Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 338

Chapter 338: Ten million in exchange of heart
Ariana took the canned apple juice that Sawyer had handed her and took a sip from it. Once she had taken a few sips of the juice, Sawyer picked up her spoon and took a bite of her meat pie.

“Are you calm now?” Sawyer asked as she pointed her spoon at Ariana who nodded and placed the can on the table.

“I am fine now,” Ariana offered a smile to Sawyer, who hummed and took another bite of her meal. “Fortunately, you should have looked at your face. It seemed like you were on the verge of collapsing over such a small thing.”

“If someone saw you like that, they would have refused to believe that you are the same doctor who used a large syringe to stabilize a patient’s condition.”

“Small thing?” Ariana echoed feeling a bit confused. She still had not forgotten how her mother had reacted when she found a love letter in her school bag.

She rubbed her fingers against her palm and after hesitating for a while, Ariana said to Sawyer, “But isn’t it a big deal? I mean to lose one’s virtue to a man before marriage? My mom often said that a woman who sleeps with a man or dates him is looked down upon by society.”

Sawyer chewed four times while staring at Ariana. It was as if she were silently trying to figure out whether Ariana was an alien.

“Are you kidding me?” After a short pause, Sawyer asked Ariana with the same look of disbelief on her face.

Ariana shook her head in response and Sawyer burst out laughing.

“Pfft,” Sawyer threw her head back, with her hand covering her eyes, she laughed and continued to laugh for more than two minutes.

The rest of the doctors in the canteen turned and looked at Sawyer with curious and confused expressions. Some were even looking at her with exasperation.

“Why are you laughing?” Ariana hissed at Sawyer. She truly felt annoyed, after all, she had shared her feelings and thoughts with Sawyer as the two of them were friends, but now Sawyer was laughing at her.

“You— oh my, you are so cute, Doctor Harlow,” Sawyer chuckled a few more times before she stopped laughing. She wiped the corner of her eyes with her fingers and casually remarked, “I can’t believe that you still believe in such things. You are a doctor, Ariana. How can you believe such old-fashioned things? A woman is worth more than just a piece of tissue that could break at any point.”

‘That was not what mom said to me, she told me that if I lose my virtue by sleeping with a man —I will be called names foul and disgusting,’ Ariana thought, feeling as if her entire life had been turned upside down.

Sawyer was closely watching Ariana’s expressions and when she noticed Ariana’s brows furrowing deeper and deeper, she sighed and placed down her spoon on the table.

Wanting to bring Ariana out from her thoughts that seemed too agonizing, given her complexion was turning worse, Sawyer said to her, “I had three boyfriends and I slept with all three of them, Ariana. Does that mean that I am not as good of a doctor or woman?”

Ariana frowned at her words. She shook her head and answered, “No. You are a rather good person and a doctor as well.”

Sawyer laughed at her response, “See? There is no need for you to be disillusioned. To think that you still believe that a woman’s worth lies in whether she sleeps with a man before marriage or not. There is no such thing, I am not saying that it is wrong to save yourself for the person you are destined to spend your entire life with.”

“But similarly it’s not wrong to sleep with someone you love and enjoy spending time with. A person has the freedom to live the kind of life they want without worrying about what people will say.”

Sawyer raised her head and stared right into Ariana’s eyes. She then said to her, “Anyone who tells you otherwise, is either living in the nineteenth century or is an idiot, don’t let someone like that govern your life, Ariana. Your life is your own, and you have the right to make your own decisions.”

“Whether you enjoy or regret those decisions, it’s up to you,” commented Sawyer. She parted her lips and took a bite of her food before saying, “No one is entitled to tell you how to live your life.”

Her lips curled up, and she added in a sly voice, “Not to mention our society has a bunch of things to care about, other than what a small doctor in a small hospital is doing.”

Ariana’s mind quickly started to race through the lessons that her mother had given to her. And not in even one of those lessons, her mother told her that it was alright for her to live for herself.

It was either for her family, her sister, or her husband’s family.

It was as if Ariana did not exist for herself but for others.

As soon as that thought came to her mind, Ariana felt sweat trickle down her forehead. Why—did her mother teach her such things? What did she want to do by making her believe that Ariana did not belong to herself but to everyone else?

Suddenly despite the raging summer, Ariana felt chilled to the bones as if the coldness of the canned juice had seeped into her very heart.

And why did she believe everything that her mother had said to her like a fool? Was it because that woman was her mother, or was it because of something else?

“Are you alright?” Ariana heard the words Naomi said, after three more hours, she was prepared to leave the hospital and yet, Ariana nursed a headache that was just as fresh as it was in the afternoon after she finished speaking to Sawyer.

Ariana raised her head and turned to look at Naomi who was returning to the nurse station. She offered the woman a smile and answered, “I am alright, just a bad headache.”

“Oh dear, that happens a lot to the young interns,” Naomi said with concern. She thought about something and then said to Ariana, “Wait a minute.”

After speaking, she turned around on her feet and walked over to the nurse station. Ariana noticed Naomi rummaging through something before pulling away from the nurse station.

“Here,” said Naomi as she handed Ariana a milky bar.