Ms.
Grant, Is It Really You?
18: Chapter 18: Recognized by Her!
Ms.
Grant, Is It Really You?
“Cecilia Grant.”
At the nurse’s call, Ruby Grant entered the consultation room, holding Ceci.
After the examination, Ruby went to sit on a chair outside to wait for the results.
Her gaze swept idly around the waiting area before suddenly freezing on the entrance to the ultrasound room not far away.
Yana Grant was holding an ultrasound scan, her fine brows knitted in a slight frown.
Beside her stood a stunningly handsome man.
The moment he turned and Ruby clearly saw his face, it felt like her head exploded.
Miles Spade.
‘Why was Miles Spade with Yana?’
Ruby checked the name of the department again, her mind immediately jumping to the news that had been going viral for the past two days.
‘Is Yana here for a prenatal check-up?’
A wild guess sparked in her mind, but after thinking it over, she couldn’t come up with any other logical explanation.
Her vision cleared, replaced by a scornful expression.
‘So those two really did get together a long time ago.’
She couldn’t help but think of the day she’d decided to risk it all and go to Caleb Lawford.
‘Miles Spade had said all the right things, acting as if he was deeply in love with me.
But in reality, he was probably just using me to push Yana and Caleb together, wasn’t he?’
‘How magnanimous of him, willing to sacrifice his own happiness for Yana.’
Ruby sneered.
The scornful smile hadn’t yet left her lips when her eyes suddenly met Miles Spade’s.
Her smile froze.
After a moment of shock, her face hardened, and she averted her gaze.
Acting like a stranger.
Miles felt a pang in his chest.
Though he knew he couldn’t let Yana discover Ruby’s presence, his eyes were still unavoidably drawn to her.
Ruby kept her head down, loose strands of hair framing her face and revealing the pale skin of her neck.
She refused to even let her gaze linger on him.
Finally, he concealed the intense emotion in his charming eyes.
His poorly concealed emotional shift inevitably caught Yana’s attention.
She instinctively glanced around.
“What is it, Mr.
Spade?
Are Caleb Lawford’s men nearby?”
The mere thought sent a chill down Yana’s spine, and she hastily shielded her face with her hand.
She had come to the hospital this time due to abdominal pain.
Unlike the weakness she had feigned yesterday, this time, the pain was real.
She had happened to run into Miles, who wanted to discuss a case with her, so the two of them had come together.
But she was terrified of being spotted by Caleb’s men.
If word of this got back to Caleb, she couldn’t even begin to imagine the consequences.
‘I don’t want to end up despised by Caleb, like Ruby!’
“Take a cab back later,” Miles commanded curtly, his steps halting.
“I have something to take care of.”
Yana shot Miles a strange look but didn’t dare to defy him.
Biting her lip, she kept her face hidden as she left.
Ruby, meanwhile, was growing anxious and decided to get up and wait by the entrance instead.
Even though there was a fair bit of distance between them, she didn’t want to risk looking up and meeting their eyes.
“Ruby.”
The sound of leather shoes stopped behind her, followed by a familiar, gentle voice from above.
Ruby’s hands clenched inside her sleeves.
She pretended not to hear and tried to walk away.
Until a hand closed around her wrist.
“What exactly do you want?”
Ruby spun around in a fury, yanking her arm away.
Facing her wide, angry eyes, Miles was at a loss for words.
“I…”
He opened his mouth, only to feel that nothing remained between them but a past riddled with holes.
“Let me explain—”
“What does your explanation have to do with me?”
Ruby scoffed.
His words caught in his throat, his loving eyes dimming with sorrow.
“Ruby, would you rather go back to Caleb Lawford than spare me a single glance?
We were so happy together.
Have you forgotten all of it?”
Ruby reacted as if she’d just heard the world’s biggest joke, her voice dripping with undisguised, biting sarcasm.
“Forgotten?
Of course I haven’t.
I wouldn’t dare!
After all, Miles Spade, didn’t you use me to your absolute fullest?”
“The sight of you makes me sick.”
“Do me a favor and stay out of my sight!”
Ruby stared coldly at Miles, her words sharp and final.
Miles finally met her clear gaze, only to find it filled with an unmistakable, ruthless coldness—nothing but utter disgust for him.
His beautiful eyes trembled, and the frantic beating in his chest nearly ceased altogether.
Leaving her words hanging in the air, Ruby heard the nurse call again.
She turned, picked up Ceci, and went back into the consultation room.
“The child’s fever has broken, and the chest X-ray came back clear.”
The doctor’s words finally put Ruby at ease.
She gave the doctor and nurse a grateful smile and a nod, then headed for the exit.
Her movements were fluid and seamless, completely ignoring the man still standing in his original spot: Miles Spade.
He stared stubbornly at Ruby’s retreating back.
From his angle, he could see the side of the child’s face.
‘She looks so much like Caleb Lawford.’
‘So much so that the very sight of her made his chest tighten with frustration.’
Miles’s fingers clenched into a fist.
His gaze wasn’t dimmed by defeat; instead, it burned with an even more intense emotion, one that bordered on obsession.
‘Ruby,’ he thought, ‘I was powerless in the past, but now, I have more than enough power to choose and protect the one I love.’
‘She will have no choice but to rely on me.’
Miles’s hand relaxed, his expression returning to its usual gentle demeanor.
‘It doesn’t matter.
As long as Caleb doesn’t find her, I have all the time in the world to make her understand my heart.’
A nurse watched him with some trepidation.
Miles tapped on the counter in front of her.
“Delete her consultation record from today.”
The nurse hesitated for a second, but upon recalling the man’s identity, she nodded respectfully.
“Of course, Mr.
Spade.”
Miles only left after watching the nurse process his request.
He had seen the registration form earlier; Ruby’s child had a high fever last night.
He had a faint suspicion that the woman who appeared at Lawford Private Hospital last night might have been Ruby.
‘Caleb is looking for her, yet he has no idea she was right under his nose?’
Heh.
A flash of derision crossed Miles’s eyes before he strode away.
Ruby walked with her head bowed, clutching Ceci, only stopping abruptly when a shadow fell over her path.
Her eyes fell upon a pair of exquisite, high-end lambskin heels.
An inexplicable tightness gripped her heart.
She ducked her head lower, trying to change direction and walk around the person.
But the legs moved to block her path again and again.
Finally—
“Ruby, it really is you.”
The cloyingly sweet female voice lilted with a mix of arrogance and insincerity.
Ruby’s fingertips, wrapped around Ceci, trembled.
A sharp pain shot through her temples.
“You’ve got the wrong person.”
“Ruby, dear, how could I possibly mistake my own sister?”
Yana’s stare was so intense it felt like it could bore a hole right through Ruby.
“You really have the wrong person.”
Ruby buried her face deeper into her chest, only able to repeat the phrase dryly.
As she spoke, she pulled the swaddled baby tighter against her, completely concealing Ceci’s face.
The woman’s voice was deliberately low and raspy, making her sound much older.
Her plain, almost cheap-looking clothes made her seem particularly dowdy.
Staring at the woman and the swaddled baby in her arms, Yana frowned.
‘Could I really be mistaken?’
‘This woman has a child, after all.’