Chapter 39 Boyfriend
He took a bite on and licked the cartilage of her earlobe, leaving a warm and wet mark.
When Natalie got back into the office, her left ear was still burning.
When she was flipping through medical records on the computer with a mouse in her hand, she was still recalling the scene when he had leaned over, lowered his head, and blown the hot breath on her ear.
Her subconscious judged whether she liked it by itself. At that time, she did not frown in disgust but become overjoyed when feeling the pain, and her heart was racing.
She knew she had fallen in love with him like a stone falling into a pond.
Natalie patted her cheeks and took a deep breath, forcing herself out of the trance.
After the suspension, her work was assigned to other doctors. When she came back, she found there were a lot of urgencies to deal with.
Moreover, during this period, a lot of things happened in Alcomara No.2 Hospital. Mr. Scott was dismissed, several chief physicians were suspected of illegal sale of drugs, and their licenses had all been canceled.
The new director would take office soon, and it was said that he would carry out layoffs, so many discussions were circling in the hospital now.
Mr. Atkinson, who was Natalie's teacher in orthopedic surgery, returned to Estain not long ago, so Joyce could no longer bully her at work. Natalie felt incredibly happy about it because she would have more time to study in the outpatient clinic now.
Of course, Natalie and Luke's relationship was known to all now because of the video in the parking lot, the night when he stayed with her in the hospital, and that unexpected live broadcast. It was hard for her to keep a low profile.
The doctors and nurses in Natalie's department had a good relationship. When she was suspended, everyone thought she had been wrongly accused. After she came back, they were all very happy and gave her many snacks as welcome gifts. Natalie was in the office for only half an hour, but her desk was full of food and drink now.
Some people were gossipy, so they came over to inquire about her relationship with Luke while lunch break.
A young trainee was very dramatic because she sat in front of Natalie's desk and said with her eyes full of excitement, "Nata, I worship you, and I ship you and Luke! You're sweet, and he is cool. You look so cute together..."
Another doctor joked, "Nata and you are the same age. She is even two months younger than you. Why do you worship her?"
These words caused everyone else in the office to laugh.
The young girl showed a bitter smile and said that she was showing respect to an outstanding peer.
Natalie showed an embarrassed smile without denying she was dating Luke.
She did not know how to define their relationship. She was able to deny it before, but they did have feelings for each other now.
Daisy did not join their chat, and she uncharacteristically did not even make any sarcastic remarks. But when they began to talk about Luke, she suddenly raised her voice and shouted angrily, "You are too noisy! It's nap time, OK?"
When she turned her back to people in anger, her reclining chair made a loud noise.
The office suddenly fell into an eerie silence. Some people snorted, and some returned to their seats while rolling their eyes. They had long-held grudges against Daisy. Now that Mr. Scott had been dismissed, no one would care about whether this young lady's feelings would be hurt.
The surroundings were silent, and everyone was having a break.
After being suspended from work, Natalie slept too much, so she didn't feel sleepy at all. When she turned on the computer and prepared to continue to work, Sherman tapped on her desk lightly.
When Natalie looked up, she saw Sherman pointing to her ear, and then she asked in a faint voice, "Did you have your ears pierced?"
To prevent them from hindering her work, Natalie wore a pair of transparent anti-blocking earrings. She paused for a second and nodded with a smile.
At the thought of Luke, she suddenly felt lonely.
This morning, they had breakfast and left home together. After she worked for a few hours, he had already returned to Athana, which was more than a thousand miles away.
This was not the first time they had separated since they knew each other. He had traveled abroad once and returned to Athana several times before.
But when he left, she always felt their meeting was unreal like a dream.
Occasionally, she could not help wondering if it was just one of his flings in Alcomara.
He said he was chasing after her, but would he come back? How long would he stay if he came back? When was he leaving again?
Natalie stared blankly at the computer screen for a while. When she decided to stop thinking about their relationship and was about to take a nap, Luke sent her a message as if he could sense her thoughts.
He asked, "Are you taking a nap?"
Natalie was worrying about losing contact with him, so when she received his message, she felt relieved.
Maybe once one fell in love, his or her mood would become uncontrollable.
She did want Luke to discover her weird emotion, so she considered it for a moment and carefully replied, "Not yet."
Luke asked, "You're very busy today?"
Natalie also had selfish motives. She didn't want to say she was busy, but she didn't want to say that she was going to take a break either because she did not want to end their conversation so quickly.
Therefore, she replied, "No."
Luke complained, "My fight has long taken off! Why didn't you ask me whether I'd arrived safely if you're not busy? Do you want to make me upset?"
Was he dissatisfied?
Natalie was stunned for a moment and then inadvertently showed a faint smile.
This was the first time they had chatted on Instagram after knowing each other's identities. She was amused at the thought of this matter. She hadn't even had any doubts about such an ignorant psychologist and had even transferred him money as a consulting fee.
Natalie could not find any excuse, so she recriminated, "Why did you hide your identity from me? Do you want to make me upset? I don't want to chat with you anymore."
Luke kept typing, but the message was not sent out after half a minute. Natalie guessed it was because he knew he was in the wrong.
She laughed silently, patiently waiting for him to resort to sophistry, but he suddenly stopped typing. After a while, Natalie found his nickname had changed from "Luke" to "Love NM".
It was "Love NM".
Natalie's heart skipped a beat. She stared at his nickname for a long time, and her ears began to burn again, especially her left ear.
Luke asked, "Do you want to chat with me now?"
Natalie was afraid her current expression would be seen by her colleagues, so she lowered her head, covered half of her face with her hand, and deliberately said, "I'll have to think about it."
Luke asked, "Can't you forgive me?"
Natalie held back her smile and replied, "It is you that asked me to hold a grudge against you, right?"
Luke half-jokingly said the argot that only they could understand, "OK, you can keep holding the grudge. Don't hang out with other men when I am away. I will coax you when I go back."
Natalie hunched over the desk and pillowed on her arms, staring at his message and wondering when he would come back to coax her.
-
Natalie worried that her work efficiency would be reduced if she thought about Luke all the time, but as soon as she began to work, she became too busy to think about him as if she turned into a perpetual motion machine. She often had night shifts, so she did not have much time to talk with him.
But when she returned to the empty villa after getting off work, she still inevitably felt lonely.
So, after living alone for a week, she moved back to her own home with Fourteen on her day off.
Of course, this matter could not be hidden from Luke. As soon as she returned to Clovervale Residence, Luke called her to ask whether she felt uncomfortable when living in Lithern Club.
How could it be uncomfortable to live in a mansion and have a chauffeur to send her to and from work? But she felt lonelier when living in such a big house.
Natalie sat on the carpet and stroked Fourteen who was adjusting to the unfamiliar environment. She pressed the phone to her ear and said in a low voice, "No. But you're not there, so I think it's inappropriate for me to live in your house alone..."
After a two-second pause, she smiled softly and said in a calm voice, "I brought Fourteen to my home, and I will help you take good care of it."
He was insightful, so he easily caught the subtlety in her words.
When she finished speaking, both of them fell silent.
After Luke organized his words for a while and said in a rare serious tone, "Natalie, you can stay in my house forever."
The warmth in his words made her eyes moist.
Natalie blinked and restrained her emotions, and after a long while, she said lightly, "I will move back when you return."
"I will move back when you return."
This was the first time Natalie expressed her true feelings after he had left, but her words were euphemistic.
She did not know whether Luke could understand what she meant. He must be busy, and so was she.
The woman brought a lawsuit to the court, accusing Bretton Pharmaceutical of causing her husband's death by selling quack medicine. And the case was accepted by the Athana Court and came to trial shortly after Luke returned.
Although Natalie did not know why she had suddenly changed her mind, it didn't matter. It was a good thing after all.
Bretton Pharmaceutical was Noah's company, so there were a lot of relevant news reports recently, saying that Noah, the current president of the Bennington Group, might be criminally responsible.
The Bretton Pharmaceutical became a trending topic on Facebook for a long time.
"F*ck! Bretton Pharmaceutical cooked the books? Noah is a scumbag!"
"I was so scared that I threw away all Bretton Pharmaceutical products!"
"They are inhuman! They deserve the death penalty! ! They must be severely punished!"
"Unscrupulous businessmen should all go to hell! The trial must be open to the public! Otherwise, ordinary people could not defeat capitalists!"
...
Bretton Pharmaceutical was Noah's personal property, so it had nothing to do with the Bennington Group, but he was Old Mr. Bennington's son, so the Bennington Group was inevitably implicated.
It was indeed difficult for ordinary people to fight against capitalists. Netizens did not know it was Luke that had facilitated the trial, but the elders of the Bennington family knew.
They did not expect he would be so ruthless to his half-brother. Since the incident had been exposed, a lot of things happened inside the Bennington Group, and the conflict was heating up.
Luke didn't bother to pretend in front of them. After the incident, the official account of the medical company which was a joint venture created by him and Baildie immediately publicly expressed its support for the victims.
It won applauses among netizens, and more and more people began to admire them.
However, Noah was not an ordinary person. The lawyers on both sides were elites in the industry, so the trial was not going on smoothly.
Luke and Noah began to fight under Old Mr. Bennington's gaze like the two young eagles.
Although Luke and Natalie kept in touch, they were not idle, so she could not know what had happened to him instantaneously. She often knew his news from trending topics like a common netizen.
Before Valentine's Day, they were so busy that they almost lost contact.
He was fighting the storm in Athana, but Natalie's life in the hospital was not peaceful either.
On Valentine's Day, the new hospital director announced the first list of layoffs, causing a panic. No one could guarantee that they would not be fired next time.
Early in the morning, Natalie heard a wail as soon as she entered the office, saying that she was not in the mood to have a date with her husband after getting off work anymore.
Natalie put on her white coat and sat down at her desk. When she was tying her hair, the trainee who had said she shipped Luke and Natalie squatted by her desk and asked excitedly, "Nata, it's Valentine's Day! What gift did Luke send you? Is it a big diamond?"
Natalie was stunned, and it took a while for her to realize it was Valentine's Day.
"Nothing." Natalie smiled lightly, tied her hair behind her head, and pulled the hair on her ears back as if there was nothing on her mind.
They did not talk with each other for long.
And they were not a couple, so they would not celebrate Valentine's Day.
The trainee widened her eyes in surprise, sighed in disappointment, and then took the initiative to comfort her, saying, "The Bennington Group is in trouble recently, so he must be very busy."
Natalie forced a smile. When she was about to say they were not celebrating Valentine's Day, a voice sounded from the door of the office, "Is Miss Moore here?"
"Yes." Natalie raised her hand subconsciously and then looked over. She was stunned to see the person at the door because he was the young man who delivered meals to her every day before.
When the young man saw her, he walked over with a smile and put a crystal bowl-shaped vessel lightly on her desk.
Under Natalie's suspicious gaze, he said that Mr. Bennington had asked a famous dessert chef named Theodore to make a box of diamond chocolates for her and that the other gifts would be delivered to her home because Mr. Bennington did not want to cause any inconvenience in the hospital.
After handing the chocolate to her, the young man left with a warm smile as if it were a box of ordinary chocolates. But in fact, even the sugar jar was made of natural crystal, and every diamond chocolate was wrapped with gold foil and worth more than ten thousand dollars.
The girls in the office all rushed over, crowding around Natalie's desk.
Theodore was one of the best dessert chefs, and the box of chocolates could be said to be the most expensive candy in the world, so they were even more excited than Natalie.
Natalie was stunned for a long time. She was not surprised by the value of the candy, but she hadn't expected he would remember to prepare Valentine's Day gifts for her when he was so busy.
It was a real surprise. The sudden gift made her heart race with joy because it was a token of his affection.
She had never expected someone would care so much about her.
The crowd around her desk did not disperse until it was time to work.
Natalie calmed down and put the crystal jar carefully into a drawer.
Before the routine ward round in the morning, Mr. Atkinson had to conduct a comprehensive case analysis for several residents first, so Natalie waited near the nurse's desk with a fold.
While waiting, she got a call from Luke.
She was stunned for a while, then sneaked to the exit passageway, and hurriedly picked it up.
"Luke?" They did not talk for long, so her voice was excited because she couldn't hide the joy of receiving his call.
Luke laughed in a lazy, deep, and pleasant voice, "Is the chocolate tasty?"
The exit passageway was empty and quiet, and there was a sound-isolating security door behind her, so when she spoke, she could hear echoes.
Natalie leaned against the wall lightly, looked down at her white shoes, suppressed her excitement, and replied softly, "I have to work, so I haven't had time to eat yet. And I want to keep them."
"There's no need to keep them. I'll order more if you like the chocolates. They can't be preserved for long."
His voice sounded a little hoarse. Natalie guessed he was leaning against a wall and smoking a cigarette now because she knew his habit.
"Too expensive..." Natalie whispered, "One bite cost more than my salary."
While they were talking, she couldn't help nagging.
Luke chuckled, "You're so young, but you liked nagging more than my mother."
Natalie was slightly annoyed and said, "Be good! Don't squander money like this anymore."
"No," he refused lazily.
Natalie was silenced by his refusal, so she pursed her lips.
Luke didn't immediately speak either. He took a puff at the cigarette and said slowly in a sexy voice in the smoke, "I will not be good if you are not by my side."
His words sounded very gentle as if he would only listen to her.
Natalie smiled after being stunned.
At that moment, both of them felt pleased. They put aside their work for a short while and chatted leisurely.
Natalie told him that the new hospital director would lay off more employees to gain prestige and that he might also want to punish some people as a warning to others. She then sighed in depression, "I've finally returned to the hospital to work, but I may lose my job soon again."
Luke snorted and said the new hospital director would not dare to do so.
They talked for only a few minutes because Natalie didn't want to miss the ward round, so she said she would call him later.
As soon as she hung up the phone, she saw Mr. Atkinson walking up the stairs.
"Nata?" Lucas said in surprise.
Natalie hurriedly put down her phone and greeted him with a smile, "Good morning, Mr. Atkinson."
"Let's go to make the rounds of the wards!" When Lucas was walking out of the exit passageway, he seemingly casually asked, "Who were you talking to on the phone just now?"
Natalie wanted to say it was a friend, but she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue in the end.
Thinking quietly for a moment, she showed a warm smile and replied naturally, "My boyfriend."