Anthea Lawrence rarely returned home, but in the rare event that she did—which was at that moment—she could hear the voice of her foster mother, Lilith Arnold, gushing out from inside the house,
"All the girls these days are so full of themselves. Samuel, you're a good boy, it's their loss!"
"Get out, who would want us with what we have?" Samuel complained loudly. "We have neither a house nor a car, and no girls would want me even if I take their last name."
"Samuel, we're... " Lilith was cut off as if suddenly coming to a realisation. "Your sister! I saw her passbook a few days ago. There's three hundred thousand in it. We can take the money and use it to buy you a house!"
"Exactly! She's going to get married sooner or later. What's the point of leaving so much money for herself? Anyhow, she's just an adopted daughter, she owes us this much!”
Inside the house, the voices of her foster family scheming against her were loud and clear, and Anthea felt her head buzzing.
She was indeed an adopted daughter, but over the years all her tuition and living expenses had been covered by her own scholarships and part-time jobs.
Not to mention asking for money from her family, she was even taken advantage of by them.
She wasn’t too indulgent to her brother, but what they said that day was truly disappointing.
Gritting her fists, Anthea turned and left.
Just after she went downstairs, she received a message from a colleague, Ada James reminding her to go to the hospital for her follow-up breast lump examination.
Anthea typed, "I know, I'm on the way."
Ada replied, "By the way, the guy I introduced to you last time just happens to be a breast specialist. Make an appointment with him. Get treated and have a date at the same time."
Anthea smiled slightly as she replied, "Alright."
Ada said, "Have a good time. I promise that my pal is absolutely not a jerk like Eddy Allen. Trust me!"
Seeing this name again, Anthea bit her lower lip.
She didn't respond, immediately exited the chat interface, and subsequently got offline.
It was her turn shortly after arriving at the hospital.
But it was her first time being examined by a male breast oncologist, which made her feel somewhat uneasy.
She closed the door behind her. The doctor sitting across from her took the previous medical examination report from her hands, took a glance, and then looked up at her.
"How long has this been going on?" He had a pair of beautiful, deep eyes hidden behind transparent gold-rimmed glasses.
His voice was deep and somewhat distant, making him seem quite indifferent.
However, even though he was wearing a mask, Anthea could still tell that he was good-looking.
"Half a year or so." She came back to her senses, her gaze landing on the doctor's name tag.
Ennis Hawk.
"Undress," Ennis said, pushing his chair back to walk toward a partitioned area. Seeing how Anthea remained still, he said half-professionally and half-stoically, "I’m a doctor, this is just a routine examination."
Her face turned red in embarrassment as she quickly lowered her head and walked in. When she started undoing her shirt buttons, she could feel her hands trembling.
Ennis stood by, his cold eyes watching her delicate white neck.
Anthea's cheeks flushed. She hurried up by unbuttoning her shirt and revealed what was underneath…
His touch was neither light nor heavy, a very routine examination.
His fingers were far warmer than him as a person.
After the examination, Anthea had an unhealthily flushed complexion.
She quickly dressed and moved to the desk.
"First, go and pay, then get a mammogram. That done, come back to me with the report," Ennis simply instructed. Seeing her still standing there, he couldn’t resist furrowing his brow. "Anything you don't understand?"
"It might take up some of your time... I'm Ada's colleague; my name is Anthea Lawrence. Here's my resume." She swiftly took out her resume from her bag and placed it on Ennis's desk.
Ennis raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat confused.
However, he showed no reaction.
"There are still patients after you, you may go out now," he said.
"Oh, sorry!" Upon being reminded, Anthea could no longer hold her embarrassment. She grabbed her registration form and dashed out of the consultation room.
Ennis glanced at the resume on the table and nonchalantly flipped to the first page.
Her ID photo was exquisite. She'd graduated from Harrow University and was currently working as a language teacher at Harrow Middle School.
She seemed satisfactory...
Half an hour later, Anthea entered with her sonogram report.
Ennis took a detailed look.
"It’s a common mammary lump. Nothing medication and regular follow-ups couldn't solve. Make sure to balance work and rest in the daily routine, and keep your anger in check." He finished, handing the report back to Anthea.
Anthea noticed his rather cold attitude and roughly understood that he was not too pleased with her.
However, that didn't matter. She couldn't force these kinds of things.
"Thank you, Dr. Hawk." Anthea curved the corners of her mouth and prepared to retrieve her resume and leave.
At this moment, Ennis took off his mask, revealing a face that launched a thousand ships. "I believe your coworker has told you about my situation."
Anthea looked at him steadily. "She mentioned a few things."
Ada had only said that he was her childhood best friend, who, aside from her, had never interacted with other women. He was honest, a man of few words.
But she had neglected to mention that he was this handsome.
Ennis glanced at his watch. "There's one hour left before the clerk's office closes, we should have enough time."
Anthea couldn't get it for a moment.
It was not until she saw Ennis taking off his lab coat that she came back to her senses. "Are you proposing we register for marriage?"
"Isn't marriage the demand on your blind date resume?" Ennis showed a rare-but-faint smile.
He had taken the opportunity to read her resume while waiting for his patients. The last column simply described her family background.
She was adopted, independent, and essentially without a family to rely on.
This point was quite in line with his marriage standards.
"That's true, but..." Just as the words reached her lips, Anthea remembered what her adopted mother had said and couldn't help but think that maybe it was a good opportunity to get married at this time. "Okay then."
A hint of surprise flashed in Ennis's eyes when she consented.
However, at this point, he didn't mind if she wanted to back out.
"You should settle the bill first. Then, we will meet in the parking lot in ten minutes."
