Chapter 922 With A Hug, There Would Be No Regrets
"What did you say?" Natalie was stunned, blinking in disbelief after a long pause.
Lilian's eyes welled up with tears, but she dared not let them fall. She stared blankly at the attending doctor, afraid that any breath or sound would reveal that she was hallucinating.
"Lucas can be saved!" The doctor repeated patiently. He had seen many cases where hope was restored at the last moment. The reactions of the patients' families were always a mix of disbelief and extreme joy.
Natalie and Lilian's reactions were already quite composed.
"Where did you find the bone marrow?" Natalie asked excitedly. "Doctor, take me to meet the person so we can thank them."
The doctor was taken aback. "The person, Susan, wasn't she the one you had found earlier?"
The attending doctor was usually busy with work and rarely paid attention to online news. However, he had heard about the "feuds and entanglements" between Susan and Natalie. The nurses in his department had recently updated him on the latest news. Susan was the bone marrow match for Natalie’s brilliant younger brother from Paykston University and was also Lucas' biological sister.
"Susan?" Natalie was shocked.
Bone marrow extraction didn't require an operating room. A regular surgical diagnostic room would suffice.
Natalie followed the attending doctor upstairs to the special diagnostic office.
As they approached the diagnostic room, a heart-wrenching scream came from inside.
It was indeed Susan's voice. Natalie remembered it very clearly.
Natalie couldn't help but glance at the attending doctor.
The attending doctor explained, "Miss Watson, there are two methods for bone marrow extraction. One involves using a mobilizing agent, less painful. The other is iliac bone puncture, more painful. The person who brought Susan in said she couldn't tolerate the mobilizing agent and provided the necessary documentation, so we opted for the latter one."
Natalie nodded, knocked on the diagnostic room door, and entered after hearing a response.
The bone marrow extraction was quick, taking only a few minutes.
Susan lay on a stretcher bed, facing away from the door. Her frail body convulsed in pain and she still gasped, not yet recovering from the unmedicated iliac bone puncture.
Natalie suddenly felt a burning gaze. She glanced to the side and saw the tall and imposing Roger leaning against the wall, holding an unlit cigar between his fingers. His lazy yet arrogant demeanor was accentuated by his striking green eyes, as beautiful as the finest emeralds.
"Roger." Natalie looked at the man before her in disbelief.
The doctor said Roger was the one who brought Susan in and she was in the best condition for bone marrow extraction when she arrived.
In other words, Susan's physical condition must have been carefully monitored by professionals, preparing her for the bone marrow donation.
When Susan arrived, she was carried in by two burly men, looking somewhat dazed. It wasn't until the bone marrow puncture needle appeared that she snapped out of it and began to struggle, only to be held down by the two men to complete the bone marrow extraction process.
The doctor recalled the rumor about Susan being kidnapped. Considering Susan's character and her relationship with Lucas, he decided to pretend he didn't know the complexities of the situation.
Roger, with a cigar between his fingers, raised an eyebrow and smirked, exuding a roguish charm.
Natalie found Roger's reaction and demeanor somewhat strange. Roger said, "I am Eugene."
He wasn't Roger and he was the second personality.
Natalie changed her expression. Realizing that Eugene had brought Susan, she quickly steadied herself and said, "Mr. Watson, thank you!"
Eugene seemed amused by Natalie's greeting.
"Why are you laughing?" Natalie asked, puzzled.
"You call Roger Wild 'Roger' but call me 'Mr. Watson'."
"You're not the same person." Although Roger and Eugene were essentially the same person, they had completely independent thoughts, so Natalie treated them as two separate individuals.
From her interactions with Roger and Eugene, Natalie also felt they were entirely different.
One was gentle, the other strong and indifferent.
"Natalie! You bitch! You heartless slut! I hate you!" Susan, enduring the pain, turned around.
Susan's forehead was covered in sweat and her hair was messily stuck to her face, looking completely different from her former self.
Natalie looked at Susan calmly, unfazed by her insults.
To Natalie, Susan was now just a bone marrow donor.
Natalie's calmness seemed like provocation and arrogance to Susan, further enraging her.
Susan struggled to get up, but the numbness and pain from her iliac bone forced her to lie down awkwardly, pounding the bed and cursing. "Natalie, you're violating my personal safety! Just wait, I won't let you get away with this! None of you will!"
"Shut her up," Eugene said impatiently, glancing at his subordinate.
The burly man decisively grabbed two rolls of bandages and stuffed them into Susan's mouth. The entire action took less than two seconds, executed smoothly and expertly, without a change in his expression.
Although Susan continued to struggle, she was pinned down by the two men like a fish on a chopping board, ready to be butchered.
The attending doctor thought, ‘I see nothing and know nothing.’
"Come with me," Eugene said, walking out of the diagnostic room without waiting for Natalie's response.
Natalie followed Eugene to a balcony.
This was a ventilation area. Eugene lit his cigar, the flame flickering between his fingers. Smoke rings emerged from his lips, dispersing and enveloping his face.
Natalie instinctively frowned. Roger never smoked in front of her.
Out of courtesy, Natalie's frown was subtle, but Eugene noticed it.
A fleeting look of understanding passed through Eugene's green eyes.
"Mr. Watson, I am truly grateful for what you've done! Bringing Susan here saved my brother, but..." Natalie hesitated, struggling for a few seconds before continuing. "Was it you who took Susan initially, or did you bring her back from someone else?"
"I was the one who kidnapped her," Eugene said bluntly.
"Aren't you afraid of her retaliation later? You should know that many people have attacked Oliver before. Without concrete evidence, nothing came of it. Now that Susan has appeared, she could act as a witness." Natalie was smart to tell that Susan was likely not a willing donor.
However, when Natalie entered, the bone marrow extraction was already complete, so there was no need to discuss personal rights.
Natalie wasn't entirely altruistic.
For instance, even though she knew Susan was likely forced to donate her bone marrow to save Lucas, Natalie would still choose to play dumb, pretending not to see Susan's reluctance.
"Are you worried about me?" Eugene looked at Natalie with interest, his eyes gleaming.
Natalie frowned, disliking Eugene's unabashed gaze. "Yes, I am worried about you because you did this for Lucas. I am very grateful to you. But Eugene, I am Oliver’s wife. He is the one I love. Forget me."
"You don't like me, but what about Roger?" Eugene deepened his gaze as he looked at Natalie.
"Roger and I are not romantically involved."
Something flickered quickly in Eugene's eyes. "Natalie, he loves you. We both know it. Don't deceive yourself."
Natalie didn't want to discuss this topic. Considering Eugene was now her benefactor and his words weren't overly offensive, she took a shallow breath.
"No matter what Roger feels for me, the person I love is Oliver. As for him, all I can say is I'm sorry." Natalie looked at Eugene. "Eugene, the same goes for you. I thank you, but my heart belongs to Oliver. Do you understand?"
The weather was nice today, with warm sunshine and temperatures a few degrees higher than the previous days. However, the wind still made it a bit chilly.
Natalie, who was sensitive to the cold, instinctively hunched her shoulders and neck.
Eugene took off his coat and was about to drape it over Natalie, but she subtly stepped back. Looking at Eugene with a mix of apology and wariness, she was full of refusal in her eyes.
Eugene let out a self-deprecating laugh.
As expected, there was still no chance.
"In return for Susan's bone marrow, I have a request," Eugene said, noticing the deepening wariness in Natalie's expression, which sank his heart even further. It seemed that a small figure inside him, stubbornly holding up a boulder, suddenly collapsed.
Eugene lingered his gaze on Natalie Watson's eyes and then her rosy lips for two seconds before he looked away.
"A hug. Just give me a hug."
Natalie frowned, looking at Eugene in shock, her body unmoving.
"Is Oliver so strict that you can't even hug a male friend?" Eugene mocked. "Natalie, you are yourself first, and Oliver’s wife second."
"Why would you make such a request?" Natalie asked.
"None of your business," Eugene said defiantly, raising his chin.
Eugene asked, "Do you not consider me a friend? Does hugging me mean you're cheating?"
Not really, and it wouldn't go that far.
Although Natalie's thinking was somewhat traditional, she wasn't rigid. Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen modeling as a career or fallen in love with this field.
Natalie just felt that Eugene was acting very strange today.
Just when Eugene thought Natalie would refuse, she suddenly stepped forward, slowly opened her arms, and hugged him.
It wasn't an intimate hug but a typical friendly embrace.
Eugene contracted his pupils sharply.
Even though Natalie's hug wasn't tight, Eugene could still feel the softness of her body and her natural fragrance. The girl he remembered had indeed grown up.
She had become more beautiful, more outstanding and stronger.
She had said "I'm sorry" to Eugene countless times but never said "I like you."
Natalie would only say, “The person I love is Oliver.”
Why did he make this request?
With a hug, maybe there would be no regrets.
"Eugene, thank you. I won't let you bear the consequences of Susan's actions alone." As Natalie finished speaking and just released Eugene, she suddenly sensed something.
Natalie turned her head and saw Oliver standing not far away, his coat billowing in the wind. Oliver's face was hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to discern his expression.
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