From Humiliated Son-In-Law to The World’s Greatest Doctor

4 - Do We Know Each Other?

He finally decided to reveal everything. Derek’s throat felt extremely dry, making it difficult for him to swallow. “Our call earlier… you never hung up.”

Margo’s eyes widened in shock as she immediately realized what Derek meant. If the call had never been disconnected, then Derek had heard their entire conversation and everything she had done with Evander in the car.

“All of this made me wonder if the child you were carrying back then was actually mine or not… And whether that man is the reason we still haven’t been able to have a child until now.”

“W-wait—what?!” Horror filled Margo even more after hearing Derek’s confession.

“About four months after we got married, I accidentally found out that you were pregnant. But because you insisted on focusing on your career, and our marriage was still so new, I pretended not to know, just to spare your feelings and respect your wishes. I even stupidly stayed silent when you deliberately ended the pregnancy.”

“I’m telling you, Derek, I swear that child was yours! I was never pregnant with Evander’s child!”

“Then… you killed our child, Margo…”

Margo felt completely cornered this time. She couldn’t think, let alone come up with any excuses.

“Fine! I did it! I cheated on you with Evander! So what? You were never capable of being a good husband. I didn’t even really like you. I only married you because I thought I could live comfortably as the wife of a successful surgeon. But none of what I wanted came true! So what’s wrong with wanting another man who is more reliable than a loser like you?!”

Margo’s words only added to the devastation inside Derek.

“Let’s get a divorce, Derek. I can’t take it anymore. I give up.”

Then she went downstairs.

Meanwhile, Derek could only stand there in silence, staring at the empty space where Margo had been.

Derek neither held her back nor stopped her.

About half an hour later, from the balcony, Derek saw his wife get into Evander’s car. At that moment, he knew there was nothing left he could fix from the shattered pieces of their marriage.

The sin his wife had committed was simply too much for him to bear.

÷÷÷

Derek and Margo walked out of the courthouse after their divorce was finalized and down the stairs in front of the building.

“I hope your life will be happier without me after this, Margo.”

Derek looked at the woman he had once loved deeply with a pained expression.

But Margo continued looking ahead, unwilling to even glance at Derek beside her.

“From now on, even if we happen to meet by chance, don’t you ever dare try to greet me. We are complete strangers who don’t know each other.”

Her voice sounded very firm and harsh.

Derek could see the woman clench her jaw in irritation as she said those words.

He promised to respect Margo’s wishes, knowing that after this, he might never see her again.

Ahead of them, Evander was already waiting in his luxury car.

“Did everything go smoothly? Is it all done?”

Derek heard him ask Margo.

“Yeah. After all those exhausting hearings, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”

Evander looked at Derek and gave him a taunting smirk.

Derek continued walking past the two of them without being able to say anything.

During the divorce proceedings, Derek had never even brought up Margo’s affair.

He should have done it. But that would only complicate the divorce and hurt Margo and her family.

“I’m happy for you. You’re finally free from that useless parasite.”

Derek was only a step away from them, but the man had already said those hurtful words. As if he wanted Derek to hear them on purpose.

÷÷÷

Derek’s belongings, still packed in moving boxes, were stacked and remained untouched in the corner of the living room of a three-bedroom luxury apartment.

He hid his divorce from his mother, who had a heart condition. That made it impossible for him to return to his mother’s house. So he rented a place in the downtown area of Riverbrook without his mother's knowledge, and still hadn’t told her that he had moved back here.

“So now you’re unemployed too?”

Diane, his younger sister, placed a tray filled with various chocolate snacks and two large glasses of chocolate milkshakes on the coffee table in front of him.

“I’m going to get diabetes if I eat all of that.” Derek sneered at the snacks she had served.

“It’s not like you eat them every day, idiot. Chocolate will help improve your mood and get you moving on with your life.”

“You’re talking as if I’ve lost interest in living.”

“Oh, so you haven’t—after that emotionally draining divorce drama of yours? Thank goodness, then.”

Derek didn’t respond. He didn’t want to bring up the wounds from his past that were still very fresh.

“By the way, be careful if you go wandering outside.” Diane took a sip of her drink. “Don’t let yourself run into Mom.”

“You don’t need to warn me. I already know…”

“But—”

Diane’s words were cut off by the ringing of Derek’s phone. When he looked at the screen, the name Walter Davis (W Company) appeared.

“Yes, Mr. Davis?”

“Hello, Mr. Maynard! Good afternoon! How are you?”

Derek seemed to know what the man, the chairman of the company where Margo worked, was about to say.

“I’m not doing too well. But I’ll listen.”

“Well, yeah, I understand. I just heard about your divorce from Margo, so I figured I should ask about the future of our agreement. She even failed to close a deal with an important client last month over a trivial matter.”

“You can sanction her according to your company’s policies, Mr. Davis. From now on, I won’t pay compensation for any of her negligence anymore.”

“Seriously, Mr. Maynard?” There was a brief silence. “Honestly, I’m a little surprised. But I guess I’m also relieved that you’ve finally come to your senses. Your wife has really gone too far. I’ve wanted to fire her for a long time because she keeps messing up my company. But you insisted that I cover for her and gave me a lot of money.”

“If you want to fire her, then go ahead. She has nothing to do with me anymore. So I’m not responsible for her actions. And for the latest loss she caused, you can bill her directly. I’m sorry, but I can’t compensate you anymore.”

“Okay. That’s fine. I’m actually glad you finally managed to break free from that snake of a woman and start thinking clearly. Good luck with this new chapter of your life, Mr. Maynard!”

After the brief phone call ended, Derek remembered that he still had to settle several similar matters.

He immediately pressed the call button for Martin’s contact.

“Hello, Martin.”

“Yes, Mr. Maynard! I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to update you! That bastard Fred is slippery as hell! I still haven’t been able to trace his whereabouts.”

“It’s okay. Just do what you can. I just want to change a few of my requests.”

“Okay.”

“When you catch Fred, make sure you get that investment money from him too. Once you have it, collect my in-laws’ debt, then return the money to me.”

“So you want your money back? All right, that’s easy enough. I’ll pretend to be a loan shark again, just like I used to.”

“This might be a hassle. I’ll add a bonus for you.”

Martin laughed. “Take it easy, Mr. Maynard. I’ll do my best to catch that damn scammer as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Martin.”

Diane chuckled as she listened to Derek’s entire conversation.

“It’s nice to see my brother finally getting his common sense back. Back then, when I found out you’d hired a detective to pretend to be a loan shark and lend money to your in-laws—no, your ex-in-laws—I thought you’d gone crazy. Why go through all that trouble pretending when you could have just given them the money directly?”

“I just didn’t want them to feel indebted to me.”

“But if you had, they would have respected you more and stopped trampling all over your dignity.”

Derek gave a bitter chuckle. What his sister said wasn’t wrong.

“I’m going to get my dignity back.”

“Yeah? How?”

Derek took Fletcher Richmond’s business card from his wallet and held it up for Diane to see.

“I’m going back to Kings Hospital.”

He remembered the sharp and cutting words Fletcher Richmond had thrown at him some time ago.

“I’ve wasted my skills for far too long because I was being selfish. Now it’s time to make things right. I won’t let go of what I deserve.”

÷÷÷

(10 years later)

Derek was walking down the hallway toward his office that afternoon when he caught sight of a woman he hadn’t seen in many years.

Margo.

She was sitting among the other patients waiting there.

And just like the patients around her, Margo was also looking at him.

The difference was that the patients’ looks were filled with excitement and curiosity, while Margo’s was filled with shock that she couldn’t hide.

Derek’s steps instinctively slowed for a moment because he hadn’t expected this chance encounter.

“Doctor Maynard! You really moved to this hospital? We’re your fans!”

But he quickly came to his senses when three young women approached him.

“Yeah! I really love watching your shows.”

“I’ve never missed any of your shows on television!”

“Can we get your autograph and take a picture with you?”

Derek put a charming smile on his lips when he saw them start surrounding him excitedly.

“Do you also follow me on social media and watch the videos on my channel? I started sharing more fun health education while recording my daily vlogs.”

“Of course!” One of them exclaimed excitedly. “I really want to become a doctor, so I turned on notifications so I wouldn’t miss your content. It really encourages and motivates me.”

“Really? Then you have to study very hard. Becoming a doctor isn’t easy.”

“Okay!”

Derek took a moment to give them autographs and take pictures before the nurses stepped in to calm things down and restore order.

“Thank you, Doctor Maynard! We love you!”

He left them and continued walking toward his own office, passing Margo without even glancing at her.

Then, shortly after, he could feel someone following behind him and quickly stepping up to match his pace.

Reluctantly, Derek glanced to the side.

“Hi, Derek. It’s me.”

His eyes caught sight of Margo greeting him with a bright expression.

Derek frowned at her.

“Sorry? Do we know each other?”

He pretended to think and look confused, then gave Margo a victorious grin.