Filed to story: Mia Bowen and Timothy Barrett Novel
Mia stopped in her tracks, her eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly. She masked her emotions and looked back.” What’s the matter?”
Her heart picked up its pace as he stared silently.
What did Timothy want to say?
He pursed his lips.
Right when he was going to bring up the fake engagement with Maya, a poshly dressed middle¨Caged woman exited the elevator.
The smile on Sharon’s face vanished the moment she saw Mia. “What are you doing here? I’m warning you, don’t you dare spout nonsense in front of Mom!”
Mia gave an indifferent reply. “Don’t worry because I won’t. I wish for her surgery to be successful more than anyone does.”
“At least you have a conscience.” Sharon then shifted her gaze to Timothy.
“Tim, Maya told me that her brother is in Bern City. Let’s have dinner together. We can discuss your marriage, too.
“After all, neither dour families is an ordinary family. We should talk about it thoroughly.”
Timothy looked in Mia’s direction expressionlessly.
She didn’t look back. Not even once.
Self¨Cmockery dimmed his eyes. It didn’t bother her whether the engagement was real or fake.
After all, she found herself another man anyway¨Cnot to mention that there were two men! She was handling it with ease.
In fact, it should be good news for him because she wouldn’t have the time to pester him.
However, he wasn’t as happy as he expected himself to be.
Sharon turned to face Mia angrily. “Hey, you better not come to the hospital that often! Timothy is going to marry Ms. Lane soon. They are the perfect in¨Claws for us!”
A forced smile was plastered on Mia’s face. “I know. You don’t have to repeat that so many times. People might mistake you as a parrot.”
She glanced at him again, meeting his eyes.
The determination in her eyes was flaring.
The elevator door closed, thwarting that shrewd and intimidating eye fight.
Only then did she lean against the wall inside the elevator, letting that snicker loose across her lips. She was mocking herself.
Everything would be over for good once the surgery was done at the end of the month.
The weight perched on her heart all the way home.
Connor came out from the kitchen. “Mia, I made you chicken soup. The results are out. You need the nutrients.”
She quickly pulled his arm. “Keep it down!”
“Relax. Aunt Patricia isn’t here.”
“Alright.” A sigh of relief escaped from her.
“Is there a problem with the prenatal test result?”
“The baby’s fine. The biggest problem is that you’re a little malnourished. You should eat more.”
Mia saw the bowl of soup on the table. It smelled good.
She gulped it down to her heart’s content. It was delicious!
She glanced at the tabletop. “Connor, your phone is ringing again. Did something happen at the hospital?”
Connor grabbed the phone and gave it a glimpse. It was a phone call from Maya.
He placed the phone down indifferently. “I receive calls all the time. Just ignore it. I need a break from work.”
“What if it’s an emergency?”
“If so, they would’ve called me through the landline.”
He knew the reason behind Maya’s call, but he didn’t want to take that surgery upon himself.
It was not like he was the only doctor who existed.
Besides, he didn’t want to marry her off to Timothy, disliking the idea of his family getting acquainted with the Barretts.
Meanwhile, Mia bought his words as she enjoyed how he pampered her with the food.
Initially, she was worried about her looking after the baby alone in the future.
However, Connor’s reliable presence willed that concern away.
He unobtrusively glimpsed at his phone, which showed the many missed calls.
He didn’t answer the call until the end.
Frustration was slowly clawing its way up in him.
Were the Barretts that special? He had made himself clear to Maya, but why wouldn’t she just give up on Timothy? He was even a divorced man!
He even had lingering feelings for Mia! He brought her to the hospital on purpose and hired a caretaker. A player like him was a douchebag!
On the other side, Maya’s phone was on the brink of dying from the incessant phone call attempts.
She stood outside a private lounge, the color on her face drained from all the anxiety. “Why is Connor not picking up the phone? Did you look for him at the hospital?”
Maya gripped her phone tightly, barely restraining herself from smashing her phone.
Her assistant replied, “I’ve checked with the hospital management. He’s not on duty.”
“Since he’s not on duty tonight, why is he not picking up the phone? Is he not willing to have a meal with me now?” Annoyance slowly got the best of her.
In fact, she didn’t see Connor’s rejection coming. That was why she scheduled for that night’s dinner to press the following plans into motion.
Yet, he didn’t show up that day!
Maya glanced at the private lounge, where Timothy and Sharon were present.
They were waiting for Connor.
If he didn’t show up, what should she do?
She shot a cold gaze at her assistant. “I told you to verify if there’s any bad blood between Connor and
Timothy. Any updates?”
The assistant shrunk as she replied, “No, for now.”
Maya slapped her. “Useless! Incompetent trash! If your incompetence gets in my way, I’ll fire all of you!”
She felt better after venting it out to her assistant.
After feigning a facade and taking a deep breath, she entered the private lounge. “Let’s dig in first.”
Sharon said, “How could we? Let’s wait until Connor’s here. It’s our first time meeting him. It’ll be unbecoming of us to start without him.”
The expressionless Timothy looked at Maya. “How long before he comes?”
If it hadn’t been for Connor’s attendance, Timothy wouldn’t have appeared for the dinner.
“Connor wanted to come, but as you know how busy the hospital can be. There was an emergency patient. So he couldn’t come.
“We can’t let him abandon the patient, can we?” She quickly made up a nonexistent story.
Timothy had his doubts as his questioning gaze pierced through her.
Sharon tried to alleviate the mood by saying, “She’s right. He’s a famous doctor, after all. It is normal for him to be swarmed. It’s alright. We can take a rain check.”
A wave of relief washed over Maya. “Sure.”
“This is not a huge issue. As long as your brother agrees to perform the surgery, we don’t mind.”
She dropped her gaze, faking calmness. “He has agreed to it. But he still holds an opinion toward Timothy
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Sharon sighed. “There’s nothing we can change about it. But the good thing is, my son has already divorced that woman. Everything will fall right back to their places.”
Maya’s eyes brightened, and she smiled ambiguously.
Timothy set down his cutleries. “Since he’s not coming, I shall take my leave.”