Leslie’s face was burning in shame. After all, he had forsaken his pride to invite Brucille for dinner. However, he rejected him so casually! His assistant, Shirley, approached him once again.
“Boss, since you are treating someone for a feast, can I tag along too?”
“Well, I would bring you, but the person has declined my invitation.”
Shirley was an elite PhD graduate from a financial university who admired Leslie immensely.
Staring at her boss in disbelief, she asked, “There’s someone who actually declined your invitation. Is he blind?”
Leslie could only keep the hard feelings to himself. He told her, “Absolutely not. He’s definitely not blind. It was him who told me two days ago that the international stock market will skyrocket. He also advised me to pay attention to the top 500 pharmaceutical companies. When the market closed, the share value of TSG increased by 33%. Meanwhile, my earnings from last year stand only at 27%. Do you know what this means?”
“If I strategized and set things up yesterday,” he continued, “my earnings would have exceeded last year’s in a single day.”
With that, Leslie stared at his assistant strangely.
“Well, you know that the international share market is different from the local market. Maybe he just got lucky,” Shirley suggested, unwilling to give up her stance.
Leslie knew very well that luck was a double-edged sword in stock trading.
Nevertheless, he was still feeling rather upset about what had happened.
Meanwhile, Monique had just completed her rounds of checking on patients. She sat in the same office of the inpatient department as Henric.
For the past few days, Henric had tried hard to please her, clearly showing his interest in her enthusiastically. He had even bought her a bag full of persimmons and placed it on her desk.
“Monique, work in the inpatient department can be rather busy. I’ll arrange suitable operations for you later.”
“Thank you, Henric. I’ve caused you a lot of trouble since I started working here.”
Henric waved her concerns away. Smirking, he assured, “Why do you say that? We are classmates, so it’s only natural that we take care of each other. Please have some fruits. By the way, since there is no work tonight, the department would like to organize a welcome party for you.”
Monique felt bad that her colleagues had to organize a welcome party for her. Therefore, she proactively suggested, “Okay, please help me gather our colleagues. I will do the planning. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine, too!”
Monique made a reservation at a hotel near the hospital with the intention to treat her colleagues. As there were a few who were on the night shift, not all members of the department could make it. In the end, there were 12 personnel who could attend.
Monique raised a glass of beer to toast the nurses, doctors, and also the interns. She told them, “Thank you all for your care. Please bear with me as I will need your support and help in the future. So here’s a toast to you.”
“Dr. Ching, you shouldn’t say that. We, the interns, hope that you can guide us more often. Please give us the chance to observe and learn from you, especially when you perform surgeries…”
It was a long process for an intern to finally enter the operating room for observation and learning. Some had not even entered the operating room, despite being at the hospital for more than six months. Understanding their situation, she promised, “Sure!”
Being the most senior doctor among them, Henric became the center of attention.
For the sake of less overtime work, the nurses went all out to flatter him. As usual, Henric entertained all their attempts.
After a few rounds of drinks, he announced, “All of you are mistaken about star today. We are here to welcome Dr. Ching today. Let’s have a toast to her!”
Everyone knew Henric’s intention. Monique couldn’t possibly manage the bombardment of alcohol from so many people. After seven bottles of beer, she was in a drunken stupor.
She quickly excused herself to the bathroom to call Brucille to pick her up from the hotel.
At her call, Brucille rushed to the hotel as fast as he could. As he opened the door, he found that the room was crowded.
“My apologies, everyone. Monique told me that she has a new job and invited her colleagues for dinner. I’m late for I had something to attend to earlier,” Brucille informed.
Following that, he inserted himself between Henric and Monique, forcing Henric to the side.
Henric originally thought that it would be easy for him when they got drunk. Yet, he did not anticipate Brucille’s appearance.
Gloomily, he muttered, “That’s right, Brucille. Even if you’re useless, you can at least take responsibility for Monique on such an occasion.”
Nevertheless, Brucille smiled amicably at him and replied humbly, “You’re right, Dr, Lee. Monique needs your guidance more in the future. Let’s have a toast for that.”
Henric was an invincible drinker. Therefore, he had never been afraid of anyone challenging him for drinks.
“Come on, let’s drink up!”
The liquor had a high alcohol content. Just a drink of it would induce a buzz.
The staff members of the hospital naturally took Henric’s side and began to criticize Brucille, but he was not afraid at all. At first, he drank from a small glass, then he changed it into a big glass, and eventually he drank straight from the bottle.
After two rounds of alcohol, the nurses felt like dying. The liquor was causing them a bad headache.
Henric finally met his match that day. He put his arm around Brucille’s shoulder and told him, “Brucille, you really don’t look like someone who can actually drink.”
“Well, I’m just alright. Let’s finish up this bottle.”
After saying that, Brucille drank it all first. He chugged down the entire bottle as if he was drinking a bottle of mineral water. Henric’s gaze froze.
As there were many pairs of eyes on him, it was impossible for him to avoid doing the same.
Therefore, Henric pressed his lips to the bottle and gulped it down.
In a short while, the bottle fell to the ground and shattered, and his head hit the floor. Henric was so drunk that he passed out, and his colleagues quickly sent him back to the hospital.
Monique was a little tipsy at that moment. Brucille held her slender waist and led her to his car. When he opened the door to the back seat, he accidentally pressed himself on top of her in the process.
Taking in her soft body and pale flushed face, Brucille’s natural instincts were beginning to stir.
After giving his head a hard shake, he planted a kiss on her.
Monique’s reaction was equally aggressive. She cried, “Culver, don’t leave me…”
Like a lightning strike, her words electrocuted Brucille’s growing passion out of him,. He instantly pushed her away and shut the door harshly. Then, he slammed his foot on the accelerator and headed home.
Culver? Culter? Coward? Who the hell was that?
Looking at her beautiful face and exquisite figure, he climbed up the stairs, one step at a time. Then, he opened the door and placed her on her bed. Following that, he removed her shoes and covered her with a quilt.
Finally, he went into the bathroom for a shower.
In his previous life, he had been hunted. But in his current life, his wife actually had another man in her heart. Nothing could possibly be more sad than his life. He punched the wall heavily, staining his fist with scarlet blood.