Said I didn’t Love Him But I Lied

Alastair was completely absorbed by the information on his computer.

“Daddy…”

Adrienne was talking in her sleep across from him. Alastair looked up from behind the computer and saw his sister, who was fast asleep, kicking her quilt off. She was pursing her lips as if she was eating something delicious in her dream.

Alastair’s eyes softened. He closed the computer and got up.

When Everleigh pushed the door open, she saw Alastair sitting by the bed, covering his sister with her quilt.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Alastair turned his head and looked at the door. “Mommy.”

Everleigh came in and sat down beside the bed. “Baby, I’m sorry you have to take care of your sister these days. I’ll call the school about the past two days. I’m sure things will get better after your summer vacation.”

Alastair also sat down cross-legged and asked with a calm expression, “Mommy, are you sure? Won’t Adrienne cause more trouble at school?”

Thinking of the trouble Adrienne had caused when she studied abroad, Everleigh found that she couldn’t smile anymore. She forced herself to say, “Let’s not think about that. You’ll have to go to school anyway.”

She coughed to fill the awkward silence that ensued and quickly changed the subject. “By the way, you haven’t told me about what happened at the banquet today.”

Why would Alastair suddenly appear with Theodore and call him ‘daddy’?

The entire afternoon felt like ages had passed to Everleigh. If it were some other girl with a weaker heart, she would have broken down.

“I heard Aunt Selena’s assistant calling someone, so I felt like something was off.”

Just as Everleigh stepped out to attend Selena’s birthday party, Selena went to pick up the two kids. Because she had the photo and looked a lot like Everleigh, Alastair didn’t notice anything amiss and just went along with it.

At the banquet, Selena’s assistant put the kids in the playroom. Adrienne, being the cheekier of the two, snuck out of the room when the assistant wasn’t paying attention. While looking for her, Alastair overheard the phone call.

Despite Alastair not saying it, Everleigh knew what Selena’s intentions were. She wanted to humiliate Everleigh in front of their relatives and friends. Selena wanted to embarrass their father and destroy the father-daughter relationship between him and Everleigh.

However, what did this have to do with Theodore?

Everleigh looked at her son and asked, “Then how did you end up with… Uncle Godfrey?”

Alastair crossed his legs and arms, then continued composedly, “When I spotted Adrienne, she had already run to you. There wasn’t any use going to you to chase after her then.”

Coincidentally, at the same time, Theodore had just walked in from the entrance of the banquet hall.

“That’s why I asked him to do me a favor.”

A simple sentence explained Theodore’s appearance.

Everleigh frowned and waited for a bit more, but he didn’t say anything else. “Is that all?”

“That’s right.”

“You asked him to help you, and he agreed?”

“That’s right.”

Alastair’s short replies always irritated her. He would always reply to a question with a single sentence. If he could, he would just reply with a word.

“No, then why did you call him… Father?”

“Oh, about that.” Alastair suddenly looked at her. “Mommy, is he our Daddy?”

Everleigh was taken aback and immediately denied it, “Of course not. He and I… We’re just old classmates.”

She denied it quickly, but she didn’t dare to look at Alastair. She felt extremely guilty.

“Then isn’t it alright?” Alastair let go of her arm and leaned lazily against his sister’s bed. “Mommy, friends should help each other, right?”

Alastair was still young, but he was very good at manipulating the flow of the conversation. Somehow, he had managed to direct it back to Everleigh.

Looking at the inscrutable look on her son’s face, which bore so much resemblance to the man who just left a few minutes ago, Everleigh’s heart pounded. “Yes, you’re right.”

She was the one who came to interrogate him, but now it felt like the spotlight was on her.

“Forget it,” Everleigh thought to herself. “Since it’s in the past, I won’t let my two children have anything to do with Theodore in the future. There’s no difference if they know the truth.”

Thinking of this, she supported herself using the bed frame and got up. “I’m going out first, you should rest with your sister.”

“Alright.”

Closing the bedroom door behind her, Everleigh went back to the living room and sat down, feeling a little tired.

In the past seven years, she had raised both the children alone while working and studying. On average, she would only sleep two hours a day, yet she wasn’t tired at all in those days.

But today, after spending half the afternoon with Theodore, he seemed to have exhausted all of her energy.

Beside her, her phone vibrated.

She dug out the phone from under the pillow, then stared at the screen languidly. When she saw the caller ID, her eyes lit up and she quickly pressed the answer button.

“Mr. Lawson.”

“Hi, Eve.” Mr. Lawson was soft-spoken as always. “How have things been at home?”

“I’ve been fine, just keenly waiting for news from the hospital. Is it okay for me to go back to work?”

She had been resting at home for a while now, and she wasn’t used to having so much time on her hands. Moreover, her children were independent and didn’t need her to care for them. On the contrary, sometimes, she was the one who had to be taken care of.

“That’s still going to take some time. You know how big the entire ordeal was, there are still a lot of rumours going around the hospital.”

Hearing that she still couldn’t go back, Everleigh’s eyes dimmed a little.

“However, a new job has come up in the hospital. It doesn’t require you to come in, so maybe you can give it a try.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“What kind of work?”

“Here’s the thing. We wanted to let patients learn more about medicine through medical dramas, so a TV series has contacted our hospital and they need someone to consult for all the medical facts on set. Are you willing to take this up?”

“A consultant for a medical drama?”

“Yes. I know you’re a professional, and you’re probably overqualified for something like this, so if you don’t want to…”

“Of course I’d like to,” Everleigh agreed immediately, “Director, you said yourself that people could learn more about medicine through this medical drama. Even back when I was studying, they taught us that there was more than one way to save a patient.”

The first class she took in medical school became her masters’ thesis. Its title was “The Purpose Of Medicine”. Most of them knew that medicine could save a life, but not all of them learned how to save someone, or who to save, even until they graduated.

It was Everleigh’s dream to be a good doctor, to cure diseases and save lives; that was beyond doubt.

On the other end of the line, Mr. Lawson was obviously relieved. His smile could be heard through the phone as he said, “Eve, I’ve never met someone as straight-laced as you. I believe that what happened was really a misunderstanding.”

“Thank you for trusting me, Mr. Lawson. When can I start working?”

“Next Monday.”

“I’ll definitely do my best.”