Chapter 3 — A Seed of Doubt

Emelia’s POV

I stood in disbelief as Victor rushed to Lily's side. It had to have been her—his changed behavior for her matched his changed behavior for the woman from last night!

Not only had he lied to me about who he was with the other night, but he completely canceled plans with his grandfather for her.

What was really going on between them? Why couldn't he just tell me the truth from the start?

As I got a closer look at Lily, I found that what surprised me the most was the way she looked. 

Her hair was the same shade of brown as mine; same long, and wavy length; and even the natural highlights were identical.

There was also a distinct beauty mark at the corner of her mouth—same as my own.

Surely this was a coincidence, right?

"Lily! Is everything okay?" Victor asked, his voice laced with worry. "I got here just as soon as I could."

"Everything's fine now that you're here." Lily's smile was fragile. “I was too scared, I thought I wouldn’t see you again…” her voice trembled.

“I'm here with you now, and that's all that matters.” Victor held her hand tightly. “Are you alright? Are you sick? What happened?”

“Hey, I'm not a kid anymore! You don't need to worry too much.” She turned into laughter.

"Of course I'm going to worry about you!" Victor smiled then. "I'm always going to worry when it comes to you. I swear, you're like a fragile doll!"

With the way their conversation was going, I couldn't believe that they were nothing more than work colleagues. 

I cleared my throat to remind them of my presence—and to ease the discomfort their words were leaving in my stomach.

“Oh, someone else is here!” Lily finally noticed me. “You must be Victor’s wife. I'm sorry if I bothered you tonight! Victor always gets so worried when it comes to me. You know, he's always been like that.”

"Maybe it was because of your phone call why Victor was so worried!"

Victor spared me a quick glance, although it was almost a reprimanding one. Like I'd said something wrong.

At that moment, a nurse stepped into the room. Her eyebrows shot up as she saw Victor at Lily's side. "Mr. Russo? You look terrible! I told you not to worry, and that Miss Lily was fine. I'm surprised you got here fairly quickly, though."

"Of course." I responded in his place. "It's not like we had anything important planned anyway. My husband seemed very worried for his work colleague, so we rushed here as soon as we could."

Victor looked at me with a hard gaze. While he wasn't the type to fluster easily, I could see it in the way his jaw tightened slightly that what I said affected him.

I simply rolled my eyes and looked back at the nurse.

"Well, it's a good thing Miss Marino has a very supportive system." The nurse nodded her head.  "She just needs some rest. We hope to discharge her within another day or so." 

"Thank you for all your help." Victor replied.

"Of course. Just let me know if you need anything else" The nurse smiled then left the room.

"Well, Victor," I turned to him. "I'm glad your new work colleague seems to be doing fine and well."

Victor huffed at my comment and refused to meet my eyes.

Lily sighed and placed her hand on Victor's. She seemed too fixated on him to notice my comment however. "I'm sorry, Victor. It's all my fault! I'm just a little too clumsy for my own good. I hope I didn't ruin your night."

"Don't be sorry." Victor assured her. "Being here is the least I could do. What matters is that you're okay now."

"Emelia, perhaps you shouldn't be so hard on Lily." Victor finally looked at me, although hesitantly, and spoke in a stern voice. "Accidents happen and there will always be another opportunity to make up our night."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but didn't dignify his words with a response. If he thought I was upset about us missing out on grandpa Antonio's dinner party, then he was sorely mistaken. 

Victor’s attention was back on Lily again as she pulled his hand in hers. The action alone ticked something off in me that I had to abruptly leave the room.

I made my way to the cafeteria to grab some coffee. I could tell tonight was going to be a long night.

Just as I was coming back, I saw Victor standing out in the hallway outside of Lily's room. I crossed my arms as I approached him.

"Emelia, will you let me explain?"

"That depends. Do you plan on actually telling me the truth? You seemed to be very concerned for this work colleague of yours who seems to be insistent on the fact that you two have known each other since childhood."

Victor's lips pursed into a thin line before he responded. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry for not telling you, but Lily's a childhood friend of mine. It was just really unexpected. She flew back into town last night, so I took her out to dinner to catch up."

"Was it really so hard to just tell me that? Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I'm sorry, okay? Like I said, it was all unexpected so I didn't think of it. I was going to tell you about it all tonight but then…" Victor paused to look at Lily's door.

"Look, to make a long story short, the reason why I rushed to get here so quickly was because I thought her injury was a lot worse…" He started to explain.

He hesitated before adding, "When we were younger, we both almost got into a real bad accident but she ended up saving my life. Ever since, I'd been worried about how any other injury would exacerbate the one she sustained from all those years ago. It was my fault what happened then—the least I can do is be there so nothing like that happens again."

I narrowed my eyes at him and let a few beats of silence pass. None of that really explained why he had intentionally lied to me. However, hearing about how his caring and thoughtful disposition melted some of my defenses.

Even if it was towards another woman, and at the expense of my peace of mind… Him being so thoughtful was why I fell in love with him.

"I suppose I can accept that explanation." I uncrossed my arms. "That doesn't mean I accept your apology, though."

"I know, I know." Victor pulled me into his arms. "I'll make it up to you, okay?"

I nodded my head, still feeling wary but a little less so.

As we entered the room, Lily's eyebrow arched at the sight of us—although her gaze was mostly fixated on me.

"You know, public displays of affection in a hospital setting is quite inappropriate." Lily criticized. "Sometimes even something as simple as a hug in a setting like this can make him uncomfortable. It's funny how he used to squirm when I'd hug him in front of friends!"

Who did she think she was, trying to give me advice about how I treated my own husband? Did she think she knew him better than I did just because they were childhood friends?

Just when I was about to fire back, Victor pulled my hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Things have changed. I've changed, Lily.” He stated calmly.

Lily suddenly became stiff. “Have you?”

"You know we aren’t children anymore.” Victor patted Lily's head. “But look, I'll be back. I'm going to go run downstairs and grab us something to eat, okay?"

"Don’t forget my chips!" Lily giggled. "You may not be a kid anymore, but you can still be forgetful!"

Just as Victor left the room, Lily's gaze landed on me once more. There was a smile on her face, but it wasn't sincere.

"So, you're the lucky woman Victor proposed to? How romantic! When we were younger, he used to make fun of the idea of marriage. It's so funny to see how people change, but also remain the same, you know?"

My heart stung as I listened to Lily brag about her past relationship with him, but I kept my expression natural. "I'm glad he changed his mind about marriage."

Lily nodded her head slightly, and continued. "I'm just glad that he hasn't lost his thoughtful and caring nature throughout the years. He just understands me on a level no one else can reach. You understand what I mean, right?"

I had to pretend that I didn't understand the double meaning behind her words. "Oh, of course. I mean, as his wife, Victor and I share a bond that's unlike any other I've ever experienced. I truly am lucky to have married him."

Something about what I said seemed to tick Lily off because when she grabbed her glass of water, she immediately threw it on the floor. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration as heat rose to her face.

At that moment, the door opened and Victor rushed to Lily's side.

"Hey, hey! What happened? Are you okay?" He instantly began to soothe her.

Like a light switch, her expression immediately changed as tears welled at the base of her eyes. "I don't know what's gotten over Emelia! I was just telling her about how amazing you've always been to me, and something I said must have made her mad because she tried to throw glass at me!"

"What?!" I almost yelled. "That's not what happened at all!"

What the hell was Lily getting at?! Why the hell did she lie about me trying to hurt her?!