After I left the emergency department, I felt an agonizing pain in my stomach like someone stabbed me and twisted the knife.

I developed pancreatitis around the same time in my previous life. At that time, I called Joshua, who was on shift. He immediately came home and drove me to the hospital.

During his short absence from work, his first love, Jackie, picked up a patient on his behalf. She met a car accident on the trip and tragically passed away.

Later, Joshua learned that Jackie had made the sacrifice of sleeping with the hospital director to get Joshua's penalty retracted. The day after, the hospital indeed retracted its penalty on Joshua.

Jackie loved Joshua so much that she wouldn't stop calling his name before her death.

On the day Jackie passed away, Joshua locked himself in the room and smoked two packs of cigarettes. However, he emerged looking normal, chatting and smiling at me as usual. He drove me to work and picked me up, and he made dinners for me just like before.

His behavior deceived me into thinking he had let go of the past; that he had realized it was inappropriate for him to overly grieve the death of an ex-girlfriend.

On my mom's birthday, Joshua offered to cook, but he poisoned all the food he made. He tied me to a chair and stabbed me over and over with a surgery scalpel. My blood splattered all across the floor as I pleaded with him to spare the lives of my family members.

However, he had lost his mind. "Will Jackie come back if I spare their lives? Harper, you deserve to die! Why did you have to drink so much on that night? Did you see Jackie's car accident coming?"

I wanted to argue. I wasn't omniscient, and I did not see Jackie's car accident coming. I had too much to drink that night because I was trying to help Joshua. His complainant was a friend of my boss'.

Since it was in the middle of the reelection of the head of the department, the complaint would undo all of Joshua's hard work for promotion. Feeling bad, I asked my boss for a favor so I could have dinner with the complainants—the family members of the patient. They finally agreed to withdraw their complaint against Joshua after some heavy drinking with me.

As tears streamed down my face, I tried to tell Joshua the truth, but he was too mad to listen to me.

He stabbed me in the mouth with the scalpel as he raged, "It's all the fault of you and your fucking mouth! Jackie wouldn't have died if you didn't drink that night! It's your parents' fault for raising a loser like you. Your whole family should die along with you."

I trembled from the extreme pain, and my tears seeped into my open wounds. Once Joshua was done torturing me, he tossed away the scalpel and set my house ablaze with a lighter.

"Jackie, I'm coming to you."

I felt like a fool when I saw the affection in his eyes. During the drinking session with the complainants, I learned the reason behind Joshua's clash with the patient. The patient had scolded Jackie because of her poor attitude. When Joshua learned about it, he beat up the patient without thinking.

A sudden, sharp pain jolted me from my thoughts, and I struggled to stay upright. Knowing that time was of the essence, I could not dilly-dally.

With much difficulty, I made it to the entrance to hail a cab to another hospital. There was a downpour out there, and heavy raindrops pattered scarily on the glass.

Holding my phone, I waited for 10 minutes or so. No cab came to me. Enduring the pain, I went to the nurses' station to ask for other doctors who were on shift.

The nurse's smile faded when she saw me. She dismissed me with a wave. "Our doctors are all occupied."

"But I saw two doctors with no patients in their—"

The nurse shot me a glare. I hesitated to speak. Finally, I begged her, "I'm really in great pain. If there are no available doctors in the emergency department, could you get me a doctor from another department?"

"No way." The nurse waved at me with an annoyed look. "Stop faking your illness. Dr. Kane gave us a heads-up before this. No one will entertain you."

Judging from Lucas' attitude, I assumed that Joshua must have been reborn as well. I didn't bother to contact Joshua for help, but I couldn't believe he went to great lengths to stop all his colleagues from seeing me.

Joshua was a talented doctor and a treasured mentee of the head of the Emergency Department. He could have been appointed the next head of the department if he had not stood up for Jackie over the tussle with the patient.

The pain intensified, forcing me to hunch over as I slowly edged toward the door. After taking a few steps, I overheard two nurses laughing at me.

"Is she Dr. Kane's mistress? She looks rather plain."

"Yeah, she's ugly. I heard she drugged Dr. Kane and forced him to marry her so she could continue selling her meds."

"Gotta give her credit for the acting though. She looks exactly like a pancreatitis patient."

It was only when I overheard their unabashed discussion that I discovered my tainted reputation in the hospital.

I met Joshua in the hospital as a pharmaceutical sales representative. He was already a doctor back then.

At first, I planned to develop my sales pipeline at this hospital. Alas, a change in national policy led to a shift in market demands, and I lost my job. After that, I started to frequently contact Joshua.

When we met, Joshua had broken up with Jackie. I couldn't understand why everyone in the hospital called me a mistress, but I had no time to think.

Acute pancreatitis developed fast. I might actually die if I couldn't get treated in time.

I struggled to take a seat. The pain had caused me to tremble from head to toe. I doubled over, unable to stand up anymore. My back was sore and in pain.

A sudden thought struck me. "Will I really die if this goes on?"

At that moment, a middle-aged lady noticed I was suffering. She gently nudged me. "Young lady, are you alright?"

When I raised my head, my pallid face took her by surprise. She stumbled a few steps backward in shock. At this point, my body had gone limp. I slid off the seat and collapsed onto the floor.

The lady screamed in shock, "Oh, my God! Can someone get a doctor? We have an emergency here!"

Her loud voice attracted the attention of Joshua and Jackie, who had just stepped foot in the hospital. Hands full of stuff, they hurried over, thinking there was a medical emergency.

Joshua came to a stop when he saw my face. He shooed the onlookers away. Lowering his head, he asked me, "Harper, are you done?"

I looked up and saw a relieved expression on his face. As I had expected, Joshua went to rescue Jackie. She stood by his side with a bashful expression. The temperature rose from the sparks of chemistry between them.

It made sense. Jackie never really got over Joshua. Now that he had saved her in the car accident, the act must have taken their relationship to the next level.

I had wanted to jeer at Joshua, but I chose to sacrifice my ego for survival. I reached out to grasp the hem of his coat. "Joshua, I have had a stomachache for a while now, and my back is in pain. I feel like vomiting. Please get me warded."

I thought Joshua would agree to hospitalization, as he knew I had pancreatitis. To my dismay, he merely smirked. "Harper, I guess it's not easy for you to memorize the symptoms. Too bad there is no perfect case of pancreatitis."

I was in disbelief. "Do you think I'm faking it?"

"Even if you didn't, you probably fell sick from all the drinking. It's not that serious." He looked indifferent. "Harper, us doctors hate it when patients knowingly hurt themselves through bad life choices. Take this as a lesson. Learn not to hurt your body. But don't worry, I won't let you die."

My despair deepened after hearing his words. I wanted to tell him that I was genuinely sick.

I wanted to get up and get help, but the pain sucked away all my energy. I lay on the floor like a dead fish.

The pain spread from my stomach to my heart before seeping into my nerves. I felt like I was torn into pieces.

Joshua was about to leave with Jackie, but the scene of me struggling on the floor attracted his attention. He turned around, wanting to approach me when Jackie suddenly "fell" into his arms.

"What's wrong, Jackie?" Panic was written across his face. He displayed a level of concern for Jackie that he had never shown to me.

"I feel a little dizzy. Joshua, can you send me home?"

Of course he agreed to it. He carefully supported Jackie, who leaned against him.

Soon, they changed out of their uniforms and left the hospital hand-in-hand. The sight of their intertwined fingers pained me more than the pancreatitis.

Before leaving, Jackie did not forget to turn around and flash me a smug smile.

I gradually lost consciousness, and my vision grew blurry.

Lucas came up to me. "Oh, you're still faking it? They've left, though."

I didn't even have the energy to look at him. Overcome by weariness, I tasted a metallic tang in my mouth. Under Lucas' watch, I coughed up a huge mouthful of blood.