Luc Canh Hoai still looked at me with that familiar tenderness.

The same eyes that had once made me believe I was the most important person in his world.

Five years ago, when I first entered Nhan An Hospital, I was just an ordinary intern.

Nobody knew that behind my simple clothes and quiet personality was the only daughter of the Tham family in Beijing.

I wanted to know if someone could love me without my family’s name.

Without money.

Without status.

And Luc Canh Hoai was the answer I thought I had found.

He was talented.

Proud.

Cold to everyone else.

But gentle with me.

He remembered my favorite food.

He waited for me after night shifts.

He would hold my hand in the empty hospital corridor and tell me:

“Nam Chi, as long as I’m here, you don’t have to be afraid of anything.”

I believed him.

Until I saw that engagement list.

Until I saw another woman’s name beside his.

Now, every sweet word sounded like a joke.

“Nam Chi.”

His voice pulled me back.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I lowered my eyes.

“Nothing.”

He frowned slightly.

“You’ve been strange these days.”

I almost laughed.

Strange?

Of course I was strange.

The woman standing in front of him was no longer the girl who would wait until midnight just to eat dinner with him.

She was the heir of the Tham family.

The woman who had enough power to stand beside anyone.

But she had spent five years lowering herself for him.

“Canh Hoai.”

I called his name softly.

He immediately answered.

“What?”

“Do you love me?”

The question surprised him.

He smiled.

“What kind of question is that?”

“A serious one.”

He walked closer and touched my hair.

“Of course I love you.”

“Then why are you getting engaged?”

The smile on his face disappeared.

The room became completely silent.

For several seconds, he just stared at me.

I watched every change in his expression.

Shock.

Confusion.

Then finally…

Guilt.

That was enough.

I didn’t need his explanation.

Because his reaction already gave me the answer.

“Where did you hear that?”

His voice became lower.

I smiled.

“So it is true.”

“Nam Chi…”

“Don’t call my name like that.”

My voice was calm.

Too calm.

“You have been preparing an engagement ceremony while living with me.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Then tell me what it is.”

He opened his mouth.

But no words came out.

I had imagined this moment many times.

I imagined myself crying.

I imagined myself asking why.

I imagined myself begging him to choose me.

But now that it happened…

I felt nothing.

Only disappointment.

“The daughter of Principal Chu.”

I looked at him.

“Is she the reason your family never wanted to meet me?”

Luc Canh Hoai’s expression changed.

“Who told you?”

“Nobody.”

I walked past him and placed the box on the table.

“I saw the guest list myself.”

His face turned pale.

“You went into my office?”

I laughed softly.

“That’s your first concern?”

He immediately realized his mistake.

“Nam Chi, listen to me.”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“For five years, I listened to everything you said.”

“I listened when you said your family was busy.”

“I listened when you said the timing wasn’t right.”

“I listened when you said our future would come eventually.”

I looked directly at him.

“But I never knew the future you planned already had another woman.”

He stepped forward.

“She is only a family arrangement.”

“Arrangement?”

I repeated.

“Then what am I?”

His silence answered again.

I nodded slowly.

“Right.”

“I was never part of your plan.”

That night, I finally opened the drawer where I kept the identity documents I had hidden for five years.

The Tham family’s seal.

The proof of my inheritance.

Everything my father had given me when I chose to leave Beijing.

I placed it on the table.

Luc Canh Hoai looked at it.

His expression changed immediately.

“What is this?”

I smiled.

“The answer to a question you never asked.”

He picked up the document.

His hands trembled slightly.

“Tham…”

“Yes.”

I looked at him.

“Tham Nam Chi.”

“The only daughter of the Tham family.”

The color disappeared from his face.

For the first time in five years…

Luc Canh Hoai looked at me like he was seeing a stranger.

“You…”

“You knew?”

I nodded.

“I always knew.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

I looked at him quietly.

“Because I wanted to know if you loved me.”

“And now I know.”

His fingers tightened around the document.

“Nam Chi, I never cared about your family background.”

“Maybe.”

I smiled.

“But your family cared.”

“And you chose them.”

He wanted to explain.

But my phone rang.

It was my father’s assistant.

“Miss Tham, everything is ready.”

“The headquarters in Beijing is waiting for your return.”

I looked at Luc Canh Hoai.

Then answered:

“Tell them I’ll be back in three days.”

His eyes widened.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes.”

“You are really going back?”

I nodded.

“That is where I belong.”

He suddenly grabbed my wrist.

For the first time, panic appeared in his eyes.

“Nam Chi.”

“Don’t leave.”

I looked at his hand holding mine.

The same hand that had comforted me for years.

The same hand that had also hidden the truth from me.

“Canh Hoai.”

I slowly pulled away.

“You should save that sentence.”

“For the person you are actually marrying.”

The next morning, the entire hospital received a shocking announcement.

The new chairman of Nhan An Hospital’s largest shareholder had arrived.

The name appeared on every internal screen.

Tham Nam Chi.

The same woman everyone knew as a quiet ordinary doctor.

The same woman they believed came from a small district.

The same woman Luc Canh Hoai had hidden from his family.

When Luc Canh Hoai saw the announcement…

he stood frozen in his office.

Because only then did he understand.

The woman he thought he had lost because of family pressure…

was the woman his entire family had been trying to reach.

And now…

she was no longer waiting for him.