Chapter 3

In the morning, Kenia had just finished a surgery and returned to her office for a brief rest when the emergency department nurse knocked on her door, breathless.

"Dr. Watson! There is a patient who was in a car accident and needs urgent medical attention!"

She didn't hesitate for a moment, grabbed her white coat, and hurried out. After getting dressed, she entered the operating room and saw the man on the operating table, covered in wounds.

Her hand trembled as she picked up the scalpel.

The man on the operating table seemed to muster all his strength to say one sentence. "I want a different lead surgeon!"

Colleagues around her all turned their eyes towards her. She glanced at the man drenched in blood and placed the scalpel back on the tray.

"Call Dr. Lambert. He has more experience."

With heavy steps, Kenia walked out of the operating room and waited quietly outside to see what would happen inside.

Suddenly, the nurse rushed out, and Kenia quickly spoke up. "What's wrong?"

The nurse, sweating profusely and anxious, said, "The patient is hemorrhaging severely and urgently needs blood!"

Kenia pondered for a few seconds. "Take mine!"

The nurse was stunned.

"Don't just stand there! His blood type is very rare, and we don't have time to get it from the blood bank!"

Before drawing blood, the nurse hesitated, unsure if she should proceed.

"Dr. Watson, can your body handle it?"

"Saving his life is what matters most."

The surgery concluded successfully. Kenia, pale but determined, walked to his hospital room.

Hearing the voices inside, her hand paused mid-air, resting on the doorknob.

"Hobson, I'm so relieved you're awake! I was so scared. Please don't do dangerous things for me again!"

The man gently stroked her hair, a smile forming on his lips.

"The prize for the race was the necklace you've always wanted. I wanted to make you happy."

Kenia stood motionless at the door, unsure how to face it all.

She had risked everything to donate blood for him, yet her husband had risked his life for a lover's smile.

"Hobson, I heard you had a hemorrhage. It was my blood that saved you. It hurt a lot!"

Hobson looked at the woman's arm, his expression softening.

"Eliana, you're so good to me. I'll have my assistant buy you the latest handbag as compensation."

Kenia didn't rush in to argue. Maybe she would have in the past, but now she didn't care at all.

She watched the two embrace through the glass door and turned away.

After finishing her work in the evening, she returned to his hospital room.

Hobson saw her and didn't bother to hide his disdain, sneering as he spoke. "Dr. Watson, you must be busy. Did you make time to see if I was dead yet?"

Kenia stood at the foot of his bed, not moving closer.

"You're a patient at our hospital. I came to check on you."

Hobson sneered again. "On the operating table earlier, I really wished to die at your hands, so I could reunite with Sarah Barnett. But then I thought, I haven't taken enough revenge on you yet. I can't die yet."

She stood quietly, unwilling to argue with him anymore.

They had quarreled too many times in the past, all to no avail.

"If you hate me so much, you could just divorce me."

This statement seemed to infuriate him. He suddenly sat up and advanced on her step by step.

"Kenia, don't even think about it! Don't think you can get rid of me through divorce. We're tied together for life."

Hobson suddenly grabbed her by the throat, his expression icy as he spoke.

"You should carry your father's sins and make amends with Sarah and me for the rest of your life!"

"I'm just a substitute for her to you. What's the point?"

Kenia's thoughts drifted back to the past, to the first time he cheated and got drunk in a bar. When she came to find him, she overheard Hobson talking to his friends.

"Hobson, I still don't understand why you married her."

"She looks a lot like Sarah. I believe Sarah wouldn't want me to be alone."

At that moment, she realized she had been a substitute from the start.

But she couldn't stop loving him.

Hobson released his grip, and she turned and walked towards the door.

"Kenia, I hate that I still love you, and I hate your father."

She couldn't hear his words, as they were too quiet.