Laura and Five Years Ago

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Ms. Tanner."

I chucked my mask into a nearby medical waste bin as I calmly spoke.

"Not only am I not dead, but I'm also doing very well."

Laura scanned me up and down with venomous eyes. "Doing well? You're just a doctor in this place. How is that doing well? Evelyn, did you come here to cheat us because you heard Dean was in a car crash?"

She crossed her arms, acting as arrogant as ever.

She had worn that exact same expression when she cried to Dean about how I broke her fingers five years ago.

It did not matter if the security footage showed she reached out and slammed the piano cover over her hands.

After all, Dean did not even bother to glance at the footage before he sentenced me.

"Laura's hands are meant for playing the piano. Can you even afford to compensate her? Go to Loasia. You can only return when you finally learn to behave."

The past flashed through my mind.

A wave of absurdity crashed into me as I looked at Laura, who hadn't changed one bit.

"Ms. Tanner, this is a hospital. Please lower your voice. The patient just came out of an operation and requires rest."

I turned to leave, having no interest in wasting time chatting with her.

However, Laura persistently grabbed my coat.

"Stop! Since you're the lead surgeon, what about Dean's leg? I'll make sure you pay if there's a scar or any lasting effects!"

I stopped and turned to look at her.

"It was a comminuted fracture. He's lucky he still has a leg. As for lasting effects..."

I paused and looked down at her healthy and straight fingers.

"Recovery would have to depend on his rehabilitation after this. It's just like your fingers. No matter how well the treatment is, broken fingers can never play as well as before. Isn't that right?"

Laura's face twisted in anger. "How dare you curse me, Evelyn!"

She raised her hand to slap me.

"Stop."

Just then, a deep and weak voice called out.

Dean woke up sometime during our conversation. He was craning his neck to look at us.

"Dean, you're awake!"

Laura immediately transformed into an upset and sobbing woman, flinging herself to sit by his bed.

"Evelyn was bullying me! She cursed me, saying my hands will be useless. She even said your leg would never heal! She did it on purpose! She's a useless doctor and is here for revenge!"

He ignored her complaints. His dark eyes were fixed on me.

"Eve, come here."

He was ordering me around.

He sounded no different from when he had ordered me to grovel and apologize to Laura five years ago.

I remained exactly where I was, coldly staring back at him. "Mr. Blake, I'm a doctor, not your servant. If you don't feel well, please use the call bell."

His brows became furrowed in visible displeasure at my attitude.

"Are you done with your tantrum?" He sighed, impatience ringing in his voice.

"I know you suffered in Loasia, so you're mad. Still, Laura is innocent. You were in the wrong back then. I've been looking for you for five whole years. As long as you apologize and return to my side, I won't hold today's rude behavior against you."

He looked at me as though he was doing me a huge favor.

"I can even make you the lead medical consultant of the Blake Group. It's much better than being overworked in a ratty hospital like this."

I burst out laughing upon hearing that.

I couldn't help but wonder what gave Dean that confidence to think that I could not survive without him.

"Dean," I began, taking a step closer to his bed. "Did the crash make you crazy? My hourly salary is now 10 times the pay of that consultant role. Also, this is not a mere tantrum. I'm serious. I don't ever want to see you two nauseating lovebirds again."

A Different Woman

Dean's pupils dilated as shock flashed across his face.

He had likely never heard me speak to him in that tone of voice before.

Evelyn of the past was a punching bag who always cowered and groveled behind him, too afraid to even breathe loudly.

"W-What did you just say?" he spat out through a clenched jaw, speaking like every word was forced through sheer force of will.

"I said, you're disgusting," I clearly and loudly repeated my declaration.

Laura was the first to fly off the handle. "Evelyn, you bitch! How dare you speak to Dean like that!"

She charged over to push me.

I leaned to the side and dodged her, seizing the chance to trip her up with a foot as well.

"Aah!" She let out a shriek as she tumbled tail over teakettle, slamming her head against one of the bed's legs. Her head soon swelled with a large bruise.

"Laura!"

Dean tried to sit up in his panic, but ended up gasping in agony as the movement aggravated his wound.

"How dare you attack her, Evelyn!" he roared in his fury.

"Why are you so wicked now? Where did the sweet and kind Eve I knew go?"

"Oh, so you even understand enough to use the past tense then?" I sneered as I watched Laura rolling around in her tantrum on the ground.

"The lions of Loasia taught me that to survive, I had to be even more vicious than rabid wolves. Also, don't call me Eve. You've lost that right."

I then turned to leave.

"Stop right there!" Dean yelled from behind. "If you take a single step out of here, I'll file a complaint to your hospital director. You won't ever be able to work in this industry again!"

I paused and turned to look back at him.

"Mr. Blake, you must be mistaken about something." I pointed to my name tag before continuing grandly, "I am the hospital director. If you wish to file a complaint, go ahead."

That thoroughly stunned him.

He stared at me like he was looking at a stranger.

The woman whose life once revolved around him, who used to serve him on hand and foot, was now standing with her head held high under the spotlight of attention.

However, she was no longer his.

He was unable to accept that disparity.

"No... There's absolutely no way..." he muttered to himself for a while before abruptly looking up as though struck by realization.

"Your benefactor is helping you, isn't he? Evelyn, you actually sold yourself to get the job, didn't you? You disgust me!"

His imagination was so vivid that it left me sighing in awe.

In Dean's mind, a woman was nothing without a man.

I only achieved what I did because I was sleeping with some old man.

"Dean, it seems those with filthy minds always find the world filthy."

I left, completely uninterested in explaining myself to someone so brain-dead.

I could hear something shattering against the ground in the ward behind me while Laura sobbed and embellished what happened.

"Just look at her, Dean! She must be feeling guilty! She has been in Loasia for five years! Who knows how many men she has done it with? A woman like her does not deserve to be Mrs. Blake!"

I closed the door, locking the slanderous insults away.

As I walked to the nurse's station, I took a deep breath to suppress the disgust I felt.

My phone buzzed.

It was a message from Jason Butler, my husband. "I made your favorite ribs for dinner tonight, dear. What time are you clocking off? I'll pick you up."

Attached to the text was a photo of our daughter, Candice.

My slightly furrowed brows relaxed as I looked at my phone.

Jason and Candice

When I made my rounds the next day, there was a group of people in Dean's room.

Other than Laura, there were several bodyguards dressed in black suits in the room. There was also a reporter holding his camera up.

"That's her!"

Laura immediately shouted and pointed at me upon my entry. "This is the quack who messed around during the surgery, causing nerve damage to my fiancé's leg! Quick! Take photos of her now! Expose this evil hospital!"

The journalist began snapping away, blinding me with the flash.

Dean was glowering at me as he leaned against the headboard. "I gave you a chance, Evelyn. If you now admit to your mistake, apologize to Laura on your knees, and swear to never work as a doctor again… I can refrain from suing you."

He looked so confident that he could win.

He acted as if he had already discovered my fatal weakness.

As I watched the entire spectacle, I could only think of how absurd it all was.

"Nerve damage?" I grabbed his patient file and slammed it down before him. "Here are the EMG and MRI scans. Everything is normal. Dean, you should find a proper reason if you wish to sue me."

"Reports can be falsified!" Laura shrieked. "You're the hospital director. You can change them however you like! Either way, Dean's leg is now numb. This is all your fault! We won't be leaving until you compensate us!

"I'll even make sure everyone on the internet knows you're a wicked woman who would murder for money!"

Ah, they wanted to completely ruin my reputation.

I glanced at the twisted look on Laura's face before turning to Dean, who was just silently watching everything with implicit approval.

The last shreds of my patience finally vanished.

"Very well. If you wish to cause a ruckus, I'll play along until the very end."

I pulled out my phone to call security.

Just then, Dean spoke up.

"Eve, don't waste your energy. I am acquainted with the hospital's investors. All I have to do is say the word, and your role as the hospital director will be gone."

There was a hint of magnanimity shining in his eyes.

"I'll say this one last time. Come here, grovel, and apologize. Return to my side and behave as my lover. This is your only way out."

He held a hand out, waiting for me to subserviently place my hand in his as I used to.

His bodyguards surrounded me, blocking my escape.

Laura was grinning smugly, waiting to watch my humiliation.

It was then that the door was slammed open.

A young but loud voice called out, "Don't bully my mom!" Candice held her arms out and glared hard at Dean, who was still in his bed. "Stay away from my mom, you meanie!"

A slender but muscular arm reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Jason stood tall in his tailored gray coat; his usually warm eyes had frosted over as he watched this farce unfold.

He walked further in and casually wrapped an arm around my waist. "Apologies for being late."