The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 102

I took a cab to my father's room at Greenwood Care Center.

Come to think of it, it had been a while since my last visit. Looking at his graying hair and aging face, a sour lump formed in my throat.

If he knew that the marriage he had bowed his head to beg for had ended up like this, he would surely be overwhelmed with guilt, wouldn't he?

Dad, maybe we were both wrong. A forced relationship was never going to end well.

Trimming his nails, giving him a haircut... By the time I finished taking care of him, the sun was already setting. I tucked him in, feeling deeply reluctant to leave the room.

Taking one last look at the man in the bed, I silently told myself that I wouldn't be defeated so easily.

Burdened with my thoughts, I didn't even register stepping onto the elevator. It wasn't until a warm greeting echoed in my ears that I looked up, surprised to see Leon Lennox's familiar face.

"What brings you here, Dr. Lennox?"

"It really is you, Dr. Hayes."

After a brief chat, I learned that Leon's grandfather was also a resident at this care center.

"You look a little down," Leon noted, sensing my mood with genuine concern. "Don't take the comments in the group chat to heart. Everyone's just joking around. They'll forget about it in no time."

"Group chat?" I was instantly utterly confused. "What group chat?"

Leon looked surprised. "The Capital General offline exchange group. Haven't you seen it yet?"

I really hadn't. Aside from my official department threads, I rarely paid attention to those casual discussion groups. Even if I was added to them, I always set them to 'Do Not Disturb' immediately.

Prompted by Leon, I slowly pulled up the group messages. As my thumb swiped up the screen, my heart sank lower and lower.

I was shocked by what I saw.

Someone had forwarded updates from our academic exchange in Skye City. But buried among the twenty-odd photos of medical seminars was an unexpected candid shot of Caspian and me.

On the cruise ship, set against the backdrop of the light show, Caspian was carefully holding my wrist, while I was gripping his outstretched hand...

And the photographer was none other than Zoey.

Zoey had spoken up shortly after the discussion caught fire.

"I'm so sorry, everyone! I snapped this by accident because I wanted to capture the scenery, and I hit 'share' without realizing it," the young woman explained in a lengthy paragraph. "During this exchange, we've all seen how serious, rigorous, and excellent Selena has been. Please don't misunderstand her."

After sending that, she tagged me, added another "I'm sorry," and attached a pitiful crying emoji.

The timestamp was right around the time I went back to the Sterling estate for lunch.

Yet hours had passed, and the person who single-handedly sparked this massive wave of gossip hadn't even bothered to contact me privately.

Scanning the member list, I realized Ferris was also in the chat.

And his one and only message was simply: "It was an unintentional mistake. Let's not over-discuss it."

He was speaking up to protect Zoey.