Chapter 2

Sylvia Bennett’s POV

Unexpectedly, Richard Foster did not lose his temper.

He looked at me with a complicated expression for a while, then called in the butler and gave a few low instructions.

The butler stepped out to make a call and returned in less than ten minutes.

“Mr. Foster, Mr. Alexander Foster has replied. He said that in half a month, he will return on time to attend the wedding.”

Richard Foster let out a long sigh.

“I have heard a little about Zach causing trouble outside lately.”

He looked at me, his brows furrowed.

“But the two of you have been together for twelve years, after all. Sylvia, have you really thought this through? You don’t want him anymore?”

“Grandpa, you know I’ve never been a magnanimous person.”

I knelt upright.

“Since he has fallen for someone else, I can’t pretend nothing happened and spend the rest of my life with him. I might as well let them have each other.”

Richard Foster was silent for a moment, then waved his hand.

“I think that bastard is just confused for the moment. But since you’ve made up your mind, I won’t stop you. I’m an old bag of bones. I can’t control you young people anymore.”

“Thank you, Grandpa.”

After returning to the apartment, I opened my laptop.

Doctors Without Borders and the hospital were cooperating on an overseas medical aid team, and they were recruiting doctors.

The station was in North Africa, in an area of long-term armed conflict.

Alexander Foster was there at this very moment, commanding a peacekeeping mission.

The departure date happened to be the afternoon of the wedding day.

For me, the timing was perfect.

I filled out the application form and clicked send.

Then I started packing.

Everywhere in this villa, there were traces of the life Zachary and I had shared.

We got together when we were sixteen. It had been exactly twelve years.

He had followed behind me since elementary school. Even when I thought he was annoying, he refused to leave.

When we were sixteen, I agreed to be with him.

He was so happy he ran three laps around the school field.

When he came back, his head was covered in sweat, and he hadn’t even caught his breath before asking me, “Sylvia Bennett, you’re not allowed to take it back, okay?”

Later, something happened to my family, and the entire world changed.

But he did not.

When everyone was watching me like I was a joke, he gave me an engagement party that made me the talk of the city.

During that time, my mother was seriously ill and hospitalized. He gave money, effort, and resources.

Every morning, he drove me to the hospital. At night, he picked me up and brought me home.

I broke down crying in the hospital corridor, crouching on the floor and sobbing so hard I couldn’t stand.

He crouched beside me and wrapped me in his coat.

He said, Sylvia, if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you.

But I was afraid people would laugh at him for marrying a fallen heiress. I was afraid I wasn’t good enough for him. I was afraid I would become a burden to him.

He propped up the entire sky for me, and the only thing I could do was not drag him down.

So I studied while taking licensing exams.

At twenty-four, I obtained my medical license. At twenty-six, I became an attending physician. At twenty-eight, I was promoted to chief attending physician.

I thought we would keep walking forward like that forever.

It turned out we wouldn’t.

How had such a wonderful Zachary changed?

I packed only one suitcase, with a few everyday clothes and the things I used most often.

For the rest, anything that could be donated would be handled by the butler, who would contact a charity. Anything that couldn’t be donated would be thrown out.

By the time I finished packing everything, it was already late at night.

I lay in bed, my whole body feeling as if all strength had been drained from it.

The wound on my temple throbbed.

At last, I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore. They soaked into my pillow.

Just as I was about to fall asleep in a haze, someone suddenly grabbed my arm.

I was dragged roughly out of bed. Before I even had time to change out of my pajamas, I was shoved into a car.

The cold air inside the car snapped me awake.

Zachary sat beside me, the pressure around him heavy and low.

“Yvonne was hurt because of you. She lost blood. You’re going to donate blood for her.”

I froze, then laughed despite myself.

“Zachary Foster, I’m a doctor. That little cut on her neck should have stopped bleeding before she even got to the hospital. And you want me to donate blood for her?”

He choked on his words and stayed silent for a long while.

“Yvonne has a coagulation disorder. Just in case.”

I couldn’t be bothered to expose his excuse, full of holes as it was.

He sighed, and his tone softened.

“Sylvia, where’s your gentleness and generosity? She’s just a young girl who doesn’t know better. She’s only twenty-two. She attacked you earlier because you scared her. Why do you have to hold it against her?”

“I’m not holding it against her.”

I turned my head and looked at him.

“I’m holding it against you. Zachary Foster, you cheated.”

His expression froze.

After a long time, he turned his face away and looked out the window.

“I promise you, no matter what, she will never surpass you.”

“In half a month, the person marrying me will be you.”

I stared at the side of his face, unable to say a word for a moment.

I had caught him cheating on me in the act, yet he believed that as long as he let me take the position of Mrs. Foster, he was giving me the greatest dignity in the world.

We arrived at the hospital.

He dragged me out of the car, giving me no chance to break free.

“She was hurt in your place. You owe her this.”

He pulled me all the way into the blood collection room.

The doctor on duty recognized me and froze.

“Dr... Dr. Bennett?”

“Draw her blood,” Zachary said curtly.

My arm was pressed onto the blood collection table, and the needle pierced my vein.

Dark red blood flowed through the tube and into the blood bag.

When it reached four hundred milliliters, the doctor glanced at the blood bag and spoke carefully.

“Mr. Foster, four hundred milliliters is already the maximum donation limit. Drawing any more could harm her body—”

“Draw more and keep it ready!”

Zachary’s expression was terrifyingly dark.

“Just in case.”