“Ah, my friend. We’ll never know. A woman like that wouldn’t even look twice at two nobodies like us.”
I stop walking and listen.
Even if the wordbosshadn’t been used, I wouldn’t need to make any effort to know who the two employees behind the machines are talking about.
Since Christmas, Nina has become Khione’s favourite target for gossip. I’ve never cared about it, even though I’ve heard it countless times. I believed that, with time, people would let it go—but apparently, the island’s population has discovered some kind of perverse pleasure in inventing things that never happened, just to keep the rumours about my fiancée alive.
Nina didn’t go to any party last night. She spent the night in my arms, in our bed, exactly as she always does—except for the few nights a week she stays with her mother.
The instinct to confront them, to pick a fight and tell a few hard truths to the people so casually spreading lies, surges through my veins.
But I know better than that.
Any reaction, no matter how justified, would only create new gossip—and we already have more than enough of it.
I ignore whoever is talking bullshit, not even bothering to identify their faces, and head for the glass-walled office at the far end of the long shed, determined to do my job.
CHAPTER 39
NINA MARCHESI
“Hello?” I answer the call, puzzled by the unfamiliar number.
“Mrs. Nina Marchesi?” a melodic female voice asks.
“That’s me.”
“I’m calling regarding your obstetrics and gynaecology appointment.”
I blink, my eyes drifting across the bare wall of my bedroom as I mentally scan my schedule for the week.
As expected, I come up empty—because even after a full week of trying, I still haven’t managed to book an appointment. Nero is exactly one more rejection away from actually flying a doctor in from Athens just to see me.
“We were able to find an opening for you,” the woman continues, and I part my lips in relief. That, at least, makes sense. I’d asked repeatedly to be contacted if any last-minute slot became available.
An opening.
I smile.
“Oh, that’s wonderful! At which clinic? Or is it at the hospital? When would it be?”
“Actually, it’s not at the hospital, nor at any of the clinics where you requested an opening. We’re a private medical centre on the east side of the island.”
“Oh,” I murmur, surprised—and feeling a little foolish for not having thought of that myself.
I’ve always relied on the public healthcare system, so it never occurred to me that, if it failed, I could simply look for private care. It still feels excessive, given how efficient the public system usually is—but compared to Nero’s alternative of dragging a doctor from Athens to the island just for me, paying for a consultation suddenly sounds reasonable.
“As you requested maximum urgency, your contact information was shared in the central database we maintain with Khione’s public healthcare units,” she explains. “I’m calling because a slot has become available today at 2:20 p.m. with Dr. Kayrus. Would you like to confirm?”
I glance at my watch.
It’s two o’clock.
I open and close my mouth, doing the maths in my head. None of the calculations really work—but I decide to try anyway.
“Yes, please. Could you send me the exact address by message?”
“Of course,” she replies kindly. “We’ll see you shortly. Good afternoon, Mrs. Marchesi.”
