Chapter 43 Evelyn’s Father, Stefan Chi
Chapter 43 Evelyn’s Father, Stefan Chi
"No, nothing else. I request you get some rest. I’ll take my leave," Nathaniel said, putting away his stethoscope and preparing to leave.
Aunt Song, however, stopped him, "Dr. Hardy, when you get upstairs please tell Mr. Lancaster that his wife has woken up and that he can come up to see her when he has time. He shouldn’t be taking care of others when his wife needs him."
"Aunt Song!" Alexia shouted at Aunt Song, trying to get her to stop talking not expecting her to speak so forwardly.
However, Aunt Song pretended not to hear her and stared at Nathaniel before continuing. "What's the matter with him? Leaving his own wife behind and not coming to visit and take care of her. Instead, he’s off taking care of another woman? Dr. Hard, you’re Mr. Lancaster’s friend, you must advise him of his duties."
Nathaniel was also surprised by Aunt Song's words and his well manicured eyebrows furrowed together. "By your remark, I can only assume you mean that Chaim hasn’t come up to see Ms. Alexia?"
Aunt Song gave a grunt of dissatisfaction. "Mr. Lancaster’s mind is only on that woman right now. He has no room left to think of his wife!"
Nathaniel's face sank. "I know. I'll pass the message on to him. Don't worry!" He patted Aunt Song's shoulder and walked out quickly.
‘It seems that Chaim didn't take my reminder yesterday to heart.’ It was very wrong of him to not even visit his own wife after her operation.
Nathaniel went upstairs to Evelyn’s room and knocked gently on the door.
The door was opened by a middle-aged man. "Nathaniel you're here."
"Hello, Uncle Chi." Nathaniel nodded and sized up the man with deep meaning.
The middle-aged man's scalp tingled a little as he looked at Nathaniel, feeling like he having his insides pulled out and examined.
"Is there something on my face?" the middle-aged man asked wearing an uncomfortable smile as he coughed lightly.
Nathaniel withdrew his gaze and gave a small smile. "It's nothing, I just suddenly remembered a rumor I heard before. You once had a wife, right?"
Stefan froze for a moment, then a memory brought a touch of nostalgia to his eyes. "Yes."
"And did you have any children at the time?" Nathaniel’s glasses reflected the light.
Stefan was silent for several moments. Then, he nodded soberly, his voice shaking, "Yes, however, we lost the child before it was born. Why are you asking me this?"
"It's nothing, I was just curious. Is Evelyn awake?" Nathaniel blandly changed the subject.
Although Stefan felt it was a bit strange for Nathaniel to suddenly ask about his past, as if he was inquiring about something, but he couldn't focus on what it could be, so he simply stopped thinking about it and sighed. "Not yet."
"Then I'll come in and take a look." Nathaniel brushed by him and entered the ward.
After some examination, Nathaniel took off his gloves. "There’s nothing to worry about, the anesthesia just hasn’t completely worn off yet. I’m assuming she probably won't wake up until this evening. By the way, where's Chaim?"
"I'm here!" Chaim entered in from the balcony, still smelling of cigarettes.
Nathaniel gave him a look, "Chaim, do you know where I just came from?"
Chaim raised his eyebrows. "Alexia?"
"Yes, she's awake!"
"When did she wake up?"
"It's been a while, and they asked me to bring the word and ask you to go visit her when you had time," Nathaniel said, smoothing the immaculate white coat on his body.
Chaim wearily pressed his brow, "Got it, I'll go over later."
"Why not now?" Nathaniel looked at him somewhat incomprehensibly. "Evelyn isn't awake yet, and won’t be for a while. However, Alexia is. Why not go and see her now? I heard you haven't been there once since she came out of surgery."
In the past, when Chaim wouldn’t look at Alexia, Nathaniel thought that no matter how Chaim treated her, it had nothing to do with Chaim’s character and Nathaniel would just enjoy the show. Now his feelings toward Alexia had changed. So, when he saw Chaim treat her so poorly, he couldn’t bear the injustice. Particularly, he didn't want Chaim to regret his actions in the future!
Hearing Nathaniel speak so highly of Alexia, Chaim grew upset. "Since when did you start defending her?"
"I'm not defending her; I just didn’t think you could be so unfair to her," Nathaniel said, wrinkling his brow.
Chaim narrowed his eyes. "You never used to say those words."
"Yes, that was in the past." Nathaniel pushed up his glasses. "Chaim, people change, and you should too!"
As Stefan listened to the conversation, he couldn't help but interject. "Chaim, this Alexia you're talking about is the one who saved Eve, right?"
"That's right. And not only is she Evelyn's savior, but she's also Chaim's wife." Nathaniel returned.
"Shut up!" Chaim's thin lips pursed out a few moments of coldness.
Nathaniel wasn’t afraid of Chaim and leaned against the wall, folding his arms and continuing with a smirk. "She is your wife, isn’t she? Why are you so against admitting this? Do you think you can stop me from talking about it?"
Chaim's dark and sullen face didn't answer the question.
Stefan looked at Chaim in disbelief. "Chaim, you're married?"
"Yes, Chaim tied the knot three years ago. For some reason they did not make it public, so it's understandable that you don't know, Uncle Chi," Nathaniel replied.
Stefan stood there, stunned by the news. Three years ago, that was when Eve first left the country.
"Chaim, you really..."
Chaim slowly nodded. "Yes."
Nathaniel had poked the truth out, so naturally, he had no reason to hide it.
Stefan was furious. "What about Eve?"
"Eve?" Chaim glanced at the person in the hospital bed, his expression grave. "Uncle, what do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean?" Stefan's finger trembled as he pointed at Chaim. "Don't you know Eve has been waiting for you for three years? She came back to China this time, apart from treatment, because she wanted to make up with you. Now I discover you’re actually married to someone else!"
"Uncle Chi, that's not a very nice thing to say," Nathaniel spoke up before Chaim could say anything. "You know why they broke up three years ago. Uncle Chi, you know it very well. It was Evelyn who wronged Chaim. Not the other way around.”
Hearing those words, Stefan's already wrinkled face deepened to the color of a beet, unable to find the words to retaliate. After a few moments, he let out a long sigh. It suddenly looked like he’d aged several years, looking guiltily at Chaim. "Chaim, what happened back then, it was Eve's fault, can you forgive her?"
"I never blamed her," Chaim said, lowering his eyes.
Chaim’s resentment was still there but it was true he never blamed Evelyn, let alone hate her. After all, it was he who volunteered back then. It was only human for her to leave when he didn't know if he would survive.
"You really don't blame Eve?" Stefan asked, unconvinced.
Stefan and Chaim were very similar aside from the age difference. Stefan knew he wouldn’t have been able to forgive Evelyn had he been in Chaim’s shoes. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
"If Chaim really still blamed her, he wouldn't have saved her now, even sacrificing his own wife's bone marrow to save her," Nathaniel fiddled with his stethoscope as he spoke coldly.
Stefan smiled, "Yes, Chaim is so attached to Eve and it doesn’t seem like he blames her. Then Chaim, do you still have that kind of feelings for Eve now?"
Stefan stared intently at Chaim.