It had been a long night without sleep, and he was stiff from using these upright, firm chairs to guard the door all night. Glad that morning shifts were coming in, and Meilei might not still be as mad. Maybe she would let him spend time with Yuelin.
“Dr. Jiang? Suying, right?” He asked, extending a hand to her, yet she eyed it up and didn’t take it.
The whole family could jump off a bridge. Even Suying with her patient and understanding nature, had her limits.
Kai snorted a wry chuckle at her very forward and direct threats and nodded. What else could he do when faced with another irate woman thinking he was the devil? Arguing with these women was pointless. They always held the power to stop him from seeing Yuelin over his head.
“I won’t stop you if that’s what Meilei has decided.” Kai knew arguing was useless, and he had his weekend visit in a few days where he didn’t have anyone chasing him away from time with his daughter. He was choosing his battles wisely.
“Qian, what are you doing here?” He hadn’t called him yet because it was so early, and he hadn’t intended to do it until he knew what was happening.
Qian lifted his arms, showing off the brown paper breakfast bag and the carrier of coffees he knew Kai would probably need but wouldn’t leave the ward to get. Besides, little Yuelin was a family member he hadn’t met yet, and he wanted to see if she was the spitting image of his favorite relative.
Suying frowned at Kai and moved sideways, pushing the door.
“I’ll leave you to your guest. Don’t stay on our account.” She still had her back to the intruder. Probably another rich Xuchen, given his instant access to this floor and familiar voice that seemed like his cousin, and shook her head at these people. They came from an entirely different world.
Qian was a name she remembered well, given what Ling had said about him, and she had no desire to meet another idiot from that bloodline. To her, they could all choke after what they pulled last night.
Qian watched the doctor from a few feet away, only catching her mumbles and no real conversation. He was eyeing her figure and light hair. Unsure if he imagined it, but she seemed familiar from behind. Kai had called her Suying, and he had never met Yuelin’s godmother despite the background check he did on them. He had never seen her picture, so he let it go without a second thought.
Suying turned in irritation, ready to tell this idiot to give it to her himself on Saturday, and stopped dead in her tracks when their eyes met.
It was a moment of instant crackle.
The blood drained from Suying’s face, and her body ran cold as a prickle of disbelief shuddered through her. It was as though everything stood still, and only the lurch of her heart thudding made a sound.
“What are you doing here?” She faltered, all anger dissipating into a horrible, gut-wrenching pain as she tried to put two and two together and looked from Kai to Qian, seeing the similarity she hadn’t noticed before. When in the same place. She felt like an utter moron, only to notice now they bore a striking family resemblance. She hadn’t even seen it at all.
Suying?
He definitely called her Suying, and he knew that name from his background check on Meilei. It wasn’t a common name, and he was sure two doctors would not be having a heated debate with Kai with that name.
“You said your name was Dee?” Suying’s voice was sharp as she yelped it with obvious angry accusation. Her heart was racing, her palms instantly clammy as everything crashed down on her, and she didn’t know what to do.
Kai seemed confused as he felt it, and then he frowned at him. Questioning with his eyes that he wanted to know what was going on.
This was not good. Qian didn’t know how to react upon realizing Jules was Suying Jiang, and he felt stupid for not connecting the dots sooner. He had been so caught up in his attraction to her he hadn’t even considered there could be an overlap this way. It was not like him to be so off his game, and he wanted to smack himself over the head.
Qian was torn. Faced with her this way and connecting her to the girl who hurt his cousin, he knew this would never work between them. This complicated mess and her direct relationship with Meilei changed everything.
Qian was loyal to a fault, and even though he had genuine feelings for her, he closed down his heart and clenched his teeth to curb any outward reaction. Flooded with conflicted pain and regret, knowing this was over the second he knew who she was. He would never have started it had he known from the first moment.
She tried to push Ling’s voice out of her head, yet it was strangling her in a choke hold, and she pressed a palm to her aching chest. She felt like she was having a heart attack. It hurt so much.
Her eyes misted over, and her lip trembled, yet she couldn’t tear her gaze from him. Wide-eyed like a child who had been struck.