Love Under Scalpel: My Ex, My Doctor

"Take off everything below your waist and lie down. Spread your legs. Have you had this examination before?"

The doctor's deep voice came from above Camila Lawson, and warmth rushed to her ears.

Why did he sound so familiar?

Camila frowned and looked up at the man beside the examination bed. A surgical mask covered half his face, but she still recognized his sharp features. The longer she stared, the more certain she became that she knew him.

Her attention shifted to the physician ID badge on his chest.

Camila's breath caught, and her heart began pounding.

The doctor's name was Andreas Murphy.

He was the man she had dated seven years ago.

Old memories immediately returned.

...

"I'm a Lawson. I'll marry someone who belongs in my world, not some poor nobody like you!"

Seven years ago, Camila had ended their relationship without mercy. She walked away and never looked back, even though anger and betrayal had turned Andreas's eyes red.

Right after that, she dropped out of school and disappeared.

Camila had never expected to meet him again seven years later. Of all places, she had run into him during the preoperative examination for her hymen repair surgery.

Worse, he was the doctor assigned to examine her.

His white coat looked perfectly neat, and gold framed glasses rested on his nose. He remained tall and proud, but the distance in his manner made him seem like a stranger.

Camila still remembered his broad hands and long fingers. However, the warmth he once showed her was gone.

She silently begged him not to recognize her.

Back then, she had weighed one hundred ninety eight pounds. She weighed only one hundred six now.

This couldn't possibly be her ex-boyfriend. Surely fate wouldn't play such a cruel joke on her.

Another doctor must've had the same name.

The examination form in her hand filled Camila with shame and brought back the cruel comments she had endured years ago.

"Can you believe that fatty Camila tried to seduce Andreas, the most popular guy on campus? She has no shame."

"I heard she saved his life and used that against him until he agreed to date her. I feel sick whenever I see all that fat."

"Do you think she made him sleep with her, too? Has she ever looked at that disgusting body in a mirror? Andreas probably wants to wash his hands with acid every time she touches him."

Camila stared at the examination bed in embarrassment. She quickly stuffed the forms and medical records into her bag while trying to find a way to leave.

Then she remembered something she could use as an excuse.

Her appointment was supposed to be with Lenny Shaw.

Why had this man taken over the examination?

Camila tried to stay composed, but her voice still shook when she spoke.

"Excuse me, Doctor. I think there's been a mistake. My appointment is with..."

Andreas reached for a disposable glove but suddenly stopped. He tapped the table once before walking closer and lowering his mask. Cold amusement appeared in his eyes.

"Quit pretending you don't know me, Camila. I've touched every part of you more times than I can remember. Did you really think losing weight would make me forget who you are?"

His words hit harder than she expected.

Memories she had spent years suppressing rushed back without warning.

Camila began to shake.

She could almost imagine that gloved hand grabbing her at any moment. Andreas might push her onto the examination bed and pull her back into the desire they had once shared.

Andreas noticed every change in her expression. There was no doubt that she was Camila.

She didn't know that seeing her name on the patient list had nearly stopped him cold. He had spent seven years focused on medical school, his career, and the family business. He kept himself busy every day so he wouldn't have time to remember her or the resentment he still carried.

When Camila was eighteen, she had never believed Andreas would truly become intimate with her. He had always seemed kind but distant, almost impossible to reach.

All she had allowed herself was a quiet crush from a distance, and even that had brought her a painful kind of happiness.

She wouldn't have regretted loving him, even if nothing had ever happened between them.

Everything changed on the night she pulled him out of the water. He was soaked, and alcohol lingered on his breath. He gave her a broken smile and asked what she wanted in return. Whatever she asked for, he promised to give it to her.

Seeing him that way hurt her so much that she answered before she could reconsider. "Then... can you be my boyfriend?"

Andreas went still for several long seconds. Without another word, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with desperate force. Then he lowered her onto the mattress in his shabby rented apartment.

She expected him to regret everything once he was sober. Instead, he began coming to her bed almost every night and only left her alone during her period.

His voice would turn low and rough whenever he whispered into her ear.

"Be good, baby. Just one more time. Tell me you want this."

Andreas hadn't hated her body or found her weight disgusting. He had truly chosen to become her boyfriend.

He was the only good thing left in her miserable life. She had been so happy with him that she forgot how little control she had over her future.

Now, the same voice that once made her weak sounded colder than she remembered.

"So this is what happened to the proud Lawson?" Andreas mocked. "Where's the rich, powerful man you left me to marry? Did he get tired of you? Is that why you're repairing your hymen before moving on to the next one?"

A faint tremor ran through Camila as a humorless smile twisted her mouth.

She was just some pathetic woman without parental love.

She had been eight when the Lawson family finally brought her home, but by then, they had already spent eight years loving and raising their adopted daughter. No matter what she did, she could never measure up.

That was why, seven years ago, she hadn't wavered when Andreas's mother dropped to her knees in front of her, weeping as she pleaded, "Andreas is going back to inherit the family business. He needs a woman who belongs in his world-not some fat girl he'd be embarrassed to introduce to anyone."

She had broken things off with him after that conversation.

If she could do only one thing for Andreas, it was make sure she never became an obstacle in his path.

And now, he had risen to the very top, surrounded by wealth, status, and everything success could offer. She, meanwhile, had sunk even deeper into poverty.

Heat flooded Camila's face, but humiliation left her with no choice except to cling to the lie. "I have no idea who you are. Please call Dr. Shaw."

"He's in the middle of emergency surgery, so he won't be able to examine you. Take off your pants, then lie down on that bed." Andreas pulled on a clean pair of gloves, misted them with disinfectant, then slowly stretched and curled his long fingers.

The familiar motions dragged Camila straight into memories she wanted buried-those intimate moments before they made love, when those same hands had coaxed her into trembling beneath him.

Except the man before her now showed none of that old desire. His gaze held nothing but icy ridicule.

At last, Camila dropped the pretense. "Andreas, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

A faint curve touched his thin lips, almost as though he had been waiting for her to finally give up the act. Contempt sharpened every trace of that smile. "So we're done pretending now? Tell me, Camila, why the hell would I do this on purpose? Just to look at something I've seen plenty of times already?"

Her hands curled into tight fists, every muscle in her body tense with strain. She bit down until blood spread across her tongue, then forced the words out. "What, you still couldn't handle the breakup? It's been seven years, and you're pulling something like this just to embarrass me. Is humiliating me really that entertaining?"

Andreas went perfectly still. Only then did his narrowed gaze lock onto her, cold enough to make the air between them feel brittle. "Still that full of yourself, Camila? Take a good look at yourself. What exactly makes you think you're worth my attention now?"

Camila knew his pride too well. After the way she had ended things, he would never forgive her, much less offer her anything resembling kindness. She didn't care. She just needed to get away from him. So she reached for the cruelest words she could find.

She sneered. "Fine. You want the truth? I regret ever being reckless enough to sleep with you. I'm about to marry into money, and now I have to put myself through all this trouble just to get the surgery. Families at that level have standards. To them, a virgin bride is worth more. Not like you. You got everything from me without paying a thing."

"Camila!" That was the moment Andreas's restraint finally snapped, a menacing darkness sweeping across his face.

The sheer force of his anger seemed capable of crushing anyone caught beneath it. Camila refused to flinch. She held his stare and dragged a smile onto her lips, even as her voice quivered despite her best efforts. "Make sure it's nice and tight. I'd hate for my future husband to be disappointed on our wedding night."

Under the scorching weight of his gaze, she crossed to the examination table. Her fingers had gone numb by the time they found the button of her pants.

Her resolve gave out at the last second. "Never mind. I'll find another hospital. My soon-to-be husband wouldn't exactly appreciate my ex-boyfriend putting his hands on me. And if that ruins the marriage arrangement, who am I supposed to cry to?"

With deliberate nonchalance, she scooped up her bag and made to leave. Andreas' hand snapped around her wrist without warning, squeezing hard enough to make her bones scream.

"Camila, do you have no dignity left? You'd rather degrade yourself just to marry into money than stay with me all those years ago?"

Seven years had passed, yet he was throwing the same question at her all over again.

Pain ripped through Camila's chest, sharp and merciless, like a blade had plunged into her heart and twisted.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip until she nearly tasted blood. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she lifted her face to his, wearing a smile colder and more cutting than the one she had given him seven years earlier. "Can dignity put food on the table? Andreas, don't tell me you're still hung up on me. What's wrong? Getting dumped once wasn't enough for you? You want me to do it to you again?"

Every word she threw at him was sharpened to wound. Cruelty was the only weapon she had left, and all she wanted was to get out of this agonizing situation.

Behind the vicious front, she was already crumbling. She bit down until the coppery tang of blood flooded her mouth.

Andreas' grip went rigid before his fingers finally released her.

Camila immediately marched for the door.

It swung closed at her back, severing the present from seven years ago-yet somehow, the two scenes still bled into one.

Not once did she turn around.

A low chuckle escaped Andreas as he stared after her, something dark and impossible to decipher stirring in his eyes.

Still hung up on her?

What a joke.

The day their relationship ended, he had torn Camila's name from his heart and buried every trace of her.

Now, with her standing before him again, emotions that had lain dead for years came roaring back with enough force to shake him.

So this was why she had managed to stay out of his reach all this time. She had lost so much weight that she was practically unrecognizable, just to disappear from his life and marry into some wealthy family?

A crushing pressure gathered behind his ribs, tightening with every breath until he felt ready to burst. Unable to endure it any longer, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Investigate Camila Lawson. I want to know exactly who she's arranged to marry."

Camila didn't notice how badly her hands were trembling until she left the hospital, climbed into her car, and tried to start it.

She had dug her nails so hard into her palms that several crescent marks broke the skin. For seven years, she had done everything she could to bury Andreas and forget the three years they had shared.

She once believed that leaving those memories alone would eventually make the pain disappear.

Seeing him again today proved how wrong she had been. One unexpected encounter had brought everything rushing back and reminded her that she had never truly moved on.

Camila gave a bitter smile.

She could still taste blood from where she had bitten her lip while trying to keep herself together.

It didn't matter whether she still had feelings for him. Things between them had ended badly years ago, and there was nothing left for either of them to go back to.

Her phone suddenly rang inside her bag. The familiar ringtone snapped her out of her thoughts, and she quickly answered the call.

Zoey Lawson spoke from the other end in a soft voice that carried a little hesitation. "Camila, are you coming home soon? I miss you. Can you bring me some cake when you come back?"

Camila's chest tightened at once.

She knew her mother had probably put Zoey up to calling her.

She owed both Andreas and Zoey.

Shortly after her breakup with Andreas, she had learned that she was pregnant. At first, she intended to end the pregnancy, but her doctor explained that she had an unusual condition. If she went through with the procedure, there was a chance she would never be able to have another child.

She eventually gave up her freedom so she could keep the baby. However, her parents took the child from her almost immediately after she was born.

Her mother saw her premarital childbirth as a disgrace and had Zoey legally registered as her own child with her father. Because of that, Zoey had grown up believing she was her older sister.

Camila felt her eyes sting, but she kept her voice soft. "Of course. I know a place that makes really good cakes. I'll bring one home, and I'll be there in about half an hour."

Once the call ended, Camila pushed the memories aside as best she could and headed for the bakery.

"No chocolate or hazelnuts. Please use real dairy cream, and make sure there aren't any strawberries." She gave the order without having to think about it.

The older baker behind the counter looked up at her. "That's funny. A few years ago, a chubby girl used to come in here and order her cakes exactly like that. She told me her boyfriend was allergic to all those things."

Camila's fingers slowly curled against her palm. Whatever trace of a smile she had left became strained.

She had been that chubby girl.

Later, when she had Zoey tested for allergies, the results turned out to be exactly the same as the list of things Andreas couldn't eat back then.

It didn't take long for the bakery to finish her order, and she left with a box containing four slices of cake.

Camila carried the box to her car, cleared her head as much as she could, and drove home.

The moment Camila walked through the door, Zoey hurried over with a bright smile. However, her excitement quickly gave way to hesitation as she stopped and held onto the hem of her dress.

The little girl was much too thin for someone her age. She had Andreas's nose and mouth. Only her eyes clearly came from her.

Lost in her thought, Camila didn't move. Then she crouched down, pulled Zoey into a hug, and gave her the cake. Before she had the chance to say anything, her mother's cold voice came from the living room.

"You give her everything she asks for. What, does she think she's actually a Lawson now?" Donna Lawson sneered.

Zoey immediately shrank back, and her small body began to tremble.

Anger rose inside Camila, but she kept herself under control. "Mom, everything Zoey eats and uses comes out of my pocket. What I choose to buy for her is none of your business."

Donna looked her up and down, her face twisting with disgust. "If you think you're so capable, then quit asking Mia for help. Just because you helped the family expand overseas doesn't mean we can't do without you. Get the surgery done and marry Jase instead of Mia. If you don't, you'll be sorry."

Camila lowered her gaze, Maybe this was what she deserved after the way she had hurt Andreas. Perhaps a peaceful life had never been in the cards for her.

Soon after Zoey was born, doctors found that she had a rare blood disorder. Until they could find a suitable bone marrow donor, she needed expensive treatment just to stay alive. Then six months ago, they learned that Mia Lawson, her adopted sister, was a perfect bone marrow match for Zoey.

She couldn't see any way out of the situation. She was forced to agree to marry Jase Reid in Mia's place. Since he was obsessed with marrying a virgin, she had to undergo hymen surgery.

Zoey seemed used to the tension by now. She quietly pulled back and stood there without moving.

Seeing her like that hurt Camila deeply. She swallowed her anger because she didn't want to argue in front of the child. Then she gave the little girl a reassuring smile and gently stroked her hair. "It's okay, Zoey. Take your cake to your room and eat it there, all right?"

Zoey nodded, took the cake box, and quickly headed to her room.

As soon as her daughter was gone, Camila stopped holding back. She walked straight toward Donna with anger written across her face.