Patrick’s eyes got darker and darker. He pulled at the corner of his mouth and said dryly, “Really?”

Patrick felt a dull ache in his heart and forced a smile: “By the way, I haven’t asked you when your engagement party with Kieran is. Have you set a date yet?”

Roschelle’s eyes paused, and she slowly shook her head: “Too much happened lately, Kier and I didn’t get a chance to talk about it.”

Patrick frowned. “How can that work? Your belly was already starting to show. If we waited too long, your belly would get bigger and the wedding dress definitely wouldn’t look good. We had to decide quickly.”

Roschelle gave a soft “mm”: “I know, I trust Kier wouldn’t treat me badly.”

Patrick was a bit annoyed: “This Kieran, seriously, he even got you pregnant before marriage. What kind of reputation is that? He himself just gets to have fun.”

He didn’t notice that Roschelle’s face, which had a gentle smile before, slowly turned gloomy.

Roschelle hid her hands under the quilt and slowly clenched them.

She said softly, “Kier said he’d be a good father, so I didn’t mind.”

Patrick wanted to say something else, but the ringing of his phone in his pocket interrupted him.

He picked up the phone and frowned a bit: “Rose, I’m going out to take a call. I’ll be back soon.”

Roschelle went “Mm” and said, “Go ahead.”

While Patrick was out, Kieran came back from outside.

Roschelle’s eyes lit up and she said softly, “Kier, you’re back.”

Kieran went "Mm."

There was a bright smile and expectation in Roschelle’s eyes, and her smile bloomed like a flower.

Kieran walked over, took the book Roschelle had left on the bed, put in a bookmark, and set it on the nightstand.

Roschelle kept thinking about that amulet and smiled as she got closer to Kieran, “Kier, what did you go out to do?”

Kieran whispered, “Just looked around.”

Roschelle looked at him teasingly, “Not just that.”

As she spoke, Roschelle held out her hand to him: “Take it out, I already saw it.”

Kieran’s eyes seemed to pause for a second, then he casually took out the protection charm from his pocket and handed it to Roschelle’s palm, looking a bit helpless.

“Weren’t you supposed to rest? How did you still see what I did?”

Roschelle took the amulet, looked at it over and over, totally satisfied, and hummed playfully, “Guess what, anyway, I just knew it.”

Roschelle carefully stuffed the protection charm into her pocket and made sure it was safe, then put her hand on Kieran’s arm and laughed softly:

“Kier, I got it, thanks. I’ll get better soon, don’t worry.”

Kieran lowered his eyelids, relaxed his brows, and gave a low mm.

As the two were talking, Patrick came in from outside, and the moment he walked in, he fixed his eyes on Roschelle’s hand resting on Kieran’s arm.

Roschelle’s cheeks turned a little red, and she let go right away.

Patrick didn’t look so good and gave Kieran a rather unfriendly look. “Kieran, come out. I need to talk to you.”

Patrick didn’t look good at all, like he was just some kid here to pick a fight with Kieran.

Roschelle felt something was off and disagreed, saying, “Patrick, is there something you can’t say here?”

Patrick actually just turned her down: “No, I only want to ask him.”

As he spoke, Kieran already stood up from the edge of the bed and followed Patrick out. Roschelle didn’t say anything else.

The end of the hallway outside the ward.

Patrick got straight to the point: “Kieran, when exactly are you and Rose having the engagement party? Are you waiting until her belly gets so big the dress can’t hide it? Have you even thought about her?”

Kieran didn’t answer.

Patrick sounded more anxious: “We had to decide quickly. If Rose got a reputation for getting pregnant before marriage, it wouldn’t sound good. Plus, she was kind of a public figure. So many people online were watching her. You had to think about her.”

“Or,” Patrick turned his head and looked at Kieran suspiciously, “or, you still couldn’t let go of Alaricka?”

Kieran lifted his eyelids, his face sharp and smooth, eyebrows fierce, voice low: “This just wasn’t something you could worry about.”

Patrick opened his mouth.

Kieran said, “I knew what was going on with my marriage to Rose. I didn’t have to report everything to you, right?”

When he spoke, Kieran’s eyes looked like he was half–smiling, but the smile was cold.

Patrick squinted a little. “It better be that way, you better not owe Rose anything, or I definitely wouldn’t let you off.”

Kieran stared at him for a few seconds, looked away, and went back into Roschelle’s hospital room.