Katherine slowly opened her eyes. Darkness wrapped around her like thick ink. Her consciousness gradually pulled away from sleep.
She reached out toward the bedside, her fingertips touching the familiar cold surface of her phone.
She lit up the screen. The bright light showed the time—it was already ten o'clock at night.
A new unread message suddenly appeared in her view. It was from an unknown number.
Katherine sat up on the bed, her long fingers quickly reaching for the bedside lamp switch.
With a "click," the light turned on sharply. The strong light stabbed into her eyes like countless needles. She instinctively closed them for a moment.
After her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she looked at her phone again and opened the message.
"Doctor Katherine, recent events at the hospital are caused by someone deliberately framing you. You should try to check the surveillance footage yourself when you get a chance."
A simple sentence, but it hit her heart like a giant stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up huge waves.
Her brows slightly furrowed, and her eyes flashed with doubt and alertness.
Who was this person?
Why send her this kind of message?
Could he know some hidden truth?
Katherine didn't hesitate. Her finger lightly tapped the screen to call the unknown number.
The phone rang quietly in the night. One ring, two rings... but after a few rings, the call was coldly ended.
Unwilling to give up, she pressed the call button again. The same result happened—the call was cut off again.
Andrew had been sitting with his eyes closed, leaning back in the passenger seat. When he heard the phone ringing, he opened his eyes. His gaze casually swept to Assistant Ryan, just in time to see Ryan ending the call.
"Whose phone is that? Why didn't you answer?" Andrew asked casually, his voice a little careless.
Assistant Ryan's eyes suddenly looked a bit evasive. "Uh, it was a spam call."
He stammered, his voice betraying his nervousness.
Katherine held her phone tightly, her doubts growing heavier.
She didn't believe it was just a prank message.
It might already be late, so she planned to call again tomorrow.
Although she had decided to leave Concord Hospital, she couldn't let herself carry a false accusation.
She wanted to leave with a clean record.
After sleeping all day, Katherine no longer felt sleepy.
She slowly got up, stepping out of bed with every movement heavy and lazy.
She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. The city's vibrant night view stretched out before her eyes. The busy streets looked like flowing rivers of light, bright and noisy.
She stared quietly, but her thoughts ran wild, drifting far away.
This city, this home, once carried her hopes for work and life.
This house, a secondhand purchase for work convenience, now seemed to have lost its meaning.
Maybe there was nothing left here worth holding onto. It was time to say goodbye and let it welcome new owners.
She looked around the familiar bedroom. Suddenly, memories of that night with Andrew came to her mind.
She could never forget those memories because they hurt too much.
Heartache, pain in her body…
Andrew, from now on, we will never see each other again.
Assistant Ryan drove Andrew back home. After that, he sat alone in the car, tightly holding his phone, lost in deep thought.
He originally had a simple plan: to send the copied video directly to Katherine so she could use it to find out the truth about the hospital's setup.
But things did not go as he expected. He had already given the video to his boss. Now, if he wanted it back, the boss would definitely be angry.
He struggled inside and hesitated for a long time but still did not call Katherine back.
He comforted himself silently, thinking that Katherine was smart and would surely find a way to check the surveillance cameras. She must be able to discover the truth on her own.
Andrew went home and walked straight to the bathroom.
Warm water poured over him but could not wash away the worries in his heart.
Twenty minutes later, he wrapped a towel around his waist and came out of the bathroom. He stood tall but looked a little lonely.
He went downstairs to the wine cabinet, took a bottle of strong liquor and a glass, then slowly walked back upstairs.
At the window, he poured himself a glass of wine and looked out at the brightly lit world. His mind began to wander.
He kept thinking about how Katherine agreed to divorce him so quickly that night. Was it really just to get him to agree to the divorce?
Could there be other reasons mixed in?
He did not dare to think further, but the thoughts kept coming like a tide, making it impossible to escape.
His eyes darkened like the sea before a storm, heavy and deep.
He raised his head and drank the wine in one gulp. The strong burn went down his throat but could not numb the pain and confusion in his heart.
Recently, Andrew felt a kind of confusion he had never experienced before. He did not know what was wrong with him these days.
Whenever he tried to clear his mind or find peace in sleep, Katherine's image appeared like a ghost in his mind, refusing to leave.
When he opened his eyes, it was her. When he closed his eyes, it was still her. Her figure seemed deeply imprinted in his soul, making him feel like he was under a spell, almost driven crazy by this state.
He always thought he disliked Katherine.
But why did his heart feel so messy now?
This contradictory feeling was like many threads tangled in his heart, tightening more and more until he could barely breathe.
He tried to sort out these complicated feelings but found it impossible.
Andrew grew more restless. He was known for being calm and controlled.
In business and all areas of life, he could handle situations with ease and had never lost control of his emotions like this.
However, Katherine seemed like his nemesis. Whenever it involved her, all his reason would collapse instantly.
She was like a torch that could easily ignite his anger. Just one look or one word from her could stir up storms in his calm heart.
He did not understand why he became so weak and vulnerable in front of her.
This loss of control made him feel very uncomfortable.
No matter how crazy he felt inside, this time he would not take the initiative to contact her again.
Andrew even thought maybe he just had physical needs.
He went to the coffee table, picked up his phone, and called Assistant Ryan.
"Find me a clean woman. Right now."
Andrew did not believe.
He did not believe he only had feelings for Katherine.