Chapter 5

The days after the surgery were long and agonizing. Emily lay alone on the hospital bed, watching the IV drip slowly into her veins, feeling the unrelenting ache that radiated from her wounds. Every wound redressing felt like torture to her. The nurse tried to be as gentle as possible, but the pity in her eyes cut deeper than any scalpel. "Please bear with it. It'll be over soon," the nurse said softly. After the nurse left, Emily heard the hushed voices of the nurse talking to her colleague out in the hallway. "I really feel bad for her. Even though she's so badly injured, not a single family member came to see her. She even had to sign the surgery consent form herself." "I feel the same way. Meanwhile, look at Ms. Evans in the VIP ward. All she got was a little scratch, but Mr. Stone hasn't left her side at all. I heard he even brushed aside several multi-billion-dollar projects just to accompany her." "Some people have all the luck in the world!" Their words stabbed Emily in the heart, but she'd grown numb to the feeling. She simply turned her head toward the window, shut her eyes, and pretended she heard nothing at all. … On the day Emily was finally discharged, the sky was overcast. After finishing the paperwork, she'd only just stepped out of the hospital entrance when a few of her childhood friends popped their heads out of the car parked outside. They'd been waiting for her. One of them, Justin Farrow, called out, "Over here, Emmy!" Upon seeing the familiar faces smiling at her, Emily finally felt a sense of warmth spreading through her long-freezing heart. That night, they took her to a bar they frequented, insisting on celebrating her release from hell and her regained freedom. "Getting a divorce is the best thing to happen to you! That jerk Andrew doesn't deserve you!" "That's right! You're a stunning woman who comes from a distinguished background, Emmy. Even without Andrew, you'll have men forming a line long enough to circle the globe, all fighting for a chance to be with you!" "Exactly. Tomorrow, I'll introduce a few handsome young men to you. I can guarantee that every last one of them will be much better than that cold and emotionless Andrew!" Emily's friends joked around, doing their best to lift her spirits. As she sipped her cocktail, a long-absent smile finally returned to her face. They were right, of course. Why should she degrade herself for a man who didn't love her? Halfway through, she excused herself to the restroom, but when she came back, the booth was empty. Her friends were nowhere to be found. "Excuse me. Where did my friends go?" she asked a passing server. With an uneasy expression, the server pointed at a VIP lounge down the hallway and said, "Just a few moments ago, a drunk young woman insisted on getting a few male escorts to accompany her. "She wasn't happy with all the ones she saw, and when she saw your friends… she got her bodyguards to drag them inside. She had too many bodyguards with her, so we dared not stop her…" Emily tensed up. Her friends were relatively well-known among the upper society. No ordinary person would dare to offend them, unless… Gripped with a bad feeling, she rushed forward and barged right into the VIP lounge. Sure enough, inside the room, the drunk Lucy was clutching Justin's arm, insisting on pressing herself against him. Justin was pale with fury, but since it was a woman who was manhandling him, he tried his best to keep his temper in check. "Lucy! Let go of my friend!" Emily shouted as she rushed forward to yank Lucy off Justin. Just then, the door was kicked open, and Andrew stormed in, his expression dark and furious. He grabbed Lucy by the wrist, his voice low and simmering with barely contained rage. "Lulu! What the hell are you doing in a place like this!" Lucy jerked her hand away, her eyes glassy. She jabbed a finger toward Emily's friends and declared haughtily, "Can't you tell? I'm choosing a male escort to keep me company! These ones are cute. I want all of them!" "Don't be ridiculous! I forbid you from doing this!" Andrew snarled, his expression turning even darker as he reached out to grab her. However, Lucy gave him a hard shove before wailing in discontent. "Why do you get to fool around when I don't, huh? You're free to smile at other women and spend hours in your office with that female client of yours, so why can't I spend time with a few male escorts, huh?" Ian hurriedly stepped in to explain, "You got the wrong idea, Ms. Evans! Mr. Stone was just discussing a very important business collaboration. He certainly doesn't have any—" "I don't care!" Lucy interrupted, refusing to listen to reason. In her drunken state, she tried to put her hands on Justin again. "Since you get to be intimate with other women, I can do it with other men too!" Emily couldn't take it any longer. Standing defensively in front of her friends, she shouted, "That's enough! If you two are having a lovers' spat, that's your business! Don't harass my friends and drag them into this!"