CHAPTER 109: CHAPTER 109: THE HOLDEN FAMILY CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE FACE

"Yes, just brought in, unconscious, blood oxygen saturation is dropping."

The older doctor’s tone was urgent.

"It’s only been a few weeks since the heart transplant, the situation is very critical, we must prepare for the second surgery immediately, notify cardiothoracic and anesthesiology to get in position right away, hurry."

"Understood, I’ll arrange the operating room right away!"

Their conversation swept past like a gust of wind, their figures rapidly disappearing around the corridor’s corner, heading towards the emergency room.

But those urgent footsteps and those key words drilled into Justin Holden’s ears.

Four years old, little girl.

Heart surgery, unconscious.

Justin stood up straight, his back, originally leaning against the wall, instantly tensed.

The fingers holding his phone unconsciously tightened, his knuckles turning slightly white.

Almost instinctively, the face of Jesse appeared in front of him, tender and pale, unconscious, occupying all his thoughts.

Although rationally, he knew clearly that the child the doctor mentioned couldn’t possibly be Jesse.

Jesse’s heart was very healthy, something he had confirmed long ago.

However, a four-year-old girl who had just had heart surgery a few weeks ago, these pieces of information highly coincided with Jesse’s situation.

His eyebrows knitted tightly, forming a deep furrow, an extremely rare uncomfortable expression appearing on his cold face.

His heart felt like something had suddenly grabbed it, a sensation of constriction coming over him.

He immediately took out his phone, unlocked the screen, his fingertips hovering over Jean Ellison’s number.

With his eyebrows furrowed tight, Justin hesitated no more, found Jean Ellison’s number, and dialed.

The receiver echoed with a long and monotonous "beep beep" sound, each tone striking his heart, but still, no one answered.

Until it automatically hung up, the cold system’s reminder sounded.

No one answered.

He didn’t delay any longer, suddenly turned around, striding quickly in the direction where the two doctors had disappeared.

He briskly headed towards the direction of the pediatric cardiac surgery room, even forgetting Leah, who was still dealing with allergies in the consultation room.

He had just walked a little way when Leah happened to come out of the consultation room.

The rash on her face had faded somewhat but was still visible, holding the antihistamines prescribed by the doctor.

Upon coming out, she didn’t see Justin’s figure in the corridor.

She was perplexed, raising her eyes just in time to see Justin’s tall and straight back flicker at the corridor’s end, turning to the other side, his steps swift and urgent, a hurry she had never seen before.

Where was he going, wasn’t he waiting for her?

Leah subconsciously felt something was wrong, and despite her body’s slight discomfort, she quickly followed after him.

The sound of her high heels echoed crisply in the empty corridor, but the man’s steps ahead were even faster, showing no intention of waiting for her.

As she followed around the corner, she abruptly stopped in her tracks at the scene before her, her pupils shrinking instantly.

Not far away in the waiting area of the operating room, on the cold blue plastic chair, Jean Ellison was curled up there alone, her shoulders trembling violently, crying so hard she was almost collapsing.

And Justin, was standing right in front of her, bending down, his arms tightly holding her.

Jean’s face was buried in Justin’s chest, her hands clutching desperately at the front of his suit, her suppressed sobs coming intermittently.

Justin, with his back to Leah, she couldn’t see the expression on his face, only his broad back slightly hunched, and the arm holding Jean was very tight.

The other hand gently patting Jean’s back, a silent yet powerful comfort.

The atmosphere around them was heavy and tense, as if isolated from the world.

They had only eyes for each other, completely unaware that someone else was standing not far away.

Leah felt like she was nailed to the ground, her blood seeming to freeze instantly.

She could hardly believe her eyes.

Justin, who was cold and distant to everyone, not sparing even an extra word, was actually holding a woman like this.

So tense, so full of protectiveness.

Was it because something happened to that child, Jesse?

This notion emerged instinctively, making Leah’s heart also tighten.

But that faint sympathy was soon overwhelmed by the jealousy and embarrassment brought about by the glaring scene before her.

She suddenly realized how she seemed like a ridiculous outsider, foolishly following over, only to witness such a scene.

What did that child have to do with her, why should she be here worrying for someone else?

What right did Justin have to leave her alone in the allergy consultation room and run here to hold another woman?

A surge of icy anger and intense humiliation welled up in her heart.

Looking at the two tightly entwined figures, her gaze gradually turned cold.

She silently retreated a step, hiding in the corridor’s shadow, quickly took out her phone, adjusted the focus on the two, and snapped several photos in succession.

The camera clearly captured the scene of Justin holding Jean, Jean’s weeping profile, and Justin’s back that, though his expression was unseen, clearly conveyed concern and tension.

She lowered her head, quickly scanning through the photos, selecting the clearest one, and sent it directly to Zoe Holden.

Almost immediately after the successful send, Zoe Holden’s call came through, her tone uncertain.

"Leah, what’s the matter with this photo? Justin Holden... why is he with another woman? Weren’t you two at the hospital?"

Leah Sutton held her phone, her voice calm, her tone detached.

"You saw the photo."

She paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "I’m not someone shameless or who clings desperately. Since Justin Holden has someone else in his heart and didn’t hesitate to leave me, an allergic patient, on the side, then I don’t need to be an eyesore anymore."

"In the future, there’s no need to bother matching me with your brother. Thank your parents for me for the hospitality tonight."

After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone without waiting for Zoe to respond.

She took one last look at the two people tightly embracing in the distance, a self-mocking smile tugging at her lips, then turned decisively and walked away quickly in the opposite direction she had come from.

The sound of her high heels tapping on the ground faded further down the empty hallway, carrying a sense of finality.

In the Holden family villa, Mrs. Holden was sitting anxiously on the living room sofa, glancing at the clock on the wall from time to time.

Mr. Holden, although still reading the newspaper, was clearly somewhat distracted.

"It’s been almost an hour, why haven’t we heard anything?" Mrs. Holden couldn’t help but voice her worry. "It’s just a seafood allergy, isn’t it? After getting an injection and taking medicine, it should have eased a lot. Justin hasn’t called to reassure us either, it’s really nerve-wracking."

Zoe Holden had just finished a call, and her face looked somewhat unpleasant.

Mrs. Holden immediately noticed her daughter’s odd demeanor and looked over nervously, "What’s wrong, Zoe? Is something serious happening with Leah?"

She instinctively assumed the worst-case scenario, her face turning pale.

Zoe snapped back to reality at her mother’s words, shaking her head with incredulous anger.

"No, Mom, it’s not Leah, it’s Justin, it’s Justin Holden, he..."

She was so angry she was almost incoherent, thrusting the phone screen directly in front of her mother.

"Look at this, look at what he’s done. He left Leah alone at the hospital and went off to embrace another woman, holding her so tightly. Leah was furious and sent me the photo, saying we don’t need to match them anymore!"

Mrs. Holden was momentarily stunned by the barrage of words and the highly informative photo.

She instinctively took the phone, put on her reading glasses, and looked carefully at the screen.

The angle of the photo was somewhat tricky, as if it had been secretly taken from a distance, but the image was very clear.

The background was evidently a hospital corridor.

Her son, Justin Holden, was slightly bending over, holding a woman tightly in his embrace. The woman was almost entirely buried in his chest, making her full face unclear, only her side profile and loose hair were visible, clearly sobbing, with her shoulders trembling.

One of Justin’s arms wrapped around her back, while the other was indeed patting her back, a posture far beyond a normal relationship, very intimate.

Mrs. Holden’s brow furrowed tightly, her expression turning quite unpleasant.

She was shocked by her son’s unprecedented intimate behavior with another person.

Her gaze was fixed firmly on the woman in her son’s embrace.

Although the photo mainly captured the side profiles of Justin and the woman, the more Mrs. Holden looked, the more familiar she found the woman.

That outfit, that hairstyle, and that vaguely visible side profile...

The memory from the mall’s home goods store that afternoon instantly returned.

"Isn’t this...?"

Mrs. Holden suddenly raised her head, looking at Zoe, her voice filled with astonishment and doubt.

"Isn’t this the reporter we met at the mall today, Jesse’s mother?"

"Reporter Ellison? Jesse’s mother?"

Zoe froze, swiftly grabbed the phone back, and took a closer look.

She was too preoccupied with anger and watching her brother earlier to pay much attention to who the woman was.

With her mother’s reminder, looking again at that figure and vague side face, it did seem like this person.

When she went to the company to see Leah, she brushed past this woman, Reporter Ellison, who was so beautiful it left a lasting impression with just one glance.

"How could it be her?"

Zoe was completely confused, her face full of bewilderment and disbelief.

"How could Justin be embracing her so intimately?"

She really couldn’t associate her cold and distant brother with this behavior of tightly embracing someone, the person reportedly being an unfamiliar female reporter?

Mrs. Holden’s expression also turned grave as she recalled the events of the afternoon.

Jean Ellison’s aloof beauty, Jesse’s resemblance to Justin at a young age, Justin’s overly calm reaction at the time, and even that final ambiguous statement, "Jesse could be my daughter."

At the time, it seemed like a joke or a coincidence, but now it seemed full of oddities.

"Could they... really be in a relationship?"

Mrs. Holden hesitated, guessing, but then quickly denied herself.

"No, if they were really in a relationship, why would Justin hide it from us? Moreover, when asked this afternoon, he even said that child has nothing to do with him."

"No connection?" Zoe seized this keyword, astutely questioning, "Maybe it’s exactly because there’s no connection that Justin didn’t want to tell us. He’s afraid you wouldn’t accept this woman, a single mother with a child, probably divorced."

Mrs. Holden was shocked, her heart skipping a beat.

A divorced woman, that indeed wouldn’t do.

How could she let her son marry such a woman as a wife? No matter how beautiful, how virtuous, it wouldn’t change the fact she has a child and a past husband.

If people found out, they would be ridiculed.

The Holden family couldn’t afford such disgrace.