The Runaway Groom
Chapter 14

Truth be told, Stan was not sure.

He was also puzzled and shocked to see Irene and Zachary holding acheerful conversation over lunch—he would never have known if hehad not coincidentally passed by that restaurant either.

"Should we call Dr. Slate and ask?" he suggested.

"Yeah," Isaac flatly replied, and Stan quickly left to make the call.Zachary arrived after around twenty minutes. The instant he steppedinto Isaac's office, he said, "Perfect timing. I was just going to—"

“You know Irene Spencer?” Isaac asked.

Interjected before he could finish, Zachary was taken aback, but hesoon nodded. "I do—she's my junior, and she's the one who treatedyour injury that time."

Isaac leaned back on his brown leather couch, his long and bushyeyelashes twitching above his jet-black gaze.

That was her?

It surprised Isaac.

"Right, so..." Zachary continued as he entered and took a seat. "Can'tyou be nicer to her, Isaac?"

Isaac raised a brow and loafed even more casually just then, but thosewho knew him understood that the more casual he was, the morepensive he actually was.

“Zachary is actually close to Irene?’ thought he inwardly.

Somehow, he felt upset—and he actually had no idea why he felt thatway.

"Are you siding with her?" he asked quietly. "What is she to you?""She's my junior, duh. We graduated from the same teaching hospital,although she's two semesters my junior. Word is that her father has amistress and is cold toward her and her mother. She had to work part-time jobs during university to pay her tuition fees. A tragic case on allcounts,” Zachary said, earnestly defending Irene, telling her life story aswell so that Isaac would spare her, or at least let her keep her job.

Not sparing his strength, Zachary continued, "That's why I tried to helpher when I could, so we're good friends. Come on, Isaac—she needsher job to pay her mother's medical bills. Can't you just let her off thisonce? She's really going to suffer without her job."

Isaac remained impassive, but his heart was actually stirring.

Her case did sound tragic... though that was not reason enough toforgive her.

He appeared even more relaxed then and said thoughtfully, “I don'tmind forgiving her if she comes to beg me on her own."

Zachary could tell right then that Isaac was still upset with Irene, and heknew that Irene never liked to bother others, so he explained, "Shewouldn't have come to me if she weren't desperate.”

Isaac snorted coldly.

“Desperate?

'If she is desperate, why didn’t she come to me herself?

“That just means she is not desperate enough!’ thought Isaac tohimself.

"Isaac..."

Zachary tried to say more for Irene's sake, but Isaac refused to listenand uttered, "Like I said, tell her to come to me."

He clearly sounded impatient. Zachary knew that it was futile to go onnow. "Just don't push her too far—she did help you before, rememberthat.”

Isaac shot him a cool glare then. "Do you like her?"

“Are they that close that Zachary would go so far for her?

“Hell, could he be the man she slept with?" he thought.

"Well, I do... but it's more admiration, to be honest,” Zachary quicklyexplained. "She's quite likable. Although there were many boys wholiked her and tried to woo her back at university, she rejected all ofthem. That's a proper maiden of integrity for you, and I think I'd fall forher if I hadn't fallen for someone else... Haha!"

Isaac shot him a look of contempt and thought to himself that Zacharymust be blind.

“How is she proper? What about her integrity?

“Would a proper maiden sleep with another man on her wedding nightand make me a cuckold?’ Isaac thought to himself.

With that, Isaac's face darkened more, but Zachary did not notice it.Zachary felt weary inwardly since there was nothing else he could dohere.

Stepping out of the building, he called Irene outside the entrance.After leaving the restaurant, Irene returned to her hospital to visit hermother when she received Zachary's call.

He apologized for failing to persuade Isaac, but Irene knew aboutIsaac's bad temper anyway and said, “It's fine. You don't have to worryabout that.”

Hanging up, she composed herself as she headed inside her mother'sward.

The instant she got in, a nurse saw her and told her, "Your mother isawake."

"Really?" Irene exclaimed in excitement.

"Of course, I was just about to call you," the nurse replied. "You shouldgo check on her."

"Thank you."

Her mother had been moved to a normal ward. When Irene entered toreplace her mother's eyes wide open, she was left hesitating for a momentbefore striding toward her.

"Mom..."

Sheryl Harris feebly tried to reach for her. "Oh, Irene..."

Irene quickly took her hand—it was a great relief to her.

“I'm so sorry, Irene..."

Sheryl was aware of how critical her condition was. Irene must haveagreed to Lionel Spencer's demands to marry into the Jefferson family—there was no way Irene could afford her surgery otherwise.

Her eyes welling up with tears, she murmured, "I shouldn't have let yousuffer. I'm better off dead...”

"Come on, Mom." Irene squeezed her hand. "I wouldn't be here withoutyou."

If her mother did not have labor complications that damaged her healthand made her infertile, Lionel would never have abhorred her motherand found a mistress.

"How are you? Are the Jeffersons being nice to you?" Sheryl askedIrene tentatively then—she was worried that marrying rich would leaveIrene belittied.

Irene forced a smile and tried to make light of it, assuring her, "I'm fine.Mr. Henry... and Isaac are nice to me, so don't worry. Right now, youshould focus on getting better."

"Yeah," Sheryl murmured, appearing tired already.

She still needed rest at the moment, so Irene kept her company andonly left after Sheryl fell asleep.

Outside, it was already dark.

She felt cold despite the warm climate because she knew that therewere certain things she had to face inevitably, including Isaac.

There was no hiding anyway, she whipped out her phone to contacthim.

Be it disembowelment or hanging... It was time to face the music.

And yet, she suddenly realized that she never had his number and hadno choice but to return to her mansion.

However, she saw Isaac's car at the entrance.

“He came back here again?!" Irene thought.