CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER 23: MARRIAGE IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE

Only Mary and Anna Thornton knew how severe a fever was for Pop.

They couldn’t even care about their luggage, urgently taking the child into the elevator.

But at this time, it was hard to get a taxi downstairs.

Mary went to contact a driver, and Anna stood by the roadside alone, trying to hail a cab with the child in her arms.

At this moment, Conrad Sterling’s sports car, with one shattered window, stopped in front of her again.

"Get in the car."

"Conrad Sterling, I don’t have time to get entangled with you now. Pop is sick and needs immediate treatment at the hospital. If you have even the slightest bit of conscience, don’t think about sending us away right now."

"Get in the car!" Conrad insisted, "I’ll take you to the hospital."

Seeing that this man didn’t seem to be lying, and Anna was indeed anxious.

She reached out to pull the rear car door, but Conrad stopped her: "Sit in the front!"

The back seat was covered with glass shards from the window that Anna had violently shattered, which hadn’t been cleaned up yet.

Anna had no choice but to sit in the passenger seat with the child. Conrad started driving only after seeing her fasten the seatbelt.

It was near the midday peak period, and even if they could get a taxi, it might get stuck on the road before reaching the hospital.

Anna looked at Pop’s flushed face in her arms, eyes already nearly closed, urgently wanting to urge Conrad.

But when she looked up, she realized that this man had been speeding all the way.

What should have been at least a half-hour drive took him only ten minutes to get them there.

At the hospital—

Pop was taken for examination, while Anna waited anxiously in the corridor.

Someone, seeing she could barely stand, brought over chairs for her and Conrad Sterling.

Because this hospital was under the Sterling Group, the treatment for people the president brought naturally had to be different.

They skipped the usual procedures, and the medical staff personally came over to register her.

"Miss Thornton, your child is currently undergoing an examination, and we need you to fill out some information here."

Anna nodded cooperatively: "Okay."

"Child’s name?"

"Violet Sterling."

It was Conrad’s first time hearing Pop’s full name, and he couldn’t help but take another look at Anna.

But the little woman’s entire heart was consumed with worry for the child, too lazy to respond to him.

"Age?"

"Three years old."

"Any medical history?"

"Yes!"

...

"President Sterling, after a comprehensive examination, we found that this child has aplastic anemia, which means their immune system is much weaker than that of an average child."

"But don’t worry, the situation is now under control. Fortunately, today it was just a mild fever, not an outbreak!"

"According to the child’s mother, prior treatments with immunosuppressive agents were not very effective. To completely cure this condition, a bone marrow transplant is still required."

...

When Conrad walked into the ward, Anna was by the bedside comforting Pop.

The child’s condition had stabilized, and he was already asleep, curled up into a small bundle on the bed, with his tender little hand poked by a needle, a mosquito bite forming a red bump on his left cheek, making anyone who saw it feel heartache.

The little woman who had reddened eyes beside Pop, upon seeing Conrad enter, instantly put on a hard shell: "You know, don’t you."

"You came back to cause all this trouble just to get me to donate bone marrow?" Conrad asked her.

Anna took a warm towel to wipe Pop’s face but didn’t answer the question.

Just then, Conrad’s phone rang.

The call showed it was from the company, and he furrowed his brow slightly.

After turning off the phone, Conrad spoke again: "I can agree to the bone marrow transplant."

Hearing him say this, Anna’s face didn’t show any joy or surprise; she calmly continued to wipe Pop’s face and then his body.

Conrad wasn’t impatient either. His tall figure stood there, waiting for her response.

Conrad took out a cigarette and bit it, intending to smoke, but never lighting the lighter.

He stood at the door, watching the little woman in the ward busily tidying up after the child.

It was strange; four years ago, Anna left Conrad with the impression that she was a spoiled princess, oblivious to the trials of the world and the wickedness of human hearts.

And four years later, this woman reappeared, still exquisite and beautiful, with an added slyness that made one’s teeth itch.

Regardless of the impression, it was hard to imagine she’d be so handy at taking care of a child, and that household chores wouldn’t be an issue for her.

For most men, marrying such a woman, capable both of managing the household and the kitchen, wasn’t a bad deal.

But President Sterling’s notion of most men did not include himself.

After finishing her tasks, Anna finally had the mood to speak to Conrad: "Don’t speak too soon. My matching results weren’t compatible enough, and your bone marrow might not be usable either. I’ve seen cases of failed transplants abroad, and the consequences of rejection reactions can be severe."

"So?" Conrad asked her.

"The doctor gave me the best treatment plan, which is cord blood. Unfortunately, the conditions when I had Pop were too poor, and a psychiatric hospital couldn’t possibly preserve cord blood for me."

"Is this why you want to marry me?"

"President Sterling, this isn’t the first time you’ve gone back on your word! I’ve been deceived before, but I won’t gamble with the child’s life. Whether it’s getting you to donate bone marrow or having a second child, I must have marriage as a prerequisite. But rest assured, we can divorce once Pop’s surgery is successful and he recovers."

"I promised to donate the bone marrow and won’t go back on my word, believe it or not, but marriage is out of the question!"

"So, we’re at an impasse then?"

Luckily, Anna didn’t deeply invest her emotions; she didn’t mention the child’s illness, having never expected Conrad’s attitude to change after learning of it.

Ha, still as cold and unfeeling as ever.

"No problem, then let’s see who wins in this. I will obtain what I want in my own way."

Conrad didn’t know whether to say this woman was too naive or too unaware of her limits.

In the entirety of Aethelgard, no one dared to be so arrogant in front of him.

Let alone force him to do something he didn’t want to, or try to make him marry someone he didn’t wish to.

After leaving the ward, Conrad lit a cigarette. He took a drag, put it out, then lit another, and repeated the process several times, feeling extremely irritable.

With Conrad’s power and looks, he’d always had women surrounding him over the years. Many, relying on the fact that he and Marilyn Ford hadn’t publicly acknowledged their relationship, secretly tried every trick to climb into his bed.

Of course, these kinds of women didn’t catch his eye and were eventually dealt with.

But no woman had ever made him as irritated as Anna, dared to brazenly provoke him, with a clear purpose to seduce. After playing mind games in front of him, she could turn around and bring out the ’great excuse’ of doing it all for the child, making it hard for him to take action against her.

Conrad didn’t know whether to be more upset that she’d had his child without his permission, or that Pop had such an illness, and this woman dared to hide it from him...