Hospital Games

As Vivienne's vision went completely black and her body went entirely limp, she braced herself for the harsh, painful impact of the freezing concrete floor. The bright sunlight streaming over the courthouse steps rapidly faded into absolute nothingness. However, the bone-shattering fall she anticipated never came.

Dominic’s strong, muscular arm suddenly shot out, wrapping firmly around her slender waist and pulling her flush against his broad chest. A fresh, familiar peppermint scent immediately enveloped her senses, piercing through the hazy, disorienting fog of her high fever. As Dominic touched her skin, he acutely noted the burning, unnatural heat radiating from her forehead. A sudden, inexplicable urge to protect this frail woman aggressively rose within his chest. He looked down at her pale, delicate face, realizing just how impossibly light she felt in his arms.

"You're burning hot," Dominic said, a rare hint of genuine concern breaking through his usually stoic demeanor. "Do you have a fever?"

Snapping slightly out of her daze, Vivienne fiercely hissed, her voice strained but dripping with resistance. "This doesn't concern you!" She stubbornly began to wriggle in his hold, desperately trying to free herself from his iron grip. She wanted nothing more than to walk away from this encounter with her dignity completely intact. She absolutely refused to be cast as the pitiful, sick ex-wife who needed his sudden mercy to survive the afternoon.

Yet, her utterly exhausted and feverish body violently betrayed her immense willpower. The second her feet touched the ground and she tried to step away from his solid frame, she violently staggered backward, the world spinning dangerously around her.

Without a second thought, Dominic stepped forward and scooped her entirely into his arms, lifting her effortlessly in a bridal style. His hold was tight and secure, leaving no room for argument. He authoritatively declared, "I am taking you to the hospital."

"What are you doing? Let go of me!" Vivienne loudly protested, fury flushing her cheeks even more deeply than the sickness. She beat her fists weakly against his tailored suit jacket. "Do you not remember that we've already separated?"

Dominic firmly shut down her protests, his voice heavy and unwavering. "You are still legally considered my wife during the thirty-day waiting period."

Standing to the side and watching this intimate display unfold, a panicking Isolde realized she was rapidly losing control of the narrative. Desperate to force him to choose her over the woman he was about to divorce, she immediately resorted to feigning weakness. Placing a dramatic hand on her hip, she called out to him, whining, "Dom, wait up! I can't walk that fast when I'm pregnant..."

Dominic coldly dismissed her plea without even turning his head to acknowledge her performance. "Stay exactly where you are," he told Isolde in a deep, unwavering voice. "Wait for my assistant, Gideon, to pick you up later. I cannot stand back and watch when Vivienne is clearly severely ill."

Hearing this bold declaration, Vivienne scoffed internally. What absolute nonsense. She found it entirely ridiculous that this man had aggressively forced a divorce just to make room for his pregnant mistress, yet now had the pure audacity to act as if he actually cared about her well-being. Deciding to play his twisted game and inflict maximum emotional damage on her rival, Vivienne changed her tactic entirely.

She wrapped her slender arms tightly around Dominic's neck, leaned fully into his warm chest, and batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. Looking up at him with a wide, innocent gaze, she sweetly whispered, "Thank you, my dear ex-husband."

Dominic fell completely and silently speechless at the sudden provocative behavior. His dark eyes widened fractionally, his mind entirely unsure how to process this sudden, jarring shift in her attitude. Meanwhile, Isolde was left standing entirely alone on the cold pavement, turning incredibly pale with sheer, unadulterated anger as she watched them walk away.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Dominic surprisingly refused to leave. Instead of dropping her off and heading back to his precious mistress, he stayed firmly anchored by Vivienne's bedside in the private ward, his presence an imposing shadow in the sterile room.

The medical test results soon arrived, delivered by an older, stern-looking doctor holding a thick clipboard. "Her core temperature is sitting at a highly dangerous 39.3 °C," the doctor announced grimly. "She is suffering from a severe viral and bacterial infection."

The attending doctor then aggressively turned his sights on Dominic, his face twisting in absolute disgust. "What kind of husband are you?" he sternly scolded, stepping right up to the billionaire and demanding answers. The doctor furiously berated him, "Allowing your wife to wear such incredibly thin clothing in freezing weather! And when she already had a high fever, no less! Do you have any common sense at all?"

Before Dominic could even attempt to open his mouth and explain the incredibly complex reality of their pending divorce, Vivienne purposely chimed in. She immediately adopted a sickeningly sweet, overly dramatic, tearful tone.

"Doctor, please, I beg you not to blame him," she cried out, clutching her thin hospital blanket. She dramatically began to list out his supposed sins to the horrified medical professional. "He starved me, he left me completely freezing in the cold night, he blatantly cheated on me, and he aggressively forced me into a divorce..."

The doctor gasped aloud, his eyes wide with utter outrage as he glared daggers at Dominic.

But Vivienne wasn't nearly done. She finished her theatrical performance by sighing deeply, a beautifully fake tear slipping down her flushed cheek. "But I am entirely willing to endure all this horrific abuse simply because... well, he is just way too handsome! I couldn't possibly hold a grudge against a face like that!"

Dominic was left utterly baffled and deeply unsettled by her erratic, highly sarcastic behavior. He stared down at her as if she had suddenly grown a second head, his jaw tight.

The bewildered doctor, clearly not wanting any part of this incredibly toxic, bizarre domestic dispute, scribbled frantically on his medical chart. "I will prescribe an IV drip," he muttered quickly, practically fleeing the tense room to save his own sanity.

Left entirely alone once again, the estranged couple fell into an odd, heavy quiet. The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

Looming tall over her hospital bed with his broad shoulders squared and his hands shoved deep into his expensive tailored pockets, Dominic stared down at her intensely. "Are you finally done playing games?" he asked, his voice low.

Vivienne coughed awkwardly, her theatrical facade crumbling away into the sterile hospital air. Dropping the dramatic act, she softly replied, "Yeah." As she lay there hooked up to the monitors, she silently realized she had nearly pushed herself to death's door earlier today just to prove a stubborn point.

Dominic's sharp gaze softened slightly, his heart inexplicably aching at the sight of her flushed, utterly defenseless state against the stark white hospital pillows. "Why didn't you simply reschedule today’s court meeting?" he quietly asked, the genuine confusion evident in his deep tone. "Especially when you realized you were suffering from such a high fever."

Looking away to avoid his intense, magnetic stare, Vivienne murmured softly. "What would be the point of rescheduling?" Her voice was laced with a tired resignation. "The end of our marriage is inevitable anyway."

Mentally pushing aside the absolute last of her lingering, foolish fantasies of ever winning his love, she looked back at him with clear eyes. She formally thanked him for his help today, her tone polite but incredibly distant. "I am fine now. You can leave. Your pregnant lover is waiting for you."

Snapped brutally back to his cold reality by the explicit mention of Isolde, Dominic's jaw tightened. The fleeting moment of vulnerability vanished instantly. He nodded stiffly, accepting the blatant dismissal. "Alright. I'll be off then," he agreed.

He turned his back to her, taking heavy, deliberate steps toward the door. Just as he reached out for the handle, the door swung open. A tall, slender male figure confidently strode directly into the private ward, completely missing the heavy atmosphere in the room.

The newcomer loudly exclaimed, "Boss, how did you end up in the hospital over a divorce..."