Chapter 2

He said nothing. His response was an icy silence, which was more brutal to Gabriella’s heart. He brought a woman into her workplace without feeling any shame or guilt. He gave the gossipers an issue to feast on. Her. And nope, he didn’t even feel the need to explain. It was a huge slap to Gabriella’s face. Now everyone in the hospital would talk about her and her pathetic marriage with the great Martinez. Izaak narrowed his eyes at Gabriella, scrutinizing her entire soul. That nonchalant face she always had, he wanted to tear it off so badly. She was a punch to his phenomenal ego for being the only woman he couldn’t seduce into fancying him. “You’re not even jealous?” he scoffed in disappointment. Instead of answering him, Gabriella switched the conversation to something else. “I’m serious about smoking.” Izaak didn’t like how she didn’t care a bit. Even when he had hundreds of dating scandals, she stayed unfazed, unbothered, and unhurt. He smirked. “Then again, we’re not exactly a couple, are we?” He turned around. As Gabriella looked at his cold back from a distance, tears formed in her eyes. “No, no,” she muttered to herself. “We are not crying today, Gabby.” She looked up to prevent her tears from ultimately falling. She drew a long and deep breath, exhaled, and smiled to lift her cheeks and shoo her tears away. She headed for the door to go back to their office. High heels on the marble floor, the crisp and cluck of her shoes reverberated around the hospital’s empty corridor. It was pouring hard outside again. The recent days of June were cold and dark. Days felt like nights. It was as if the weather adjusted itself to lament her gradual despair. The sudden appearance of her husband with a woman who had a miscarriage emotionally exhausted her. Was he the father? Was he planning to marry that girl and live as a family? What about their marriage? What about her? Questions kept pouring into her mind, and she couldn’t help it. She dropped her body on her reclining chair as soon as she reached their office and massaged her temple. The door suddenly opened. Levi, who was in his nurse uniform, stormed inside and went directly to her computer. He showed her a piece of news. “You need to fucking watch this,” he said with urgency, as well as anger. After learning what the headline was about, she exited the web page. “It’s not news at all,” Gabriella could only say. A two-month-old dating scandal resurfaced. Izaak Martinez, the president of the Martinez Group, was reported again to have an affair with Audrey Hill, a star lawyer at a famous law firm. Levi stared in disbelief at the doctor. “Gabby, it’s fucking scary that you don’t get shocked anymore.” Gabriella avoided his gaze. It was true she wasn’t shocked, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt. “What’s new? His habit is to make me the butt of the joke for the entire world.” “That girl you just operated on. That was Audrey Hill, right?” he asked, trying to make sense of what was happening. Although she tried to have a poker face, she winced when her chest tightened. “God, words travel so fast in this building.” She sighed in disappointment. She knew people would talk behind her back. Despite being the talk of the town as the ‘pitiful unwanted wife’ of her husband, it wasn’t easy getting used to such insults. “I heard he moved her to the VIP ward. I don't care how influential or how rich he is. He literally came here with his mistress? The audacity of that asshole!” Levi was spitting his anger at her husband, and Gabriella could do nothing but smile bitterly. “I will tell Doc Carry to take over your patient–” “Levi, she’s just another patient to me.” She immediately intercepted. “Whoever she is, whatever she did, she’s still my patient. I’ll take care of her until she’s discharged.” Levi stood straight, his eyes in disbelief and pain. He was hurting in her stead. Gabriella immediately changed the conversation. “Aside from the news you wanted to show me, which wasn’t actually news to me, what else are you here for?” The nurse pulled out a test tube from his pocket. Gabriella’s forehead furrowed.“What is that?” “A specimen,” curtly, he answered. “Of what?” she clarified. “Audrey’s embryo.” Gabrielle’s heart dropped to the floor without warning. “Don’t you want to know if the child was his or not? Let’s run a DNA test.” “Levi, stop,” Gabriella exclaimed in frustration. “Why are you doing this?” “Gabby, no, you listen to me," he shot back. "Do you still believe your marriage is worth saving? Is he worth all the fucking pain you are enduring?” Gabriella closed her eyes as she couldn’t give him a confident answer. When she opened her eyes, irritation boiled in her blood. She felt like Levi was being unnecessarily nosy. “Whether my marriage is worth saving or not, what is it to you? It’s my life. It’s my marriage. You don’t get to say what is right and what is wrong for me. I appreciate you looking out for me, but please, don’t cross the line.” Her words struck and punctured Levi straight to where it hurt the most. His heart. He placed the tube on her table. “I don’t care if you think I am crossing the line. You know better than me that your marriage is already fucked-up, and there’s nothing you can do about it except run before you get killed.” He bolted out of the office, and Gabriella was too stunned to move for a second. As she said, it was her marriage, and it was her life. Yet nothing about her marriage was her choice. She stared at the test tube on her table. The truth was, she was scared. If a DNA test was done, she was afraid of the result. What if it was really his child? She wouldn’t be able to take it. She thought she could hold her tears until the day was over. But her eyes gave in, and tears escaped. She wiped the tears on her cheeks with the back of her pale hands. She had to–no–she needed to cry.