The dangerous paper cut

'Ah, that cheeky woman,' Nicolai might be called a fool by his mother and cousins, but he was way smarter than their contradictory expectations of him. So, he could understand Ari's little scheme with ease.

The procedure of divorce usually took six months, plus the cooling-off period and given that Noah Nelson was adamant about not divorcing her, it might even take a year or maybe more. By the time she was divorced… it would be a damn miracle if Nicolai could even remember that this woman owed him. 

A nerve dangerously throbbed on his forehead as Nicolai realized that he had been played. He curled his fingers as if he were about to hurl his fists, and he did as he punched the wall next to him. However, it did nothing to alleviate the volcano raging in his veins. 

"Nico, what's wrong with you?" Patrick, who arrived just in time to see Nicolai, punched the wall and a taxi drove away leaving only exhaust behind. He stared at the crater in the wall and the bleeding knuckles of his boss before asking, "Who made you angry this time? Do I need to bring your pills? Or do we need to visit Aiden?"

Patrick was aware of the mini 'anger' attacks that Nicolai got sometimes which caused him to become even more violent than he usually was, though Aiden had told them it was because of a certain disorder, Patrick didn't understand a word that Aiden spoke to him. 

But he did know one thing, in case Nicolai exploded in another violent episode, he had to hand him the pills that Aiden prescribed to his boss. 

"Patrick," Nicolai spoke as he dropped his fist from the wall. He ignored the blood on the back of his knuckles and ordered, "Get Noah to sign those divorce papers." 

When Patrick heard Nicolai's order, he couldn't help but furrow his brows. Nicolai wanted Noah to divorce his wife. But were they not going to use that woman and teach Noah a lesson for poking his nose in their business? 

"Nico, what about the plan?" Patrick questioned. As he could not understand what would happen to their well-thought plan to deal with Noah Nelson. That woman was supposed to be a chess piece, but here she was changing the entire game that they had come up with. 

"Patrick," Nicolai spoke, his voice unhinged and cold. He turned his head a bit to the side and stated, "I was not asking, I was telling you. Get that man to sign those documents, I need them signed, cleared and legalized as soon as possible." 

Patrick knew that if he didn't agree, then Nicolai would bash his head and watch him bleed to death. 

He shelved the questions that he had in his head for another day and lowered his head before saying, "Very well, it will be done." 

*******

On the other side at the hospital, 

Noah had no idea what happened behind his back, nor did he know that Nicolai had set his eyes on Ari and wanted the divorce to be legalized. At that moment, he was standing in the doctor's office and watching him clean Ariel's wound. 

"How is she a doctor? Do we need to take care of something? Or does she need an injection? Is the wound serious?" Mrs. Nelson worriedly asked as Aiden threw the cotton ball, which he used to clean the blood on Ariel's wound. 

Aiden had just placed the tweezers on the sterilized tool tray when he heard Mrs Nelson's queries. He raised his head and saw Ariel winking at him while she sweetly smiled at him, ignoring her, he turned to look at Mrs. Nelson and said, "That's some really nice concern for a wound that is as serious as a paper cut." 

Once he finished speaking, Mrs Nelson's eyes widened while Ariel stiffened, she couldn't believe that the doctor had ignored her just now when she tried to sign him for making her injury sound serious. 

She even pointed out that she would hand him a generous fee once it was done! 

"A paper cut?" Mrs Nelson was speechless when she heard that Ariel's injury was as small as a paper cut! 

"That's right," Aiden stated as he pushed his glasses over the bridge of his nose. "The cut is not even a cut, Mrs. Nelson. It's just a scrape, whoever was wielding the knife knew what they were doing. No harm was done to Miss Ariel, so you do not need to worry." 

Mrs. Nelson opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say, did they just make this big of a fuss for a scrape? 

Her expression couldn't help but turn sour when she thought that she had made a fool of herself. 

When Ariel saw Mrs. Nelson furrowing her brows, she knew that the old hag was upset with her. Having lived with Mrs. Nelson for so long while trying her best to please her, Ariel knew that the one thing that Mrs. Nelson hated the most was being embarrassed. Anything that brought shame to her name had to go. 

She would rather not get on the wrong side of Mrs. Nelson, at least not before she married Noah. 

"I… I apologize for scaring you all," said Ariel with tears brimming in her eyes. "I… I have feared sharp things ever since——" she cut herself off before taking a deep breath as if she were trying to calm herself. "I think I overreacted." 

Since the doctor was not willing to help her out, Ariel could only use the kidnapping accident to clean up after her. 

As she expected when Noah heard her bringing up the kidnapping, his eyes were filled with suspicions, slowly softened as he patted her on the shoulders and said, "There is no need for you to apologize, it's Ari who should be apologizing. She is the one who scared you." 

He then turned to look at Aiden and questioned, "Doctor, can you prescribe some medicine to calm her nerves?" 

Aiden quirked a brow and then answered, "If Miss Harlow gets this scared over something so small, I believe she needs to visit a cardiologist and not nerve-calming medicines. Extreme fear is a sign of a weak heart, you should take these signs very seriously, Mister Nelson."