The Runaway Groom novel Chapter 14

Truth be told, Stan was not sure.

He was also puzzled and shocked to see Irene and Zachary holding a cheerful conversation over lunch—he would never have known if he had not coincidentally passed by that restaurant either.

"Should we call Dr. Slate and ask?" he suggested.

"Yeah," Isaac flatly replied, and Stan quickly left to make the call.

-

Zachary arrived after around twenty minutes. The instant he stepped into Isaac's office, he said, "Perfect timing. I was just going to—"

"You know Irene Spencer?" Isaac asked.

Interjected before he could finish, Zachary was taken aback, but he soon nodded. "I do—she's my junior, and she's the one who treated your injury that time."

Isaac leaned back on his brown leather couch, his long and bushy eyelashes twitching above his jet-black gaze.

That was her?

It surprised Isaac.

"Right, so…" Zachary continued as he entered and took a seat. "Can't you be nicer to her, Isaac?"

Isaac raised a brow and loafed even more casually just then, but those who knew him understood that the more casual he was, the more pensive he actually was.

‘Zachary is actually close to Irene?’ thought he inwardly.

Somehow, he felt upset—and he actually had no idea why he felt that way.

"Are you siding with her?" he asked quietly. "What is she to you?"

"She's my junior, duh. We graduated from the same teaching hospital, although she's two semesters my junior. Word is that her father has a mistress and is cold toward her and her mother. She had to work part-time jobs during university to pay her tuition fees. A tragic case on all counts," Zachary said, earnestly defending Irene, telling her life story as well so that Isaac would spare her, or at least let her keep her job.

Not sparing his strength, Zachary continued, "That's why I tried to help her when I could, so we're good friends. Come on, Isaac—she needs her job to pay her mother's medical bills. Can't you just let her off this once? She's really going to suffer without her job."

Isaac remained impassive, but his heart was actually stirring.

Her case did sound tragic… though that was not reason enough to forgive her.

He appeared even more relaxed then and said thoughtfully, "I don't mind forgiving her if she comes to beg me on her own."

Zachary could tell right then that Isaac was still upset with Irene, and he knew that Irene never liked to bother others, so he explained, "She wouldn't have come to me if she weren't desperate."

Isaac snorted coldly.

‘Desperate?

‘If she is desperate, why didn’t she come to me herself?

‘That just means she is not desperate enough!’ thought Isaac to himself.

"Isaac…"

Zachary tried to say more for Irene's sake, but Isaac refused to listen and uttered, "Like I said, tell her to come to me."

He clearly sounded impatient. Zachary knew that it was futile to go on now. "Just don't push her too far—she did help you before, remember that."

Isaac shot him a cool glare then. "Do you like her?"

‘Are they that close that Zachary would go so far for her?

‘Hell, could he be the man she slept with?’ he thought.

"Well, I do… but it's more admiration, to be honest," Zachary quickly explained. "She's quite likable. Although there were many boys who liked her and tried to woo her back at university, she rejected all of them. That's a proper maiden of integrity for you, and I think I'd fall for her if I hadn’t fallen for someone else… Haha!"