SWNOVELS Chapter 21
Chapter 21 Kiss Marks
The operation lasted nearly eight hours, ending well after ten that evening. Activity in the hospital quickly died down as the
sun set.
Helene stood anxiously at the door of the operating room without food or drink, waiting for it to finally be over. She could barely feel her legs anymore.
Finally, the operating room door opened, and out came Niall. He looked exhausted.
After taking off his mask, he told Helene that her
grandmother was going to be okay. The moment Helene heard that the operation went well, she finally unwound herself. At the same time, she could feel her strength being sapped away from her legs, starting at the soles of her feet. She felt so weak, and her eyes went dark. Swaying a few times, she threatened to fall altogether if it weren’t for Niall’s
support.
“You alright?” he asked nervously, his eyes filled with deep
concern.
“It’s nothing. I’m just… dizzy…” Helene said meekly, wanting to push Niall away. But she didn’t have the energy to do that, so she leaned into him instead.
She was so lightheaded that she didn’t dare to move. Every movement sent a wave of nausea up her throat.
Seeing this, Niall quickly unbuttoned her collar to help her
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relax. It was only the two of them standing in the empty corridor leading to the operating room, Helene leaning in his arms. Niall looked down at her and his gaze softened.
How unfortunate it was that this scene would unfold before Carlisle’s eyes as he stood by the stairwell in the distance. He had heard from his grandfather that Helene’s grandmother would be undergoing surgery today. After a long stretch of hesitation, he eventually decided to come to the hospital to see the two. But instead, this is what he saw instead.
Carlisle clenched his fists so hard that his fingers turned white. He was completely silent the entire time as he turned around to leave. He was furious and wanted nothing more. than to leave, taking fast and long strides down the hall. Just as he rounded a corner, he collided with a woman in a white
coat.
Delilah let out an irritable noise and said, “Hey, watch where you’re-”
Then, her anger vanished when she saw Carlisle’s handsome face. He was very obviously mad, which scared her a bit, but she was entranced nonetheless.
“You’re… Mr. Bamford?” Delilah said in a daze, recognizing him from a picture that Matilda had shown her in the past.
Back then, she thought that he must have had the photo touched up. There was no way someone was naturally more handsome than a celebrity. But now that she was face to face with him, she quickly understood that she had been wrong. He was even better looking in real life.
“I don’t know you,” Carlisle said, already annoyed. Though he had bumped into her, he didn’t appreciate the nagging.
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“Huh? Wait, you’re… Franco Bamford’s grandson, aren’t you?” Delilah said excitedly, stopping Carlisle. “You don’t know me, but I’m sure you know Matilda. I’m her niece, Delilah, and I’m a doctor here. I heard from my aunt that your grandpa’s sick. Anyways, I was just stopping by to handle a few things. What a coincidence you’d be here too!”
Carlisle raised an eyebrow, an indication that Matilda had mentioned Delilah to him once. He vaguely remembered her talking about a niece who worked as a doctor nearby. His otherwise Carlisle’s indifferent reaction didn’t sit well with her, though.
Delilah knew she was attractive, and she was incredibly intelligent and accomplished as well. Any man would have thought she was the whole package.
“I heard from my aunt that you’re looking for a bride,” Delilah said with a smug, judging tone. “Not having a partner when you’re, what, 28? You know, there’s nothing wrong with that, but-”
“Sorry, but I’m married,” Carlisle cut her off indifferently.
“What? That quickly?” Delilah said in shock, feeling a bit embarrassed.
She remembered her aunt sending her a photo of him just last week. She was so focused on Niall that she didn’t have much interest in anyone else, though.
But how? How did this man get married so quickly? And just like that, she reverted to her arrogant, combative self again the moment she heard that he was married.
“Is your wife as good as me?” Delilah asked, thinking he could
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have been lying to get away from her.
The strong perfume she wore made Carlisle feel uncomfortable, and he sneezed loudly.
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“I’m sorry, but I have to, go,” he said while rubbing his nose.
He was allergic to perfume, but that shouldn’t have been a problem in the hospital. And not only that, but he was talking to a doctor of all people. Were they even allowed to wear that? From what he understood, they were supposed to smell like disinfectant.
Seeing the man leave in disgust, Delilah’s face turned red with anger.
Meanwhile, Niall helped Helene into the lounge and poured her a glass of warm water with a bit of sugar mixed in to help with her lightheadedness. Soon after, Helene recovered.
According to him, the hospital assigned nurses to look after her grandmother after the operation, so she would be able to go home to rest for the night. She hadn’t been home for a week, refusing to leave to even take a shower, and she was exhausted. Completely spent, she agreed to let Niall drive her
home.
When she was home, she microwaved some leftovers she found in the fridge and took a shower. By the time she emerged from the bathroom, it was nearly one in the morning.
That was when Carlisle returned.
When he saw Helene, radiating with pure beauty as she came out of the bath, he was left stunned.
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Once he finally recovered, which took much too long, he asked, “How did you make it back home?”
“They said my grandma will have a nurse looking after her tonight, so I don’t have to stay. At least for now. What about
“And how-”
The two stopped as they both had started speaking at the same time.
“You first,” Carlisle said, taking off his tie and throwing it on the sofa as he spoke.
At that moment, as Carlisle’s collar loosened, Helene saw the trace of a red mark on his neckline. It was a deep rouge that must have been lipstick.
Her gaze narrowed without her even realizing it. Perhaps it was because she was married to him, even just in name, that she reacted in this way. In some ways, it made her want to act like one. And just like a wife would, something like this would boil over quickly.
The only difference was that Helene was in no place to demand an explanation from him. She could only keep it to
herself.
“Are you sleeping in the study tonight?” she asked calmly.
Carlisle was undressing, but he paused, thinking that Helene was driving him away.
“I’ll go after I take a shower,” he replied. Then, he continued to undress without giving it much thought, one piece at a time.
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Helene didn’t expect him to do something so daring in front. of her, so she hurriedly turned around, not daring to look. Carlisle was stripped down to only his underwear at this point and started making his way to the bathroom, where Helene was standing.
She still had his back to him, allowing him to sneak up behind her and lean into her ear. “Are you waiting here because you want to come in the shower with me?”
His warm breath sprayed against her ears, tickling her and sending an insatiable itch across her skin. Helene’s heart pounded like a drum and she moved away in a fluster, letting Carlisle walk into the bathroom.
With the sound of rushing water helping to distract her, Helene walked to the sofa and found the shirt Carlisle was wearing earlier in the day. Her eyes scanned over that red mark multiple times as if one time wasn’t enough to determine that it was a lipstick mark.
This shade was one that young women loved. It was possible Carlisle was seeing someone else.
Helene’s hands trembled as she held onto that shirt.
Memories of when she found the used condom in her
apartment bedroom surfaced, but she didn’t feel the same way she did back then. Where there was once anger was now panic and restlessness.
Was this what it meant to be married? To be bound to someone in a way that she had never been with Diego?
Helene’s mind was a mess, and none of her thoughts made much sense. She couldn’t have believed that Carlisle would casually spend time with another woman like this, but how
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else could this lipstick have found its way on his shirt?
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Helene sat by the pile of Carlisle’s clothes and planned to ask him about it when he came back out. The shower was quick, and in just a few minutes, the bathroom door opened. Helene turned around when she heard a knock on the door, spotting Carlisle peeking out from behind. He had a towel wrapped around his body, but it was so small that it was barely enough to cover him properly.
“You’re using my towel,” Carlisle said through gritted teeth.
Helene was embarrassed to have made such a mistake, but she was also in such a daze seeing so much of the man’s body. Her eyes couldn’t help but drift over every one of his muscles from top to bottom, her mind keeping a mental tally of them.
He had a great figure.
Sometimes, simply meeting the right person would let loose even the most serious people, and Helene feared she would succumb as well.
“So? How do I compare to that doctor?” Carlisle suddenly
asked.
Helene froze before bashfully turning around.
“What? I haven’t seen him like… Like this! Do you like popping up in front of me like that? What are you, an exhibitionist?!”
Carlisle scoffed and walked to the sofa to pick up his shirt. Only then did he notice the lipstick on his collar.
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