Chapter 40 A Gullible Man
Natalie had some scruples, otherwise, she wouldn't have hesitated when Luke showed affection for her, but in the end, she failed to resist him.
When she said he was her boyfriend, she was also answering herself.
Lucas was not as gossipy as her other colleagues, so he did not ask more questions after hearing her reply.
He was the youngest deputy director in the hospital. Although he was only 30 years old, he was mature and stable, so he had high prestige. He was an extremely strict workaholic was always very mean to the students with bad attitudes.
Most students had an inborn fear of teachers, especially of teachers like Lucas, so his teaching ward-round was like a nightmare for them.
The patient on the hospital bed had just a total hip replacement surgery, so Lucas asked seriously, "Daisy, if there is swelling in the lower limbs after a major orthopedic surgery, what should you first considerate in the diagnosis?"
Daisy was at a loss, and she did not dare to look into his eyes at all.
Everyone kept silent, and no one tried to help her, so Lucas thought they had all forgotten it, and his face became gloomy.
Later, Natalie replied softly but firmly, "Deep vein thrombosis. I will check the patient's lower extremity venous ultrasonography and venography first."
"What about the wells score?"
"Two points. The patient has lied in bed for more than three days, and there is obvious edema in the lower limbs, so there is one point each."
Lucas looked less sullen and said, "Very good."
Natalie then answered all his following questions fluently, and he could see she had made a good preparation in advance. Seeing Mr. Atkinson's mood get better, everyone was relieved.
After the ward round, Lucas lectured the residents in public before he left, saying that they should go back to school if they did not know the basic theories and that the hospital did not need useless people.
Although he didn't mention anyone's name, everyone knew who he was referring to.
Daisy had been reproved, so when she got back into the office, she couldn't help speaking sarcastically to Natalie. Natalie was suffering from low blood sugar, so she didn't pay attention to her. She took off her glasses and intended to eat a piece of candy.
When she reached into her pocket, she suddenly stopped her action, and then, she opened the drawer and took out a chocolate from the crystal jar.
She did not look at it carefully just now. After she slowly peeled off the gold-foil candy wrapper, she saw what it looked like inside. It was the size of a common candy, but it was in the shape of a diamond and was covered with edible gold powder.
The texture was velvety but not greasy. The mellowness of the chocolate gradually melted in her mouth, and then she tasted a slight bitterness. Finally, there was a unique aroma, and she thought there should be truffles inside.
No wonder it was so expensive.
When Natalie was eating the chocolate, a smile appeared in her eyes.
Although she asked Luke not to squander money, she was very surprised to receive the gift. Some girls disliked flowers because they would wither, but when they received flowers, they would also happily take pictures and post them on Facebook.
She seldom celebrated holidays, but she had to admit it felt good to see a man making effort to please her.
Natalie was lost in a trance, and when she came back to her senses, she saw Luke's name on the candy paper.
She was holding a pen in her hand, but she felt a little dazed.
Luke, Luke...
She felt excited when reciting his name silently.
Finally, she folded the gold-foil candy paper into a rose and put it back into the crystal jar.
There were dozens of chocolates in the jar. Because Luke had said that they could not be preserved for long, Natalie could only eat one at intervals although she thought it was too extravagant.
Every time before she ate, she took a picture, and sent it to Luke, telling him that she would eat another half a year's salary today, and then she folded the candy paper with his name on it into a paper rose.
Luke would call her if he had time and deliberately teased, "Why do you feel upset? It is me that spent money on the chocolates."
"Shouldn't I feel upset? I felt as if I were chewing real diamonds," Natalie complained softly. She liked to hide in the quiet corridor of the hospital when talking to him on the phone. She added, "What's more, I owe you a lot."
"Are you afraid you are unable to repay me?" he said on the phone.
Natalie replied softly in empty the corridor, "...I don't know how to repay you."
He laughed, "Do you feel sorry about this?"
He asked the question casually because he didn't care about the money at all. Natalie didn't care about money either, but when she was enjoying the affection and care from Luke, she began to worry about losing him.
After thinking for a moment, she said meekly, "Yes."
"I see. What about you repay me with yourself."
He was just joking, but Natalie didn't scold him as usual but said slowly, "The price is too high."
Luke thought she was still reluctant to be his girlfriend, so he sighed, "Are you so unwilling to date me?"
With a frivolous smile, he asked her about his present rate of progress in chasing her.
She answered, "One percent."
"Why are you so hard to chase?" Luke joked helplessly, "This is the first time I've chased a girl. Can you do me a favor and bend the rule?"
Natalie said, "This is also the first time I've been chased, so it is fair."
She had some strange thoughts now. A few days ago, her period came, but he was not by her side, so she felt dejected. He didn't come to Alcomara for a long time, so Natalie had deliberately hidden her true feelings from him. She was separated from her boyfriend for more than a month, so she was a little upset
After a few days, Natalie realized things were not that simple.
The trial of the case of the Bretton Pharmaceutical went on until April, but they had not reached a verdict yet.
Natalie was full of expectations in the beginning, and then she gradually pessimistically believed that Luke could not come back at any time soon.
He was stuck in Athana now, so they could only communicate on Instagram or by phone. Although they did not chat every day, Natalie felt he had been trying his best to make time to talk to her.
After work, Natalie passed by the Athana cuisine restaurant where they had had their New Year's Eve dinner, so she bought some desserts. After returning home, she cooked a bowl of minced chicken breast and egg yolks for Fourteen.
Then, she took a picture of her and Fourteen's dinner and sent it to Luke.
Natalie did not wait for him to reply because she knew he was busy. He might reply before going to bed today or two days later.
But about ten minutes later, Luke sent a picture back to her. She guessed he was standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window in the company and had casually taken a picture of the scenery outside.
In the photo, there were many high-rise buildings and neon lights. She could see the snowflakes falling from the sky, which were white and big.
It was rare that he could reply so quickly, so Natalie was a little surprised. After putting a piece of dessert in her mouth, she directly called him.
The phone was picked up after a few seconds.
Natalie chewed the food and gabbled happily, "Luke, is it snowing in Athana now?"
"Yes! Didn't you see the snow when you were studying here?"
Luke's voice was still lazy, but it was less frivolous than usual, and he sounded a little tired.
"I didn't go out to take a good look back then." Natalie suddenly lost interest in this topic. After a simple perfunctory response, she asked, "Are you very tired?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard another person's voice on the phone. Someone came over to ask Luke when to continue the meeting and said that the shareholders had waited for a long time, including Miss Crosley from the Crosley Group.
Luke was very irritable now, so he snapped, "They will wait for as much time as they'd quarreled for. If they don't want to wait, they can leave now!"
That person was probably Luke's assistant. Natalie did not hear his voice anymore after Luke had given the order, so she guessed he had left because he did not dare to anger Luke.
she said softly, "Luke?"
After a moment, Luke calmed down and replied gently, "Yes?"
"Are you busy?"
"No. I can talk with you for a while."
Natalie was sitting at the dining table with her knees bent on the chair, looking lonely in the light at night. She swallowed the dessert and said softly, "You should go to work now. Don't delay your business because of me. I just heard some people are waiting for you."
Luke said, "I don't care."
Natalie didn't know how to do business, but she knew the business world was like a battlefield. She could hear that he was tired of dealing with those disputes, so she didn't persuade him anymore.
And she also wanted to talk more with him.
She heard the sound of the office chair being dragged on the phone, so she guessed he had sat down. He said, "You cooked a healthy meal for Fourteen, but you only ate some desserts?"
There were still a lot of desserts left in the box. Natalie slowly poked them with her fingertips and whispered, "I bought them on purpose..."
Suddenly, she changed the topic and said, "I am afraid you will blame me if Fourteen loses weight."
Luke chuckled, "It is you that should gain some weight."
After Natalie retorted that she was not thin, Luke said slowly, "When I see the snow, I remember..."
"What?" Natalie felt curious.
Luke leaned on the back of the chair with his legs crossed, and his voice was not as gloomy as just now when he said leisurely, "You said that you will go to the hot spring with me when you are in a good mood, but I don't know when we can go."
It turned out to be this matter...
When Mt. Waters had snowed on New Year's Eve, She and a group of men were soaked together in the hot spring surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and he had seen them in the glasshouse.
He was a narrow-minded man.
"Let's talk about it when you come back," Natalie laughed, but as soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly fell silent.
"What do you mean?" He seemed to be questioning but was confirming it with her.
Natalie narrowed her eyes and replied softly, "When you come back to Alcomara, I'll go with you."
There was a moment of silence on the phone.
After a while, he asked, "Really?"
"Really."
Luke smiled meaningfully and said in a drawling voice, "Don't cheat me. I'm gullible."
Natalie rested her chin on her knees, breathing fast because of her impure motive.
She wanted him to come back, but she was just paying lip service. If he didn't return, even if she agreed unconditionally, it wouldn't matter.
-
The temperature rose in April, but the cold air still came once in a while, so the weather was changeable.
At the beginning of this month, a resident doctor in Natalie's department began to take maternity leave, so the number of her patients inevitably increased.
Working hard for a few days in a row, Natalie noticed something was wrong after a nap.
When she woke up, her eyelids were so heavy and sore that she couldn't open her eyes, and she felt dizzy.
She seemed to have a cold.
She felt it before taking the nap when she peeled off the candy wrapper of the last diamond chocolate. By then, the crystal jar had been full of golden roses.
When she had eaten it, her sense of taste had been very insensitive. She had barely tasted any sweetness, felt itchy in her throat, and had difficulty swallowing.
When she woke up, she got ill.
Natalie and Luke hadn't contacted each other for a week. The case of Bretton Pharmaceutical stirred up a lot of trouble, while she was also busy every day.
That was the longest period of silence since their separation.
In the afternoon, Natalie wore a medical mask while working and felt dizzy due to the light from the computer screen. She felt her head was so heavy that it would crush her neck at any time, but she was still keyboarding cases of illnesses.
Suddenly, her colleagues in the office began whispering to each other, a few people were looking at the same mobile phone. They occasionally glanced at her with their eyes filled with indescribable sympathy.
Natalie was suffering from a headache now, so she thought it was her delusion.
Maybe there was tabloid news about some star on the internet again, and she just poured herself a cup of hot water. When she was about to continue typing, Sherman suddenly handed her phone to her. Seeing her serious expression, Natalie stretched out her sore arm and took the phone over.
It was a trending topic on Facebook.
Grace, the wife of the chairman of the Bennington Group, and Sloane, the young lady of the Crosley Group were shopping in a furniture mall together. She might be engaged with Luke soon.
Luke was not in the photos taken by the paparazzi. Only two women were standing in front of a bed arm in arm, and they were both wearing sunglasses and elegantly dressed.
Natalie's fingers trembled uncontrollably, and her headache became more severe.
She was very skeptical about the report. She did not believe it at all, but she felt very upset when seeing they were about to get engaged soon.
Moreover, Luke hadn't contacted her for a long time.
Natalie stared at this report silently, returned the phone to Sherman after a while, and forced a smile.
Then, she put on her mask again and finished inputting the cases of diseases as if nothing had happened.
Mia also sent her a message a few minutes later, asking what had happened to her and Luke. And then, she angrily reproved the parents of rich families for being too bossy and said, "But netizens' taste is good. In terms of appearance, Sloane is far worse than you!"
Natalie rested her forehead on the table. The weakness because of the cold made her unable to think. She was on the night shift today, so she was at a loss and didn't know how to go through the night.
Luke called her when she was washing her face in the restroom to sober herself up.
Her mobile phone was left on the desk, so she did not see the missed calls until she got back.
He had also sent her messages.
Five minutes ago, he had said, "Fake news! Don't believe it!"
Just now, he had said, "Pick up the phone, please. I can explain."
Natalie felt itchy in her nose, and after she lowered her head and sneezed three times in a row, she put down her phone feebly without replying.
She caught a cold, and it was hard to remain sane when she was feeling extremely uncomfortable, so she did want to talk to him.
Humans were sometimes really strange. It was her that ignored his messages, but when he stopped calling and sending messages to her, she felt so depressed that she had difficulty breathing.
Therefore, she spent the whole afternoon in a daze.
Some colleagues got off work, and some left because they were also on night shifts. A colleague came over and asked if she wanted to go have dinner together with her, but Natalie hunched over the desk and shook her head, saying she had no appetite.
Her voice sounded very weak, so the colleague asked, "Nata, are you OK? Have you caught a cold?"
Natalie sat up and said weakly, "I'm okay..."
The colleague touched her forehead and said, "Have you eaten dinner? You should be put on a drip. I think you have a low-grade fever now."
"I am on night shift today," Natalie smiled bitterly.
"Are you still going to work? Ask someone else to cover for you!" Daisy suddenly said, "Nata, aren't you dating Luke? As long as he talks to the hospital director, you can take leave at will."
That trending topic on Facebook was widely discussed in the hospital, so Daisy must know it. She was jeering at Natalie to seek revenge.
When the colleague was about to ask her to shut up, she raised her voice and asked with sarcasm, "Where's your boyfriend Luke?"
Natalie felt dizzy and uncomfortable, and her eyes were so sore that tears welled up. She was upset by Daisy's words and had a stuffy nose, so she felt very suffocated.
She hated being emotional. If she were healthy now, she would have laughed it off, but now, her illness made her vulnerable.
Natalie exhaled hot breaths, lowered her eyes, and quietly cleaned up the desk.
Daisy held grudges against her for a long time, so she wanted to take the opportunity to say more mean words, but suddenly, a deep voice sounded at the door, "Here I am."
Natalie could not be more familiar with the voice, so she froze and stared blankly at the desk.
Everyone else including Daisy looked over to the door after hearing his words and saw a tall and slender man standing there with his coat in his arms. It seemed he had come here in a hurry because his short hair was a little messy.
Luke walked into the office step by step, stopped in front of Natalie's desk, squinted at Daisy who was speaking just now, and said with a cold face, "Why did you look for her boyfriend?"