Chapter 2

Gwen’s POV.

  

  “Ugh, my arms are about to fall off.” I grumbled to myself as I struggled to balance the heavy boxes of donated toys stacked up in my arms. The corners of the boxes were digging into my palms and I could feel a painful cramp in my shoulders.

  

  It’s been one year since I walked out of Raymond’s apartment. One year since I went into that surgery room alone and was lucky to return alive and so much healthier.

  

  With a five percent chance of survival, everyone called it a miracle and I couldn’t agree more.

  

  The first breath I took after waking up from the transplant made me realize just how fragile life was, it felt like I had been given a second chance at life so I made a promise to myself to make the most of it.

  

  Recovering from the surgery was tough, every day, I fought back the urge to send a text or call Raymond, I cried myself to sleep every night and deep down, I missed him.

  

  But the greatest shock came when I realized that just two months after I walked away, he had moved on without bothering to search for me. There were images of him and his new lover everywhere on the net and maybe… just maybe that was the closure I needed because after that, I made up my mind to start living only for myself.

  

  So, I focused on my little online boutique that had once been a hobby, and helped it blossom into a real, thriving business. Out of gratitude for the second chance I was given, I started volunteering thrice every week at the very same hospital I was operated on.

  

  And today, I was delivering the donated toys to the children's ward. My arms were stacked with boxes, blocking my view of everything except the floor directly in front of my feet.

  

  “I swear, these boxes get heavier with each step.” I grumbled to myself, shifting the weight in my arms until I was finally able to hit the elevator button with my elbow.

  

  Staggering, I sidestepped into the open elevator and sighed in relief when I saw it was empty.

  

  Just as the doors started to slide shut, someone suddenly rushed inside. The unexpected movement made me lose my balance and I wobbled backwards as the box tipped violently,

  

  “Whoa, careful there!” A deep, masculine voice called out and my head shot the side to see who it was but the movement was too quick, I lost my balance and was going to crash face down to the floor with the boxes when I felt someone’s hand land squarely on my left breast.

  

  Time froze.

  

  My heart skipped a beat and my eyes widened in shock, the hand was firm enough to stop my face from colliding with the floor but I was so shocked that I jerked back and tripped over.

  

  My back slammed against the elevator wall and the boxes tumbled to the ground, scattering little toy cars everywhere.

  

  Stunned, my eyes dropped to my breast and shot up to find the pervert that had just groped me. My lips parted, ready to scream at him but the moment my eyes landed on him, my breath caught in my throat.

  

  A strikingly gorgeous pair of ocean blue eyes sucked me in immediately. His messy coffee brown hair that looked like he had just ran his hand through it, fell across his face effortlessly yet it looked like it had been professionally styled.

  

  His muscular arms flexed underneath the simple t-shirt he was wearing and I had never seen a man look so handsome in a pair of casual jeans before.

  

  The pervert before me was…

  

  “You couldn’t even see where you were going, you could have hurt someone!” His voice cut through the fog that had settled over my mind and I immediately snapped out of it.

  

  “What if you’d dropped something this heavy on a patient or a kid? This is a hospital, be careful.” He added and I scoffed out loud.

  

  “Y-You sick pervert.” I shot him a glare as I stumbled to my feet.

  

  “Excuse me?” He raised a brow, looking clueless like he had no idea what he had just done.

  

  “You just groped me and you’re talking about safety?”

  

  “Groped you?” He looked at me like I was crazy, “you were going to fall, I was trying to stop you from cracking your head open. That was a mistake and I…”

  

  “How convenient!” I yelled, “I know who you are, you’re one of those weirdos that hang out in places like this to grope women with every chance you get. You’re not getting away with it this time, I am calling the cops.”

  

  Without a second thought, I reached out and grabbed the side of his shirt. I pulled out my phone and was just about to dial the emergency line when he snatched the phone away from me,

  

  “Listen Lady,” his voice sounded low and irriated, “let’s get one thing straight, if I was a pervert, you’d know it and you’re definitely not my type.”

  

  What the… did he just…

  

  I was so angry I could have sworn I saw little white spots floating around my vision. My grip on his shirt tightened,

  

  “You’re so going to regret this, pervert,”

  

  His eyes were blazing with rage as he stared down at my face but his intimidatingly tall body against my much smaller one didn’t mean anything to me at that point, I glared right back at him,

  

  “Stop calling me that.” He snapped as he tried to forcefully release his shirt from my grip but at the exact moment his hand wrapped around mine roughly, the elevator made a loud, ding sound and the doors slid open to reveal Nurse Sarah standing tight there.

  

  She glanced from my furious face to his before her gaze down to our hands that were still wrapped around each other and we immediately jerked apart,

  

  “Oh… Perfect! I see you’ve both met already.” She said with a wide smile on her face and my brows furrowed.

  

  What was she talking about? Before I could open my mouth to ask, she continued,

  

  “He’s the one I told you about. Your partner for the children wing’s project.”

  

  My mouth hung open in disbelief and my nose scrunched up in disgust,

  

  “Him? You want me to work with… with this pervert? Sarah, he just—“

  

  “Miss Gwen,” Sarah cut me off, her smile strained as she glanced nervously at the man beside me, and lowered her voice, “this is Dr. Alex, he’s the head of the surgical department and the chairman’s only son.”

  

  Those words landed so hard that it knocked the air right out of my lungs.

  

  Doctor?

  

  Wait… this pervert dressed so casually was the famous Doctor Alex Thorne and I had just called him a pervert!