Chapter 12 You Can Deal With It at Will
If Luke hadn't shown up, Natalie thought that she would directly go home and hid under her covers to have a good sleep while she was slightly drunk.
Then, the unsustainable relationship and her dream would be swept out of her mind together.
She had done what she must do, and the past was the past.
But Luke not only walked to her but also shoved his jacket into her arms during her brief daze.
"Are you finished?" He put his hand back into his trouser pocket.
He asked the question self-righteously, so Natalie looked at his face with her teary eyes, nodded dazedly, and waited for him to continue.
"I need to have a word with you. I'll wait at the gate," Luke said lightly and strode out.
After taking two steps, he stopped, turned his head back, and said casually, "Give the coat back."
He was referring to Forrest's coat that she was wearing. Natalie hold Luke's black suit jacket for a while and finally understood what he meant.
The front of her dress was damped with wine, so she could either leave with Forrest's coat or owe Luke a favor.
After she weighed the pros and cons, she chose the latter.
Since they had broken up, they should not owe each other anything, so she didn't want to borrow Forrest's coat.
When Natalie handed the coat to Forrest, the latter didn't take it over but said, "Natalie, do you want to break up with me? If you quit your monkey business now, I will give you a chance back it out."
"I won't bother you anymore." Natalie put the coat flat on the sofa.
Hearing this, Forrest sneered, "Okay, we are done."
Seeing Natalie leaving without any hesitation, Forrest felt sullen, and his face became gloomier.
Moreover, she was wearing another man's coat.
And that man was his enemy in business.
-
As soon as Natalie got out of the hotel, she saw Luke leaning against a pillar on the porch. Other people would think that he was putting up airs to prevent strangers from bothering him, but Natalie was a doctor, so she knew he was suffering from the pain in the back at a glance.
When Luke heard the soft and slow sounds of high heels, he turned his head and saw Natalie approaching him.
She looked different today.
The knee-length black velvet dress and red high heels complemented her thin, straight, and fair-skinned calves, and her long hair was hanging loose in gentle waves.
She looked as elegant as a lady living in a grand manor.
Her makeup was messed up because of tears. The champagne eyeshadow and the tears in her eyes were shining together. His coat was too big, so when she wore it, she looked petite and pitiful.
"Problem solved?" Luke asked casually.
"Yes. Thank you." Natalie's voice was slightly hoarse, and she took a deep breath before continuing, "Mr. Bennington, what do you want to talk to me about?"
When Luke looked into her eyes, two thoughts popped into his mind.
One was that she was trying to hide her emotions.
The other was that she was really bad at acting.
"I want to smoke again." Luke stretched his hand out to her and said brazenly, "I want candy."
Natalie was speechless.
Her melancholy stopped bothering her for the time being, and she asked, "You asked me to come out because you want candy?"
"Didn't you want to leave just now?"
Hearing his question, Natalie was speechless.
Luke put his hand back in his pocket and said, "You should have been braver."
"What?" she asked.
"When you break up with a man, you must look tough and proud!" Luke leaned lazily against the pillar and said, "If he doesn't care about you, it will be of no use no matter how much you say. You should just slap him in the face and leave. Don't show him a single tear! Understand?"
When he leaned his head back on the pillar, his chin was raised. Because of his height, his attitude looked condescending.
Natalie thought he looked very domineering.
She looked down and said softly, "... We parted friends."
"Really?" Luke laughed, "But what I saw was..."
He continued leisurely, "You dumped him."
After her lie was exposed, Natalie kept silent in embarrassment for a moment, and then she couldn't help frowning and asking, "What did you hear?"
"You said he was not that into you."
Natalie didn't know what to say because he was too honest.
It was embarrassing to break up unhappily, but it had been witnessed by Luke, so Natalie instantly became more depressed.
Not everyone could seek revenge for the smallest grievance.
Natalie would never be able to unscrupulously retaliate against those who had hurt her like Luke.
She internally resisted talking about her break-up anymore.
"Aren't you going to go back to the hospital now?" Natalie said in a nasal voice because of crying, and she added seriously, "You should not have left the hospital during your hospitalization. If you have an accident, the hospital will have to take responsibility."
She took a look at his weird stance, pursed her lips, and said, "And..."
Suddenly, Charlie stopped the off-road vehicle in front of them, and then, Mark jumped into the front passenger seat. He felt very happy after beating Carlos up, so he had capered out of the hotel just now.
"Don't worry, Dr. Moore. Luke signed a disclaimer before leaving! He will not cause any trouble for you!"
He was always energetic. Natalie wanted to ask Luke whether his back hurt, but Mark's sudden appearance made her swallow the words on the tip of her tongue.
When a depressed person met someone grinning cheekily, the stark contrast would make the person more depressed.
Natalie nodded lightly and didn't want to talk anymore.
Mark was simple and candid, and he didn't know Natalie cried because of the breakup. He thought it was Carlos's fault, so he wanted to show off how he had taught that bastard a good lesson.
When he was about to start with a grin, Luke shot a cold glace at him.
"Shut up!" He said coldly, "Be quiet and wait in the car!"
Mark's heart skipped a beat, and he stopped talking and sat up straight in the seat.
"Are you going back to the hospital?" Luke asked.
Natalie didn't want to go to the hospital with such a messy appearance, so she shook her head, "I'm taking a day off today."
She had stopped crying, but her face was stained with tears, and her cheeks were flushed, which Luke thought was a reaction to alcohol.
He stared at her for a while, frowned slightly, and murmured in a deep voice, "You're an adult. Why didn't you refuse if you don't want to drink it?"
His reproachful tone was implying that she would have been bullied more severely if he had not shown up to help.
But Natalie didn't hear his words clearly, so she raised her head and looked at him with a confused look in her eyes.
Luke ignored her confusion, tilted his head to looked at her, and asked, "Do you want me to send you home or go in to scold him?"
Natalie felt more confused and asked, "Why do I want you to scold him?"
"Get in the car. I will send you home," he said as if nothing had happened.
There was a drop in temperature today, and the wind was chilly, so she felt colder after every breath. Luke's coat was not thick enough to keep out the cold. After she stood outside for a while, the damp and cold air kept penetrating her skin, making her feel a pain in the ribs.
She wasn't a weak woman, but the cold weather continued to magnify the depression and helplessness in her heart, making her much frailer than usual.
If she walked to the bus stop 1,500 feet away and took the bus, it would take about an hour for her to return home. Moreover, she did not know how long she would have to wait for the bus.
She didn't have the strength to wait and just wanted to go home as quickly as possible.
Exhaustion spread all over her body, and her mind was messy, so she said in a faint voice, "Thank you."
Luke nodded, stood up straight, and walked to the back seat of the car.
"You should treat me better in the future."
His tone sounded dull, but there was a hint of gentleness in his words. However, Natalie did not realize it until a long time later when she looked back on what had happened today.
The army green Wrangler was running in the direction of Clovervale Residence.
Natalie looked at the scene that was receding outside the window and thought if her grandmother knew she had broken up with Forrest, she would be very angry and would not want to talk to her anymore.
At the thought of this, she wanted to cry again.
The car was stopped by security at the gate of Clovervale Residence because all the foreign vehicles must be registered. Charlie turned his head back to looked at her and smiled softly, "Which building?"
Hearing this, Natalie came back to her senses. When she hurriedly replied to Charlie, she sounded as if she were crying, saying, "You don't need to drive inside. I can walk back. Thank you."
After finishing speaking, she turned aside and opened the door.
Suddenly, something that was neither light nor heavy was thrown over, and it landed on the hem of her skirt.
When she looked down subconsciously, she saw a box of tissues.
"Cry out if you want. There are enough tissues," Luke who was sitting next to her suddenly said.
He usually looked like an otherworldly person who had always kept himself aloof from others as if he didn't care about anyone.
But he noticed her subtle reaction every time. He had eaten the mangoes for her, lent her a coat, and thrown her a box of tissues...
Was he caring about her?
Natalie didn't think so. Maybe she was like a stray cat he accidentally ran into.
After all, he wasn't a ruthless man.
Natalie held the box of tissues with both hands. It was very strange. She tried to pretend to be strong and wanted to tell him that she didn't want to cry, but she couldn't say anything.
She indeed wanted to cry very much, so she held back the tears and muttered, "Thank you."
Luke glanced at her lightly and said, "Cry out loud if you want. It's not against the law to cry."
It was said that if no one cared about a person, his or her sadness was loneliness, but if someone showed care for him or her, the sadness would become a grievance. Natalie did not think Luke care about her. He said such words probably because she was so weak that he couldn't bear to see it anymore.
But after hearing his words, Natalie inexplicably felt aggrieved and burst into tears uncontrollably, so she quickly ran away.
-
Mia learned that Natalie had broken up with Forrest after getting off work.
After she left the Civil Affairs Bureau, she directly headed for Clovervale Residence, and half an hour later, she appeared at Natalie's home pantingly.
When the door opened, she saw Natalie wearing a cotton white nightdress. Her face was clean, and she wore her hair in a loose bun on top of her head.
Standing at the door, she was sucking up yogurt through a straw from a flat bag.
If Mia had not seen her bloodshot eyes and swollen eyelids, she would not have known that she was very sad.
"Nata, are you all right?" Mia held her face as soon as she entered the door and looked at her carefully
Natalie loosened her straw and smiled.
But that smile was ugly. Her eyes were red, and so was the tip of her nose. Her forelock was messy, so she looked miserable as if she had been abused.
"D*mn! What did Forrest do to you? Why do you look so miserable? I want to kill him!" Mia was even angrier than the time she had been dumped. She hugged Natalie, patted her on the back, and said, "Don't cry. You stopped loss in time. You're so good, so you deserve a better man."
"Mia, I am alright..." Natalie's voice was so hoarse that she coughed twice before she could continue, "I just want to have a meal together with you."
When she got back, she had spent the whole afternoon crying on the carpet in the bedroom and used up the whole box of tissues Luke had given her.
He said it was not against the law to cry, and it gave Natalie a reason to cry out loud regardless of anything.
She released all the emotions suppressed at the bottom of her heart together with the tears.
She cried so hard that she had almost forgotten why she was crying.
It was amazing that after she had a mental breakdown, she was not so depressed anymore although her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were swollen.
"Nata, if you're sad, I can have a drink with you. Don't bear it alone." Mia looked rarely serious.
Natalie took a sip of yogurt to wet her whistle and then said with a smile, "No, thanks. I still have to go to work tomorrow. Let's have caramel puff pastry! I want to eat it."
Mia said, "No problem!"
So, in the evening, the two girls put many desserts on the coffee table in front of them. It was cold and dark outside the window, but the living room was warm.
While having the desserts, they were rewatching a classic film named Wind Valley, which was healing and warm.
Natalie enjoyed the current moment because the music was tender and the story was touching.
When the movie was over, Natalie silently took out her phone and deleted Forrest's contact information.
Forrest was not sticky on top of her address list anymore.
At night, Natalie posted a sentence on Instagram, saying, "Being strong is not facing sadness without shedding a tear but wiping away tears and smiling to face life after. "
It was a line in Wind Valley.
She understood it now.
When Luke immediately gave her a thumbs-up, she thought he was idle all the time.
Natalie knew that the price of psychological counseling was not low. Although it had been like a joke, he helped her last time.
She didn't want to owe him anything, so she wrapped the quilt around herself on the bed, glanced at her account balance of about 900 dollars, considered for a moment, and sent a message to Luke, saying, "Are you there online?"
Luke replied, "What's up?"
Immediately, Natalie transferred 888 dollars to him and left a note, saying, "Wish you peace and good luck forever."
Natalie was worried that he might refuse to accept the money. After all, he had been introduced to her by Mia, so she might look tacky if she paid him money.
But his reaction was still beyond her expectations.
He asked, "Why? Do you want to collude with me to do something?"
Natalie was taken back and hurriedly typed, "You've helped me a lot recently, so I want to thank you..."
But before she could send the reply out, he had accepted the money.
Natalie was speechless.
No one could resist the lure of money, right?
After hesitating for a while, she still sent the message to him.
Seeing the message, Luke replied, "Well, I thought you want to hire me."
Natalie asked in confusion, "Why do you think so?"
Luke answered, "Because you may want to assassinate your ex-boyfriend."
If so, why had he accepted the money so readily? Luke's reaction was weird every time.
Seeing the word "ex-boyfriend" in his reply, she felt calm and realized that her first serious relationship had failed.
After loudly crying the whole afternoon, Natalie was not very emotional now, and she realized something was wrong.
She wondered how he know she had broken up with Forrest at the hotel?
Was he doing fortune telling as a sideline?
Before going to bed, Natalie started worrying about Luke's suit coat.
It was stained with a lot of tears and snot, so it was dirty and wrinkled. No matter how she cleaned, it couldn't be returned to him anymore.
After taking a look at the logo, she knew she could not afford a new one.
After hesitating for a while, Natalie still messaged Mark to ask about the price of the coat.
Mark replied, "Dr. Moore, Luke said you can deal with it at will. If you feel sorry, you can think you owe him a favor."
Natalie pondered over his words carefully, thinking Luke was doing this on purpose because he knew she would feel sorry.
-
Because she cried violently, and her eyes were sore, so she went to bed early.
Therefore, she arrived at the hospital on time the next day.
After she finished ward rounds, outpatient assessments, and the observation of surgery, she found she had a fulfilling morning.
Natalie was happy to realize that after she stopped sending messages to ask Forrest the questions that he would never answer, she no longer needed to check her phone from time to time for fear of missing his reply.
Although the breakup was unpleasant, at least she was not regretful.
She didn't regret it because she thought the future would be better.
At noon, Natalie thought it was time to go to No. 901 to check on Luke, so she stood up.
"Nata!" Daisy suddenly came to her desk.
Natalie was sorting some documents with her head down, so she said without looking up, "I have to go now, and let's talk when I get back."
Dissatisfied with her neglect, Daisy knocked on the table and said, "Where is Mr. Bennington's casebook?"
Natalie paused and finally looked at her.
Daisy wore makeup every day, but she seemed carefully dressed up today as if she were going to participate in a beauty pageant.
"What's wrong?" Natalie asked.
Daisy put up airs and answered arrogantly, "I will go check on Mr. Bennington's condition from today on."
It took ten seconds for Natalie to get what she meant.
"Are you sure?" Natalie put down the blue document folder and warned, "He has a bad temper."
"No.901 was originally within my area of responsibility, but I was on temporary leave at that time, so Ms. Locke assigned it to you. Thank you for your hard work. And I can do it myself now."
Daisy was always raising her noble head like a proud swan, and she was now telling Natalie to get out of her way because she wanted to approach Luke.
Natalie could say nothing but agree.
As soon as Daisy got what she wanted and left, Sherman couldn't help taunting, "Stupid woman."
Natalie smiled, "I feel relaxed and happy because I can take a nap now."
Sherman moved closer to her and said seriously in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, "Nata, yesterday you did not come, so you don't know Mr. Bennington left the hospital and then came back after a while."
Natalie froze for a second and smiled stiffly, "Really?"
Recalling what had happened at the hotel yesterday, Natalie became sensitive to the topic.
"When Mr. Bennington returned, I just came back from the outpatient clinic and saw him. So did Daisy."
"And then?" Natalie asked curiously.
Sherman jerked her chin toward Daisy's desk and said in an indescribable tone, "She has a crush on him!"
After being stunned for half a minute, Natalie asked in disbelief, "You mean, she likes..."
"Shh!" Sherman put her index finger in front of her lips.
After glancing around to make sure there were no ears nearby, she said, "Otherwise, she would not have been so diligent! Why do you think she suddenly changed today?"
Natalie was speechless.
"She wanted to marry into a wealthy family, but I don't think it will work."
As Luke's fan, Sherman sighed with admiration, "It turns out there is such a handsome man in the world. Mr. Bennington is the most handsome man I've ever seen!"
Natalie didn't know how to reply, so she just smirked.
Her words were not very exaggerated because Luke was indeed handsome.
Yesterday was like a dream, and all Natalie's energy had been sucked up, so she stretched herself and wanted to take a comfortable nap.
As soon as she lay down, she heard someone sobbing from far to near.
When Natalie took off her blindfold, she saw Daisy return to the office.
When she left, her face had been radiant, and after just a few minutes, she burst into tears.
"Hurry up! Go to No. 901," Daisy snapped, tossed her head, walked back to her desk, and drew a piece of tissue to blow her nose.
Natalie sat up in confusion and said, "Why do you come back?"
Daisy didn't answer but cried louder, looking miserable. Natalie thought Daisy was crying more miserably than she did yesterday.
She even doubted if Luke had beaten her.
But she didn't dare to ask further questions now, so she had to rush to No.901 unwillingly.
When she arrived, Mark opened the door for her as usual.
After she walked in, she found No. No.901 was still very bright because the golden sunshine was illuminating the entire room.
When she looked at the bed by the floor-to-ceiling window, she saw Luke lying lazily on it with a cigarette in his mouth as expected, and his face look perfect like that of a carved sculpture.
He seemed so cold, and she could feel he was unhappy.
The scene reminded her of what happened when she came here the first time.
That day, he was very arrogant and vicious when she touched his waist. Except for his face, he was like a brutal beast, making her have lingering fears for the next few days.
No wonder Daisy was scared to tears.
Natalie walked over to him with the medical tray. Before she could say anything, Luke opened his eyes after hearing her steps.
He then squinted at her silently.
Natalie was speechless.
If she didn't know his temper, she would have thought they had a blood feud after seeing the look in his eyes.
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
But she was very embarrassed in front of him yesterday, and she became calmer than before. She coughed softly and said, "Mr. Bennington..."
He suddenly interrupted in a low and cold voice, "Why did you throw me away to someone else?"
There was a hint of unhappiness in his words as if she stood him up on a date.
Natalie showed a confused look and could not figure out what was going on.
Luke looked at her and added, "You're ungrateful."
Natalie felt speechless again.