Veronica lost all of her strength and fell to the ground.
Her reaction probably scared Leo who immediately rushed to her side and was about to help her up, but he ended up not daring to touch her anxious figure. “Miss Parker, please sit on a chair. The ground is cold. I think Master Cage will be fine. An injury to the shoulder should not be fatal. ”
Veronica did not pay attention to what Leo was rambling on, but rather, she looked at the towel on her hand. There was too much blood on it and she knew it was all Toby’s.
Her hands holding the towel were shaking.
She did not take Leo’s word for it.
‘The image of Toby pooled with his own blood keeps on flashing my mind.’
She could still feel the chill on her body.
She couldn’t believe that all of these were really happening.
She promised herself to keep her distance from Toby. But how did they end up in this situation? Why?
What should she do if something bad would happen to Toby?
Even if she tried to ignore it, she just couldn’t deny the fact that he was the only person was there beside her after her grandmother left. He was the only one who offered her a shoulder to cry on. And now, after risking his life to save her, she wasn’t sure if she didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore.
Leo brought her a wet towel. “Miss Parker, why don’t you wipe your hands while we wait for the operation to finish?”
Veronica stared blankly at the clean towel handed over to her, and tears began to form in her eyes while her body remained motionless.
“You know what to do, don’t you?” She asked.
Leo realized what she was trying to imply but said nothing.
“We can make something up to cover what really happened back there. Just tell Nick Cage that I went to the dessert shop and I was attacked, but then Toby showed up and saved me. Anyway, there is no surveillance camera in the dessert shop, so you don’t have to worry about Nick finding out the truth.” She could perfectly remember that when she entered the store, she found that there was no camera inside the store, so they could get out of this predicament easily.
This problem did not need any complicated solutions.
But is Leo willing to lie? He did appear to have panicked.
“If you don’t do what as I say, then you might as well tell Nick everything that has happened about last time!”
Leo felt threatened again. “I know what to say.”
Ignoring Leo’s uncertainty, Veronica turned to look at the closed door of the emergency room pensively.
They waited for half an hour before the emergency room door finally opened.
Veronica was the first one to dash forward and immediately asked, “How is the patient, doctor? Is he all right?”
“His injury is not fatal.”
“But, what will happen to his arm?” Veronica Parker heaved a sigh of relief and continued to ask.
“He has earned a penetrating injury to his shoulder and a fractured scapula, so it will take some time for him to fully recuperate before he can be discharged from the hospital.” The doctor said so, which meant that although the gunshot wound was not fatal, it could still be serious that at least half of the arm of Toby immobilized for the time being.
“Thank you!”
Veronica stared at the emergency room, but she didn’t go in and instead turned away.
Leo followed her silently. He thought Miss Parker would go in and how Toby was doing.
But it was good to get out of the spot where he had to lie about everything that occurred. Otherwise, he could only imagine the worst-case scenarios of Mr. Nick Cage’s consequences if he ever knew about it.
But Miss Parker permitted him to tell the truth, so it didn’t matter anymore.
When they got in the car, Veronica called Lucy and asked for Suzanne’s cell phone number.
Later, Toby was already awake, and leaning against the headboard of the bed in the ward with his eyes closed. The pain he was sensing was evident on his face and one cannot deny that he was not feeling good.
After Suzanne came in a hurry, Toby’s eyes fell at the person who bursted through the door, and he thought how she looked even worse than him.
Suzanne looked at him and said, “Are you disappointed to see me? It was Veronica who informed me about your situation.”
He said nothing and looked towards the window. If he wouldn’t acknowledge her presence at the least, he thought that she’d be gone sooner or later.
Suzanne Roland didn’t take a seat as she felt that she was still flustered from all the adrenaline rush.
After hearing from Veronica that Toby was in the hospital, she was so anxious that she went straight to the hospital even when she was still in the middle of shooting a commercial.
“Don’t you have a little care left for yourself? Was it worth it? If the bullet went a little further, you could have lost your life.” Suzanne was very angry at how stupid Toby was. “I know you can’t let go of Veronica, but she doesn’t belong to you anymore!”
“If you’re here to see a patient, talk less and don’t shout.” Toby’s slightly hoarse voice said which came out surprisingly calm.
Suzanne was fuming. “So what if I talk too much? If there is anyone here who has a problem with it, send them to me and I’d like to have a word with them.”
“You can’t do that. Just lower down your voice.”
Suzanne moved a chair closer to his bed and asked, “So tell me, what’s going on?”
Toby sighed before answering her. “Someone tried to kill her.”
“Who did she offend now?” She thought for a moment and asked sarcastically, “Is Nick just going to sit idly by? Since someone is trying to kill Veronica, wouldn’t it be enough for Nick to take this matter to his own hands? Then, what do you have to worry about? For goodness’ sake, Toby, you only have one life! Should anything bad happen to you, I—”
Toby looked at her and Suzanne frowned and shrugged. “I’m afraid one friend of yours is going to cry to death.”
He looked away and said nothing.
“I can only guess that you always lose your mind when it comes to Veronica.” Suzanne laughed at him, but eventually took a deep breath. “Toby, I know that you won’t even blink if you give up your life for her, but if you think about it, what has she done for you so far? You see, when she sent you to the hospital, she just waited outside the operating room while you fought over your life and left without even waiting for you to wake up. When she called earlier, she sounded like she was just reporting for work. Did she ever think or even care about you the way you do for her? She doesn’t care about your life and I bet she wouldn’t care even at your death. I have just come to realize that Veronica is also a ruthless person.”
“I’m going to take her away from Nick.” Toby said with determination lacing through his voice.
Suzanne frowned. ‘Has this guy not listened to a word that I said?’ “And what exactly do you mean by that? Are you really doing all of these because you want to win Veronica back?”
Toby continued to stare at the window, but this time, with gloomy eyes.
He always wanted Veronica, and he also intended to compete with Nick.
If he wouldn’t do it, he didn’t know what else he would do.
Toby closed his eyes. “Go home. I’m going to rest now.”
“How would I know if it’s already fine to leave you looking like this?” Suzanne mocked Toby but he didn’t respond. “Anyway, what would you like to eat?”
“There is a nurse here. You don’t have to be around.”
“I don’t think you treat Veronica the same way you are treating me now, am I right?” She shouted before standing up and completely leaving the ward.
A while ago, when Veronica hurried to get out of the hospital and hopped on the car, her mind kept flying on Toby’s deep wound and couldn’t help but to think that she needed to buy a tonic to at least replenish the blood he had lost.
After coming back, the smell of blood on her body wafted through her nose for a long time and she knew that she had to rinse the rusty smell off her!
She went straight the bathroom to take a bath, and the warm water graced her body. The feeling of the water against her skin eased her tensed muscles and that was what she needed to calm down.
She stood there quietly and her eyes were red.
After knowing that Toby was fine, she just had to leave, so that Toby would think of her as a ruthless person.
But she still couldn’t control herself when she was in the car.
How was she able to pull herself together when Toby was close to dying in her arms?
She’s so afraid of what would have happened to him.
As for what she said in the car, she couldn’t have possibly meant every word.
There was no need for them cross paths together.
She pushed aside the concern that was starting to creep on her.
The door behind was forcibly pushed open.
Veronica’s body shook slightly. She knew who it was without looking back.
Then a warm body hugged her from behind. “Are you hurt?”
She moved away from his touch and turned to face Nick. “Thank you for your concern.”
Nick’s tensed face slightly brightened when he made sure that there wasn’t a single scrape on her skin. But noticing Veronica’s cold attitude, he realized something and slowly backed away, and from his voice, one could hear how he’s holding back from something. “How long will it take you to finish?”
“I have been so out of my trance that even I do not know how long I’ve been under the shower.” Veronica said numbly.
Nick pulled the bath towel from the rack and was about to wrap it around her, but Veronica refused to be near him again. She took the towel from his hands, stepped back, and turned around.
But Nick was quick enough to catch her waist before enclosing her in a tight embrace so that her body stayed close to his. She could feel his cold breath brushing against the crook of her neck “Why do look so dejected?”