Chapter 4

She exploded in a fit of rage, yelling, "I wondered why you weren't answering my calls. Turns out you're here having dinner with your homewrecker!"

I quickly shielded Seraphina behind me.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Seraphina is Mom's lead surgeon for this operation!"

"Slap!"

No sooner had I finished speaking than she viciously slapped me across the face.

She pointed her finger in my face and screamed, "Doctor? You dare lie to me and say she's a doctor? Do you think I'm an idiot? Doctors wear white coats!"

I didn't want to waste my breath explaining to her and just wanted to leave with Seraphina.

She rushed forward to block me, trying to get physical again.

She was still wearing the wedding dress from a few days ago, her makeup mostly smeared off. At this moment, standing in front of me, she looked like a complete lunatic.

She raised her hand, and I resignedly turned my face away, but the expected pain didn't materialize on my cheek.

Opening my eyes, I realized Seraphina had intercepted the slap for me.

She grabbed her arm and said, "I don't know what's happened, but I am indeed the lead surgeon for this operation. And regardless, it's never right to hit someone."She saw that reasoning wasn't working, so she started wailing again: "When I heard Mom needed surgery, I didn't have money for a plane ticket. I took a Greyhound bus that took dozens of hours to get back here. I rushed over without even changing my clothes."

"I can't believe you're not only ungrateful, but you're saying it's my fault!"

Her ability to twist the truth was as formidable as ever. While she sat on the floor, crying loudly, I quickly led Seraphina out.

The nurse finally arrived and kicked her out of the room.

I escorted Seraphina out of the hospital and said, embarrassed: "Sorry you had to see that spectacle."

She shook her head and apologized to me instead: "I'm sorry, it's your family business. I shouldn't have interfered earlier."

"But... I just couldn't stand by and watch her hit you."

Those few words made my heart melt completely.

What people fear most isn't being wronged, but the unexpected kindness that follows.

I quickly turned away, waving goodbye to her: "You should head back now. Thanks for coming to see me today."

After returning to the hospital room, the nurse's words had calmed Melody down.

Seeing me come back, she put on an act of coming over to check on me."Your face okay? I didn't mean to hit you earlier, I just got so worked up seeing you with another woman..."

I ignored her, pulling out the divorce papers I'd prepared from the drawer. "Sign these."

When she saw the words 'divorce agreement', her eyes widened in disbelief.

"I've already apologized to you. Are you still going to divorce me for that woman?"

Even at this point, she still didn't realize what she'd done wrong.

"I'm not divorcing you because of her. It's because of you!"

She fell silent, her eyes full of confusion and bewilderment.

I listed her offenses one by one, item by item.

"Because of you, stealing my mom's emergency funds to buy concert tickets from scalpers!"

"Because of you, wearing a wedding dress and saying you wanted to marry another man while my mom was in surgery!"

"Because of you, the first thing you did after my mom's surgery was ask me for money!"

I roared out my final words, and after a long silence, she suddenly burst into loud sobs.

"Just because of this, you want to divorce me?! You heartless bastard!"

She cried as if the heavens were falling, acting like she had suffered some great injustice.

"It's just a surgery, it's not like she's really going to die. Even if she did, it's her fate. She's just a dying old woman, who cares if she's dead? What does it have to do with me? You actually want to divorce me because of her!"