Chapter 2

Amelia POV

I didn't go back to my room to wait for Ethan.

First, I took a photo of the authorization form, then found the doctor again and asked what the consequences would be if the surgery was delayed.

This time, the doctor didn't beat around the bush.

"It will be very difficult to get another opportunity like this in the short term. Your body is already unstable. The longer you wait, the more dangerous it becomes."

"When's the earliest you can schedule something?"

The doctor's silence was obvious.

I made note of that silence too.

I clutched my jacket and walked back toward my original room. When I reached the door, I saw the bed was already empty.

The things I'd left on the bedside table had been stuffed into a bag, and even the cup I'd drunk from last night was thrown under the chair.

A nurse stood at the door, her expression awkward.

"Amelia, Sienna needs post-op observation. This room is close to the nurses' station. Ethan just had someone transfer it to her."

I looked at that bed that had been remade.

I wasn't even dead yet, but my room had already been cleared out.

Inside the room, Sienna was leaning against the headboard while Maya Sinclair directed a nurse to remove the bag next to the chair.

"None of this is Sienna's, right? It's so unlucky leaving it here. Get rid of it."

I walked in and took the bag back from the nurse.

Maya frowned. "What are you doing? Sienna just finished prep. The room needs to be clean. Don't leave your messy stuff in here."

Sienna immediately interjected softly. "Maya, don't say that. This was Amelia's room to begin with."

After she finished speaking, she looked up at me, her eyes seeming to glisten with moisture.

"Amelia, please don't misunderstand. Ethan was just worried about me being moved around after surgery, so he had someone prepare the room. I wanted to refuse, but he said I couldn't afford any more stress right now."

I didn't respond to her.

I bent down to pick up the cup. The bottom was covered in dust. I wiped it twice with tissue, stuffed it back in the bag, and turned to leave.

As soon as I walked out, Ethan's friend Lucas Mitchell came rushing toward me.

When he saw the bag in my arms, he frowned first.

"Amelia Cross, enough already. Sienna's life is hanging by a thread, and you're still here making a scene over a hospital room?"

I looked up. "Who told you I was making a scene?"

"You're not?" Lucas lowered his voice, but his tone was hard. "Sienna got hurt so badly because of Ethan back then. Ethan owes her. Now that she's in this condition, there's no way Ethan won't help."

I asked, "So my life should just take a back seat?"

Lucas seemed choked up for a moment, his expression turning ugly, but he quickly spoke again. "Can't you still wait? You've always been able to endure. Sienna's different. She really can't hold on. Do you have to force Ethan into this right now? He'll regret it for the rest of his life."

I looked at him.

"Ethan also said before that this time, he wouldn't make me wait again. Did you know that?"

Lucas avoided my gaze.

The murmuring in the corridor was getting louder.

Some people said I was Ethan's wife, yet I was competing for resources with someone critically ill. Others said Sienna Rhodes had been injured protecting Ethan, and if I truly loved Ethan, I should be more understanding.

I sat in the waiting chair holding the things I'd retrieved from the room, needles of stares piercing me from all directions.

I was the one whose surgery had been taken away, yet now I was being painted as the one refusing to give up my place.

I took out my phone and started making calls.

"Hello, I'd like to transfer my medical records for a second opinion."

"When's the earliest I can see a doctor?"

"I already missed my original opportunity. Is there any way I can still get back on the list?"

Before I could finish my calls, Ethan returned.

He pressed down on my phone, his face frighteningly dark.

"What are you trying to do now?"

I pulled my phone out from under his hand.

"Find a hospital."

"With your body in this condition, you still want to go through all this trouble?" Ethan suppressed his anger. "Stay here. I'll handle it."

I looked at him.

"Your handling. Does that mean signing my forms away again?"

Ethan's face seemed to stiffen.

"Sienna hasn't even entered the operating room yet, and everyone's busy. Amelia, can you please not cause trouble at a time like this?"

I didn't look at him again and continued dialing the next number.

Just then, the elevator doors opened.

My father came rushing out with a bag of hospital documents.

He'd come in such a hurry that one button on his jacket was fastened wrong, and he gripped the bag of documents tightly. To prepare for today's surgery, he'd gone through that bag again and again last night, terrified of missing a single sheet of paper.

But as soon as he came out, he saw me sitting in the corridor waiting chair.

No wristband, pre-op arrangements canceled, holding the things that had been cleared out of my room.

I hastily stood up, instinctively hiding the bag behind my back.

"Dad..."

My father's steps stopped in place, the color draining from his face bit by bit.

He looked at Ethan first, forcing himself to ask, "Was the surgery temporarily postponed?"

No one answered.

The people who had been gossiping also fell silent.

My father looked at me again, his voice trembling.

"Amelia, why weren't you in the operating room today?"