Female Novel
Chapter 2
Lynn was rather taken aback. “Dr. Thorne, I didn’t expect you to know the patient’s husband.” Lysandertook a long, deep stare at the familiar face in front of her. There were hints of bewilderment, surprise,unease, but most of all—concern for the woman inside. Although he seemed to be doing a good jobrestraining himself, he couldn’t hide the look of distress and urgency on his face. “Are you her…”Lysander glanced into the operating room, “husband?” Lynn interjected, “Yes, that’s him. He’s the onewho signed the surgery consent form.”
Lysander felt a chill all over her body. Her face didn’t look too good either. “I see.” Josiah gritted histeeth. “Lysander, I’ll explain this to you later.” Lysander forced herself to calm down, maintaining herprofessionalism as a doctor. She then took a deep breath and said, “Don’t worry, the surgery wassuccessful. Both the mother and child are safe. They will need to stay in the hospital for a few days forobservation and IV fluids to maintain the pregnancy. If everything goes well, they can be dischargedthis weekend.” Josiah was visibly relieved. “That’s great.” After a pause, he added, “Lysander, thankyou for your hard work.” “It’s nothing. Regardless of whose wife she is, as a doctor, I will do my best totreat her.” Lysander returned to her office, drank a glass of cold water, and took a while to calm down.After about ten minutes, there was a knock on the office door. She heard his voice outside saying,“Lysander, it’s me.” Lysander stood up and went to get the door. Josiah looked better than before, buthis eyes were still red, and the furrows between his eyebrows had not completely disappeared. Shejust noticed now that there were bloodstains on Josiah’s white shirt, the clothes were wrinkled, andthere were large water stains on the cuffs. There were two possibilities: either he got amniotic fluid onhim when he carried that woman to the hospital, or it was from her tears just now in the ward. Sheturned around and returned to her seat, asking lightly, “Have you visited her?” Josiah nodded slowly.“Yes, she’s asleep.” “She…” Josiah said, “The child is not mine.” Lysander suddenly felt relieved, andshe sat back in her seat as if all her strength had left her. “She got into a car accident and was found incritical condition. I was the one who brought her to the hospital. Later, I received a notification thatsurgery was needed, but the surgery consent form could only be signed by a family member, so I…”
Lysander came to a realization. “I asked my assistant to get the family member’s consent.” “I knownow,” Josiah said.
“There were too many people, and it was not convenient for me to explain this to you at the door of theoperating room. If others knew that I was not her husband, no one would be able to sign for her, sosaving her life was the priority.” Lysander got the full gist of it, and she felt a little guilty. Silly me. Howcould Josiah, such a gentle and steadfast person, possibly have an affair? He must have come acrossthe car accident on his way to the company and couldn’t bear to see the pregnant woman in distress,so he hurriedly brought her to the hospital. “Is everything at your company okay? I’m here, so you don’tneed to worry about that pregnant woman.” Josiah opened his mouth, seemingly on the fence aboutsomething. “Lysander, I…” Lysander asked, “What’s wrong?” In the end, Josiah shook his head. “Thecompany is fine. Are you done with your work? I… I’ll wait for you outside. We can go home together.”After she finished the surgery, the pregnant woman would have nurses taking care of her, so she hadnothing else to do. Changing out of her white coat, she took out the prenatal examination report fromthe drawer, folded it, and put it in her wallet before picking up her bag and leaving. Lysander wasalready very familiar with Josiah’s white Porsche Cayenne. She saw it at a glance and quickly walkedover. From a distance, she could smell a pungent tobacco scent. In the dim light of the night, Josiah’stall figure leaned against the car window. A small, orange light dot could be seen flickering in the dark.Lysander frowned and walked over, asking, “Why did you start smoking?” Josiah was startled, and thecigarette in his hand fell to the ground. Lysander then noticed that there were already about tencigarette butts on the ground, all seemingly smoked by him. He was acting a bit out of character today.“What happened exactly?” Josiah shook his head, but there was visible fatigue between his brows. Yet,he still gentlemanly opened the car door for her. “It’s just work stuff. Come on, get in the car.” “Is itserious?” “It’s nothing.” Lysander got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. After a while,Josiah finally got into the car, started the engine, and stepped on the gas pedal. “Stop!” Lysanderimmediately called out to him. Josiah was startled by her sudden shout. “What’s wrong?” Just as he
spoke, they heard a grumbling voice from outside, cursing, “Are you blind? Look where you’re going!Can’t you see me standing here? Can you afford the responsibility if you hit me?”
Josiah used to pick her up from the hos
pital often, always being careful and never making mistakes. Something must’ve gotten into him today.Fortunately, the person didn’t pursue further and just left after a few curses. Josiah pursed his lipstightly, restarted the car, and merged into the traffic. Lysander was a bit worried. “Are you really okay?”Josiah looked a bit troubled and impatient. “I said I’m fine.” Lysander was stunned for a moment. Sheremained silent and never said anything else. After a few minutes, Josiah’s slightly apologetic voicesounded. “I’m sorry, Lysander. I’ve been dealing with a lot lately. My mood isn’t the best, and I didn’tmean to snap at you.” Lysander nodded slightly. “Okay, just drive carefully.” “Yeah.” There was amomentary silence. “Lysander.” “Yes?” “That woman just now…” Josiah licked his lips, seeminghesitant to speak. “The one you operated on, she’s alone in the hospital. Do you think she’s okay?”Lysander chuckled. “So, you’re thinking about her.” “No, I wasn’t thinking about her. I’m justconcerned.” “There are nurses in the hospital to take care of her, and the hospital will also contact herfamily to come over.” “What if her family can’t make it?” “How do you know?” Josiah opened his mouthbut didn’t say anything. He merely kept his eyes on the road ahead as if focusing on driving carefully,just like what she said. After that, there was silence all the way. By the time they arrived home, the skywas slowly getting brighter. Josiah parked the car in front of the house, didn’t even get out of the car,and said to her through the car window, “You rest well. I have to hurry back to the company to deal withsome things.” Lysander nodded. As for whether he really went back to the company, Lysander didn’twant to ask. Having too keen of a sixth sense could sometimes be a bad thing. If she were more easy-going, perhaps she could pretend that nothing unusual had happened tonight. …novelbin
This Saturday was Josiah’s thirty-first birthday, and Lysander and Josiah had agreed early on to goback to the old house together. She had worked a night shift the night before and got off work at eighto’clock on Saturday morning. As she was about to leave, she opened her wallet and looked at the
prenatal examination report, which she had folded into the size of a matchbox and quietly placed in thecompartment of her wallet. This was the birthday gift she had prepared for a long time, but now shewas hesitating, unsure whether to give it or not. Lysander put the wallet back in her bag, changed outof her white coat, and got ready to leave work. Suddenly, her phone rang. It was her bestie, Daphne.“Lysander, I just saw your husband going home with a pregnant woman!”