Book 1: She Becomes Glamorous After the Engagement Annulment

Chapter 61

Chapter 181: Nora Smith Is Anti!

Nora didn’t look at him anymore. Instead, she went straight into the changing room.

Michael stood outside the door, totally frozen in place.

What Ms. Smith had said just now… Was she saying that she was Anti?

This… Surely not?

Michael swallowed hard. He had really never once imagined that Nora might possibly be Anti. After all, it took time for one to train their skills in surgery, and one needed to perform many operations in order to cultivate a feel for things.

Most of the amazing surgeons in their industry were middle-aged. Not only could they keep up in terms of stamina, but they were also experienced. Therefore, everyone assumed that Anti must be a middle-aged man or woman.

Nora… was a little too young!

Given her age, she might not even be good enough to be Lily, Anti’s first assistant, right?

W-was… was she really Anti?

While Michael’s expression was changing again and again, Nora had changed and came back out. Her hair was tied up, and she was wearing a surgical gown and a surgical cap.

Surgical caps were fastened very tightly to prevent hair from being exposed. This was to prevent people from bringing germs and bacteria into the operating room. Most people looked very ugly wearing it, but when Nora’s face was fully exposed like this, it instead made her look even more stunning.

She had a very cold expression on her countenance, and her eyes were downcast. The air face was fully exposed like this, it instead made her look even more stunning.

She had a very cold expression on her countenance, and her eyes were downcast.

The air around her was still as casual as ever.

She had previously given Michael a lazy and frivolous feeling, but she felt completely different now—this was self-assurance and confidence!

As expected of his idol, indeed!

Michael’s eyes were shining. He simply watched as she walked over to the sink next to him. After washing her hands and fingers carefully, she looked back at him.

Michael was so excited that he wanted to run a few laps around the hospital.

He had finally met his idol!!

At the sight of him staring at her as though he had gone daft, Nora’s almond-shaped eyes narrowed a little as she smiled at Michael and said, “Anti is human, not a god.”

Michael, “!!”

He suddenly thought of how he had refuted Nora and misunderstood that she was looking down on Anti when she had said that previously. But in the end, she was just being self-effacing!

He suddenly flushed crimson all over his face. He swallowed and said, “Ant—”

However, before he could finish, footsteps coming toward them suddenly rang out. They were likely from the medical staff who had finished putting on their surgical gowns and were about to enter.

Nora abruptly turned her head and suddenly stretched out a finger, gesturing to him to keep quiet.

Michael’s words immediately became stuck in his throat.

Nora took out a surgical mask and quickly put it on, followed by a pair of goggles. Her movements were neither too quick nor slow; it was as if she had calculated the time just right. By the time they entered, she had completely covered herself up.

No one could see her original appearance at all when she was all covered up like that.

“Is Anti ready, Michael?”

A voice reached them before the others even approached. Right on the heels of it, Tina led the few medical staff over to wash their hands. When they saw Anti, who had already changed, the whole group was stunned.

Someone couldn’t stop themselves from asking softly, “Professor… Anti?”

Nora looked at them. Her gaze swept past Tina to ultimately fall on Lisa, who was standing at the back of the crowd but also staring at her with bright and shiny eyes like Michael.

She nodded slightly, making the group of people excited.

“Anti, you are my idol!”

“Professor Anti, I’m so lucky to be able to watch you perform an operation with my own eyes!”

“… Ahhh, I’m so excited!”

Nora raised her eyebrows. She smiled at the excited doctor and said jokingly, “Do remember to keep your hands steady.”

The doctor immediately straightened his back and promised, “Rest assured, Anti! There definitely won’t be any problems!”

Amid the cheer and harmony, a discordant voice rang out. “Where is Nora Smith, Dr. Lange?”

Tina’s voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it was still within Nora’s earshot. Tina looked at Michael and said, “I clearly saw her just now. Is she hiding somewhere so that she can sneak into the operating room?”

Michael, “…”

He wanted to say that Anti was Nora herself! But when he thought of how Anti had gestured him to keep quiet before the others came in… She must be asking him to keep her identity a secret, right?

Thus, Michael replied, “Don’t bring that up anymore…”

“Why not? I’m just trying to warn Anti about it, lest she suddenly pops up out of nowhere during the operation.”

Tina deliberately heaved a sigh as she tried to give Anti a bad impression of Nora.

She was afraid that Anti would give Nora special treatment because of the Hunt's.

It stood to reason that Anti would ask about what had happened after she said that, right? This way, she would be able to naturally say certain things after that.

But unexpectedly, those eyes behind the goggles looked as if there was only icy coldness in them.

She must be mistaken, though.

After all, Anti was joking with the others just now and seemed rather even-tempered.

Seeing that she wasn’t saying anything, Tina went on by herself and said, “My apologies, Anti, this is an oversight on the school’s part for allowing someone who really wanted to observe your surgery to break in. We will definitely sue her if we discover her later! This has reached the point of serious medical malpractice!”

Nora, “?”

With which eye had Tina seen her breaking in? Those who didn’t know any better would have thought that she must have done something really nefarious!

Her expression became even colder.

Afraid that Anti would become angry, Michael stepped in front of Tina and said, “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s go to the operating room!”

On account of Michael, Tina nodded at everyone behind her.

Everyone had to enter the operating room to make preparations in advance and ready all the tools to be used later. When Lisa passed by Nora, she greeted her cautiously, “Hello, Professor Anti.”

Nora smiled at her and said encouragingly, “I’m relatively busy at the moment, so follow Dr. Shaw and do your best to learn from him for now.”

Her voice… It sounded rather familiar to Lisa.

She cast a hesitant glance at Nora again—those eyes behind the goggles also looked a little familiar. In the midst of her hesitance, Her voice… It sounded rather familiar to Lisa.

She cast a hesitant glance at Nora again—those eyes behind the goggles also looked a little familiar. In the midst of her hesitance, Tina reprimanded her. “What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and go in!”

Lisa hurriedly retracted her gaze. She glanced at Nora again before she followed the rest into the operating room.

Nora frowned.

Her cousin was a little too much of a pushover. Did she allow just anyone to shout at her?

She was about to speak when Tina suddenly came up to her and said, “Professor Anti, I am Tina York, a professor that the medical university also specially invited. I am honored to take part in the same operation as you.”

Nora stared at her.

Tina said unhurriedly, “Professor Anti, did you take Lisa Black as your postgraduate student because of Nora Smith’s connections with Mr. Hunt?”

Nora, “?”

Tina continued to lodge a complaint against Nora. She said, “To be honest, Lisa’s exam results weren’t the best at that time. Moreover, the research topic she proposed is also an unpopular one. Oh, by the way, she is Nora Smith’s cousin, and is someone who cannot tell what’s good for herself, just like Nora…”

Now, that was going too far.

She was originally planning to get rid of the woman after the operation, but she was simply too noisy.

Nora suddenly raised her eyebrows and said, “I didn’t know I was someone who cannot tell what’s good for myself.”

Chapter 182: Tina York’s Fate!

“I didn’t know I was someone who cannot tell what’s good for myself.”

When the woman’s low voice reached her ears, it made Tina wonder if she had misheard.

She hurriedly explained, “I wasn’t talking about you. I…”

Before she could finish, though, she understood something in an instant. She looked at Nora incredulously and sputtered, “You… you… you…”

She didn’t manage to finish her words even after repeating ‘you’ thrice.

Nora, however, didn’t pay her any more attention. Instead, she turned and entered the operating room.

Tina, who was still in shock, stood where she was and stared after her.

This continued until someone called out, “Dr. York?”

Only then did Tina finally come back to her senses. She walked into the operating room like a zombie, glancing at the resolute-looking figure from time to time.

Nora Smith was Anti?

No, she must be dreaming! How could she possibly be Anti?!

Tina swallowed hard.

While she was in a daze, everyone in the operating room had begun making preparations for their respective tasks. The patient had been anesthetized and was currently unconscious.

Nora put on a pair of gloves, and started to draw the craniotomy’s incision lines on the child’s head with a marker pen. Then, she took a step back to take a scalpel.

At this point…

“Dr. York?”

Someone called out, making Tina snap back to reality. It was then that Nora realized that Tina was in a trance. Only after the person called out to her, did Tina finally hastily picked up a scalpel and step forward to perform the craniotomy.

Nora frowned.

Her gaze swept across everyone in the room—all of them looked serious, and their excitement at meeting her just now was all gone. Once they were at the operating table, they were doctors saving the sick and wounded.

Lisa was a newcomer who had never entered an operating room prior to this, and Tina had even deliberately made things difficult for her before they entered the operating room; but even she was staring at the patient seriously at this moment. She didn’t make any mistakes in the tasks that she was assigned at all.

Nora felt that she hadn’t misjudged her, after all. Even though her little cousin was quite the pushover in her daily life, she was able to focus and keep herself from being affected by anything at the operating table.

In contrast, Tina, as an experienced surgeon, had already performed innumerable operations before, yet she was still behaving like that. She was simply too irresponsible!

Her expression turned cold. She stepped forward, stopped Tina, and said, “I’ll do it instead.”

Although a craniotomy was a simple procedure, one must treat every operation with caution and reverence.

Everyone could tell that Tina wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Thus, no one doubted Anti when she said that.

Tina was the only one who frowned and glared at her furiously.

However, no one was to refute the chief surgeon’s instructions when they were in the operating room. Thus, she could only take a step back.

Nora lowered her head and started to perform the operation seriously.

For a while, the operating room was silent as everyone busied themselves with their tasks.

“Forceps.”

Nora suddenly stretched out her hand behind her.

Tina, whom Nora had forced behind her, was stunned for a moment. She hurriedly picked up the forceps from the operating table and handed it to her, but Nora unexpectedly didn’t take them from her.

Tina looked back up to see Anti, who felt so foreign to her, saying frigidly and slightly sarcastically, “Are you unable to even distinguish between forceps and hemostats, Dr. York? Were you really the head of the surgery department at Hospital Finest? Have you really performed operations before? Are the patients you operated on still alive? Also, I really suspect that the person who hired you must be blind.”

Every word of hers was like a knife that ruthlessly lacerated Tina’s cheeks, making her feel as if her skin had been sliced into ribbons and all fallen onto the floor.

The students around them also looked at her.

Tina felt as if all the blood in her had rushed to the top of her head in an instant. She suddenly said shrilly, “You’re picking on me!”

Right after she shouted, she hurled the object in her hand at Nora!

Nora, who was already on the alert, abruptly stretched her leg out and kicked Tina away while her arm was swinging down!

Bam!

Tina slammed against the wall and fell onto the floor. She wanted to get up, but she instead tasted something sickly sweet in her mouth. The next moment, she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

None of the others in the operating room could react in time to her sudden lashing out.

Nora, however, had held on steadily to the craniotomy instrument with one hand without even moving.

“Forceps.”

Her calm and contained voice brought everyone back to their senses. Michael was the calmest among them, but he was relatively far away. He was about to walk over and pass Nora the tool when someone reacted and handed her the forceps.

Michael looked over—it was Lisa.

He was a little surprised, but after that, he couldn’t help but sigh. Anti really did have a great eye for people. Everyone thought that the postgraduate student she had taken was too much of a pushover, but unexpectedly, she could actually react so quickly in the face of such an accident.

She was really devoting her whole mind and body to the operation.

_

Despite the small episode in the middle, the operation went on smoothly.

Four hours later, Nora finished the last step. She stepped aside and instructed Michael, “Stitch the wound.”

“Roger.”

The others helped Michael while he was stitching up the wound. Nora took the opportunity to move her fingers and her wrists, as well as her shoulders.

A four-hour operation was no biggie to her.

After she stretched, she finally looked at Tina, who had collapsed onto the floor and passed out in an area some distance away.

Her going crazy in the operating room was something that no one could have seen coming.

Otherwise, Nora would never have allowed her to enter the operating room and pose a threat to the patient.

It was also because of this that she had applied more force and made her pass out with a kick.

She casually picked Tina up and dragged her out of the operating room.

Some of the others happened to look over. When they caught sight of Anti’s back view, they suddenly broke into a layer of cold sweat.

Twenty minutes later, Tina slowly opened her eyes.

Director Shaw and the others were standing in front of her. He berated her sternly. “You’ve really disappointed us, Tina! How could you get into a fight in the operating room?! If it weren’t for Anti, were you also going to ruin the operation?!”

Tina’s eyes widened in shock.

Director Shaw then announced her penalty. He said, “Your medical license will be revoked. The school will also cancel your qualification as a professor and dismiss you!”

They were going to revoke her license? If they did that, she would never be able to perform surgery ever again! Her career would be utterly ruined!

Tina panicked. She jumped right up from the bed and said, “Director Shaw, I—”

But before she could finish, the police came over and said, “I’m sorry, Dr. York, but the patient’s family members have made a police report and accused you of interfering with the operation. Please assist us in the investigations.”

“…”

While the police were taking Tina away, Nora changed back to her clothes. She dragged her feet and slowly shuffled off. She was about to leave the floor when a voice suddenly came from behind her.

“Ms. Smith?”

A surprised Nora turned around to see Joel standing behind her not too far away.

He looked as amicable as ever. His upturned eyes were slightly narrowed as he looked at her, and there was a scrutinizing look in his eyes.

Chapter 183: The Report Is Out

Why was he here?

Nora was wondering about that when Joel walked over. There was also surprise on his countenance as he asked, “Why are you here?”

Nora raised her eyebrows and answered ambiguously, “I’m a doctor. Why are you here, though, Mr. Smith?”

She was a doctor?

Joel narrowed his eyes a little and looked at the operating room.

Anti had an operation here today, so he had especially rushed over here to ask Anti to treat his uncle’s illness.

Due to Anti’s presence, only one operation had been arranged on this particular floor.

Since she was here, then didn’t that mean that she just met Anti?

Joel’s gaze returned to the operating room. The operation should have ended by now, right?

He didn’t have any more time to spend going back and forth with Nora, so he nodded and replied, “I’m here to look for someone.”

After he said that, the doors to the operating room opened.

Michael walked out with the others. Joel strode over to them right away.

Michael had already finished the sutures long ago. The operation went perfectly.

Nora had only left after she was informed about it.

At the sight of Joel walking toward the operating room, Nora strode off and left.

She could finally go home and have good sleep now.

Joel didn’t pay any more attention to her. Instead, he went straight to Michael and said, “Hello, Anti.”

Michael, “?”

He took off his surgical mask and stared at Joel in astonishment. “I’m not Anti.”

Joel was taken aback. “Then where’s Anti?”

“Anti has already left a long time ago.”

“What?”

Joel broke into a frown. He was already here when the operation was nearing its end and had been waiting outside the whole time. The only person that left at the end of the operation had been…

Just as Joel’s suspicions were starting to develop, Michael thought of how Nora hadn’t wanted to reveal her identity, so he said, “Yes, Mr. Anti has already left.”

Mister?

Was Anti male?

This wasn’t that surprising, though. Most surgeons were men.

Joel frowned. Although his uncle’s diagnosis hadn’t yet been confirmed, it would always be safer if they could find Anti.

He didn’t expect to actually miss him.

He heaved a sigh, left the operating room, and went downstairs. When he entered the car park, he happened to see the familiar jeep driving past him in front.

He glanced at it—the young woman in the driver’s seat stared straight ahead. As though she was in a rush to go home, she didn’t even glance at him when she passed by.

Joel shook his head and got into the car.

“Are you going home, Mr. Smith?” asked the chauffeur.

“I’m going to pick up Mia.”

“Okay.”

The chauffeur started the car and drove to the Golden Sunshine Kindergarten.

On the way there, Joel turned his head to the side and stared into the distance. The amicable look on his face had long since disappeared, and he fell silent. He had been sending and picking Mia up from school himself lately, but he hadn’t seen her ever again.

When he asked Mia about it, she said that Ms. Turner was still working in the kindergarten.

So, did that mean that he hadn’t seen her because she was hiding from him?

_

At the kindergarten.

The last lesson of the day was a dance class.

The kindergarten’s anniversary celebrations would be held in a few days. They would be performing on stage during the celebrations, so they had arranged extra dance classes recently.

Pete pulled a long face and danced expressionlessly with the rest of the children.

Fortunately for him, kids’ dances didn’t differentiate between boys and girls, but even so, he still felt a slight sense of embarrassment welling up in him.

Because!

He had to wear a skirt in the dance!

Pete couldn’t help but heave a huge sigh while he danced.

Was Cherry so happy being with Daddy that she had forgotten about returning? To think they hadn’t switched back yet! Should this go on any longer, he would become a little dancing genius very soon!

After another round of practice, Tanya clapped her hands and told the children to have a quick rest where they were.

Pete needed to take a leak, so he got up and walked over to the bathroom outside.

As soon as he exited the dance studio, he spotted a little fellow dancing outside the door.

Mia was frail, so she never attended any of the sports and dance classes. Yet, she was tiptoeing and gently turning her body at the moment.

It was the dance that they were doing just now.

Pete walked over. Seemingly having spotted him, Mia stopped moving. She stared at him with her big eyes and small oval-shaped face and said, “You guys looked great dancing just now, Cherry!”

“…”

Pete kept quiet for a while. Then, he asked, “Why are you here?”

The little Mia lowered her head and twiddled her thumbs. “I… I was too bored.”

There were also painting lessons and writing lessons being conducted elsewhere during the dance lesson, yet Mia hadn’t gone there but came over here to secretly watch them dance instead.

Pete suddenly understood something. He asked, “Do you like dancing?”

Mia hesitated for a moment before she nodded. However, she also shook her head right after that.

Her timid appearance was such that even Pete, who had never been one to be meddlesome, couldn’t help but ask another question, “Do you like it or not?”

Mia had always been an introverted child who kept everything inside her.

But for some reason, when the one she was facing was the little boy version of Cherry, she was able to speak up. She replied, “I do, but my mommy doesn’t allow me to dance.”

Mia sadly hung her head a little.

She had always liked dancing, and could never resist dancing along whenever she heard music.

Yet, her mother had claimed that she wasn’t in good health and forbade her from learning.

The doctor had obviously said before that they could consider letting her exercise and train her body, so why was Mommy always stopping her from exercising?

While Mia was puzzling over this, Pete suddenly took her hand, walked into the dance studio, and went up to Tanya. Then, he said to Mia, “Dance the routine from just now.”

Tanya, “?”

Mia, “?”

Mia glanced at Tanya cautiously and then at Pete.

Seemingly having received encouragement, the timid girl performed the dance in front of Tanya.

Tanya’s eyes lit up.

To be honest, all these years, she had been wanting to take an apprentice and let them participate in competitions in the future.

However, she had never found a suitable candidate.

She didn’t expect the young Mia to be so talented in dancing!

She was practically the best dancer among all the children in the class!

Moreover, she was born with a small frame and was flexible, which made her very suitable for dancing!

Tanya gazed at her and asked, “Do you want to learn to dance?”

Mia looked at Pete.

Pete nodded at her.

Mia nodded fiercely. “Yeah!”

Tanya became tempted at once, and she almost blurted out the question ‘Are you willing to learn from me?’.

But when she thought of Mia’s identity, she hesitated for a very long time before she finally heaved a sigh and got onto her feet. She ultimately didn’t say anything.

She was that man’s daughter; Tanya mustn’t take her as an apprentice. Otherwise, she would end up becoming entangled with him again.

The school bell just so happened to ring at this point, so Tanya said, “Alright, let’s go back to your respective classes and get ready to go home!”

The students scattered and left. Mia was the only one who kept looking back at her.

Tanya steeled her heart and looked away.

At the entrance of the kindergarten.

Joel’s cell phone rang while he was waiting for Mia. Quentin’s voice came from the other end when he answered.

“The DNA test report is out.”