C5 Chapter 5

By the time Hannah left the hospital, it was well past eight in the evening.

A light drizzle was falling, and she took the bus straight back to the office.

As soon as she stepped into the lobby, she saw John Carter. Standing tall and straight, one hand rested casually in his trousers pocket while the other held his phone as he spoke to someone from the front desk.

The lobby’s bright ceiling lights illuminated him, casting a sharp contrast that made him appear all the more refined and distant.

Hannah’s heart gave a nervous flutter.

She used to go months without catching a glimpse of him. Why was she bumping into him constantly lately?

He brushed right past her while on the call. Hannah murmured a quiet "Mr. Carter," though she wasn't sure if he even heard her.

Turning around inside the elevator, she watched his silhouette vanish into the dark, misty night.

The rain was coming down harder now. She wondered if he had brought an umbrella.

Her father used to forget his umbrella too. Hannah would always run after him to hand it over, and he would pat her head with a warm smile, saying, Our little Hannah is growing up, learning to look after her old man.

Tears welled up, blurring her vision.

Hannah worked right through the night until four in the morning.

Rather than going back to her rented apartment, she decided to curl up at her desk for a quick nap before the workday officially started.

She had barely closed her eyes when her phone rang.

Seeing Dr. Ford’s name on the screen, she snapped awake and answered immediately.

Over the past two years, whenever Dr. Ford called, it meant either her mother’s condition had worsened or another hospital bill was overdue.

"Hannah, after you left yesterday, your mother developed a fever. Preliminary checks suggest it's caused by phlegm buildup in her lungs..."

"Is it serious?" Hannah bolted up from her chair, her body instantly tense.

"Don't panic just yet. We performed emergency treatment, and she’s temporarily stable. However, with yesterday's procedure plus this month's stay, the balance comes out to roughly sixty thousand dollars. Try to clear it all at once this time. The administration is pushing hard, and it's getting difficult for me to stall for you... Also, Hannah, given your mother's special condition and the fact that both you and your brother work full-time, can you hire a full-time caregiver for her? Regular turning and cleaning will prevent a lot of these secondary infections..."

Hannah stood frozen. Exhausted from pulling an all-nighter, her eyes were already dull, and this news hit her like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky.

Forget sixty thousand dollars, she couldn't even pull together six hundred right now.

She was learning firsthand what it truly felt like to be crushed by the weight of a single penny.

Her monthly intern salary at Carter International was only six thousand five hundred dollars. Between rent and basic living expenses, there was nothing left over, and her next paycheck was still two weeks away.

Even if she passed her CPA exam and eventually earned a high income, that was at least a year down the road.

She knew Dr. Ford had already done everything within his power to help her. Without him speaking up on her behalf, her mother would have been discharged long ago.

Sixty thousand dollars. It was a staggering amount.

She had already borrowed from every relative imaginable, and not a single one was willing to lend them another cent.

As Hannah stood there at her wit's end, John Carter’s proposal from yesterday suddenly flashed through her mind.

Compared to five million dollars, sixty thousand was a drop in the bucket.

Her resolve began to shatter.

She used to believe she could earn five million on her own eventually, but looking back now, that was nothing more than an empty dream.

Her mother needed a proper caregiver. Dr. Ford had brought it up before, but she had never been able to afford one. Now, the severe consequences of lacking proper care were brutally clear. Improper handling had caused the buildup in her lungs; hiring a caregiver was no longer optional.

Hannah knew that given John's status and wealth, finding a woman to marry was effortless. Yesterday he mentioned he had already "looked around." She worried if anything had changed overnight.

Panic seized her. She hurried out of her workspace and went straight to the executive floor, stopping right outside John's office.

It was barely past five in the morning, and the floor was deserted. Hannah stood by the door, like a hunter waiting for her prey to walk right into her trap.

Just as her eyelids grew impossibly heavy, John appeared.