Chapter 7 Possible Father

• Days later
• Although Alessandro wants immediate answers, Lucia has managed to pull some strings on the same day of the insemination to have the recordings of her and Kim searching for the sperm, as well as her entering the room where she was inseminated, deleted. Thus, there is no evidence of what happened to the sample.
• Despite these efforts, several days have passed, and the hospital continues to receive threats from Alessandro regarding the disappearance of his sample.
• It is nighttime when Kim arrives at Lu's apartment, where her anxious friend is waiting. Lu has been like this ever since she found out that, in her attempt to help her friend, she deleted information that could have appeased the anger of the wealthy donor, as she calls him.
• "What's going on, Lu? You've been like this for days, and you're starting to worry me," Kim comments upon seeing her friend biting her nails, which have already disappeared from all the biting these past few days.
• "It's because the wealthy donor went to the hospital again today, and every time he comes, the workplace becomes tense and stressful."
• "I still don't understand why you call that man the wealthy donor."
• "It's because he's wealthy, Kim. That man is incredibly good looking, to the point that just one annoyed look from him would make me automatically spread my legs. And if we talk about his body, God, one of his arms is bigger than my legs. That man is three times more muscular than what I usually like."
• "So, he's muscular," Kim murmurs, now aware of her friend's preferences.
• "Too much, to the point that it seems like a crime to watch him walk by and tempt everyone around him. Damn, I could tell you that if I were driving and saw him walking, I would crash."
• "Because my attention and all my senses would be focused on him," Lucia says excitedly, lying down on the couch with her palm on her forehead.
• "And is that why you're biting your nails? Did you crash while walking because you were staring at him?"
• "No, of course not... yes," she admits, her face turning as red as her hair. "I was walking behind him, and that man turned his body. Our eyes met, and my legs turned into jelly, and I even forgot how to walk."
• "That's why I tripped, and when I thought he would catch me in his arms, he moved away, and I ended up falling flat on my face," Lucia says, covering her face in embarrassment, and Kim rolls her eyes, denying her friend's reaction.
• "It was embarrassing, but at least it served for him to say in his strong, manly voice, 'Are you okay?"
• Lucia groans with excitement, and Kim sits in front of her, becoming a spectator of Lu's teenage-like infatuation.
• "And did you say something stupid to make yourself look so nervous when I arrived?" Kim asks curiously.
• "Oh, I forgot about that. The thing is, that man is going to sue the hospital for discarding his sperm, and that's when I found out who he is."
• "Well, who is it?"
• "Your boss," Lu says.
• "Mr. Bill?" Kim asks, confused.
• "No, his son. The one who wants to destroy the hospital because of the sperm sample is the magnate Alessandro Delacroix, your boss or ex-boss," Lucia informs, and now it is Kim's turn to be surprised.
• "What? Are you sure...?"
• "I didn't know that such a good looking man was the ogre you were talking about. But it's him. I searched for him on the internet and found news about his divorce from Yocelyn."
• "So, I compared the photos of him with the man who terrifies everyone at the hospital, and it was the same person. Kim, the man who is going to leave us jobless is your boss," Lucia says anxiously.
• Kim murmurs as she connects the dots. "So that's why he's been having headaches and an even worse mood than usual these past few days."
• Lucia, kneeling in front of her friend, takes Kim's hands. "The point is, Kim, could you speak for all of us at the hospital?"
• Confused, Kim asks, "What are you saying?"
• "Kim, you have a relatively close relationship with him. Plus, you're in a different environment than the hospital, so you could calmly talk to him and try to convince him not to sue us."
• Perplexed, Kim asks again, "What about me?"
• "You can do it, my friend. Please do it for me," urges Lucia.
• “Are you crazy? I would do anything for you, but talking to him about such a personal matter will only get me killed and then sued by the hospital for disclosing the fate of his sperm sample."
• "Remember that I shouldn't know that, and if I talk to him about it, he will know that the confidentiality of his data has been violated," Kim adds.
• Lucia's hope faded as she distanced herself from her friend, understanding the situation.
• "So, we're lost," Lucia murmurs.
• "I think so. If it had been with someone else, maybe there wouldn't be so much trouble. But with the news of his divorce due to his infertility, that sperm sample was possibly his last hope to become a father and prove that he can have an heir…" Kim explains.
• "Whose hope has disappeared due to your misclassification. Obviously, he's angry," Kim continues, shedding light on the situation.
• “I know. The team in charge of the classification was fired for that,” Lucia admits.
• “But that won't bring back the missing sperm sample,” Kim shrugs.
• “Neither will it if he sees the recordings where I'm throwing away all the sperm samples,” Lucia responds.
• “Perhaps what he expects from those recordings is to confirm that his last hope has graphically gone into the trash can.”
• "It sounds a bit masochistic, but until he sees his sample being discarded, he will continue to think that there is hope and that the sample is somewhere safe.”
• “That's impossible. I discarded all the samples that were in the room,” Lu murmurs.
• “You're right. He's wasting his efforts on something obvious,” Kim concludes.
• “Well, the only sample I didn't discard was the one I inseminated you with, and it showed a date from sperm stored over 20 years ago. So, it's impossible for it to be his,” Lucia comments, and Kim breathes a sigh of relief knowing that she can't get pregnant by her boss.
• "Although the main problem has been the misclassification of the samples, maybe we took a sample with the wrong label that actually has some problem with sexually transmitted or hereditary diseases, or it could be the sample he's looking for,” Lucia murmurs, causing Kim to open her eyes in surprise.
• “Is that possible?” Kim asks, scared.
• “Well, according to the samples we counted and the ones I discarded, they're all fine except for the ones that were about to expire. Your boss' sample and a second sample that was about to expire that day were from two young people who could still preserve that sample for longer,” Lucia explains.
• “What do you mean?”
• “Apparently, in the batch I discarded, there were only two samples about to expire, and neither of them should have been there because they were samples stored for less than fifteen years. So, they could still be preserved,” Lucia clarifies.
• “What do you mean by that?”
• "In the laboratory, they conducted an analysis of the two samples that were supposedly from your boss and the other individual. That's when they discovered that these two samples, which should have had a white label, had a beige color, indicating a misclassification."
• "They had to discard the one that was supposed to belong to them because it had been stored for thirty years. They found out about it a day before your boss showed up at the hospital. That's why everyone was afraid when they saw him. The mistake they could have covered up became impossible to hide once he found out. So, we are…”
• "Wait a minute, could my potential child be from the CEO? Could my potential child be Alessandro Delacroix?" Kim asks fearfully, and her friend nods.
• "The possibility is fifty percent. So, we can never let them know that you were inseminated. Because if you don't get pregnant, they will arrest us."
• "And if I do?"
• "He will take the baby away from you and have you arrested," Lucia responds, causing Kim's soul to leave her body.
• "I think it's time for us to take the pregnancy test and figure out how to proceed," Kim comments, and Lucia agrees.
• "I think so."