Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

Chloe Marshall thought for a moment and said, ”So how much longer will you and Young Master Grant be together—”

”I don’t know. There’s no set time. Maybe a day, maybe two. Maybe a week or two, or a few months. I really can’t say.”

”We can talk about that later. The important thing now is that you need to go to the hospital with me right away and get the bleeding to stop. Nora, listen to me. If you want to be with him, you have to pull yourself together and fight this illness to the very end. Face it with a positive attitude. That’s how you’ll get better faster.”

Nora Ainsworth thought for a moment, then nodded. ”Alright, let’s go to the hospital now.”

After getting ready, the two left through the hotel’s main entrance. They looked around and saw no sign of Ethan Ellsworth’s car.

Relieved, they hailed a taxi and headed for the nearest hospital.

They wore hats, masks, and sunglasses, keeping their faces almost completely hidden. They thought Ethan Ellsworth and Quentin Grant had left, but in reality, the two men had been waiting for a long time in a taxi parked out of sight.

Just as Quentin Grant had suspected, Nora was indeed hiding something from him.

When he saw them enter the hospital, Quentin Grant didn’t understand why, but he and Ethan Ellsworth still got out of the car, concealing their own identities.

It was noon, and the hospital wasn’t very crowded.

As they sat in the hallway, a woman in her early twenties sat next to them, sobbing uncontrollably.

Upon asking, they learned the woman was there for an abortion. Her boyfriend had broken up with her after finding out she was pregnant, leaving her to come here alone for the procedure. She’d even had to borrow the money for it.

Nora Ainsworth thought, ’Fate is so cruel. Those who want to get pregnant can’t, and those who don’t want to get pregnant come here to get rid of their babies. If a baby were to come into my womb, I would cherish it with all my heart. I would never let it leave this world to be reborn without even a single glimpse of it.’

When they walked into the gynecology office, the doctor recognized Nora as soon as she heard her name.

The doctor told her gravely, ”Miss, I’ll be frank with you. Although you’ve had a variety of tests, some conditions can only be diagnosed through a D&C. Endometrial cancer, for example, requires a D&C for a definitive diagnosis. It’s what’s commonly called ’scraping the womb.’ This is the only way to confirm it, and it’s also the only way to temporarily stop the bleeding, especially since the medication is no longer working for you. We have to use this procedure.”

Chloe Marshall looked worried. ”Doctor, is there no way to treat my sister’s condition?”

”Based on her test results, she has the classic symptoms of infertility and an irregular menstrual cycle. However, I can’t currently determine if this is due to a lesion on her endometrium. Therefore, I recommend an immediate D&C, which is a cancer screening, to see if that is indeed the case.”

Nora Ainsworth said in a low voice, ”Then let’s do the minor surgery. The bleeding won’t stop anymore.”

The doctor nodded. ”That woman just now, Nora Ainsworth... she was more than two months pregnant and had an abortion. Such a shame, isn’t it? Your names are so similar. You’re Nora Ainsworth, right?”

Chloe Marshall and Nora Ainsworth exchanged a stunned glance. They never imagined the woman here for an abortion would have the same name as her.

”Yes.”

The doctor wrote out a form. ”Alright, have your sister go pay the fee. We’ll head to the operating room.”

Chloe Marshall immediately took the form to go pay. By the time she returned, Nora Ainsworth had already been taken into the operating room.

Chloe Marshall pushed the door open and stood beside Nora Ainsworth to give her courage. ”Nora, don’t be afraid. I’m right here.”

The doctor put on her mask. ”It’ll be alright. We’ve administered an anesthetic, so it shouldn’t hurt much. You might feel a little discomfort, but just try to bear with it. Some people are more sensitive and might feel it a bit more, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

Nora Ainsworth shook her head, removed her pants, and climbed onto the table.

She spread her legs and placed her feet in the stirrups on either side.

Two female doctors began the D&C procedure.

Nora Ainsworth felt like the doctor had lied to her. ’What kind of anesthetic is this? If I was anesthetized, why is it still so unbearably painful?!’

”AH!” She couldn’t help but scream.

Chloe Marshall’s nerves tensed. ”Nora, is it really painful?”

Nora Ainsworth bit her lip and nodded.

Chloe Marshall shuddered at the sight of the doctor’s instruments. Elsewhere, the other woman named Nora Ainsworth, the one having the abortion, was screaming bloody murder from the pain.

In less than ten minutes, Nora Ainsworth’s minor surgery was over.

Her face was as white as a sheet. The doctor held up a small tray for her to see. ”Look how much of your lining we removed. If we hadn’t done the D&C today, you would have kept bleeding for another four or five days. We’re sending this for analysis today; the results should be back in about four or five days.”

Nora Ainsworth glanced at the bloody tissue on the tray and immediately looked away. ”Doctor, will I need a prescription?”

”Yes, I’ll prescribe something to prevent urinary tract infections and some anti-inflammatories. You should rest here for half an hour before you go.”

Nora Ainsworth nodded, slowly put her pants back on, and lay on the operating table to rest.

The sound of crying from nearby made her glance over, and her heart ached with pity. ’A woman’s greatest fear is choosing the wrong man,’ she thought. ’When all is said and done, it’s always the woman who suffers.’

’A responsible man will at least make sure his child is provided for. But with an irresponsible one, the woman is left to suffer by herself, with no one to feel her pain.’

’How many men these days use a decent face and a silver tongue to sleep around, only to complain afterward about how rare virgins are?’

’If men measure love with their bodies, then women let their hearts and minds be willingly brainwashed, unable to ever break free.’

’Wasn’t the other Nora Ainsworth a perfect example of this?’

She never thought she would meet a woman with her exact same name here, yet they were both equally tragic. One had a child she couldn’t keep, while the other desperately wanted a child she couldn’t have.

As she lay there, thinking of the other Nora Ainsworth’s body being tormented by pain, a tear for her own plight escaped the corner of her eye.

Half an hour passed in an instant. Nora Ainsworth slowly got off the operating table, put on her shoes, and walked out with Chloe Marshall.

Just as they stepped out of the operating room, the sight of the two men standing before them made both her and Chloe Marshall freeze, not daring to meet their eyes.

Nora Ainsworth’s lips were completely drained of color as she leaned on Chloe Marshall for support. Anyone with eyes could see what she had just endured in that operating room.

”You... you followed us after all.” Her voice was faint, as if it took all of her strength just to speak.

Rage consumed Quentin Grant. The doctor’s words—from when he had inquired about Nora Ainsworth’s condition at the gynecology office—echoed over and over in his mind.

The doctor had said: ’Nora Ainsworth was more than two months pregnant, but she insisted on aborting the baby!’

’She aborted the baby!’

’That was their child!’

He didn’t know that the one who’d had the abortion was another woman who just happened to have the same name: Nora Ainsworth.

”That’s right. If we hadn’t followed you, I never would have known you were capable of something like this, Nora Ainsworth!” Quentin Grant’s eyes glistened. ”How could you do something so monumental without even telling me? You just went and got rid of our child. Nora Ainsworth, I was a fool to trust you. It’s because I trusted you so completely that you could stab me in the heart again and again!”