Chapter 773

Weekend sunlight slanted lazily across the car window.

Evelyn leaned against the seat, her gaze drifting over the bleak streets outside. In this transitional period between winter and spring, the city resembled an unfinished sketch—patches of lingering snow and bare branches glaring under the sunlight.

Alexander's Cayenne slowly climbed a slope in the old district.

"Look at those trees," he said suddenly.

Evelyn lifted her eyes. Among the skeletal branches of the roadside trees, stubborn flecks of tender green were emerging. As the car passed, the new buds cast dappled shadows across the windshield.

"Want to take a walk?" Alexander asked.

She nodded.

They stood side by side on the slope, neither speaking. A spring breeze carrying the scent of damp earth brushed their faces. Evelyn broke the silence: "It's warmer here."

"Because the buildings block the wind?"

"Mmm." She reached out to touch the tree trunk. "Plants are the most sensitive to temperature changes."

Alexander chuckled. "I thought you'd say spring chose to linger here a little longer."

She withdrew her hand, fingertips still tingling from the bark's roughness. "Trees are just trees. They don't linger for anyone."

Her quiet words tightened Alexander's chest. He noticed her gaze drifting into the distance, as if fixed on some invisible point.

"What happened at the hospital?" he asked directly.

After a pause, Evelyn recounted the pregnant patient's story. By the end, her voice trembled slightly: "I couldn't persuade them... just like I couldn't persuade myself back then."

Alexander's throat moved, but no words of comfort came. Suddenly, he retrieved a coin from the console: "Try this."

"I don't believe in luck."

"It's not about luck." He pressed the coin into her palm. "It's about seeing your own heart clearly."

The coin traced a silver arc through the air.

Evelyn caught it without checking the result. She returned it to him, her eyes now clear: "I know what to do."

That evening at dinner, Evelyn abruptly set down her chopsticks: "I'm going to the hospital tomorrow."

Alexander's serving hand froze midair: "I thought we agreed you'd rest?"

"That pregnant woman... I want to try again." Her eyes burned with determination. "At least give her one more option."

Silently, Alexander withdrew his chopsticks and managed a smile: "What do you need from me?"

"Take care of Baby Chloe." She was already pulling up medical references on her phone. "It might... take a while."

That "while" stretched into seven full days.

Evelyn became possessed, leaving before dawn and returning late each night. Twice when Alexander brought meals, he found her dozing at her desk, thick medical journals still spread beside her.

On the seventh evening, Alexander stood in the hospital corridor holding Baby Chloe.

Through the glass, he watched Evelyn speaking with the pregnant patient. Sunlight streamed behind her, gilding her silhouette. In that moment, he finally understood the coin's true meaning.

Not about fate choosing for you.

But about choosing to become your own fate.