To Avoid Suspicion He Saved Her Son, Then Regretted

A preschool event. A stage that gave way without warning.

A shard of glass through the heart of my three-year-old son, and the only man who could save him was my own husband, the surgeon they called a miracle worker.

But my husband cited the need to avoid the appearance of favoring a direct relative, and turned instead to wheel the son of the woman he never got over into the operating room first.

"Dennis Coleman is my son. As his attending physician, I have to stay clear of any conflict of interest."

"If I operate on him first, that isn't fair to the other patients."

An hour later, my son couldn't be revived, and they rolled him into the cold morgue.

And Cornelius Henson stood at the door of the operating room, handing out red envelopes, celebrating the successful surgery of that woman's son.

I laughed at myself.

Fine.

If it's a conflict of interest we're worried about, then let me tell you: I'm about to take the post of hospital chairwoman.

And you, as my family, will no longer belong in this hospital.

The corridor was all celebration, everyone congratulating Yvonne Fox on her son's successful surgery.

The nurses nearby were murmuring to each other too.

"I heard Nurse Fox's boy only had a cut on his leg, and Dr. Henson still pushed his own son's surgery aside for it, even used his position to requisition an operating room on an emergency basis. That kind of devotion, honestly, it's touching."

"You said it. Dr. Henson even pulled strings and got the director himself to do the stitching so the child wouldn't scar."

Listening to all of them, I gripped the death certificate in my hand until it crushed.

Cornelius's expression turned awkward and guilty on the spot.

"Yvonne has helped me a great deal in my work over the years. Without her, I never could have risen this fast."

My eyes went red.

"So this business about family needing to avoid a conflict of interest, that's only for me and Dennis, is that it?"

Cornelius's face darkened at once.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Dennis is my son. If I'd operated on him first, that would be unfair to the other patients."

"Besides, Yvonne only got nicked by some glass. A little disinfectant and she's fine. Why would you want to tie up medical resources over that?"

Yvonne Fox stepped forward too, her whole face a picture of grievance.

"Yvette Winfield, I know you have a problem with me. But your son was always snatching my boy's toys at preschool, even ganged up with the other children to bully him, and now you want to trade on being Dr. Henson's family to steal my son's chance at his life?"

The moment the patients' families crowded around heard Yvonne's words, they started pointing at me.

"Like mother, like child, truly. Bullying his classmates at that age, what's he going to be when he grows up?"

"It's people like you who ruin the medical environment these days. Your son deserved that glass. Shame it didn't just finish him off!"

"Thank goodness Dr. Henson has the heart of a true physician, that he knows to keep his distance. Otherwise certain people would've cut the line, and how unfair would that be to the rest of us waiting our turn for surgery."

I clenched my teeth and looked at Cornelius.

"Dennis needs the distance, but Yvonne's son doesn't? Why were you free to operate on hers first?"

A flicker of guilt crossed Cornelius's eyes, gone almost before it showed.

"Yvonne is a nurse at our hospital. Everyone has seen everything she's given this place over the years. Saving her son first was so the medical staff wouldn't lose heart."

"And Yvonne's a single mother raising a child on her own. Do you know how hard that is? Can't you show a little compassion?"

I held the death certificate tight in my palm, my heart tearing like it had been run through with a knife.

"Do you have any idea, because of this so-called distance of yours, our child..."

I was about to hold the death certificate up in front of Cornelius when he flung a pack of cotton swabs and iodine at my feet, out of patience.

"This is a hospital. I don't have time to watch you stage some soap-opera scene. Take the supplies home and disinfect the child yourself. Stop tying up medical resources for no reason."

"Take your things and go, and quit making a spectacle of yourself out here!"

I looked at the pack of iodine swabs he'd tossed me like charity, and it struck me as beyond absurd.

So this was it. For a doctor's family, seeking ordinary care was tying up medical resources.

Looking at that hypocritical face of Cornelius's, I took out my phone and placed a call.

"I accept the position of hospital chairwoman."

If distance is what he wants.

Then Cornelius, as my family, no longer belongs in this hospital.

Yvette hung up. For a few seconds no one made a sound.

Then the whole room burst out laughing.

"Yvette, there's a limit to how much crap a person can spout. You? Chairwoman of the hospital? You've been watching too many soap operas!"

"Right? Everybody here knows you're just a housewife Dr. Henson keeps around. Chairwoman? You wouldn't even qualify as his mistress!"

"This hospital was funded by Skyocean Group. A housewife dreaming of running it? Delusional, plain and simple!"

Yvonne looked at me with the same mockery in her eyes.

"Yvette, have you been overworking lately? Should I book you a psych consult and have someone check your head?"

Cornelius wore nothing but disgust.

"Yvette, what are you losing your mind about now? Keep this up and don't blame me for not being polite."

Then he called hospital security straight over and had me thrown out.

For the next several days, Cornelius used the excuse that Yvonne's son needed his attending physician close by. He never came home, and never once asked about our child.

The day of our son's burial, the rain came down hard.

I kept hearing him call for "Daddy" before he died, so I took out my phone and called Cornelius anyway.

"Dennis is being buried today. If you have a shred of conscience left, come see him one last time."

The line went quiet for a moment. Then a furious voice came through.

"Yvette, are you ever going to stop? First you used your standing as family to force me to operate on Dennis first, and now you're cursing our son to death. Are you even human?"

Then Yvonne's contemptuous voice drifted through the phone.

"Yvette, I know you want Cornelius's attention, but you can't go cursing your own child to die. Even a vicious tiger won't eat its own cubs."

I was about to explain when I heard her son whining in the background.

"Daddy Henson, the puppy you gave me died. Can you get me another puppy?"

Cornelius's anger softened in an instant.

"Okay, Daddy Henson will take you to buy another puppy, exactly like the last one. All right?"

The second the words were out, he ended the call.

When I dialed again, he had already blocked me.

I looked down at the small urn in my hands, and the tears came down hard.

The one thing my son had wanted most in life was a pet of his own.

But Cornelius had refused, righteous as ever, saying dogs carried germs.

Even the little hamster our son kept, he'd thrown out because he thought it was filthy.

Our son knelt on the floor and begged him, and he didn't soften for a second.

But now I saw it clearly. It was never the germs he couldn't stand.

It was us.

After burying my son's ashes alone, drained in body and spirit, I turned to leave.

I had just reached the cemetery gate when a frantic shout came from behind me.

"Ms. Winfield, it's bad! Someone's digging up your son's grave!"

Crack.

It was like a bolt of lightning struck straight down on my head.

I ran back like a woman gone mad.

His headstone had already been knocked flat on the ground, and two bodyguards were driving their spades into the earth, tearing the grave open.

"What do you think you're doing?"

One of them glanced at me, disdainful.

"Ms. Yvonne Fox has taken a liking to this plot. Dr. Henson had us open it up so we can bury Ms. Fox's dog here."

His words dropped me into a pit of ice.

Cornelius wanted to dig up his own son's grave to bury his first love's dog?

The two of them showed no sign of stopping.

I rushed forward and lunged to wrench a spade out of their hands.

One of them saw me coming and swung the spade at me with all his strength.

A pain like a drill shot up through my foot, and I went down flat on the ground.

The other one saw it and lifted his foot to stomp down on me.

In that split second, a furious voice rang out behind me.

I looked up and saw Cornelius coming toward me with his arm around Yvonne.

The moment he saw me, his brow drew tight.

"Yvette, what are you scheming now?"

Yvonne only shrank deeper into his arms, her face full of disgust.

"Yvette, you cursed your own child dead this afternoon, and now you come out to the cemetery to put on a show. Are you not satisfied until you've cursed your own son into the grave?"

I pointed at the dug-up grave, my eyes bloodshot.

"Cornelius, you had someone openly dig up a grave just to bury Yvonne's dog. Are you even human?"

Yvonne leaned against him, provocation in her eyes.

"The dog Cornelius gave my son died. He didn't want my son to be sad, so he paid extra to buy this plot."

Cornelius looked at me with the same displeasure.

"Yvette, I let the cursing this afternoon go. But instead of staying home to look after our son, you come out here to make a scene. I think you've truly gone mad!"

I clenched my hands, letting my nails dig into my palms.

"Cornelius, do you even know who's buried in this plot?"

He didn't care in the slightest.

"It's got nothing to do with me who's buried here. I've already bought this plot, so the only thing going in it is Hunter's dog!"

My fists tightened, my eyes red.

"Buried here is Dennis. Your own son."

Cornelius froze.

Yvonne stepped up at once and took his arm.

"Cornelius, Dennis only got his skin scratched a little by some glass. How could he possibly be dead?"

"Yvette, just because you want Cornelius's attention doesn't mean you can deliberately curse your own child. Aren't you afraid of what heaven will do to you!"

Hearing that, Cornelius looked at me with hatred filling his eyes.

"Yvette, Dennis is your own flesh and blood. First you deliberately wished him dead, and now you come to the cemetery to put on an act. You're vicious beyond belief!"

Then he turned straight to the two bodyguards.

"Keep digging!"

Without a moment's hesitation, they drove their shovels down again.

I watched my son's grave torn open bit by bit, my heart hurting as if a knife were carving it out.

"No!"

"Cornelius, you can't do this to Dennis."

I threw myself over the grave like a madwoman.

Trying with my own body to shield my son's grave from those two men.

Cornelius only looked at me with revulsion.

"Yvette, I think you've gotten addicted to your little act, haven't you?"

Yvonne glanced at her watch and gently held Cornelius's hand.

"Cornelius, the burial time the master calculated for Hunter's precious dog is almost here. If we can't bury him in time, it'll affect his reincarnation!"

At that, Cornelius shot the two bodyguards a cold, hard look.

"Drag her off, now!"

The two of them grabbed the clothes at my back, trying to fling me aside.

I clung to the dirt on the ground for dear life.

"Cornelius, you can't do this to our child. You'll pay for it."

The next second, a shovel came down hard against my back.

My back split open in an instant, bright red blood streaming to the ground with the rain, a sight that cut straight to the eye.

Cornelius stared at me and faltered for a moment.

"Yvette, have you lost your mind?"

Just then, the bodyguard's digging hands suddenly stopped.

Trembling, he lifted a porcelain jar out of the grave, his pupils shrinking all at once.

"Dr. Henson, there really does seem to be an urn in here!"

Cornelius stared at the urn, frozen where he stood.

The bodyguard was more terrified still, his legs nearly giving out.

"This can't actually be somebody's ashes, can it!"

Cornelius started to say something, but Yvonne grabbed his hand at once and pried the urn open herself.

"Cornelius, Yvette's committed to the whole act, so she even brought props. Anyone can see this is baby formula, not ashes. I'm a mother myself, I can tell at a glance!"

At those words, his eyes darkened in an instant.

"Yvette, all to get my attention, you lied that our child was dead, and now you're using formula powder to pass off as ashes for your little performance."

"Dennis is cursed eight generations over to have a mother like you!"

With that, Cornelius lifted the urn high in his hand.

"I'll smash it right now, and let's see what you've got left to perform with!"

"No!"

I watched his raised hand, forcing down the pain in my feet, stumbling as I tried to crawl over.

But the next second, with a sharp crack, the urn shattered before my eyes.

Ash the color of ash and bone scattered across the ground.

The sky rumbled, and raindrops the size of beans came pounding down into the mud.

My child's ashes seeped into the earth, bit by bit, along the running water.

I forgot every wound on my body and dug at the ground with my bare hands, over and over, like a woman gone mad.

Trying to hold on to the last thought I had left in this world!

"Dennis, my Dennis, don't leave Mommy, please!"

Yvonne looked down at me, then placed a costly box of golden nanmu wood into Cornelius's hands.

"Cornelius, the hour's right, it's time to bury the dog!"

Cornelius took the ash box she handed him, ground his foot down on the back of my hand, and strode forward.

Step by step he walked to the grave, his foot on the toppled headstone.

Slowly, he set the dog's ash box down into his son's grave.

Standing on his son's headstone, burying a dog's ashes in his own son's grave.

I watched it all, and felt nothing but how obscene it was.

Once the dog's ashes were buried, Cornelius turned to me, slumped in despair on the ground, his face full of disgust.

"Tomorrow's the day the hospital's new chairman takes over, and tomorrow I'll be formally promoted to chief. You'd better behave yourself and stop coming out to make a fool of yourself!"

With that, Cornelius put his arm around Yvonne and swept off.

Leaving only me and the mud and yellow earth all around.

I watched his retreating back, my fists clenched tight.

"You'll never see the day you get promoted!"

The next day.

The hospital held its award ceremony, with every senior leader present.

Cornelius sat below the stage, riding high.

The colleagues around him were falling over themselves to flatter him.

"Dr. Henson, you'll be made chief today, the youngest chief the whole medical field has ever seen. The future's limitless!"

"I hear Nurse Fox is even related to the deputy director. Dr. Henson's promotion to chief is as good as locked in!"

As the words fell, the director's voice rang out from the stage.

"Let us congratulate Dr. Cornelius Henson on his formal promotion to Chief of Surgery"

Cornelius smugly straightened his collar and was just about to step up onto the stage.

The next second, the doors of the hall were shoved open.

"I'm the chairwoman here, and I haven't nodded yet. Who approved his promotion?"

Everyone turned toward the voice.

And when they saw my face, they drew a collective sharp breath.

"How can the new chairwoman be her!"

At the same moment, Cornelius's phone began to ring.

It was the cemetery.

"Dr. Henson, you dug up the wrong grave. The plot you bought is right beside your son's grave. The one you dug up yesterday was your son's."

Cornelius went rigid.

"Whose grave did you say that was?"