My chest tightened. I did not even have time to ask questions before hurrying out with my data and rushing to the dean's office.

I did not expect to run into two familiar figures right outside the door.

Standing on tiptoe, Cheryl carefully wrapped a gray linen scarf around Zack's neck.

"Professor, is that warmer?"

Around her own neck was a matching off-white scarf.

My sudden arrival seemed to shatter the intimate atmosphere between them.

Cheryl immediately put on an innocent expression.

"Ms. Hemingway, you're here too!"

Hearing her voice, Zack turned around. His gaze rested on my face for a brief moment, but he said nothing.

I pretended not to notice either of them and walked straight into the office without looking back.

"Dean, what's going on with this plagiarism accusation? There's no way I would ever do something like that."

The dean looked deeply uncomfortable.

"Ms. Hemingway, of course I know what kind of person you are. But the one who submitted the paper and made the accusation this time is... Mr. Fenton's student."

My entire body froze.

I turned around in disbelief.