Hayden was lost in thought for a long moment. He had to admit that Gloria made sense.
Too much had happened between him and Nicole recently. Ever since she became ill, her attitude toward
him had grown worse. She snapped at him over the tiniest things, constantly lost her temper, and didn’t
even care about Matthew anymore.
He didn’t understand why she was acting this way. He wondered if it was because of Jeremiah or if there was something else he didn’t know about.
Regardless, Gloria’s words had gotten through to him.
Hayden figured that since trying to smooth things over didn’t work, giving Nicole some space for a few
days and talking everything out on their wedding anniversary wasn’t such a bad idea.
With that in mind, he nodded slightly and said thoughtfully, “Fine. I understand what you mean. I’ll think
about how to handle this.”
Gloria’s lips curved into a faint smile inside the ward as she turned back toward him.
“Then, I hope you and Nicole can work things out and clear the air soon,” she remarked with a kind,
understanding grin.
Once Hayden left, her composure crumbled entirely. She pressed a hand to her pounding chest.
Fortunately, she had a backup plan in place.
Not only had she used a fake photo to provoke Nicole, but she had even gone the extra mile to photoshop
in that mole.
Although the man in the picture wasn’t Hayden, his hand was so plain that it was impossible to be sure.
As they headed to Nicole’s ward earlier, she suspected that this had nothing to do with Nicole’s condition. It probably stemmed from the photo she posted, so she switched the pictures at the last
minute.
Since there was no edit history to speak of, the mole was already in the photo when Nicole looked at it
again.
Thus, when Nicole confronted her with the photo, Gloria had a hundred ways to downplay it.
In the end, it would look like Nicole was the unreasonable one for jumping to conclusions without checking the facts. Her actions not only insulted Gloria but also demonstrated her lack of trust in Hayden.
The drama Gloria had been waiting for was about to begin. At the thought of that, her lips curled into a smug smile.
She’d told Hayden to keep his distance from Nicole, and it looked like he took her advice. That meant she could take her time to celebrate her birthday with him, then spring a big surprise on their anniversary.
Chapter 77
2/2
With that thought in mind, her spirits soared, and victory flashed in her eyes.
Gloria was fighting a battle against a dying woman with a terminal illness. Of course, she was destined to
win.
Over the next two days, Nicole’s hospital room remained eerily quiet.
Hayden and Matthew practically disappeared. The only person who showed up to visit was Jeremiah. Aside from him, her room was silent and empty.
But she didn’t care much about where Hayden went or how he planned to resolve the matter. She just focused on taking care of herself.
When Jeremiah came to do a full checkup for her, he was pleased to learn that after two days of proper rest and medication, Nicole had recovered drastically. She was almost back to her pre–collapsed state.
He showed her the comparison data and said, “As long as you keep your emotions stable and stay away from toxic people and messy drama, your body will recover. You’ll soon be able to leave without worry.”
Nicole grinned for the first time in days when she saw the data and felt relief.
“Thank goodness. I can leave after all.”
He smiled back, meeting her gaze. Then, he noticed something on her face and leaned forward to point at the corner of her mouth. “You have something here. Did you forget to wipe after eating?”
Feeling a little embarrassed, she grabbed a tissue and wiped her mouth.
He shook his head. “It’s still there.”
She wiped again, but the stain didn’t come off.
