Episode 20

Resentful, Kate went to the hospital. She didn't want to show weakness, so she didn't stop or look anyone in the eye.

As she walked towards the rest area, she bumped into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" the woman complained. Kate ignored her completely and kept walking.

Miranda stared at Kate's back as she disappeared down the hallway, striding away.

She was angry that Kate had completely ignored her presence, without even realizing that she had just bumped into her rival. But then, she became thoughtful, thinking that if Kate was there, maybe she and James hadn't gotten back together.

Even so, Miranda walked through the hospital, asking for the person she came to that place to find.

"Hi, do you know where I can find Dr. Edward?" she asked a nurse.

After a while, Miranda found Edward's office. He wasn't seeing anyone at the time, he was just reviewing some cases, when Miranda came in.

"I'm busy right now, could you come back later?" he said without looking up.

"Oh, so you're the famous Edward?"

"Yes, Dr. Edward, Chief Surgeon at Santa Maria Hospital. I'm not famous, but I'm somewhat known among my colleagues."

"Look, I don't understand any of that disgusting stuff... you know, blood, sick people, yuck!" she said, making a disgusted face. "I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"If it's not about medicine, I'm not available. As I said, I'm a very busy man," Edward said, looking back at his laptop and ignoring Miranda.

"Are you sure? Are you sure you don't want to talk about... Kate?"

Edward automatically stopped reading and looked at Miranda.

"What do you have to say about Kate?"

"I don't have anything against her, you know? In fact, I wouldn't if she wasn't being a pain in my neck!"

"Maybe we're not talking about the same Kate. My Kate is serious, professional, studious... she wouldn't get into any rivalry with another woman."

"But she is! And I'm sure we're talking about the same Kate, because I heard your name from the mouth of the man she wants to steal from me, James Weyland! Know him? Of course you do, right? Who doesn't know James?"

"Oh..." Edward snorted, showing his frustration for a few seconds. "You can have him, Kate doesn't want that guy. He doesn't deserve her!"

Miranda rolled her eyes and for a few seconds dug her nails into her palm.

"You're in love with her too! What's so special about that weirdo? She's so... inelegant. She walks around in scrubs, doesn't even wear makeup and her nails are horrible, short and she only uses clear polish! She has no femininity and you guys go crazy when you see her! What's going on here?!"

"Intelligence is more seductive than fake nails; if you want to understand what Kate has, stop spending on nails and spend on degrees."

"Me?! I wouldn't! I'm filthy rich! Studying is for poor people! Anyway, I'll get straight to the point of why I came here, I want to propose an alliance, because we have something in common. You're in love with Kate and I'm in love with James."

"I don't need to do anything, they're already getting a divorce."

"I don't trust it. Kate was with James today, you know? And he kicked me out to be alone with her. And yesterday, he was complaining while he was drunk, he kept saying her name and saying he wanted to kill you."

Edward became thoughtful and then said:

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely, I wouldn't have come here looking for you if I felt safe. We have to separate those two for good, take that woman far away from my James, I'll give you all the money you need!"

"Humph! Money is not the issue in this case, completely separating Kate and James won't be that easy. She's pregnant and James is the father."

Miranda sat down, devastated. This information changed everything; she immediately thought it would be almost impossible to separate James from Kate.

"But there's a chance for us... Kate is ignoring me and won't say why they're fighting, so I'm pretty sure he believes he's not the father of the child. Why don't you try to get pregnant too? Between Kate's child, whose paternity he doubts, and yours, I believe he would choose the child whose paternity he is sure of. Not to mention that Kate is proud, if she finds out that James got another woman pregnant, she'll never take him back."

…

Even with a broken heart, Kate didn't give up on her dreams or her child. She stayed strong, working and taking care of her pregnancy.

James received the signed divorce papers, just as Kate had promised him he would not sign and so the divorce dragged on for some time.

He even stopped drinking heavily, as he was hoping to receive another visit from Kate, something that didn't happen.

He went after her, but didn't approach her, just watched her from afar as her belly grew bigger every day.

Kate's life wasn't easy, and neither was James's.

Because he hadn't been to the company for some time after Sarah's death, he started having problems with some investors leaving, and the only one who stayed was Miranda's father, who demanded that he continue seeing his daughter.

He ended up agreeing to the divorce with Kate, as he would then be able to get the other part of the company and thought that he would be able to recover the lost investors that way, something that didn't quite work out.

Miranda was frequently showing up at his house, making advances and insinuating herself to him, something that was deeply irritating him; he just wanted to throw her out of the house.

Every day he went to the hospital to see Kate, and she sometimes saw him there, but ignored him, she was very hurt by him.

Finally Kate's residency was over and she handed in her final work to Edward, her college tutor.

"Well, you were excellent, as I expected. Your final thesis was one of the best I've ever read. Your work in general practice, for a student, was comparable to a trained professional. I will approve you and send your work to the academic coordination for review. If they give the final verdict, you will be approved."

Kate took a deep breath, thinking it was finally over, that she was finally free from that place.

"Thank you so much, Edward!" she prepared to leave, until he called her.

"Kate, I... what do you plan to do after you graduate?"

"Well, you already know."

"You're going to New York, take over the administration? You're not coming back, are you?"

"I don't know, maybe I'll be back... this was my family's first hospital, of course I plan to come back."

"But this is not for you anymore, now you know everything about medicine, everything you need to not treat hospitals as just a business."

"I didn't go to medical school for that, Edward, just like my parents did, I also want to treat patients."

"And you know that was their downfall."

"I don't see it as a downfall, they died helping people."

"I understand... anyway, I'm going to New York with you."

"Your work is here, stay."

"I thought about getting away for a while, you know, I think you're going to need my help..."

"I don't need it, stop worrying."

Without giving him any more of an opening, Kate reached for the doorknob to leave.

"Oh, Kate! Can you help me with something?" Edward said, getting her attention.

"Yes?"

"I think you think I have some romantic interest in you."

"No, I don't think anything."

"Good, you know... I even have a girlfriend, she's a doctor. So you don't need to be so standoffish with me, you can open up to me, talk about things that bother you. You and James, how's your relationship?"

Kate was silent for a few moments and then left without giving him any explanation.

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***