Chapter 3
After a restless night and the balcony door left ajar, Shannon woke up groggily, her body burning with heat. Her eyes felt so heavy that she could barely open them.
Reaching out blindly, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and dialed Caspian’s number.
She called over a dozen times, but he never picked up.
Just as she was about to give up, the line connected. “Caspian…”
“Who is this?”
A sweet, feminine voice answered instead.
Shannon’s phone slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a thud. The noise on the other end grew chaotic, followed by a long pause before Caspian finally spoke.
“Babe?”
He called her several times before she finally bent down to pick up the phone. She asked in disbelief, “Who was that just now?”
“No one,” Caspian replied quickly. “I was in a meeting. My business partner picked up my phone by mistake. Don’t overthink it.”
Before Shannon could press further, he changed the subject. “What’s wrong? Why were you calling?”
Shannon wanted to tell him she had a fever and needed him to take her to the hospital.
“Ouch! It’s so hot!”
A sharp cry suddenly rang out from the other end. Caspian’s tone turned slightly anxious as he quickly ended the call. “I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
The line went dead.
Maybe it was the fever, but a deep sense of grievance welled up inside Shannon.
Caspian had never hung up on her before, not even in the middle of an important meeting. He would always make sure she was okay first.
But now…
She lay in bed for a while before stumbling to the medicine cabinet for some cold medicine. Then she drifted off again.
When Shannon woke up next, she was no longer in her bedroom. She was lying in a hospital bed.
Caspian was beside her. Seeing her awake, he finally relaxed and pulled her into his arms. “Babe, you scared me.”
It turned out that he later called her back, but she never answered.
Sensing something was wrong, he rushed home, only to find her flushed and asleep. Panicked, he took her straight to the hospital.
For the rest of the day, Caspian didn’t leave Shannon’s side, as if he were afraid something might happen again.
Seeing him like this warmed her heart. It felt like the Caspian she knew was finally back.
Then his phone rang.
His fingers tensed around the device as he glanced at the caller ID. He glanced at Shannon before turning away to take the call in the hallway.
The hospital’s walls weren’t well-insulated.
Shannon could hear a woman’s voice from the other end of the phone. “I don’t care. I want you here with me right now! Or I’ll run away with your son! Believe it or not!”
Caspian didn’t sound annoyed. Instead, his voice was full of indulgence. “I just have to take care of something here. I’ll come over as soon as I’m done, okay?”
Maybe he was too focused on the call to notice the shock on her face.
Shannon couldn’t believe her ears. It felt like a lightning strike, sending a tremor through her entire body.
What did she just hear? Was she hearing things?
Caspian had a son?
Her mind raced back to the pregnancy test report she had found, the moment she saw Caspian helping a pregnant woman, and the words she overheard at the gynecology department.
Shannon’s grip on the blanket tightened. Just then, the door creaked open.
She quickly shut her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Seeing her asleep, Caspian let out a sigh of relief and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before quietly leaving the ward.
The moment he stepped out, Shannon opened her eyes, yanked out the IV, and silently followed him.
She watched as Caspian weaved through the hallways, turning left and right, before finally stopping in front of the gynecology department.
Just as Shannon was about to step closer, Caspian pulled a woman exiting the prenatal exam room into his arms and gently comforted her. “Was the baby good today? Did he give you a hard time?”
Shannon’s eyes widened in shock.
At the same time, the woman nestled in Caspian’s arms looked up. As if sensing something, she looked in Shannon’s direction.
That was when Shannon finally saw the woman’s face. It looked almost exactly like hers when she was younger.
