When I Met You

Inside the office, Vanessa looked at Edward from behind and remained silent. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Edward said, "Enter."

Susan looked into the room, entered, and said, "Mr. Ford, I need to take leave to go to the hospital to visit a friend's mother."

Edward raised his eyebrow, looked at Susan, and nodded, "Do you need the driver to send you?"

Susan was able to sense that Vanessa was staring intensely at her as soon as she entered the office.

"No no, no need. I'll take a taxi. The hospital is not far away."

Vanessa's stare made Susan very uncomfortable and Susan quickly rejected and left the office. She was in a hurry to leave and just before she closed the door behind her, she heard Vanessa said softly to Edward, "Edward, can I meet your wife? I want to thank her for acting with you for such a long time."

What she heard shocked Susan and she practically ran out of the office. The sound of the door close shocked the people inside.

Once she got into the taxi, Susan reflected on herself. Was that necessary? It was only one of his first loves who came back. Why should she be so afraid? What's wrong with you? Ah... but she knew that Vanessa was different from the others but she didn't know what Edward thought of her.

She thought that she could just spend the next five months being a secretary and a dutiful Mrs. Ford. She will then leave when the five months were up. Looked like... it's impossible now. She needed to bring forward the plans.

At the hospital, Susan met up with Tina and went along with her to look for the hospital director. She spent a while discussing with the director about her mother's treatment.

This new machine involved a new treatment technique as well as part of ongoing research. The hospital can subsidize part of the medical costs. But the remainder of the fees would require Susan to pay. Susan was nonetheless dumbfounded.

Although she had been married to Edward, Susan had sold or pawned the gifts given to her by him to pay for her mother's medical bills and her other expenses over these years. This money had almost been exhausted.

Now, for her mother's treatment, although she can depend on Edward to foot the initial expenses, subsequently... she may not be able to afford it. After all, she will soon divorce Edward.

"Director, how long will this treatment take?"

"If all goes well, about one and a half years."

The director looked at her medical records and said, "Because your mother's brain cells death rate has reached 98%, we need to stabilize the cells and then cultivate the cells. You should be aware of the time taken for cell replacement."

"Then about the costs..." Susan bit her lips and tried to urge the director for a lower cost, "Can the subsidies be raised? Eighty million yuan... it's really too much..."

"Erm..." The director was in a fix, "Tina and I had specially negotiated with the higher management for this cost. This research needed a comatose patient with some brain and heart function to test on."

This caused Susan to become even more troubled.

"I can pay this amount for you."

Just as Susan was hesitating now to answer, the director's office door was suddenly opened and Jarvis walked in and said, "Director, I can pay for this medical expense... as to whether in full or a portion, I will have to speak to the patient's family alone."

Jarvis intentionally avoided looking at Susan but his objective was clear. The director understood and immediately pulled Tina out of his office.

Susan looked up at Jarvis and immediately refused, "Thanks for your kindness but we have nothing to talk about. I will find a way to pay for the medical treatments."

"How will you do that? Do you have so much money?" Jarvis immediately held onto Susan's hand but Susan flung away his hand, "Even then I will not use a cent of your money."

Years ago, had it not been Jarvis' mother who used unscrupulous means to get her expelled from the medical course, she could certainly be a doctor now and perhaps her mother could have recovered long ago.

"Why?" Jarvis asked.

But before Susan could reply, a voice was heard as a woman walked in, "Jarvis, I was just speaking to Director Parker and you disappeared. I was looking all over for you.”☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐