Chapter 14: Refusing to Do Her Surgery

"Give it back to me, you bastard!" Sia Thubron swung her hand and slapped Liam Hawksford across the face. If she couldn't snatch the form away, blocking his view was still better than nothing. She was a beat too late. He saw it anyway. The words "Repair Surgery" blazed on the page, cruelly bright. Then her palm smacked over his face, and his vision went dark. After reading it, Liam flicked the form back at her. "I didn't think you were that kind of person." His tone carried a thin edge of disdain, wrapped in the same aristocratic chill he always wore. What he was implying wasn't subtle. Sia understood perfectly. She just hadn't expected her luck to be this rotten, running into Liam of all people. "Hmph. None of your business!" She crushed the registration slip in her fist, anger tightening her voice. Liam studied her puffed-cheek, furious expression. So that was why she'd fought him to the death last night? He hadn't completely lost control then. He'd checked. It hadn't been her period. "Tsk." With one hand in his pocket, he looked down at her as if she were something beneath his notice. That scorching gaze raked over her, like he meant to strip her inside out with his eyes alone. Sia burned with anger and humiliation, but after a moment she forced herself to think. This had nothing to do with him. Let him misunderstand. Who cared? She backed away two steps. Liam Hawksford was someone she couldn't afford to provoke, but she could still avoid him. "President… look! A long-legged beauty!" Sia pointed behind him with exaggerated surprise, eyes sparkling. People passing by, men and women alike, turned their heads at her shout. Timothy Quiney, caught off guard, glanced back too. Liam didn't even blink. He stared at Sia, cold and unmoved, watching her little performance like it bored him. The second she finished, she bolted for the stairs. She moved so fast she looked like a rabbit darting into brush. Whoosh. She was gone. "…" Liam watched her fleeing back and remembered the smear of blood on the hotel sheets that morning. Why she wanted that surgery, he knew better than anyone. "Timothy Quiney!" Liam called, voice like ice. "Boss!" Timothy snapped his head around, then looked to where Sia had been. She was already nowhere in sight. He searched and only caught a glimpse of a figure racing upstairs. "Is Young Mistress sick or something?" Timothy muttered, baffled. "If she's sick, how did she run that fast?" Liam had intended to have Timothy drag her back, but after a brief pause, he strode toward the staircase himself. That noble, frigid aura of his drew countless stares. He looked too expensive, too distant, like someone you didn't approach unless you had a death wish. No one dared get close. Sia reached the second floor and glanced back. Liam hadn't followed. Relief loosened her chest. But then his suspicious look flashed through her mind. He probably thought she was a fake, a shameless woman. He probably even believed the blood from that night had been staged. A small, sharp sting of grievance rose in her throat. It didn't matter. She wouldn't have anything to do with him after this. Whether she'd been pure before or not wasn't something she needed to explain to him. What mattered was fixing it, so Young Mr. Yoxal wouldn't suspect a thing. Clutching her registration slip, she found the gynecology office. Her number was called at just the right time. She adjusted her mask and headed inside. At the same moment, a tall, striking man appeared by the stairwell. His arrival stirred a ripple of quiet commotion. People only dared whisper their amazement. His presence was too hard, too cold. Eyes followed him until he stopped at the gynecology office door. Open. Close. A stone-cold male heartthrob… at gynecology? What in the world? "Lie down. Take off your pants and let me have a look." The moment Sia stepped in, the older doctor greeted her with that blunt instruction. "Ah…" Sia froze, embarrassment flushing up her neck. Even her reply came out dumb and delayed. The office was private, with a small exam bed in the middle and a curtain beside it, though the curtain had been pulled aside. Sia's shoulders tensed. "Don't be afraid," the female doctor said, calmer. "It's just a routine check, and then we can prepare for the Repair Surgery." "Oh." Sia stood and walked over slowly. She sat down, and her fingers had just reached the waistband of her pants- Crack! A sharp sound snapped through the room. The locked door swung open. Sia's already tense little face went blank as she watched Liam Hawksford step in, having twisted the handle clean off. Her mind short-circuited. "Sir! This is a gynecology office. What do you think you're doing barging in here?" The doctor yanked off her reading glasses, but before she could finish, Liam's oppressive aura swept over the room like a storm front. Liam tossed the broken handle aside as if it were trash. "Come out." He spoke to Sia, who sat on the edge of the bed with both hands still at her waistband. Sia stared at him, stunned. He stood by the doorway with one hand in his pocket. Because he was so tall, he'd had to duck his head to enter. Once inside, his presence felt like a judge from the underworld. "What are you doing!" Even if they weren't at the company, he was still her immediate supervisor. But even an immediate supervisor didn't get to meddle this much. What did he want? "What relationship do you have with this lady?" the doctor demanded. "A sexual relationship," Liam replied coldly. His eyes stayed locked on Sia, as if she'd regret it for the rest of her life if she didn't stand up immediately. "…" "Come out. Wait for me in the car downstairs." Liam didn't yank her off the bed. He simply dropped the order, turned, and left the gynecology office. Sia had barely managed to breathe again when a head nurse hurried in with news. She leaned close and whispered into the doctor's ear. Both women turned to Sia with matching looks of alarm. Sia sat there, dazed, her expression blank behind the mask. "Miss, I'm very sorry," the head nurse said carefully. "The hospital can't perform your surgery. Here are your fees, refunded. This extra amount is compensation from us." Not only did she return Sia's registration money, she also offered several crisp bills with both hands, trembling like she was afraid to offend her. Sia: "…" It had to be that bastard President causing trouble. She'd heard he was the heir to two major elite families, someone with terrifying power and influence. She just hadn't realized he could be this ruthless. It was a tiny procedure, and the hospital didn't even dare take her case. Sia wanted to argue, but the compensation looked substantial. In the end, she could only accept it. She refused to believe this was the only hospital that could do that kind of Repair Surgery. "Fine." Sia took the money, stuffed it into her bag, pulled her mask tight, and stormed out. In her heart, she cursed Liam Hawksford, that big demon, a thousand times over. But then she imagined that perverted, heavy-taste husband of hers climbing into bed with her again… She couldn't handle it. No. She had to get it fixed.