Chapter 2

2.

Maya tried to convince me, but I refused to stay in the hospital to recover.

If I did, news of my pregnancy would spread through Charles River Medical Center like wildfire.

Our hospital has a strict workplace relationship disclosure policy.

Per HIPAA and hospital regulations, any relationship that could present a conflict of interest or affect patient care had to be reported to HR.

The first day we got together, Liam made it clear: inside the hospital, we couldn't show any affection.

To everyone else, we were just colleagues who worked well together.

I didn't want to give him another reason to fight with me. We had already argued about Chloe too many times.

After taking my painkillers and anti-inflammatories under Maya's watchful eye over a video call, I curled up on my apartment couch, drifting off.

I was startled awake by the sound of the door opening.

It was Liam.

"You're back," I said, sitting up.

"Yeah."

He hung up his trench coat and walked straight to the bathroom, giving me no chance to continue the conversation.

It was always like this between us―colleagues outside, and practically strangers at home.

A buzzing sound made me turn my head. It was Liam's phone on the coffee table.

A message from a girl with a cute kitten as her profile picture. I opened it. The contact name was [Chloe]:

[Thanks for staying with me so late, Liam. I feel so much safer when you're here~]

My fingers trembled slightly, my mind flashing back to the gut-wrenching pain on the operating table.

While I was staring at the O.R. door, hoping for that familiar face to appear, was the man I was waiting for smiling at another woman?

"What are you doing?"

Liam's voice came from behind me.

I turned. He was standing there with a towel wrapped around his waist, looking down at me. Water was still dripping from his abs, tracing the lines of his muscles.

"Oh, sorry, your phone just went off."

I held the phone out to him, looking up. "I didn't mean to read your messages."

Liam didn't take it. "I never said you couldn't."

He swiped the phone open and showed me his entire chat history. "I told you, you can trust me."

I just stood there, holding the phone, stunned.

He nodded at the phone. "You can look whenever you want from now on. You know the password."