"You’re awake? We stepped out to get you so food and buy you new dicine since you’re running low." Hera’s cheerful voice was the first thing Leo heard.
The female doctor, who had been monts away from placing her stethoscope against his bare chest, paused and turned. Her eyes landed on the girl in the wheelchair, her arm and leg in casts, yet her beauty shone through undiminished.
If anything, the touch of fragility only heightened her allure, evoking a protectiveness that few n could resist.
What struck harder, however, was the warmth in Hera’s tone when she addressed Leo. It spoke of closeness, of familiarity, sothing that made the female doctor’s gaze darken as jealousy flickered across her face.
Her brows knit together, but she quickly schooled her expression the mont she noticed Dr. Zhane Everett following behind Rafael and Hera. With the hospital’s youngest director present, she dared not risk appearing inappropriate.
She quietly withdrew her hand from Leo and stepped aside, as though she had never intended to overstep in the first place.
Whether Hera and the others had arrived or not, Leo had already been ready to act. Hera’s timing rely spared the female doctor from a broken wrist.
He loathed being touched without warning, especially by won, and the mont she leaned in with her stethoscope, he had been prepared to clamp down with his steel-like grip. Hera’s sudden entrance was the doctor’s only saving grace.
The mont Leo saw Hera, his earlier dream flashed back in vivid detail, and he couldn’t even bring himself to et her gaze as Rafael pushed her wheelchair closer to the bedside. Heat rushed to his face, turning it crimson.
The female doctor caught the change imdiately, her eyes widening as she noticed the way Leo’s expression softened in Hera’s presence. The cold sharpness in his gaze dissolved completely, replaced with sothing unguarded.
She couldn’t tell if Leo realized it himself or if it was unconscious, but either way, it revealed just how significant this woman was to him. The realization made her chest tighten, and her eyes darkened as she narrowed them with quiet, dangerous resentnt.
Leo, on the other hand, felt a pang of guilt. He already knew Hera was his fiancée, yet he couldn’t rember her or the mories they were supposed to share. He wasn’t even sure if the dream he’d just had was rely a fantasy or a fragnt of sothing real.
Either way, he had indulged in it, sinking deeper and deeper without restraint. Now, with Hera right in front of him in the flesh, sha burned in his chest. He felt embarrassed for losing control and guilty for daring to fantasize about her.
But as the tide of guilt ebbed, a darker feeling surged in its place.
Jealousy.
mories from before he’d fallen asleep ca rushing back, stoking his blood until his gaze sharpened dangerously. His eyes slid to Zhane, raking him up and down. The man was once again the picture of composure—mature, stern, untouchable, as though worldly temptations had no hold on him.
If Leo hadn’t heard it himself, he might have been fooled by Zhane’s façade, might have never believed the sa man could whisper such dirty talk to Hera while their lips were still swollen from kissing.
Right now, Leo was consud by jealousy and indignation. He wanted to know if he had ever crossed that threshold with Hera? The question gnawed at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask outright.
At the sa ti, a darker fear unsettled him: what if he had never even made a move? The thought alone felt humiliating. To think he might have stood by passively, guarding her like a watchman, only to let another man steal away the very cabbage he was protecting, it was not only shaful, it was downright intolerable.
Inside, Leo was seething as he shot another glance at Zhane. To his irritation, Zhane seed to catch his aning imdiately, eting his gaze with the faintest smirk—a subtle taunt, but one Leo didn’t miss. That tiny curve of his lips only stoked Leo’s fury further.
It was rare for Zhane to act this childishly, but perhaps it was inevitable. After all, both of them stood at the very top of Hera’s list, first and second, so close to surpassing one another that rivalry ca as naturally as breathing.
Or maybe it was simply a matter of n being n. Zhane had been close friends with Dave for years, and so of Dave’s antics had likely rubbed off on him. Normally, Zhane had no reason or chance to act petty.
But with Leo clearly showing jealousy for once, Zhane couldn’t resist. After all, Leo had always carried himself like the dignified first wife, the empress of the entire harem, while the rest of them were nothing more than concubines orbiting around. It wasn’t every day they got to see him flustered, so a little teasing from Zhane wouldn’t hurt... right?
Zhane deliberately leaned closer to Hera, a silent taunt aid squarely at Leo. Sure enough, Leo’s flushed face deepened in color—not from embarrassnt this ti, but from simring anger. When Zhane decided Leo had suffered enough, he finally relented, dropping the teasing and turning his attention elsewhere.
His gaze snapped to the female doctor in the room, the playful smirk vanishing as his expression hardened into one of cold authority. It was as if the teasing had never happened.
"What are you doing here?" Zhane’s voice carried a sharp edge, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he scrutinized her. "This is a restricted floor. No hospital staff are authorized here except the assigned nurses and the attending physician, which is ."
He studied her face intently, which was half covered with a mask, his brows furrowing tighter the longer he looked. He didn’t recognize her at all. The weight of his suspicion pressed on her, and panic flickered in her eyes as she stamred to explain herself.
"Dr. Everett, please don’t be upset. You might not rember , but I was actually recomnded here by Sir Terry, Mr. Leo Hendrix’s close assistant."
Zhane’s eyes narrowed in surprise, a mory stirring in the back of his mind. He recalled when Leo’s assistant had co forward to recomnd a highly skilled doctor. At first, Zhane had been skeptical, suspecting that Leo was just playing a trick on him, trying to shove soone troubleso into his hospital.
Still, he had accepted her, partly out of curiosity to see what Leo was scheming.
Yet, once he reviewed the doctor’s credentials, his doubts had faded. Her record spoke for itself. Even so, he had never actually t her in person and had pushed the matter to the back of his mind. Now, seeing her standing before him, his guard instinctively lowered—just slightly.
Leo, on the other hand, froze at the revelation. He had no mory of this woman. Aside from sensing that she seed to harbor so feelings for him, she left no impression whatsoever.
But when she insisted she had been sent here on his behalf, he instantly understood why his past self might have allowed it, though the realization brought him little comfort.
It made sense, really. Just as he kept his own office staffed exclusively with n, Leo had no patience for the drama of jealous won and their petty sches, distractions that only hindered his work.
And since he already had a fiancée, it was only natural that he would guard himself against unnecessary trouble. If anything, the effort he took to avoid entanglents suggested that he did, at the very least, hold so genuine regard and feelings for his betrothed.
This female doctor, for instance, her infatuation with him was too obvious. By sending her away, he hadn’t rely distanced himself from trouble; he had closed off any opening she might use to stir trouble or create misunderstandings with his future wife.
And as for placing her at Zhane’s hospital? Well, perhaps Zhane’s suspicion had been right all along. Maybe Leo really had just passed the problem to him, leaving Zhane to deal with the fallout.
But of course, Leo would never admit it outright. Even before he lost his mory, while he often carried himself with a magnanimous air and let things appear to flow naturally, he had always been petty at heart.
It was only natural for him to throw a little trouble in his rivals’ way from now and then, just enough to keep them busy and prevent them from monopolizing Hera’s attention. That way, he could steal as much ti with her as possible.
These small sches, though, never escalated into true malice. Instead, they beca a kind of subtle banter among friends, a quiet contest that revealed how each of them thought and operated.
In the end, these gas only drew them closer, binding them through an unspoken understanding neither side fully recognized.
Zhane cast Leo a knowing smirk, as if to say, ’Looks like your little admirer ca all the way here for you...’ Leo only rolled his eyes in response. He didn’t even recognize this woman, let alone acknowledge any supposed admiration. Clearly, Zhane was just needling him for amusent.
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