As soon as he stepped into the house, Brucille could already feel the tension in the air. It seemed like people were having heated arguments, and it was so emotional that even Monique, who he regarded as a shrew, was bawling her eyes out in her own house.
As her husband, Brucille felt uneasy. Under such a situation, he should rightfully go over to give her some comfort.
However, judging by how Monique reminded him to sleep in the guest room the night before, he didn’t think that Monique had a close relationship with the original host. So, he decided to find the common ground.
He gingerly sat on the couch beside Monique, and asked softly, “What’s the matter?”
Tyrion and Sabrina were sitting opposite them, both looked sorrowful. Monique had failed the interview to work as a doctor at the hospital, and she couldn’t find someone to vent out her anger at home before Brucille came back.
Since he, who was deemed as a useless man, happened to come home at that moment, she took it all out on him.
“You’re funny. What does my business have anything to do with you? And how dare you ask what’s the matter? If you didn’t offend Mr. Chao before, I would have passed today’s exam! It’s all because of you, do you understand!”
Brucille’s eyebrows furrowed. He knew that the person whom Monique was talking about was Donald, the dean of the hospital, and the examination which she had mentioned had to be the doctor’s qualifying examination for the hospital.
In the eyes of the public, the exam seemed to be fair, open, and transparent. However, even a fool would know that there were tricks behind the scene.
He could clearly remember Donald’s face that night. Even if the incident didn’t happen, Brucille didn’t think that Donald would still let Monique pass the exam.
“Well, you can be a doctor anywhere else, right? Why do you have to go to that hospital?”
Brucille wanted to comfort her, but in Monique’s ears, the words became evidence that he didn’t believe in her ability. She had studied so hard for so many years because she wanted more opportunities in a better hospital. It was the only way she could be worthy in that profession.
She became even furious, “You-There’s no way you can’t possibly understand how people struggle to strive for a better life. No wonder! No wonder you’re just trash! Other women have a good husband to support them. But what did I do to deserve you?”
Upon hearing that, Brucille really wanted to go back to five minutes before and stop himself from asking the question. He also wanted to ask Monique how she could ask for his support like the other husbands if they weren’t like any other normal couple to begin with. Other couples slept in the same bed, but, for them, one of them slept upstairs, and the other slept in a room downstairs.
Seeing that even Tyrion and Sabrina weren’t saying anything, Monique stormed to her own room and slammed the door shut.
Brucille was left stuck in the living room with the old couple, and he felt self-conscious since he wasn’t the original host. He didn’t know what he could say. Then, he shifted his gaze to Tyrion.
Brucille finally thought of something to say, and so he spoke, “Dad, I think Mr. Chao doesn’t have a good impression of you. It must be his doing.”
When Sabrina heard what Brucille said, she left them quietly. She wasn’t too happy when she left them, so Brucille felt like there was something else being hidden.
After only he and Tyrion were left in the living room, Tyrion let out a long sigh.
“Donald and I were both assistant deans of the hospital a few years ago. It was a stormy night, and a dump truck ran into a bus downtown. There were thirty-nine passengers on the bus. Seven were seriously injured while few others were wounded. The situation was quite grave.”
“Two of them died on the spot. And since the incident happened at the intersection right opposite our hospital, we received orders from the city council that we needed to do our best to save the severely injured patients.”
“I performed four surgeries within two hours. The first three were all very successful, but the last patient had intracranial bleeding. I should have done that surgery first. But because we failed to detect it earlier, I missed the golden hour to save the patient. The patient later went into a vegetative state.”
Humans were not saints. After listening to the story, Brucille felt sorry for the patient too. Anyhow, Tyrion retired early because of that incident.
The patient’s family had filed a complaint. And since Tyrion was the assistance dean at that time, he owed them an explanation. Although he had tried his best in the surgery, he couldn’t deny that the error in the early examinations had led to the patient’s death.
Therefore, even though Tyrion had been identified as the next dean of the hospital, he had to take the blame and retired while Donald got the position.
After Tyrion finished explaining the reason behind his early retirement, he said with profundity, “Brucille, it’s not a problem that a man has no skill, but he must be a man of indomitable spirit.”
An idea suddenly flashed across Brucille’s mind, and he asked, “Dad, do you know how is the vegetative patient doing right now?”
“His family brought him back home. To be frank with you, I’ve always hoped that he’ll wake up someday, but there are no miracles.”
“Dad, look, I need to tell you something. I’ve learned medical skills before, especially to treat complicated diseases. But since Monique and you are doctors, I usually don’t show my skills. Now, I want to go and have a look at that patient.”
Tyrion’s face darkened as soon as he heard Brucille’s suggestion. Indeed, he had told Brucille to be a man of indomitable spirit, but he never wanted him to talk nonsense.
So. Tyrion said unhappily, “You’ve never studied medicine before, Brucille. We’re not living in ancient times. It’s illegal to practice medicine without going through proper education. You shouldn’t do anything stupid. Now, let’s call it a day.”
“Dad, listen to me-”
“Hurry up and go to bed. Stop talking nonsense!” With that, Tyrion got up and headed back to his bedroom.
Brucille looked at Tyrion’s back and imagined that Tyrion must have been suffering for the past few years. Tyrion really had tried his best.
He was only in his early fifties, but he was already full of gray hair.
Brucille thought of Evan, who was almost seventy years old when he died. He was much older than Tyrion, but he looked more energetic than Tyrion, and he even still had black hair. However, Brucille woke up one day to find Evan dead on his bed without any visible injuries.
What even more disturbing was that just as Brucille wanted to investigate Evan’s cause of death, he was murdered by four ruffians – assassins, to be exact. All four of them were armed with a dagger, and each of them had extraordinary skills as they attacked him.
He was still in immense grief at that time, hence dropping his guard. It was soon that he was also killed and ended up at the bottom of the ocean.
Brucille’s eyes turned red at the thought of his previous life. Evan had taken care of him for many years. He used to say that the Yip family was originally wealthy and influential. But later, something happened and the legendary family fell off the cliff. It wasn’t long after that Brucille’s parents died in an accident.
It was unbearable to recall the bad memories. Brucille wiped away his tears and swore that he would avenge the lives lost in his previous life.
The next morning, Brucille got up early since he was more or less recovered. Monique was already dressed up and ready to head out for the day. He walked over to her and forced a smile.
“Good morning!” he greeted.
He thought that there would be a decent response, but Monique only gave him a scornful look before leaving.
Brucille caught up quickly and settled himself in the passenger’s seat.
“What are you doing?” Monique didn’t seem to have the slightest bit of affection toward him. It was as though she didn’t know him at all. As for their marriage certificate, it was probably molding somewhere in the house. At least, Brucille had never seen it before.
“Well, I only wanted to ask where the vegetative patient whom Dad had performed the surgery before was. Can you take me there?”