Part 3

"Hey! Don't mess around!" Hayle shouted with held breath, wiping away the tears that remained. She slowly slid her feet off the edge of the bed, hanging them above the examination table. With a tense expression and her hair standing on end due to the thoughts racing through her mind, Hayle dared to slide down even though the middle part of her thighs still hurt. "I-I-I'm not afraid of you! Show yourself!" Hayle shouted again.

Although if someone suddenly appeared behind that door with the images now in her mind, the first thing Hayle would do would surely be to faint. As strong as she was in facing strange things as a doctor, she was still afraid if a woman covered in blood without a head or with hollow eyes suddenly appeared.

"Hey! Hayle!"

"AAAA!!!!" Hayle screamed with all the surprise, fear, and heart palpitations in her voice. Even when the figure in white showed itself, Hayle immediately closed her eyes. She didn't want to see who was actually in front of her.

"Hayle! Hayle! Calm down! Be quiet! It's me!" Jacob immediately caught Hayle's trembling, still screaming body. Her eyes closed, indicating immense horror. It took several shakes for Hayle to finally calm down. "Hayle! Snap out of it! Don't make me slap you!" Jacob threatened, somehow managing to calm the woman.

Hayle slowly opened her eyes, and with a face that instantly turned angry, she felt like scratching Jacob's face. "Jacob! Damn you! I almost died standing there."

"Technically, with your age and the results of your heart examination showing no problems, that's not possible. At most, you just fainted," the baby-faced man said with a small laugh, as if he felt no guilt for making Hayle's heart almost jump out of her chest.

"What are you doing here?! It's already two in the morning? There's no night shift in this clinic, right?" Hayle asked, slowly returning to her bed. Forgetting that she needed to rest.

Actually, for ordinary patients, after the procedure and being declared okay, they would be allowed to go home immediately. But because Hayle was a special patient and she had just intentionally injured herself in her genital area, Jacob himself requested observation. Afraid of unwanted bleeding even though he was very sure it wouldn't happen.

"Uh, I can't sleep."

Yeah! Jacob couldn't sleep thinking about what he had done to Hayle earlier. Somehow, it haunted him. And, as his spiritual advisor said, if something bothers you so much in your mind even though you already have the answer, it means something bad will happen. Jacob believed in all of that.

"Why?"

"You're not sleeping either!" Jacob tried to change the subject.

"Yeah. I'm not used to sleeping in a new place," Hayle sighed.

"Just say you're still thinking about that jerk again."

Hayle remained silent with a thin but melancholic smile. What else could she say? She shouldn't have hidden it from Jacob. This man, even though he worked in a different place from her, knew everything.

Somehow, Hayle felt more comfortable talking to this man than to her female friends.

"By the way, Hayle!" Jacob suddenly raised his voice again. In the middle of almost touching dawn, the man sounded very enthusiastic.

"What is it?"

"Uh, if I may ask...." Jacob seemed to look away, his feet moving like someone operating an old sewing machine. Seeing that, Hayle furrowed her brows; she knew he always did that when he was nervous. "Where did you get Lucas's sperm sample? I'm just curious. Didn't you say you never had relations with him, and you've been broken up for months now. So... how? Did you...?" Jacob squinted his eyes while touching his lips.

“What are you thinking?! You pervert! You claim to be asexual, yet you're thinking such inappropriate things!” Hayle exclaimed, equally spirited in the middle of the night like this. Fortunately, there were no patients being treated near Hayle's room. Just a few people who wanted to give birth on the Jain side of the building.

“So what? You couldn't just come and say, 'Hey, Lucas! I need your sperm so I can conceive your child!' and then what?!” Jacob wasn't about to back down.

“I took it when he submitted a sample for a health test.”

“And then you brought it here?”

“Well, of course. Where else would I take it? You're the only one willing to help me, right?” Hayle said, slightly puzzled.

“Oh, right! Then, when you handed it over, did you give it to Rosita?” Jacob's face looked wrinkled, his tone of voice was already like a police officer interrogating a witness.

“Uh, I think the nurse's name was Rosita.” Although Hayle had been here several times, she wasn't sure who Rosita was.

“When you handed it over, was she handling other sperm samples? Maybe at the same time as Lucas's?” Jacob seemed a bit fired up.

“Well...” Hayle paused for a moment to wrack her brain. “Maybe yes, maybe no. I don't really remember. Why?”

Jacob let out a very audible sigh of disappointment. Moreover, he immediately grabbed his head in frustration. Of course, that made Hayle immediately suspicious of her friend's behavior.

“What's wrong?” Hayle narrowed her eyes at her friend, who sometimes seemed fidgety. A fitting style for him as an obstetrician.

“Oh, nothing. Hayle, what if we just call off this insemination for now and try again next month? I think I may have inserted the wrong sperm earlier. The success rate is also very low, so what do you think?” Jacob asked with a smile that was becoming increasingly suspicious.

"No! You know how much I've struggled with those hormone injections every day. They've been messing with my mood so much that I can't even eat. And after going through all of this, even tearing my hymen, you want to call it off?" said Hayle, who was clearly getting emotional. Ever since she started taking hormones to mature her eggs, her emotions had been more volatile.

"But we can start again next month. It's better with IVF. And for you, it's all free!" Jacob tried to sweeten the deal.

"No!" Hayle replied firmly, shattering Jacob's hopes. "What's really going on? I'm starting to suspect you! You know, you're terrible at hiding things."

"What?! There's nothing! No problem at all. I just sympathize with you. If this fails, you'll be very upset. So instead of hoping for this slim chance, why not just start the IVF program right away?!" Jacob tried to come up with a reason, although it didn't make much sense.

"No need. I'm sure this time will work. I just know it!" said Hayle, looking at her still very flat stomach and gently caressing it. Somehow, her confidence felt deeply ingrained.

Jacob could only grin. "Well, I hope so."

I hope it doesn't happen, Jacob continued in his mind. Because until now, he didn't know which one was wrong. The label or the barcode. And hopefully, Mr. J never existed.

In the deserted hallway of the clinic, someone stood not far from Hayle's open door where Jacob had been. He listened to the entire conversation with a blank expression and narrowed eyes. After feeling like he had gotten what he needed, the man in the all-black suit slowly left the place with determined steps.

After walking a few steps, he took out his phone from his pocket and made a call.

"Sir, I think I've found it."

At the other end of the phone, a man with a palpable aura sat, his eyes sharp.

His facial expression was as cold as the Antarctic ice. Freezing the courage of anyone nearby. With a single grunt, he ended the call.