The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 362

With that, he turned and walked toward the elevators.

Clara stood frozen, watching his tall, thin back disappear into the crowd.

The lobby was a chaotic whirl of patients and their families, some crying, some shouting, all of them anxious.

The corner of his white coat fluttered as he walked.

He never once looked back.

Once he had rounded the corner of the emergency hall, safely out of her line of sight, Noah's steps faltered. The gentle smile on his face instantly shattered. He leaned against the wall, tilted his head back, and gasped for air before covering his eyes with his hand.

There was no urgent consult.

Today was the quietest day the pediatrics department had seen in ages; there wasn't even a single child with a cough.

He had canceled all his administrative meetings and arranged his handover two hours early, all so he could spend an uninterrupted evening with her, walking through the Brighton City night, holding her hand, and watching the fireworks.

But now, all he could do was stand here, listening to his own heartbeat slow down, growing colder and colder.

Clara didn't know how long she stood there. It wasn't until her legs started to feel numb that she finally turned and sat on a bench outside the observation room.

She leaned back, staring blankly at the digital clock on the opposite wall.

Four years ago, she had been the one lying in there, bleeding, terrified, and in pain.

But when Rhys arrived, he had said to her, "Clara, maybe you should reflect on yourself."

That sentence was the final straw that broke her.

So she ran.

Now, the tables had turned.

The person lying inside was Rhys, covered in wounds and in agony.

The person waiting outside was her.

She held the keys to her freedom, yet she couldn't bring herself to take that final step.

She couldn't say if fate was fair.

It seemed determined to grind all their love and hate into dust, then flip their roles, forcing them to taste every ounce of suffering the other had endured.

"In a hospital, there are male doctors and female doctors. You're practically at death's door, and you're worried about the gender of the person she's talking to? You should be grateful Clara even brought you here."

Rhys fell silent, turning his head to face the wall.

The pediatrics department was right next door. For Clara to stop and talk so patiently, it had to be Noah.

Bitterness rose in his throat.

Noah was here, someone was here to pick her up. She was probably going to leave now.

Liar.

She had promised him in the car. She said she would wait, that she would listen to what he had to say before she left.

He closed his eyes, thinking of all the nights Clara had waited for him at home.

Meals reheated and gone cold again. The living room TV turned on and off. Her, curled up on the sofa, waiting until dawn, only for him to return exhausted and too tired to even speak.

Rhys was drowning in regret.