Time-Limited Love: A Contract Expired, Not Renewed novel Chapter 38

Meanwhile, when Zinnia returned to the surgical wing, she found Zoey sitting stiffly at her desk, a dark cloud over her face.

Zinnia tapped on the open door and stepped inside. “What’s wrong? Still can’t reach an agreement with Chandler?”

Zoey shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. If he keeps stalling, I’ll file for divorce. Or I could just transfer to another city, wait out the two years of separation, and then file. Either way, I’m getting out.”

She spoke lightly, flashing Zinnia a smile. “It’s just two years, no big deal. I’m not in a rush to start over. Honestly, I’m not the one panicking—it’s the Morrison family who’s desperate.”

Zinnia looked at her friend’s breezy expression, but there was a distinct sadness in Zoey’s eyes. It left Zinnia with a bitter ache in her chest.

If she was honest, Zoey’s situation wasn’t any better than hers.

Zoey had married into the Morrison family, but they had objected from the start—looking down on her background as an orphan, convinced she’d never be worthy of their name. If Chandler hadn’t insisted, hadn’t fought tooth and nail for her, the marriage never would have happened.

Zinnia had witnessed every step of their struggle, believed Zoey had finally found a place to belong. Who could have guessed—

The one who’d clung to the relationship the hardest, Chandler, was the first to betray it.

Now, with divorce looming, no one was happier than the Morrison relatives who’d always disapproved of Zoey, the ones who had schemed for years to pair Chandler up with the heiress of the Sheffield family.

Zinnia sat down across from her. “Are you sure about this? You’ve really made up your mind?”

Zoey nodded, then gave a wry, self-mocking smile. “You know, I was ready to give up from the start. If he hadn’t fought so hard…”

Zinnia did know.

Zoey, who’d grown up in an orphanage, seemed sunny on the outside but was deeply insecure. The Morrison family’s world was never somewhere she’d wanted to set foot.

The moment they came after her, she had tried to leave Chandler behind.

But in the end, it was Chandler who convinced her to give their love a chance.

Time slipped by in a blur. She didn’t stop until the final surgery was done, and by then, her shift was officially over.

She collapsed into her chair, sipped some glucose solution, and glanced at her phone as it lit up beside her.

A message from Yuri. Another reminder to see the therapist.

She couldn’t help but laugh. They’d only known each other a couple of weeks, yet Yuri fussed over her like a mother hen.

She picked up her phone and texted back:

[On my way now.]

She wasn’t just humoring Yuri. Back when she’d been hospitalized, Zinnia had already realized something was wrong—with her body, and with her mind.