Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Are You Out of Your Mind?

Yvonne Sutton shot upright. She frantically pulled out her phone, trying to salvage the situation, but Wyatt Shaw had already replied.

"Okay."

One word. Okay.

Yvonne stared at the word, stunned for a long time.

The truth was, she had just been provoked by Vincent Reed’s comment about a "wedding gift," as if his getting married was some grand achievement and she was some unwanted leftover.

She had even told him she was going to marry someone else, but he had just laughed at her for being delusional.

Yvonne tapped her forehead, wondering how to fix this mess.

Just then, Wyatt Shaw sent another reply.

"I told my family about the wedding date. They think it’s a great day."

Yvonne: "..."

"That date might not be so great after all," she typed, her fingers trembling.

"Why?"

Yvonne steeled herself and typed, "Because my ex-boyfriend is also getting married on that day."

"In that case, we’ll just have to make our wedding grand and spectacular, and piss off your ex-boyfriend."

"You’re not angry?"

"Why would I be angry?"

"That I’m using you?"

"You wouldn’t suddenly agree to marry me for no reason. If this is the reason, I can understand and accept it. Besides, I’m very confident that you won’t regret it."

Yvonne put her phone away, as if she were tucking Wyatt Shaw himself, and his words, away with it.

Holding them carefully in her hand, placing them close to her heart.

Halfway through her millet porridge, Yvonne fell asleep.

When Mr. Webb woke her, they were already in front of Building 8.

"Thank you for your trouble tonight," she said to Mr. Webb, turning back to him.

Mr. Webb waved his hand. "It’s no trouble at all. This is my job. The more trouble Miss Sutton gives me, the more money I can make."

Yvonne smiled. "Then you should head home for the night."

"Okay."

After Mr. Webb left, Yvonne saw Joshua Hale drive up and drop off Vincent Reed.

Having slept the whole way, Vincent Reed was a bit more sober and got out of the car on his own.

He saw Yvonne right away and seemed dazed for a moment.

"I thought you had more backbone, leaving with your luggage like that. Turns out you had nowhere else to go and had to come crawling back."

Yvonne just nodded at Joshua Hale and turned to enter Building 8.

Only then did it dawn on Vincent Reed. "What does that mean? She’s been living across from my place these past few days?"

Joshua Hale gave Vincent Reed a push toward his apartment. "Alright, just open your door."

Vincent Reed scoffed. "And here she was, talking about making a clean break from me, but ends up moving in across the street. I’m telling you, she can’t let me go. All that talk about breaking up was just talk. You want to bet? After Wendy and I are married, if I ask her to be my mistress, she’ll agree."

"Stop dreaming. Yvonne would never agree to that," Joshua Hale said with a frown.

"Just you watch. I’ll definitely get her."

Vincent Reed swayed to his front door, stared at the keypad lock, and blanked for a second. "I think it’s the day we made our relationship official. What day was that again?"

Joshua Hale couldn’t help but roll his eyes. "160805. It was also Yvonne’s birthday."

"Oh, right."

"Do yourself a favor and change the code. Change it to Wendy Winters’s birthday. You definitely wouldn’t forget that."

Vincent Reed scoffed. "True."

The next day, Yvonne went to work as usual. But a crowd of fans had gathered at the hospital entrance. They had even unfurled banners, demanding that the hospital administration fire Yvonne Sutton.

Yvonne got to her office in the outpatient clinic, but not a single patient came to see her all morning.

"What’s going on with those banners outside?"

"They’re saying a doctor from gynecology, last name Sutton, used her position to seduce someone’s fiancé."

"Someone like that is fit to be a doctor? Which one is she?"

"The one sitting in this very office."

There were no patients in her office, but a circle of people had formed outside, staring at her as if she were a monkey in a cage and chattering excitedly among themselves.

"Shoo, shoo! If you’re not here to see a doctor, don’t block the door!" Mina Adler came over, pushed aside the gawkers blocking the entrance, then entered the office and shut the door. "If I were you, I wouldn’t have even come in. I’d be on paid leave."

Yvonne replied while typing, "Why shouldn’t I come in? I haven’t done anything wrong. Besides, if I didn’t show up, those people online would eat me alive."

Mina Adler sighed. "True. These fans are insane."

She sat down across the desk, pulled out her phone to browse the internet, and then shot bolt upright at something she saw.

"Yvonne, you’re trending again."

Yvonne’s heart sank when she heard that. "Am I getting flamed again?"

"No, it’s the photo you posted yesterday. It’s gone viral now."

"But didn’t you say Wendy Winters’s team was working behind the scenes to bury the photo?"

"Yeah, that’s what it looked like yesterday. I don’t know why it’s suddenly trending again today."

Yvonne took out her phone to look. The topic was shooting up the trending list; it kept climbing until it hit the top and exploded in popularity.

She opened the trending topic and saw that, unlike before, it wasn’t just being flooded by fans’ controlled comments and overwhelming vitriol. Now, there were many more balanced comments and analyses appearing.

"You can clearly see from this photo that this Dr. Sutton and Mr. Reed were already a couple in college. But Wendy Winters claims she and he started dating when they were in college. Her statement clearly contradicts the facts."

"Plus, the doctor said she and Mr. Reed were together for eight years. So what role was Wendy Winters playing between the couple during those eight years?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Wendy Winters’s fans keep insisting the photo is photoshopped. Well, show us the proof! The public isn’t blind."

Mina grew excited as she read, her fingers flying across her keyboard: "Dr. Sutton is my friend. The one-million-yuan check she took in the video was actually money Mr. Reed owed her, but Wendy Winters framed it as compensation. And after this blew up, not only did she not clarify things for Dr. Sutton, she let her fans hurl insults while she tried to cover up her own scandal."

Mina also posted the photos she took this morning of the fans swarming the hospital: "Wendy Winters’s fans are harassing an innocent civilian. We call on Wendy Winters and her team to handle this situation immediately and clear Dr. Sutton’s name."

Mina had commented before, but her posts were quickly buried by Wendy Winters’s fans. This time was different. Many people liked her comment, boosting it to the top.

"Yvonne, don’t tell me you used your money-power too?" Mina asked, looking at Yvonne.

Yvonne shook her head. "Of course not."

"Look! More than ten marketing accounts are posting your photo now. At this rate, there’s no suppressing it. Wendy Winters’s team is very good; for things to get this out of control, it can’t just be the work of random netizens."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone’s fanning the flames behind the scenes, and they’re on your side."

"Didn’t you say before it might be one of Wendy Winters’s rivals?"

Mina shook her head. "Even her rivals aren’t this capable."

That afternoon, while making her rounds in the inpatient department, Yvonne stopped by Wendy Winters’s room as usual.

However, there were several people in the room, frantically dealing with something.

When she entered, everyone looked at her.

Wendy Winters’s eyes immediately reddened. "Yvonne, aren’t we friends? Did you really have to go this far and leave me with no way out?"

Yvonne found this laughable. "What did I do? All I did was post a photo."

"Just a photo? You didn’t pull any strings behind the scenes?"

"First of all, you were the one who tried to shift the focus and sling mud at me. Second, by only posting one photo, I’ve already shown you considerable restraint. And third, I’m not in your circle, so I don’t have the means to ’pull any strings’."

"I want you to make a public statement saying that photo is photoshopped, or that you cozied up to Vincent Reed with ulterior motives. You also have to admit that Vincent and I are the real couple, and that you’re just full of envy, jealousy, and hate," Wendy Winters said, her face grim.

Yvonne was speechless. "Are you insane?"