CEO Ex-Husband, Don't Bother Me

Chapter 217 - 171: Almost Kissed (Part 2)

She felt dejected but didn’t dare to wander any further. The estate was so large she was afraid of getting lost, so she simply retraced her steps. She missed her two children terribly but was afraid to call Julian Donovan’s house, worried that he might be the one to answer.

After dinner, she noticed a pained expression on Sean Donovan’s face and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Sean Donovan sounded weak. "My leg hurts..."

The weather had been gloomy and cold for days, and the bone-deep ache gnawed at him constantly. Whenever the pain became unbearable, he would be consumed by hatred for the people who had caused him this suffering.

She walked over, knelt before him, and lifted the blanket covering his legs. "Let me massage it for you."

She had studied Thai massage with Mrs. Sommers for several years. She had massaged Sean Donovan once before when they were together, but that was when his pain had been particularly severe.

Sean Donovan pressed down on her hand, refusing. "No, Anna. I can still bear it!"

"But you’re in so much pain..."

She could see sweat beading on his forehead from the pain. Yet Sean Donovan just held her hand tighter, his voice full of anguish. "I don’t want this tenderness from you. Because if you’re not by my side one day, the pain will only be worse!"

He would rather die from this pain than suffer the agony of losing her again. The greatest pain wasn’t in never having something, but in having it and then losing it.

She tried to persuade him. "Sean, please don’t be so stubborn. Look at you, you’re drenched in sweat from the pain!"

She didn’t understand his paranoid way of thinking. All she knew was that she was a healthcare provider, and she couldn’t bear to see a patient suffer so much in front of her. So, she pushed his hand away and began to massage his leg.

Sean Donovan grabbed her hand again, pleading through the pain, "Anna, don’t leave me! I’m begging you, please don’t ever leave me again, okay?"

"Sean, a lifetime is so long. No one can make a promise to another with any certainty..."

She pulled Sean Donovan’s hand away and continued to massage his leg, her head lowered as she replied.

She was afraid of promises. She had promised to build a good life with Julian Donovan, but now she’d had to leave him. She had promised to give her two children a warm home, but in the end, she had failed to do any of it.

Making a promise only to break it hurts everyone involved.

The pain was so intense that Sean Donovan had no strength left to argue. He just slumped back against the chair, closing his eyes to endure it. Eventually, lulled by her massage, he drifted off to sleep. Just then, his bodyguard came looking for him with a matter to discuss, so she had the bodyguard help him back to his bedroom.

That night, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Her heart was filled with so much bitterness that she was in no mood to rest. In the middle of the night, just as she had finally managed to drift off, her phone rang, jolting her awake.

She grabbed her phone and saw that the call was from Julian Donovan’s number. She hung up instinctively, unable to face him. But the moment she did, it rang again. Afraid of waking Sean Donovan in the next room, she steeled herself and answered. A panicked, anxious voice came from the other end—it was Dylan. "Mom, Dad has a fever! He’s burning up! What do we do?"

In the background, she could hear Joy calling for her dad, her voice choked with tears. A sharp pain pierced Naomi’s heart. "A fever? How could he have a fever? What happened?"

In her memory, he had always been indestructible. He never got sick; the most she ever had to care for him was when he was injured.

"I don’t know either! When Dad came back, he was covered in snowflakes. He must have been standing out in the snow. He went into his bedroom and didn’t come out. When I went to check on him, he was already burning up like this!"

Dylan’s voice was on the verge of tears. He was just a little boy, after all. "Mom, please come quick! Dad is so hot, is he going to die? WAHH..."

Her heart felt like it was being sliced in two. "Where’s the butler? Have the butler take him to the hospital. It’s not convenient for me to come over right now."

Dylan started sobbing. "We’re at the small apartment. There’s no butler, it’s just me and my sister Joy!"

All she could do was try to comfort him. "Dylan, don’t cry. I’m so sorry, Mom really can’t come over right now. I’ll call Uncle Felix right away and have him take Dad to the hospital, okay?"

She had finally managed to break away from Julian Donovan and come to Sean Donovan’s side. She couldn’t let all that effort go to waste. Besides, even if she wanted to rush over now, she would have to get Sean to arrange a driver for her.

Thankfully, Dylan was a sensible child. He just said, "Mom, you have to call him right now," and hung up. She immediately called Felix Draper. He had been sound asleep, and after hearing what she said, he roared furiously into the phone, "Naomi Shaw, if you wanted revenge for how he hurt you in the past, then let me tell you: you’ve succeeded! Wildly succeeded! You’ve just about destroyed him!"

Felix Draper hung up in a huff. She sat on the bed, phone in hand, all traces of sleep gone. As she worried about Julian’s condition, Felix’s words echoed in her ears again and again. ’I destroyed him... I destroyed him... Julian Donovan, if I could turn back time, I wish I’d never met you. Then you couldn’t have hurt me, and I... wouldn’t have hurt you.’

The angst will be over soon, hehe.

In the end, Felix Draper took Julian Donovan to his own hospital. Julian was already delirious from the fever. Felix was so angry at his friend’s reckless behavior that his stomach hurt. Julian was a doctor himself; he knew his own physical condition better than anyone. And yet he’d let himself get into this state. ’Isn’t he just courting death?’

’Acting like it’s life or death over a woman. Was it worth it?’

Felix Draper wasn’t equipped to care for the two children, so he had to take them to Caleb Rhodes’s place and ask Lillian Huxley to help. And so, Caleb’s family was roused from their sleep as well. Joy, who rarely cried, fussed and wailed all night until Lillian Huxley finally managed to soothe her.

The next day, the group went to the hospital to visit Julian Donovan. Before they even reached his room, they heard him roaring loud enough to shake the heavens, "Get me some alcohol!"

A young nurse replied timidly, "Director, your current condition really isn’t suitable for drinking..."

Before the nurse could finish, he cut her off with another roar, accompanied by the sound of a glass smashing on the floor. "Get out and bring me a drink! I’m giving you one last chance. If you don’t, then pack your things and leave!"

"Director..."

The young nurse was terrified. ’I was clearly just concerned for the director’s health. How could I end up getting fired for it?’

Caleb Rhodes and Felix Draper’s group entered and rescued the young nurse. The two of them forced the frantic Julian Donovan back onto the hospital bed. He had been on an IV drip all night and his fever had broken, but he still looked haggard and pale. He glared furiously at Caleb and Felix, as if protesting their interference with his demand for a drink.