“Huh? Nothing—really, nothing! You misheard.” “Joseph, how do you walk without making a sound?” “Um… brother-in-law, dinner’s ready!”Joseph’s sudden voice caught the three women off guard. They straightened at once, all poise and innocence, trying a bit too hard to look proper.Watching them, Joseph felt something was off. When he’d come in, they’d clearly been chatting up a storm. The noise had muddled the words, but he’d heard plenty of laughter.“It’s not that I walk silently—it’s that you were making such a racket. I thought you were discussing something fascinating.” He spoke as he toed off his shoes.“Nope! Dinner—let’s eat. I’ll grab the bowls and chopsticks.” Alice bolted for the kitchen.“I’ll help.” Heidi scampered after her.“I’ll help too.” Mason Alvarez rose to follow.“Stop right there.” Joseph’s voice halted Mason mid-step.“What exactly are you helping with? Since when are you so industrious?” He gave her a bemused look. She was usually the last to lif

Stunned by the sudden kiss, Joseph stood rooted to the spot, watching Heidi walk away with a vacant gaze. It was a long while before he came back to himself.He touched the spot on his cheek where her lips had brushed, a faint, rueful smile tugging at his mouth.Some things truly lay beyond his control. His relationship with Heidi, by the looks of it, was drifting toward a place he couldn’t steer.And from the way Heidi had interacted with Mason Alvarez and Alice these last two times, they clearly had reached some sort of understanding among themselves.After lingering in a daze for a moment, Joseph finally returned to the villa.The next day, just after eleven, he headed out after lunch to pick up Lindsay Anderson.Peggy’s surgery was not a simple procedure.Even a straightforward operation required advance preparation at the hospital.He had reminded Lindsay Anderson and Fiona of this the day before.When Joseph arrived downstairs at Lindsay Anderson’s building, she came down almost

“Because he’s a doctor,” Charles Martin said at last, after a long silence.“You’re a doctor too. Everyone here is. What makes him different?” Peggy asked, still puzzled.“Joseph is a true physician. He treats medicine as a calling and holds ethics as the heart of a doctor’s character,” Charles replied. “He won’t let personal grievances with me make him hold back on your care.”Hearing that, Peggy managed a wan smile. “If even his rival respects him, that says it all. Professor Wilson must be a good man.”“More or less,” Charles said with a nod.“Peggy, your surgery starts at two. We’ll take you to prep now,” a head nurse announced as she entered, glancing over Peggy with a steady, professional calm. “It’s going to be a long operation. Is there anything you need to do first?”“I’m ready,” Peggy answered. “From here on, I’ll follow your lead.”At her word, the head nurse signaled several nurses to wheel Peggy’s bed out. Charles followed close behind.Meanwhile, Joseph was already in th

“How many years of practice does it take to move that fast?”“Who trained this young man? His technique is astonishingly seasoned.”“With skill like that, he shouldn’t be a nobody.”The discussion refused to die down.“Professor Wilson has cleared the hardest hurdle,” Director Lorraine said at last, visibly relieved. “As long as he proceeds by the book from here, we should be fine.”“I told you he would,” Tristan Flores said, a bit smug. “He never takes on a case unless he’s sure.” He knew Joseph’s true prowess—most here had never seen it up close. Tristan had, more than once; his confidence didn’t come cheap.“He actually did it,” Deputy Director Morales murmured, watching Joseph transition smoothly into the second phase. His expression had shifted; he looked uncomfortable, but he held himself together.“To think he’s that young,” he muttered after a beat.“Deputy Director, Professor Wilson won’t hold anything against you,” Lorraine said gently. “He’s an exceptional young man.”Moral

As Fiona spoke, she took the lead—swishing a few slices of tender beef through the broth and dropping them into Lindsay Anderson’s bowl.“Thank you, Senior.”Lindsay looked genuinely grateful.“No need for thanks—help yourselves.”Joseph chuckled.At that, Lindsay stopped holding back.Fiona, even less so—she’d never felt the need for formalities before, and certainly not now. Over-politeness would only make things awkward.After an entire afternoon in the operating room, the three of them were worn out and ravenous. By the time they were done, the bill neared two thousand dollars.But for Joseph, it was a trivial expense.They ate for more than an hour and finally leaned back, content.When Joseph went to pay, Lindsay was stunned.“Professor Wilson… did I eat too much?”A blush dusted her cheeks. Nearly two grand for three people—it felt absurd.“Seventy percent of that was me.”Joseph laughed.He stood and followed the server to the front desk.“Come on, Lindsay—let’s head out.”“It