"What can I do for you?"
"A friend's wife is pregnant. He wants to have dinner so you can look after her in the future."
"But tonight…" Anne Sutton remembered she had to go back and cook for Nathan Fawcett.
The dean's voice was stern. "I heard you recently broke up with Mr. Prescott. You don't still think you're Mrs. Prescott, free to do whatever you please, do you?"
The warning was clear.
This dinner was unavoidable.
Plus…
Nathan Fawcett's attitude last night…
It seemed unrealistic to expect him to help her with such a minor matter.
Unless she wanted to quit her job, defying the dean right now would be professional suicide.
"Okay," Anne Sutton said.
At noon, after finishing her work, Anne Sutton slipped into the restroom and sent a message to the butler: "I'm sorry, I have to work late tonight, so I can't come back to cook for Mr. Fawcett. Please just have him eat something else."
The butler replied, "But Mr. Fawcett won't eat anything unless you make it."
Anne Sutton texted back, "I really can't get away. I'm sorry. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Alright. Please don't overwork yourself." After all, Anne Sutton had to work, so the butler couldn't force her to return.
After sending the message and seeing the butler had agreed, Anne Sutton breathed a sigh of relief.
'I cook for him every day. It should be fine if he eats something else when I'm too busy, right?'
Just as she was about to leave the restroom, she heard other women talking. "You know that mistress, the one involved with Dr. Sutton?"
"Yeah, the one who made that huge scene a few days ago, right?"
"She came to the hospital again today! I thought for sure after getting caught, the mistress would be facing the music, but who knew…"
"What happened?"
"The mistress came for a prenatal checkup today and even got the hospital to give her priority access. Does she really think she's some big shot? And that Charles Prescott really dotes on her. But for them to act like this… they have zero respect for Dr. Sutton."
"It must be great being Charles Prescott's woman! You get whatever you want; you don't even have to queue up to see a doctor. I just wonder what Dr. Sutton is thinking. I saw her in the hallway today, and she looked awful."
"How could she not? I heard she's the mistress's attending physician. The mistress came in today and specifically requested Dr. Sutton. It's a total slap in the face!"
"That's going too far!"
"From the looks of it, Dr. Sutton must've been dumped. She was supposed to get promoted in the second half of the year, but that's probably off the table now, right?"
"Probably. I heard she only got promoted to director because of her connection to Charles Prescott. Otherwise… at her age, how could she have climbed the ladder so fast?"
Anne Sutton lowered her head, listening to their conversation. She knew that now, everyone at the hospital was more invested in her affairs than she was.
She also knew that ever since the scandal with Charles Prescott broke, everyone was just watching her, waiting for her to make a fool of herself.
…
That evening, after work, Anne Sutton drove herself to the restaurant.
When she arrived, she found that the dean and her direct supervisor from the hospital were already there.
Director Shepherd was there as well.
Seeing Anne Sutton come in, Director Shepherd said, "Sutton."
She knew him best, so she sat down in the seat next to him.
The dean sat to the side, silent and very stern.
He was always a man of few words.
Before long, the guests arrived.
The one who pushed open the door was none other than Charles Prescott, with Sylvia Warren trailing behind him.
Seeing these two, Anne Sutton felt her head start to buzz.
'How could it be them?'
When Dean Walters saw Charles Prescott, the stiff, cold expression on his face finally warmed with some enthusiasm. "Mr. Prescott, long time no see."
Charles Prescott extended his hand and shook the dean's. "Thank you for arranging things today, Dean Walters."
Hearing this, the dean said, "Don't mention it."
Charles Prescott sat down, and Sylvia Warren sat beside him, looking very clingy.
Anne Sutton, sitting to the side, felt like she was on pins and needles from the moment those two walked in.
'This is torture!'
She looked at the pair and asked Dean Walters, "Dean, when you said a friend… you didn't mean Charles Prescott, did you?"
Hearing her say his name, Charles Prescott smirked. "What an unfortunate coincidence. I am, in fact, that friend."
Sylvia Warren said, "I told Dean Walters that your medical skills are excellent, so from now on, we'll have to trouble Dr. Sutton to look after me. When it's time for me to give birth, I'm counting on you to deliver my baby. You won't refuse, will you?"
'What could be more humiliating than being cheated on, only to have to deliver your replacement's baby?'
Anne Sutton's gaze shifted to Charles Prescott. She looked at him. They were here, and she was here. It was clear now that what Sylvia Warren wanted was what he wanted, too.
'He knew better than anyone about the bad blood between me and Sylvia Warren, yet he wants me to deliver her baby? To take care of his woman and his child?'
'Charles Prescott…'
'Are you even human?'
Anne Sutton looked at the dean and said, "Dean, I'm afraid I can't help with this matter. Please find someone else. There are plenty of good doctors in the department; it's not like I'm the only one. Wouldn't you agree?"
Dean Walters said, "Miss Warren specifically requested you, so it'll be you. Consider this an opportunity to test you."
"You know perfectly well…" 'Everyone in the hospital knew about her and Charles Prescott. They knew all about her past relationship with him, yet now they were deliberately putting her in such a difficult position!'
Director Shepherd looked at Anne Sutton and said, "Sutton, work is work. You're a good doctor; don't bring your personal emotions into it. Miss Warren is a patient, a pregnant woman you need to care for, correct? We're all professionals. Let's not abandon our basic sense of professionalism over this."
"It's easy for you to say that when it's not happening to you." Anne Sutton glanced at Charles Prescott, her fists clenching.
Charles Prescott said, "If you really feel you can't do it, you can tell me. If you beg me, I might reconsider. Anne, I don't consider you an outsider."
Anne Sutton knew that by "beg," he meant agreeing to the proposition he made yesterday.
'Don't have Nathan Fawcett's child.'
He wanted her to cut off her own lifeline.
Otherwise, he would keep pressuring her in all sorts of ways.
'So because I refused, he's now indulging Sylvia Warren and deliberately trying to disgust me? Is that it?'
Anne Sutton even suspected that Charles Prescott was being so brazen precisely because he knew Nathan Fawcett didn't like to meddle.
While she was hesitating, Charles Prescott spoke again. "Alternatively, you could go ask your uncle for help."
"…"
Anne Sutton felt her chest ache with suppressed rage.
The dean asked, "By the way, how has your uncle been doing lately?"