Chapter 9 Share My Ward With You
Natalie got a little nervous suddenly.
At that moment, a horrible conjecture popped into her mind, "The consultant could not be Luke himself, right?"
But in the blink of an eye, she denied this absurd idea.
She thought, "Mia couldn't have Luke's Instagram."
"Maybe he could be so accurate in guessing my problem simply because he was good at... fortune-telling?"
After that night, Natalie had a clear image of "the consultant" in her mind.
Natalie thought, "As a psychological counselor who solved problems, he was not good enough to be a counselor helping solve problems."
"But if he went to work as a fortune teller, he would have a great future."
But Natalie didn't care about it. In the next few days, Forrest almost cut off contact with her. There was no news, no phone calls, and he barely communicated with her at all.
Forrest was busy with all kinds of celebrity parties, while Natalie commuted as usual.
Natalie didn't know what happened to Forrest, but what happened that night had made her upset and depressed.
But now, she thought about it, "This seems to be the norm."
They were people who lived in two worlds.
A week later.
Due to recent weighing on her mind, she could hardly sleep well, and because of lacking of sleep, Natalie looked tired these days, always looking sickly and distressed.
This morning, seeing that she was still in a bad mood, Sherman couldn't help asking, "Did you stay up late reading again?"
Natalie smiled without explaining.
Natalie thought, "I did read the book, and I did stay up late, but there was no causal relationship between the two."
"It's 10 am," Sherman said, glancing at the office clock. "Don't you have to go to No. 901 for a ward round today?"
Natalie looked down as she organized medical records, "I'll get there on my lunch break."
She spoke in a small voice, mixed with deep tiredness.
A few days ago, Natalie would be there before 10 am, but Luke hadn't woken up yet. After a few trips for nothing, she had to adjust the time.
Luke couldn't get up until noon.
So Natalie discussed with Mark and appointed the time at 12:30 pm, when she had a lunch break, and it was just right.
Moreover, what she needed to do was simple. With Charlie around, she just needed to change Luke's gauze and check the wound on Luke's waist.
At 12:30 pm, Natalie arrived at No. 901 on time.
Mark was surprised to see her there and then realized something, "Oh, no."
Natalie looked at him and felt that something bad was about to happen.
As expected, the next thing she heard was Mark saying with embarrassment, "Luke is... still sleep now."
"..."
Natalie thought, "Is he giving up on life after this fracture?"
Natalie recalled a pseudoscience she had seen, saying that people had a limited amount of sleeping time in their lives, and once they ran out of sleeping time earlier, their life was over.
She never believed it, but now she felt deep in her heart that he was in great danger.
Originally, Natalie wanted to say, "Mark, please wait until he's awake to text me," but Mark was one step ahead and quickly suggested, "Well, I'll call Luke. If he answers, you, will you talk to him?"
Mark smiled sheepishly as they looked at each other.
Natalie understood immediately. Mark didn't have the guts to disturb Luke.
Natalie thought, "So what? Did I dare?"
Before she could react, Mark had already passed the phone to Natalie. People tended to be sluggish when they're depressed. Natalie was still in a daze when the phone was already connected.
"What?"
On the phone, Luke's voice was low and hazy, revealing that he was in an irritable mood and showing a warning.
He was implying that they'd better have a good reason why they had to wake him up.
Natalie didn't have time to give back the phone, and under Mark's frantic begging eyes, she had no choice but to speak.
"Mr. Luke." She said softly, holding her breath.
Luke was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Um."
Natalie didn't know if it was an illusion or not, but she felt that his tone was less aggressive than the one he had just used.
In such a situation, Natalie could only be as gentle as possible, "I'm in the living room. Do you want to get up now? It's time to change your gauze."
"No."
Natalie was speechless. Once people started to lose their luck, it seemed that countless unfavorable things would happen, and no matter how tenacious they were, they would gradually break down.
"Then I'll leave you to rest," she said with a slightly depressed and deep voice, "I'll be back later..."
"The door is not locked."
Before she could finish her words, Luke who had just woken up spoke first with a husky and muffled voice.
Natalie hesitated and said, "What?"
"Come in." It seemed obvious that he was still drowsy and was probably talking to her with his eyes closed.
Natalie was stunned for a while before she understood what he meant. After thinking about it, she tried to communicate with him, "Why don't you stay in the living room... It's a nice sunny day, and it's warm in here."
The room was quiet for a few seconds.
Luke snorted lazily, "Fine."
Surprisingly, he agreed, and his temper was not as violent as Natalie had imagined.
After so many days, it was rare to have something that made her feel at ease.
Ten minutes after the call ended, Mark wheeled Luke over and set up the movable bed in the old position by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Luke changed into a dark-colored housecoat and bent his legs on the hospital bed with his unkempt hair. He washed his face and brushed his teeth, and the end of his short hair was still a little wet.
Putting his hair back twice, he looked not much refreshed and even a little tired but maintained the same careless and cocky look.
The two stared vaguely at each other.
In just a moment, Natalie ducked to look at him, and she was still a little afraid of him when they were face to face. Natalie took out the glasses from the pocket of her white coat and wore them, and then she went back to putting on her medical gloves.
While waiting for her, Luke noticed the light black blue under her eyes. It's not deep, but her snow-white skin made the dark circles under her eyes particularly conspicuous.
In recent days, she had been haggard and visibly depressed. It was easy for him to notice the subtle contrast of emotions.
Luke said without showing any signs, "You won't think I am torturing you because you need to change my gauze, right?"
Natalie looked at him strangely, didn't quite understand the meaning of the words, and answered with no confidence, "... not really."
Luke let out a "Gee" lazily and looked at her calmly, "Then why are you so worried every day? You are still so young now."
"Did you break up?" He asked casually.
Natalie was stunned for a moment, slowly shook her head, and went on to do her own thing without answering.
It fell silent again.
When Natalie was about to remove the old gauze, she asked him to change his position to lie on his side. But before she could say anything, she saw him lazily turn his body on his side.
Although he seemed reluctant, he was especially considerate today.
Natalie was a little surprised. After a moment of silence, she continued to do her preparation and reminded softly, "Your clothes."
Luke didn't change his expression and lifted his clothes a little.
Mark, who was watching quietly at the side, was very shocked.
Mark thought, "Looks like Natalie's words are indeed better than mine. What a surprise, Luke could be coaxed into obeying her."
Natalie turned around. All she could see was Luke's muscular waist.
Even after watching it many times, Natalie still wanted to say, "Luke already has such pretty abs. Why his waist could be so muscular? I can't believe it!"
She suddenly felt that the netizens couldn't be blamed for their dirty talks. A man like Luke was really attractive.
It's all his fault.
"What are you looking at?"
Natalie came to her senses and suddenly felt a little embarrassed when Luke caught her peeking at him. She said shyly, "I'm afraid I'll hurt you, so I'm just trying to figure out how to..."
Was he so vulnerable?
Luke smiled slightly and asked her with interest, "Which part..."
He meant something, but Natalie couldn't notice it. She stopped her gloved hands and looked over innocently, "Your waist."
"If it's my waist, what are you afraid of?" Luke sneered at her briefly, "Just do whatever you want."
Natalie thought, "You make it sound so easy, but I remember you screamed the first time."
"... Bah, no."
Natalie murmured without uttering a word. She looked down and carefully moved the gauze, took a medical cotton ball with tweezers, soaked it in water, and gently rubbed it on his wound.
She was familiar with it and quickly treated his wound.
At that time, Charlie had taken a private meal from a Michelin three-star restaurant, and on his way back, Natalie prepared a few things for Luke to take after the meal.
"I'll leave now, remember to take these after the meal," Natalie put the sub-packages on the bedside table and took off her medical gloves, "Call me anytime. I'll be in the office."
She cleaned her hands with hand sanitizer and started packing up the tray to leave.
Luke leaned back and wondered.
Luke thought, "What kind of boyfriend did this girl have? That man had upset her for so many days."
Luke thought, "Girl, you have a bad taste."
After looking at the thin gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose for a while, Luke asked in a low voice, "Are you myopic?"
Natalie was a little taken aback by his sudden question, then she took off her glasses and put them back in her pocket.
"Just little astigmatism."
"Oh." He looked down and said nothing.
Luke couldn't say he didn't have any thoughts at the time, but on second thought, Natalie wasn't his girlfriend, so why should he try to cheer her up?
So he just left her alone.
A moment before Natalie left, Mark, who had disappeared for a while, suddenly appeared from the kitchen.
"It's still lunch break time, Dr. Moore. You should eat some fruit before leaving!"
He handed one fruit plate directly to Natalie and then handed Luke another fruit plate.
Natalie was dumbfounded by the unexpected fruit plate in her hands.
The emerald and gold-rimmed fruit plate had separate sections, half of which were strawberries, while the other half were the yellow...
There were mangoes again.
Natalie was instantly depressed.
Even Forrest didn't care about her allergies, so why should anyone else take what she said once seriously?
She just couldn't say it again.
The fruit was so abundant that she gradually felt that the fruit plate was getting a little heavy. Mark went back to the kitchen to make coffee after delivering the fruit, leaving Natalie to look around in confusion.
Natalie was embarrassed and didn't notice that Luke on the bed had finished his share of mangoes without a word.
Suddenly, Luke took the fruit plate from her.
Natalie looked at him with confusion.
She only saw him hold her fruit plate and fork a piece of mango into his mouth slowly.
And what she was holding now was the plate with only strawberries left.
Natalie felt it was incredible, stunned for a long time.
His actions made Natalie couldn't help but guess that he remembered the mango allergy that she inadvertently said last time.
But he didn't say anything. Natalie was afraid of being self-conscious if she tried to show her appreciation.
Luke was chewing the soft mango slowly, maybe seeing that she was still not eating, he said carelessly.
"You can't eat strawberries too?"
"..."
Natalie was now sure.
He did remember that she couldn't eat mangoes.
"I... I can." Natalie lost her voice for a moment and subconsciously softened her voice.
She became more confused.
The man who should be the most considerate guy to her still didn't care about her, and the man who she thought was the most unkind now helped her solve the tricky mango.
It was subtle and strange.
Natalie took a moment to think about it and said softly to him, "... Thank you."
Tonell's girls were all pure and warm, always so sweet and gentle. Natalie was more of this kind nature.
She was really like jasmine.
She was beautiful and pure but was also easy to be fooled and bullied.
Luke glanced at her and then hurriedly dodged her gaze again.
He seemed to be very frivolous and immodest.
The way he appeared now was mostly sharpened by years in Amara.
Would Luke have a good temper?
Before meeting him, Natalie denied such a possibility.
But at that time, he smiled with a few indulgences and teased her with a playful Athana accent.
"You are so petulant."
But it sounded like he was somehow saying-
"It's not a big deal if you're petulant."
Natalie did not have the urge to retort.
He didn't seem to pay particular attention to anything, but there was a vague hint of indulgence in his tone. Maybe it was Natalie's illusion, but he did not think twice when he helped her eat the mango, and she was indeed touched by him.
However, Luke acted as if nothing had happened and he was just passing by unintentionally and kicked away the stone that was about to trip her over.
He had been so careless and inconsequential all the time.
Natalie thought suddenly.
"Maybe Luke wasn't completely impersonal either."
Natalie looked down at the fruit plate in her hand.
The strawberries were very plump and had two colors, one was bright red with a strong fragrance, and the other was snow-white, which looked lighter taste.
When people were down, they were sensitive to the slightest thing. At that moment, Natalie suddenly wanted to cry. She did not bother to be too courteous, picked out a white strawberry, and took a small bite.
Surprisingly, it was very sweet.
It was even sweeter than any red strawberry she's ever had in the past.
Natalie stood by the bed, holding the fruit plate, eating strawberries with her right hand, taking a small bite, and chewing it slowly.
She had a loose ponytail with curly hair on her temples, and the strawberries were white, which showed her pink cheeks and rosy lips.
She looked sheepish, well-behaved, and polite.
Luke slowed down the speed of eating mango at this moment.
"Don't you sit?" He said in a light voice, smiling seemingly, "Don't stand there like I'm punishing you."
Natalie also felt that it was a bit strange to eat standing next to him, so she sat down in the chair nearby, not forgetting to express her appreciation to him.
Maybe the way she's biting the strawberry was so cute. Luke looked at her for a while before laughing softly, looking away and continuing to have his own fruit.
Under the spirit of courtesy, Natalie thought about something. She reached into the pocket of her white coat and searched twice, taking out all her candies.
She didn't have much candy with her, just four or five.
She gently let go of her hand, and the small handful of candies all fell next to him.
When Luke looked over, Natalie turned her head back and was chewing on a strawberry with her cheeks puffed as if nothing happened.
He laughed playfully, "What are you doing? Why would you secretly leave candies to me."
Natalie was stunned and looked up to meet his eyes.
Natalie thought, "What do you mean by that? Do you think I had a crush on you and left a gift to express my love for you when you weren't noticing? Well, of course not!"
Natalie chewed faster, trying to argue.
But she only heard Luke asking again, "It's for me?"
Natalie could not say anything yet, but after a moment of thought, she nodded.
When Luke was almost done eating, he put the fruit plate on the bedside table and suddenly said, "Natalie, did I upset you in some way?"
Natalie was confused by the question, and she shook her head hesitantly.
"That candy you gave me last time..." Luke stopped for a moment, narrowed his pretty eyes, and interrogated her, "Is it really for humans?"
Natalie thought for a moment and understood.
It turned out that he ate her lemon candy, and she wondered before if he would throw it away.
At this moment, he looked like he was asking for justice, so Natalie couldn't help imagining when he was suffering from the sour lemon taste and the way he crinkled up his face in contrast to his usual arrogant look.
Thinking of this, Natalie chuckled softly.
Luke glanced at her.
She felt relaxed, and her eyes were full of smiles. It had been a few days, and now she was finally regaining her joy.
"You seem smug." Luke lowered his voice deliberately.
He leaned against the bed, kept his hands folded lazily, and the collar of his housecoat was loose. He looked like an arrogant and hard-to-please poser.
"Did you do that on purpose?"
The strawberry was too big and Natalie swallowed it with difficulty. She was intimidated by him and shook her head immediately, "I'm not pranking you... It's lemon candy and I often ate it."
Her pupils were beautiful and round, they looked like bright orbs. When she blinked at him, she looked innocent.
"Look, here's some sweet candy for you this time, so please don't smoke."
Natalie was very careful when talking to him. After all, Luke had a reputation for being surly, and he was just her patient. They were simply not familiar with each other, and she didn't dare to get too close to him.
"Are you sure it's not sour?" Luke looked diffident, reaching his hand out, "I need to check first."
Natalie thought, "How could he do this."
Natalie thought again, "Why is there such a bad guy in the world?"
"It's just common candy." Natalie thought he was deliberately provoking her, and she wanted to kick him, but she didn't dare.
She felt some resentment, and her voice became lower, "... Forget it, just don't eat it."
Natalie thought, "Well, now that you don't trust me so much, I will get you milk candy next time. Is that okay?"
Now Luke was not happy again, "How could you treat me like this?"
Natalie recited "I'm a doctor, so be kind" three times in her heart, then calmly refrained from arguing with him, "Aren't you suspecting it is sour?"
"Then I have to eat it to know, right?"
Natalie suddenly realized that she couldn't reason with a b*stard, and she didn't know why she was so courageous. She argued back without thinking, "Well, I didn't feel too well after I ate your strawberries."
Luke was speechless for two seconds, and smiled, "Poisoning doesn't work that fast either."
"..."
"Of course, if you suffer from food poisoning, I'll take responsibility for you."
Natalie stared at him suspiciously with a bad premonition.
The early winter sunshine lingered in the room and sprinkled a thin layer of gold light on them, which was warm and eye-catching.
In the halo, Luke smiled cheerfully.
"I can share my ward with you"
Natalie thought, "It will be your fault if I do have food poisoning."
It felt like he was about to say, "For the sake of your diligence to help me change the gauze for many days, it's okay if you want me to prepare another pink coffin for you.."
Natalie held her breath and said nothing.
Instead, Luke stared at her seductively, clearly trying to play a trick on her.
He also said nothing, reached for a candy, tore the sugar paper, tilted his head, and opened the wrapping with his teeth.
The air was instantly filled with the fragrance of strawberries in the room.
A rich sweetness was released between his teeth. Luke looked at her intently as he tasted the candy in his mouth.
"Have a taste, Dr. Moore."