Chapter 489

Alexander Hamilton wasn't annoyed at being called out. Instead, he chuckled softly. "This conference has been more tedious than expected. The previous years were interesting, but now it's all empty formalities. If you're curious about the next two days, I can have the organizers send you the slides. Though I warn you, those documents are even more sleep-inducing."

"More boring than medical textbooks?" Evelyn Carter had spent years as a med student, grinding through research papers as routine. A few slides were nothing.

But what frustrated her more was—

"You really have no symptoms at all?"

Alexander shook his head. "None."

They took the same flight. Shared the same room. How was he completely unaffected?

Was the virus playing favorites?

He raised a brow. "Maybe it's because you're a doctor. You've offended the virus family, and they're here for revenge."

Evelyn scoffed. "How chivalrous of them."

He leaned in, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Why are you still burning up?"

She turned her face away. "Stay back."

"What now?"

"Tired."

He tucked the blanket around her. "Sleep."

"What about you?"

"I'll stay."

She rolled onto her side, turning her back to him. "Go do your work. I'll be fine after some rest."

"I can't see you like this. Turn around." He reached over and gently shifted her onto her back. "Your IV is in your left arm. Lying on your side will put pressure on it."

She glared. "Now you're dictating how I sleep?"

He patted the blanket. "Sleep."

The fever dragged her under quickly.

In the haze between wakefulness and dreams, she caught fragments of his hushed phone call.

"Email me the Hamilton Group documents..."

"Find someone who can make soup..."

"Visit the Taylors this weekend..."

"About Peter Harrison..."

The words blurred as darkness swallowed her whole.

When she opened her eyes again, sunlight filled the room.

Alexander stood by the IV drip, speaking quietly with a nurse.

She coughed, her throat parched.

He turned. "Awake?"

Her gaze dropped to his fingers. "Why are you holding the IV tube?"

The nurse suppressed a smile. "Your husband was worried the fluid was too cold. He slowed the drip and warmed it with his hands."

Alexander huffed. "No need to explain. Everything I do is wrong anyway."

The nurse excused herself with a quiet laugh.

Evelyn touched the tube near the needle. It wasn't icy anymore.

"My mistake."

"If you're atoning, you should expect to be misunderstood a few times." He picked an apple from the fruit basket. "Eat this first. Breakfast will be here soon."

She blinked. "You can peel an apple?"

His long fingers moved deftly, the peel falling in one unbroken spiral. Soon, a perfectly peeled apple was in her hand.

"Did you learn that for Annabelle?"

His hands stilled briefly before he continued in silence.

She took a bite. "Guess so."

"Evelyn, I can't change the past. But you can't keep holding it against me."

"Who's holding anything?" She chewed. "Skills you learned for her now benefit me. In a way, I should thank her."

"You're clearly upset."

"I'm not."

"You are."

She licked juice from her lips. "Fine. I am. How would you feel if I said I married you because I was in love with a man named Alexander Hamilton Sr., and that becoming a doctor and buying a home were all for him?"

"..."

"There are too many knots between us. A few massages and peeled apples won't untangle them."

He nodded slowly. "I'm not forcing you."

"You couldn't if you tried."

"I know. Push you too hard, and you'd probably drag us both down together."

The crisp snap of the apple echoed sharply in the quiet room.

Silence stretched.

When she finished, he took the core and tossed it. Pulling out a tissue, he wiped her fingers. "Don't move. You'll dislodge the needle."