It was four years later when Iris Mercer saw Ethan Mercer again.
Iris got a call from the hospital. The matching results were out. The doctor didn’t say whether it worked or not, only told her to come in and talk face-to-face.
She had been in the middle of something at work, but the second she heard that, she dropped everything, asked her manager for leave, and grabbed a cab.
Traffic held her up for more than ten minutes. By the time she arrived, someone was already in the doctor’s office.
Her hand paused on the doorknob.
She knew someone from the Mercer family would show up. She just never expected it to be him.
The man sat sideways in the chair by the door, loose and relaxed, leaning back with his hands folded in front of him. He clearly heard her come in, but he didn’t turn his head.
The hallway window was open. A gust of wind rolled through, and Iris shivered.
Out of nowhere, she was dragged back to that morning four years ago. He had sat the same way on the hotel sofa, cold all over, his voice even colder. "So your whole family really had the guts to scheme against me."
The doctor was flipping through the report. He looked up at her. "Come in."
Iris took a breath. "Sorry. Traffic was awful."
After she sat down, the doctor handed over the report in his hand and let out a sigh. "This is the bone marrow matching result."
He still didn’t say it outright, but the tone already gave it away.
Iris looked at the final line of the report. She’d prepared herself for the worst, but her heart still clenched hard anyway.
A few seconds later, a long-fingered hand reached over from beside her and took the report away. The man’s voice was cool and flat. "Not suitable?"
The doctor nodded. "The match points aren’t enough. A transplant can’t be done."
It took Iris a while to find her voice. "Is there any other way?"
The doctor looked at her, then shifted his gaze to the man beside her. "There is one more plan. It’s basically the only workable option right now. You two can think about it..."
...
By the time Iris got back to the office, it was right at lunch break. People were heading out one after another, and she was the only one walking against the flow back to her desk.
She was still in a daze.
All that kept looping in her head was what Ethan had said to her through the half-open car window outside the hospital.
"Think it over."
Which meant one thing.
He agreed with the doctor’s suggestion.
Have another child.
Iris rubbed a hand over her face. After hesitating for a few seconds, she turned and pulled open the drawer beside her.
Right on top was a photo.
In the picture, the little boy looked around three years old, but his body didn’t match his age at all. He was tiny and painfully thin, with hollow cheeks and a bare head.
He was sick.
Very sick.
The doctor had said that if they still couldn’t find suitable bone marrow for the transplant, his body wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
Everyone in the Mercer family had already been tested. Even the marrow bank had nothing that matched.
If things weren’t this desperate, they never would have come looking for her.
She was Lucas Mercer’s biological mother.
But she was also the stain Ethan Mercer could never erase from his life.
And now, just to save the first child, he was willing to have a second one with her.
The whole afternoon passed in a fog. By the time evening came and everyone was getting off work, she still hadn’t finished what was in her hands.
Iris forced herself to focus and stayed late. She barely managed to get her own tasks done, packed up, and went downstairs. The second she walked out of the company lobby, she saw a car parked by the curb.
The window was down. Someone was inside.
This time, when he heard movement, he looked over.
Then he said in that same detached tone, "Get in."
It was Ethan Mercer.
Iris walked over. "Mr. Mercer."
They had rolled around in the same bed. They even had a child together.
But if you really got down to it, they were still strangers.
Other than that one absurd night four years ago, they had no connection at all. They weren’t close, didn’t know each other, had barely even spoken.
Ethan said again, "Get in."
Iris hesitated for a brief moment, but in the end, she still got into the car.
Before the door was even fully shut, the car shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Ethan didn’t say where they were going. He just kept pressing harder and harder on the gas.
