Chapter 13 Dr. Moore, Be Gentle!
Natalie never expected she would stand in front of a man's sickbed instead of having a mental breakdown after breaking up with her first love.
Hearing him wrongly accusing her of being ungrateful, she stared at him innocently, wondering how Daisy had annoyed him.
Because of the coat, Natalie asked kindly, "Why are you unhappy?"
With that, Luke looked more aggrieved, and his expression seemed to blame her for being heartless.
Natalie thought, "So what?" and decided to stop asking questions.
She put down the tray, put on gloves, and said calmly as usual, "You would be discharged from the hospital soon if you did not run out yesterday. To make sure you haven't suffered any secondary damage, you must take a CT scan after I change the gauze for you..."
She was not wearing any makeup, and she cried so miserably yesterday that she couldn't force a smile now. Therefore, when she was speaking in a low voice, she seemed very cold.
Luke suddenly interrupted with a very reluctant attitude, "I won't run out anymore, OK?"
Hearing this, Natalie was taken aback and slowly raised her head to look at his face.
"I'll stay here until I'm discharged from the hospital." He said stiffly with an expressionless face, making Natalie recall that he blamed her for throwing him away to someone else.
In hindsight, she realized that he had misunderstood she was angry with him for his leaving the hospital without permission. Why was his attitude so compromised? Was it because he knew she was sad because of the breakup with Forrest?
He sounded like a boyfriend who was suing for peace after a quarrel with his girlfriend.
When Natalie realized she was smiling subconsciously, she immediately curled her lips to stop it and deliberately asked, "Really?"
Her voice was always clear in the past, but now it was slightly hoarse because she cried miserably yesterday in grief.
Luke nodded with a cigarette in his mouth.
His answer confirmed Natalie's guess, so she also nodded expressionlessly.
"Are you coming tomorrow?"
Luke was used to being arrogant, so he soon become tough again.
It was said that where there was oppression, there was resistance. Natalie thought she would regret it if she missed the opportunity to extort this capitalist, so she asked back, "Can you get up earlier tomorrow?"
She was born with an innocent face, so Luke couldn't see she had a "wicked" idea at all.
She added, "What about 10 am?"
"10 am?"
Both the questioner and the answerer were daring.
Luke raised his head to squint at her.
Natalie admitted that she was kind of fishing in muddy waters, but she just hoped to get more time to take a nap, and she did not think this request would cross the line.
When their eyes met, Natalie's heart skipped a beat, and Luke also looked away quickly.
"I will try my best," he said.
Natalie froze for a moment and could not believe her ears.
He agreed.
Suddenly, a thought popped into her mind that she wanted to tell Mia that she had misjudged Luke. Mia said Luke was not approachable, but he was very reasonable!
Natalie was overjoyed inwardly, but her face was still cold, and she said in a low voice, "You made my colleague cry just now."
Luke sneered, "I didn't beat her! Why did she cry?"
didn't know how to answer this question, thinking if he had just beaten Daisy up, she would not have felt so depressed now.
The longer he kept the unlit cigarette in his mouth, the more he wanted to smoke it. Luke probably could not bear it anymore, so he took it out and threw it into the trash can.
And then, he stretched out his palm and crooked his fingers like yesterday.
Natalie didn't understand his hint, so she blinked and asked, "What?"
"Candy." Luke glanced between the pocket of her white coat and her face, saying, "You don't have candy?"
Natalie thought, "So what?", feeling she had indulged him too much.
How could he take her candy for granted?
But she would not argue with him because it was not worth it.
After checking his condition, Natalie left. And Mark, who had been secretly observing them in the kitchen, finally stuck his head out.
He walked over hesitantly and seemed to have something to say, but he failed to say it out in the end, shilly-shallying like a girl.
Luke lost his patience and said, "What's the matter with you?"
Being glared at, Mark immediately flinched and slipped away with a weird smile.
He hid back in the kitchen, quietly sent a message to Charlie, described the interaction between Luke and Natalie vividly, and concluded, "Charlie, something's wrong with Luke. He glared at and scolded me just now, but he looked like a different person when he was alone with Dr. Moore."
Charlie said, "If you're idle, wash the two pairs of socks you hang on the head of your bed."
Mark said, "Charlie, I'm not kidding! You also saw it yesterday. Dr. Moore is getting married! So, Luke's thought is dangerous! He should not have an affair with a married woman!"
Charlie felt helpless and said, "If you don't want to die, stay out of Luke's business. Otherwise, you would also be hospitalized soon."
Mark was taken aback.
-
First love was always special, and almost all people had endless tolerance for their first love. If "first love" was entered in the search box, there would be countless posts that could prove this view was widely shared.
"How to forget my first love?"
"What should I do if I regret breaking up with my first love?"
"Is it possible to get back together with my first love?"
...
Natalie unconsciously browsed through these posts many times. Although her relationship with Forrest had been quite good at first, she had always thought of adversity in prosperity. For example, she had to bring a portable charger, her ID card, all the key, and sanitary napkins whenever she left home.
To forestall was better than to amend.
However, Natalie had never expected she and Forrest would break up back then.
And she had still felt that she could never get rid of the depression after the break-up yesterday.
But when she got off work and passed by a cute jewelry store yesterday, the owner was playing a piano song. It might not be a famous song because she never heard it before, but she was attracted by the gentle melody.
She stopped by the window and ate the last piece of candy in her pocket.
A pure handmade music box was placed on the display rack, and a princess was gyrating to the music in the snowing crystal ball.
Natalie felt her life was like a music box.
In the past, she was twisting the mainspring all the time, but when she finally loosened her hand, it began to play the music.
Her expectations had never been met, so as soon as she gave up, the torture would stop right away. Candy had always been sweet, and winter had always been beautiful.
Yesterday was like a new beginning.
After half a month, Natalie had almost forgotten about Forrest.
During this period, Luke was still notorious in the hospital, but she was less afraid of him.
He was quite cute sometimes.
For example, he always kept his promises. Since he said he would not leave the hospital, he had never gone out again. No matter how sleepy he was, he always came to the living room to meet her on time.
When Natalie changed the gauze for him, he was always so sleepy that he could not open his eyes. His short and fluffy hair scattered over his forehead when he frowned, and he looked like an upset little lion then.
Without getting enough sleep, he was sullen, but he did not look vicious at all.
Seeing this, Natalie thought of the Spotted Man in Natsume's Book of Friends every time. It used to be a super handsome and domineering high-level monster that was infinitely close to God.
But when it was sealed in a doll cat, it was extremely cute.
And it was similar to Luke when he just woke up. Sometimes, Natalie even wanted to stroke his hair.
But she had never put it into practice because he was very mischievous most of the time, and there was always a bad-boy feeling in his every movement.
One day, Natalie brought a follow-up medical exam report to Luke's ward. The gauze had already been removed from his injury in the waist, and she only needed to apply scar fading ointment for him now.
She squeezed some ointment into her palms, rubbed it until it got hot, and then placed her warm palms on his waist and massaged it into his skin.
Her palms were soft, and his muscles were hard, but Natalie was very attentive and didn't think of anything weird.
But Luke kept staring at her with a strange look in his eyes.
Aware of his gaze, Natalie gradually became embarrassed, and the atmosphere became a little indescribable. She slowly pushed her earlock back and continued her work, ignoring him.
Luke laughed and suddenly said, "Dr. Moore."
Natalie's ears heated slightly, and she had to look up at him and reply, "What's up?"
His pretty eyes were long and narrow, and the ends of his eyes curved upward. He stared at her and said in a hoarse voice, "Be gentle."
She was speechless.
-
One day, "The project director of the Bennington Group Carlos beaten by protesters in Alcomara" became a trending topic.
Natalie was on the night shift that day, so she was in the duty room at night.
When she received a call from an unknown ID, she picked it up and asked who that was without thinking because she was busy battering the keyboard of her computer.
There was no response after a long while.
Natalie looked down at the screen and confirmed the call was not disconnected, so she said gently, "Hello?"
"Wrong number."
The tone on the other end of the phone was cold, and the man hung up as soon as finishing speaking.
Natalie held the phone to her ear with her left hand and rested her right hand on the keyboard. It took a long time for her to come to her senses because the familiar voice was Forrest's.
After a moment, she put down her phone and continued to write her document.
And when she took a break, she saw the trending topic.
At present, the hospital restructuring had both advantages and disadvantages, so there had always been considerable controversy, but in Alcomara, it was by no means a wise idea.
People expressed strong opposition to the plan, and they even began to question the good reputation of the Bennington Group.
Natalie didn't know why Luke had appeared at Orange Hotel that day, but her intuition told her that he and Carlos were different.
It was nearly half a month since Carlos came to Alcomara to meet Forrest, so the timing of the trending topic seemed very strange. Therefore, Natalie suspected someone was playing tricks behind the scenes.
She went to Luke's ward after she finished the second daily round.
Natalie saw Luke's latest CT report, so she knew that his injuries in the lumbar spine and shoulder were healing well and that the lung contusion had almost recovered.
If he were living in a normal ward, he would have received a notice from the hospital and been discharged today.
In fact, before going to his ward, Natalie just wanted to talk with him about the follow-up medical exam results.
There was only an orange lamp on in his bedroom, so it was dim inside.
And Luke was sitting on a high stool with his legs open beside a half-open window, and there was a half-smoked cigarette glowing between his fingers.
In the dim light, Natalie saw him suck the cigarette hard, then raise his chin, and spit it out of the window.
When the smoke floated above his sharp jaw, he watched it slowly melt into the night and squinted slightly in a daze.
That was the first time Natalie had seen him smoking a cigarette instead of biting one, and he seemed depressed.
In Natalie's eyes, Luke was a person who expressed three-tenths of his feelings, but when she saw this scene, she knew she was wrong.
Maybe what she saw was even less than three-tenths of his true feelings.
After Natalie knocked on the door, Luke turned his head toward the door. He did not expect she would come over at this time, so he froze for a moment and then lowered his hand.
He didn't invite her in, but she habitually went inside.
Luke didn't look at her but slowly put out the cigarette in the ashtray, saying, "Stand still."
His voice was hoarse and magnetic after he smoked.
Natalie abruptly stopped, facing a dilemma.
Fortunately, Luke didn't embarrass her too long. He immediately stood up, leaned over to open the window up, took a sip of tea, and walked over to her.
Then, he regained his lazy attitude and teased, "Do you like to smell smoke? Why did you come in?"
The smell of smoke was not very strong in the room. When there was a wisp of cool wind, the air smelt mellow and mild.
"... It smells good," Natalie said honestly.
Luke stared at her for a while and could only smile, "Fine." And then, he pointed to the wall clock behind her back and said, "Look!"
Natalie turned around and said, "What?"
"What time is it now?"
"00:35 am."
"00:35 am…" Luke deliberately drawled in a deep voice, "How could you casually enter a man's bedroom so late?"
Natalie thought, "So what?".