“No, James, please listen to me!” Jenny paused before she started talking again, “You know my position, if you want to put in nicely, I am a daughter of the Andrews, but I already told you, I am just a bastard child of theirs! The Andrews’ won’t have my back when it comes to my wedding. But your father, he is the director of this hospital, your family is educated and known. A girl like me does not fit into the picture at all.”
James didn’t like the way she was talking. In his eyes, anything she said to explain herself is just to deny his proposal.
“Jenny, I am not going to use your mother’s sickness to push you, that would be a very dumb move. But why don’t you understand what I am trying to do for you?” James pressed his lips together.
“…”
“Screw it, just think about it. It’s my fault, I have pushed you too hard. I said that I would give you time.” James looked at his watch, “You should be able to see your Mom soon. I still have somewhere to be, so I will get going.”
Jenny nodded her head and watched him take the stairs. When he was gone, she headed towards the ICU.
…
“Dr. Yard!”
“Yes, come with me on the rounds, we still have more than ten patients to see.”
“Alright!” The nurse followed him, her eyes lit up with little hearts in them. Everyone in this hospital wanted to marry Dr. Yard, he was like the only wanted single man in the entire building.
James held the patient protocols in his hands, knocked on the door and pushed it open. “How are you feeling today?”
“Quite good actually!” The patient laughed, “I guess I can be discharged in about a week.”
“Good.” James took a close look at the charts at the end of the patient’s bed, “Have you thrown up again? What about your headache?”
“No more vomiting, the headaches are also better, as long as I don’t get up and try walking.”
James nodded while taking notes in the charts.
After leaving the room, a nurse reached into her pocket and handed an envelope to James. Her face blushed when she said, “This is for you, Dr. Yard.”
“For me?” James raised his eyebrows, reached for the envelope and tried to open it. The nurse stopped him, “Would you mind reading it in the break? If you read it here and now, I would feel very shy about it.”
“Oh, sure!” James put the envelope into the pocket of his coat, “You don’t need to finish the rounds with me, I will do it myself. Could you please take this receipt and pay the fees on it?” He took out a bank card, and a payment slip from his pockets.
The nurse took over the document and asked, “Is that a family member of yours, Dr. Yard?” The amount of the expenses were pretty high.
“Yeah… she’s my future mother in-law.” James smiled after he said that word. Then he turned around and left the nurse stunned.
Future mother in-law. So… Dr. Yard has a girlfriend?
…
At exactly 12p. m. she finally got to see her mother. She had to change into sterile clothes and was led by a doctor into the ICU. Her mom looked very tired, she was laying in the bed breathing heavily, she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes.
Jenny didn’t dare to cry, she knew that her Mom could hear her.
“Mom, you have to make it and stay with me! I am still waiting to cook for you after you get to come home with me!” Jenny stroke over her mother’s hand while she listened to the machines beep.
“…”
Her mom couldn’t answer, she couldn’t even give her any reaction. Jenny bit her lips to keep herself from crying, she didn’t want her mother to be worried.
When her time was up, the doctor asked her to leave again. Before she left, she saw a tear roll down her mother’s face. Jenny knew that her mom wanted to see her, wanted to touch her.
“My Mom, when can she be transferred to the normal station?”
“That you need to ask Dr. Yard.” The doctor next to her shook his head, showing that he wasn’t sure, “But you will need to pay today’s fees first.”
“Alright, I will go right now.”
She resented to leave her mom alone, but she forced herself to leave quickly. She used all of the money she had to go and pay the bills. Of course, the money from Mr. Mystery, she still didn’t dare to touch. She was thinking about going to the bank to wire the money back. And she also thought about getting a job to earn some money. Since her mom was admitted into the ICU, she won’t be able to visit her anyways, but what she can do now is to earn as much money as possible, and help her mom recover soon.
When she reached the counter, they told her, “Your Mom’s account still have an extra 100 grand, there is no need to pay any bills right now!”
“But the doctor just told me it’s been all used! Could you please check again?” Jenny was afraid the lady might have gotten something mixed up. If she didn’t pay the bills now, they might kick her mother out. Even stopping the treatment would kill her now.
“It’s right, there actually is still money on the account.” The cashier handed her bank card back to her.
Jenny scowled her eyebrows and suddenly remembered James. Last time, she gave his money back, is it possible he might have gone straight to paying the bills this time?
…
Times passed quickly when he was doing his rounds. He finally had some time to rest. When he took off his coat, the letter fell out of the pocket. He almost forgot about that. He bend over to pick it up, on it was the name Sherry Lynn.
James remembered that the nurse has only been as an intern at their department for less than half a year, how come she wrote him a letter?
There was a knock on the door. James went to open it. “Come in, I just want some normal take-out please.”
“Alright!” It was the hospital’s canteen worker bringing food to the stations. When the door closed, James took out the letter again.
Was that… a love letter?! When did Sherry started liking him? James didn’t finish reading the letter, and put it back into the envelope. Except for Jenny, he didn’t have any interest in other girls. And Sherry, she was so young, only 20 years of age, and she is already starting to write love letters and thinking about relationships! James shook his head in disbelief. Or maybe he was just getting old.
In that moment, his phone started ringing. That ringtone, he especially set it for Jenny’s phone calls. James quickly walked to his phone and picked up. “Jenny!”
“Where are you?” He heard Jenny’s soft voice ask.
“I am in my office. Do you need anything?”
“Can I come?”
James took a look at his watch, “Yeah sure, but it’s lunch time, I’m sure you haven’t eaten yet? How about we meet in the canteen? I also haven’t eaten.”
“I just need to ask you something.”