As Lin Keke turned to leave the hospital room, she suddenly ca face-to-face with An Ge’s stunningly beautiful visage.
She had always prided herself on her outstanding looks, being a standout among others since she was a child. But now, upon seeing An Ge, an unfamiliar wave of inferiority surged deep within her.
Next to An Ge, she instantly felt eclipsed.
However, she understood that this sense of being overshadowed did not stem from a lack of beauty but rather from the aura and presence that radiated from within An Ge.
An Ge seed like a woman exuding an innate elegance and dignity, whereas Lin Keke inherently carried an air of poverty.
An Ge, unaware of Lin Keke’s inner thoughts, gave her a kind nod.
Lin Keke felt An Ge was not the type of rich lady who looked down on others, soone who actually seed approachable.
Thus, sensing the goodwill from An Ge, Lin Keke smiled back and politely greeted:
"Mrs. Huo, hello, I’m Lin Keke."
An Ge smiled faintly but didn’t say anything.
Lin Keke suddenly felt a bit awkward and masked it with a smile.
Then, knowing better, she left the hospital room.
Shortly after arriving downstairs at the hospital, a woman dressed in luxurious attire stepped in front of her and remarked, "You must be Lin Keke?"
Lin Keke didn’t recognize the woman and instinctively grew wary. "You... you are?"
Cui Zhu said to her, "Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know what you aspire to beco."
Lin Keke frowned, "I... I don’t understand what you’re talking about..."
Cui Zhu smirked:
"You want to repay a favor and use that as an excuse to climb the social ladder, wishing to latch onto President Huo, a powerful tycoon, and live a privileged life. Am I wrong?"
Lin Keke’s complexion flushed with rage, her face turning red in anger. "You... you’re talking nonsense..."
Cui Zhu replied, "Your mother is a gambler. Your stepfather is an outright scumbag, worse than an animal. Your family owes a huge gambling debt.
Your mother heard that you’ve impressed a wealthy tycoon and is pressuring you to cozy up to him to get money to pay off the debt. Am I wrong?"
Lin Keke never expected the other party to know her family background so thoroughly, and her face instantly turned ashen.
She glared coldly at Cui Zhu, her voice icy: "I don’t know you, please step aside..."
Cui Zhu held out a check worth one million, presenting it to her. "Miss Lin, how about we discuss a business deal?"
...
anwhile, after Cui Zhu left the hospital room, An Ge focused on cutting the fruits she had brought into small pieces, skewering them with toothpicks. She then carried the fruit plate to Huo Shaoyan’s side.
But Huo Shaoyan was clearly sulking, turning his body away, refusing to interact with her.
An Ge raised an eyebrow, knowing it was because he got seriously injured for her sake. She realized his sulkiness was simply his way of waiting for her to coax him.
With that thought, An Ge picked up a piece of fruit with a toothpick and held it out to him, intentionally softening her voice:
"President Huo, I’ve prepared so fruit for you..."
Huo Shaoyan didn’t turn around, nor did he respond.
An Ge raised an eyebrow again and said:
"President Huo, if you’re going to be so ungrateful, then I’ll just go spend ti with our son..."
As soon as she finished speaking and pretended to turn away, the man suddenly grabbed her wrist firmly.
The force of his pull sent her sprawling onto his chest.
His injury was on his abdon, and An Ge’s fall directly pressed against the wound.
Huo Shaoyan imdiately broke into a cold sweat from the pain, his face turning deathly pale, yet he stubbornly withheld any sound of discomfort.
An Ge panicked, desperate to get up, but a rough tug at her waist forced her back down.
Her ear rested against the rhythmic, vigorous heartbeat in his chest, each beat pounding against her eardrum, as if striking her very heart.
An Ge raised her head, only to et the man’s downcast Phoenix Eyes.
His eyes were still tinged with redness, but the pupils were filled with an intense darkness.
An Ge pressed her lips together, whispering, "President Huo... doesn’t it hurt to have pressing on you like this?"
Huo Shaoyan freed one hand to pinch her chin, leaning close as his thin lips brushed against her ear. His voice was low, tempting, and captivating: "Of course it hurts..."
His voice was slightly hoarse.
"But if you kiss it—kiss the wound—it might not hurt as much."
Kiss it? Kiss the wound?
An Ge’s face instantly flushed to her ears.
Huo Shaoyan continued:
"An An, if you kiss it—just a little—it might heal faster. The liver transplant surgery for Huanhuan is in half a month; don’t you want to recover quickly?"
His voice, soft and alluring, lingered in her ears, subtly enticing her...
Huo Shaoyan kissed her flushed cheek, his voice dropping lower and raspier.
"An An, it really hurts... Don’t you want to see just how badly I’ve been hurt for you? I’m allergic to anesthesia, so I couldn’t use it,
which ant I had to endure the entirety of the surgery without it. You only saw the wound stitched with over a dozen stitches, but do you know how unbelievably agonizing it was when they removed my spleen without painkillers?"
He paused, as if the pain from enduring the wound made him immobile for a mont. After so ti, he finally spoke again, his voice weak:
"Just kiss —it would be a kind of emotional comfort, wouldn’t it?"
An Ge’s fingers curled tightly.
She lifted her gaze, locking onto Huo Shaoyan’s deep, pitch-black eyes.
In his unfathomable pupils, she saw herself reflected back.
For the few seconds their eyes t, her heart softened.
An Ge’s dense lashes lightly trembled, and her gaze slowly shifted to his wounded abdon.
She bit her lower lip before finally reaching out to undo the buttons on his hospital gown one by one.
With each button that ca undone, her heart tightened as though being wrung, a faint ache blooming within.
When his abdon, wrapped in blood-stained gauze, ca fully into view, her eye rims turned red with emotion.
She stretched out a hand, intending to touch the bloodied gauze, but quickly held back.
Her throat felt tight, her vision blurred with unshed tears,
and after a long mont, she asked in a seemingly calm voice, "It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?"
Lowering her head, An Ge appeared entirely focused on studying his injury.
At this mont, Huo Shaoyan couldn’t clearly see her expression, but he could sense her intense worry and pity for him.
She was distressed for him?
This realization stirred sothing deep inside Huo Shaoyan’s heart.
Before he could answer her question, his abdon suddenly felt a soft, damp sensation.
He looked down and saw her lips touch his skin gently, followed by her pressing her lips lightly against the bloodstained gauze...
In that instant, Huo Shaoyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed forcefully, his heart burning hot.
An Ge wasn’t truly heartless. When she removed the gauze from Huo Shaoyan’s wound, her entire gaze trembled.
Even with stitches closing the wound, the scars on his abdon were jagged and horrifying.
From those raw wounds, it wasn’t hard for her to imagine how excruciatingly painful the surgery must have been for him without any anesthesia.
Claiming she wasn’t distressed would be a lie.
An Ge stood up, intending to retrieve the dicine to reapply it to his wound, but as soon as she moved, Huo Shaoyan grabbed her wrist.
She raised her eyes to et his intense, gripping Phoenix Eyes.
Thinking he might have a request, she quickly asked, "What’s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable sowhere else?"
Huo Shaoyan stared fixedly at her. "Where are you going?"
An Ge answered, "Your wound is bleeding. I have excellent dicinal ointnt—I was going to get it and apply it for you..."
Huo Shaoyan interrupted her, "There’s no rush. Get it later..."
An Ge didn’t quite understand. "Then... do you need to go to the bathroom?"
Huo Shaoyan raised a hand to grip her chin. "I said kiss the wound. You haven’t kissed it yet."
An Ge felt torn between exasperation and heartache. "You..."
"So after all I’ve done to protect you—suffering such a terrible injury—you won’t even offer this tiny ounce of comfort?"
An Ge seethed with both anger and pity. "Huo Shaoyan, can you just stop ssing around..."
"I’m not ssing around."
"I’m just in imnse pain—kissing the wound might make it hurt less..."
"Is my request too much?"
Huo Shaoyan sounded aggrieved.
Not only did he sound aggrieved, but he also stunned her with his next words:
"You know what happened. I could’ve avoided getting hit by that axe entirely. But... I knew that if I took the blow for you, it would ease the tension between us to so degree.
Mrs. Huo, you have no idea how much I need you and can’t bear to be without you. I endured this terrible ordeal just to reconcile with you, so... won’t you pity a little?"
From the bottom of her heart, An Ge already felt guilty and deeply cared for him because he endured harm for her.
But now hearing him admit he deliberately took the axe blow, An Ge froze instantly.
Her face darkened.
"Huo Shaoyan, are you out of your mind? Do you have any sense? What if the axe hadn’t hit your abdon but your neck?"
Huo Shaoyan had hoped his confession would move her, but instead, it only ignited her fury...
Huo Shaoyan furrowed his brows deeply.
"That’s because you were determined to ignore and adamantly wanted a divorce. I had no other choice but to take the risk and use a ’suffering strategy’ to break the ice between us."
An Ge’s eyes reddened in anger.
She felt equal parts furious and sorrowful.
She remained silent for a good while.
It was then that Huo Shaoyan clasped her hand tightly, his voice murmuring, "I know what I did was wrong, but I couldn’t face a future without you. That’s why I did it..."
She exhaled deeply.
"Huo Shaoyan, you always find ways to push my boundaries, making feel both love and hatred so intensely that my bitterness never truly fades."
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