I stood outside the emergency room with my sister, watching the doctors work through the glass.

An hour later, my niece’s condition was finally stable.

Only then did I remember Lục Hoài Châu.

He hadn’t called once.

Not even a message asking whether Du Du was okay.

At dawn, a nurse approached us.

—We’re arranging a transfer to pediatric neurology.

My sister looked relieved.

—Is there finally a bed?

The nurse hesitated.

—Dr. Lục authorized one last night.

I froze.

For one stupid second, hope returned.

Maybe he had changed his mind.

Maybe after I left, he had called the hospital.

Then the nurse continued:

—The bed is for Miss Tô’s daughter. Your niece is still on the waiting list.

My heart sank.

Tô Nhã.

Lục Hoài Châu’s first love.

I walked toward his department without saying anything.

His office door was partly open.

Inside, Lục Hoài Châu was holding Tô Nhã’s little girl while she slept against his shoulder.

Tô Nhã stood beside him.

—Thank you for changing the surgery schedule —she whispered—. I knew you would help me.

He answered softly:

—Don’t worry. I’ve already moved three cases. She’ll have surgery first thing tomorrow.

I stopped breathing.

Yesterday, when I begged him for my niece, he had said:

The rules are the rules.

Now three children’s schedules had been changed because Tô Nhã asked.

I pushed the door open.

Lục Hoài Châu looked surprised.

—Hạ Ninh?

I didn’t yell.

I simply asked:

—What happened to the rules?

His expression hardened.

—This situation is different.

I almost laughed.

Of course.

It was always different when the person asking wasn’t me.

—My niece wasn’t sick enough for you to make an exception.

I looked toward Tô Nhã’s daughter.

—But hers is?

Tô Nhã immediately said:

—Hạ Ninh, don’t misunderstand—

—I don’t blame you.

Then I looked at Lục Hoài Châu.

—You didn’t owe my family special treatment. But you did owe me honesty.

He stood.

—Don’t make this emotional.

That sentence ended everything.

I took the key to his apartment from my bag and placed it on his desk.

—You’re right. There’s nothing emotional left to discuss.

His face finally changed.

—What are you doing?

—Breaking up with you.

He stared at me as though I’d said something ridiculous.

—Over a hospital bed?

—No.

I shook my head.

—Over two years of discovering that your principles only apply when I’m the one asking.

I walked out.

He didn’t follow me.

Three hours later, my sister received unexpected news.

Another hospital had accepted Du Du’s transfer.

And the doctor agreeing to take her case was the specialist we’d been trying desperately to reach.

Dr. Luc.

But when he arrived, I recognized him immediately.

Not from the hospital.

From an old photograph in Lục Hoài Châu’s apartment.

He had once introduced the man as his former mentor.

Dr. Luc examined Du Du’s records, then looked at me strangely.

—You’re Hạ Ninh?

—Yes.

His expression became complicated.

—Then there’s something you should know.

My stomach tightened.

—About my niece?

—No.

He closed the medical file.

—About Lục Hoài Châu.

I said nothing.

Dr. Luc lowered his voice.

—He didn’t refuse your request because there were no beds.

I stared at him.

—What?

—Yesterday morning, I personally offered his department an additional pediatric bed for an urgent referral.

My fingers went cold.

—When?

He gave me the exact time.

Twenty minutes before Lục Hoài Châu told me there was absolutely nothing he could do.

I felt my stomach drop.

—Then why did he refuse us?

Dr. Luc hesitated.

—That’s what I asked him.

—And what did he say?

The doctor looked toward my sister before answering.

—He said your niece could not be admitted under his name.

—Why?

Dr. Luc’s expression changed.

—Because if she entered his department, someone might examine her old medical records.

I stopped breathing.

—What old records?

He slowly opened another folder.

On the first page was Du Du’s name.

But beneath it was a consultation from three years earlier.

Signed by Lục Hoài Châu.

Three years.

I had only been with him for two.

I looked up.

—Why was my boyfriend involved in my niece’s treatment before he ever met me?

Dr. Luc didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he turned to the final page.

There, beside Lục Hoài Châu’s signature, was another familiar name.

Tô Nhã.

And suddenly I realized his refusal had never really been about hospital rules.

He had been terrified that bringing my niece into his department would uncover something he and his first love had been hiding since before I entered his life.