Chapter 19
“Jonah!” Cecelia grabbed Jonah’s arm. “Are you really going to take out your anger over Pearl on me and the baby?”
Tears spilled from her eyes.
But for the first time, Jonah didn’t cave at the sight of her tears. He firmly pulled his wrist out of her grasp and said with a dark face, “No. But if you continue to cross our boundaries like this, then maybe I will.
“I’ll pay for the meal. If it’s too inconvenient for you to attend the prenatal checkup alone, I can help you find a reliable medical companion in Northriver.
11
With that, Jonah turned and walked away without looking back.
In the past, he could not understand his feelings, which eventually led to his irreversible mistake. He didn’t want to make the same mistake again. Four years ago, when he got drunk at Cecelia’s wedding, maybe he still liked her at the time.
When Cecelia got divorced and came back to Ethria, he instinctively thought he hadn’t moved on. He bent over backward for her, thinking he could somehow make up for their past. But in the end, that was all a pipe dream.
His feelings for Cecelia had probably faded into nothingness long ago on some quiet night when he and Pearl had kissed and clung to each other. Thankfully, Pearl’s departure had forced him to see just how absurd he had been. At least he wouldn’t end up hurting another woman again. “Pearl, I’m trying to stop being someone who only loves himself. I’m trying to change. Will you ever come back to me?” he muttered. Looking at the clouds on the horizon, Jonah felt a piercing loneliness in his heart.
The online buzz eventually reached Nyora, too. The medical team decided to ride the wave of popularity and use it to attract more sponsorships. Pearl saw nothing wrong with that, so she registered an account. During her time off, she would host medical education live streams with her
teammates.
Because the team had a great spirit and each member had their own charm, their live stream sessions were packed with viewers several nights in a row. One user, with the ID “PearlComforts TheLonely“, even spent 300,000 dollars over three days sending them gifts during the stream.
Seeing that username, Pearl couldn’t help but think of someone. But when she clicked into the profile, the account was listed as female, and the IP address wasn’t even in Northriver.
Only then did she finally feel relieved.
She laughed at herself for being so self–indulgent–for overthinking. Jonah had probably long since returned to his normal life with Cecelia.
After living in Nyora for a few months, Pearl’s formerly cautious personality had changed significantly. Now, whenever she thought of Jonah, it felt like it was a lifetime ago, a distant memory that would soon be forgotten.
As she had the biggest following among her team, Lionel always liked to have Pearl open the live streams.
That day, as soon as she went live, the usually cheerful chat window was suddenly flooded with vomiting emojis.
“Homewrecker! Get out of the stream!”
“You’re not fit to be a doctor!”
“Get lost, seductress!”
Pearl looked at the flood of insults on the screen and was momentarily stunned. She forced an awkward smile and asked, “Are you guys sure you’re in the right stream?”
But the moment she spoke, the hateful comments intensified.
“You slut! Don’t try to claini ignorance!”
“You’re disgusting! How can you ruin other people’s relationships?”
“You call yourself an angel in scrubs? Bet you were hooking up with rich men back in college!”
“What a hypocrite! You couldn’t snag a rich guy, so now you’re in Nyora pretending to be a do–gooder and lying to the Internet!”
Before Pearl could even figure out what happened, Sean came over and ended the live stream.
