THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS

It was just this afternoon that he heard some nurses gossiping about some courtroom romance when he passed by their station on his way from a meeting with other surgeons in the hospital.

What caught his attention was when the name of his friend was mentioned in connection with an unknown woman who was trending on social media.

He had quickly gone to check online only to see his good friend locked in an intimate embrace with the woman he had spent the entire day pinning for.

It almost crushed his heart to pieces but he still carried himself to Shawn’s office to verify that the news was not one of those reporters trying to get exposure.

"What’s going on with you and Kathleen? Have you two finally reconciled?" Steffan asked gravely.

"Kathleen?"

"Mm-hmm?" Responded Steffan, sensing nothing wrong in Shawn’s tone. "I saw that both of you have taken over all the social media handles and there is hardly any news of any other person or thing since this morning."

Shawn gave Steffan a suspicious look. "How do you know she is Kathleen? I don’t remember introducing the both of you."

"Isn’t she Kathleen? She is the only woman on earth you are not averse to. Or am I mistaken?" He cleverly twisted his answer when he finally detected the suspicious note in Shawn’s voice.

He couldn’t possibly tell Shawn he had been in contact with his wife secretly for some time now.

"She is the one," Shawn’s expression relaxed. "What do you think about us?"

"What am I supposed to think? You made that obvious enough from that picture," he retorted.

"Is it jealousy I detect in your tone or something else. Don’t tell me you also have your eyes trained on my wife?"

The words "my wife" were emphasized with a drawl that made Steffan’s head jerk up.

"What do you mean? Why do you think I might be jealous?"

"Are you admitting to being jealous? If not, why does it bother you so much?"

Shawn was already in a foul mood and needed someone to vent on. Since Steffan has willingly offered himself, he wasn’t a saint to miss the opportunity to vent out.

Moreover since Jason was already out of the picture, anyone was a potential suspect.

’Did I give something away from my words?’ Steffan couldn’t help but wonder. The last thing he wanted was for Shawn to start suspecting him of any involvement with Kathleen.

"It’s like I came at the wrong time, he said while standing to his feet. I might as well go back to my office. I thought you needed someone to share your joy with, that’s why I came. I didn’t know my presence would infuriate you."

"It hasn’t come to that?" Shawn said as he tried to coax Steffan to stay back. "It’s just that things are not the way they appear at the moment."

"What do you mean?" Steffan finally breathed in relief and sat back on his seat opposite Shawn when he saw that Shawn had dropped his guard around him. He was actually beginning to think that he had given himself away.

"I found out something that was supposed to make me happy but at the same time another devastating truth was also revealed."

"You are speaking in parables my friend. Can you be more explicit?"

"Kathleen has a child?" Shawn declared

"What! You found out?" exclaimed Steffan before he could hold back.

"Steffan!" Shawn’s eyes narrowed to a pinprick.

"Is there something you are not telling me?" He shifted to the edge of his chair. "Why do I have a feeling that you know more than you are willing to divulge?"

Steffan was startled and at the same time tried to cover up and pretended not to know what he was talking about.

"Is.. there... something I’m supposed to know?"

"Why are you stuttering," quizzed Shawn, his gaze trained on Steffan so that he wouldn’t miss any emotion that flickered across his face.

But who was Steffan? He was one of the best doctors in Baltimore, as part of his training, he had delved into human psychology and knew instantly what Shawn was watching out for, so his face was as blank as a white sheet of paper.

"That’s because you scared me," Steffan shot back." I think you are behaving rather strangely today and I don’t understand you at all."

"I could also say the same about you. Since you came, your body language and speech has been making you look suspicious." Shawn said with a note of sarcasm.

You know I wouldn’t do anything to harm you," Steffan said defensively.

"I know that, but people do change. Take for example Kathleen. She promised to love me forever but look at what she has done to me," Shawn lowered his head in grief.

"That’s because you hurt her first."

"But I’ve been trying all these while to make amends and just when I thought things could finally get better I found out she has a child with another man. How do you expect me to take such a blow?"

"How did you know she has a child?"

"She told me herself that the child was hers."

Shawn’s voice was full of mockery as he sneered. "She didn’t have the nerve to reveal the identity of the son of a b***h who got her pregnant."

From Shawn’s statement, it’s like he doesn’t know who the father of the children was, also he mentioned just a child. Which of the children did he see?

Steffan pursed his lips and nodded a few times "I see."

"What did you see?" Shawn smirked. As far as he was concerned Steffan understood nothing.

"What I mean is that you didn’t get to see the child at all, maybe see what he looked like."

"No, I only heard the child call her mom on the phone once so I asked her about it and she admitted that she is the mother of the child."