Chapter 18
Michael pressed the button for the second floor, and the elevator quickly descended.
When they reached the second floor, Michael walked straight into a consultation room, with Ava following behind.
Inside was a young doctor who looked about the same age as Michael.
Michael led Ava over and sat her down in the chair in front of the doctor's desk.
"Shawn, could you take a look at her face? How can we reduce the swelling?"
Dr. Shawn White's gaze settled on Ava's face, and he teased,
"Well, well, Michael, where did you find such a pretty young lady?"
After a long pause, Michael said, "Prescribe some topical medication that's safe for pregnant women."
Dr. Shawn White was writing on the prescription pad, but when he heard this, he stopped his pen, looked up at Michael with a knowing expression,
"Dude, things are moving pretty fast, huh?"
Michael said coldly, "Don't talk nonsense. This is my nephew's wife."
Shawn froze for a moment and quickly apologized to Ava,
"Sorry, sorry. You should've said so earlier. Made me misunderstand. You jerk."
Ava's face turned bright red, and she could feel her face had already swollen up and was now burning hot.
"It's okay, just write the prescription."
After getting the medication, the two returned to the elevator.
"Michael, Emily was locked on the terrace..."
Before Ava could finish, Michael cut her off,
"I don't know anything about that."
Ava fell silent. She had been too suspicious. Someone as refined and important as Michael wouldn't bother picking on a young girl, nor would he have any reason to.
The Morgan family had been waiting in the hospital corridor all night, with only William missing.
At dawn, Andrew finally got through to William. Anxious all night, he launched into a string of angry curses.
On the other end, William was still half asleep and hadn't fully woken up. When he heard Andrew say Howard was in the hospital, he immediately sat up. The unfamiliar surroundings filled him with unease.
He glanced to the side, and sure enough...
A woman was lying beside him—it was Sarah.
At this point, he had no mind to listen to what Andrew was saying. After getting the hospital address, he ended the call.
He lifted the blanket and looked down. His pants were still on, and he felt a wave of relief.
Just then, Sarah opened her sleepy eyes, her voice soft and gentle,
"William, you're up so early?"
William rubbed the back of his neck and quickly extracted himself from the blanket.
"Sorry, I drank too much yesterday."
Seeing he was about to leave, Sarah quickly sat up and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.
"William, you hurt me so much last night."
William felt like he'd been struck by lightning. His head instantly throbbed with pain. He rubbed his temples. His last memory of last night was the two of them having dinner and drinking, so did they do something else?
He was starting to doubt himself. His tolerance for alcohol wasn't that bad. Every time he drank and came home, Ava would give him some honey water, and he'd go to sleep. Did he really sleep with Sarah?
"Sarah, did we last night...?"
Sarah playfully punched him, looking shy.
"Stop it. You're not going to deny it, are you? You were my first man."
William felt like he couldn't breathe.
He really had done this terrible thing, but how could...
He got out of bed and put on his shirt, not wanting to say anything.
Sarah sensed his distance, and her heart felt desolate.
"William, you're just going to leave like this? Wuu wuu... You weren't this cold when you were on top of me last night."
Sarah started crying pitifully.
William's scalp tingled from her crying. He put his hands on his hips, trying to calm down, still not recovered from the fact that he'd slept with Sarah.
He had promised to marry Sarah before, but he'd never had any intention of sleeping with her. For a moment, he felt completely at a loss.
His head was splitting.
"I'll give you an explanation."
From the moment he woke up and found Sarah lying next to him, his furrowed brows hadn't relaxed.
"I have an emergency. I need to leave right now."
As he spoke, William had already changed his shoes.
Sarah ran over, crying, "William, can you move in with me? I can't sleep alone at night. I keep having nightmares, and I'm afraid my heart might act up with no one around."
William pried her arms from around his waist.
"Sarah, now's not the right time. I told you I'd give you an explanation. If you feel lonely, go home. Aren't your parents in Emerald City, too?"
Sarah had no response to that. She could only watch helplessly as he left, waiting for the explanation he promised.
William took the elevator straight to the underground parking garage.
After dropping his boss off last night, James had been waiting in the parking garage. Without realizing it, he'd fallen asleep leaning against his seat. He woke when someone knocked on the window and saw it was William.
"Drive. To the hospital."
James quickly sat up and straightened his clothes. He rubbed his eyes, then remembered he was in the underground garage and couldn't see outside. Still groggy, he didn't know what time it was.
"Mr. Morgan, what time is it?"
"Six in the morning."
James panicked and pulled out his phone—over twenty missed calls. He thought, "I'm done for. I didn't come home all night. My fiancée at home is probably going to kill me."
With trembling hands, he opened his phone's contacts and asked William's permission before calling.
"Mr. Morgan, can I make a quick call home to explain where I've been? I'm afraid I'm about to get dumped."
William looked puzzled. "You need to report in?"
James nodded vigorously.
"Absolutely. Gone all night, phone unreachable. Women overthink things. If I don't explain clearly, who knows, she might think I was fooling around with another woman all night."
William felt like that was directed at him. He opened the driver's side door and roughly pulled James out.
"Go buy a pill and take it upstairs. After that, you can have the day off."
James, still fuzzy from sleep, stretched his neck and asked,
"Mr. Morgan, what kind of pill?"
William rubbed his temples and shot him a sharp look.
James's brain instantly clicked back into gear. "Mr. Morgan, got it, got it. I'll go buy it right now."
William floored the gas pedal and drove to the hospital.
The whole family was in the corridor.
When Andrew saw William arriving late, he was furious.
"You're really something, aren't you? Couldn't reach you all night. Where were you?"
Faced with Andrew's questioning, William couldn't come up with an answer.
"How's Grandpa?"
He changed the subject.
"You still care about Grandpa? He was in critical condition yesterday, walked right up to death's door."
"Grandpa was fine before. How did he suddenly get sick?"
At this, Emily stepped forward to complain.
"William, you should ask your dear wife. Yesterday, she was chatting with Grandpa in the study, and Grandpa had a heart attack. If we hadn't gotten him to the hospital in time, he'd be gone. It's all your wife's fault."
Ava huddled on the bench, not saying a word. She'd been standing in the hospital corridor half the night and now felt terrible all over. After yesterday's scare, she was listless and looked completely drained.
She looked up. William was looking her way, his eyes full of accusation.
"What did you say to Grandpa yesterday?"
Ava stared at him blankly, her mind a jumble of images, Sarah's moans playing on repeat in her ears.
William strode over with his long legs and pulled her up from the chair.
"Come outside with me."