Chapter 20: Unexpected Response

Sigh

Her head tilted backwards and she raises her arms to look at her phone.

"What are you sighing about?" Toby asked as she placed the skinned apple slices onto the empty plate next to Lily.

"I'm going to be bored to death! How many more body exams are there?" Picking up the fork on the plate, Lily stabbed an apple slice for herself to eat. While chewing, she complained pitifully that she didn't like staying still during the examinations.

"Be good. If it wasn't for Doctor Lin, I wouldn't know that you skipped your body checks for three years. It's for your own good." Toby wrapped up the apple skin and dumped it into the trash bin.

"Hospitals are so scary at night, and you guys can't stay here to accompany me. Ahh, I feel so lonely." She pouted and took another apple slice from the plate.

Knock Knock

"Miss. Jiang, Your complexion looks a lot better compared to yesterday." Lin Que smiled and walked into the room.

Seeing another face in the room, Lin Que introduced himself, "Good afternoon, my name is Lin Que. I'm in charge of Miss. Jiang for the time being."

Toby stood up to shake his hand, "I'm Lily's mother. How is my daughter's condition?"

Flipping the pages of the medical reports in front of him, he explained the results in full detail. After going through each part of the results and pausing in-between to make sure every term had been understood by the mother and daughter pair, Lily stretched her arms in the air.

"Then that means I'm all good to go home! When can I get discharged?" Her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked at Lin Que with hopeful eyes.

"End of the week."

"Yay- Wait, what?" The unexpected response of his destroyed her cheerful celebration.

"The results that I have explained just now were the basic exams that every patient has to do. Since you've missed many important needle shots over the past three years, we need to do a thorough examination for you." He grinned at her surprised expression.

'Doctor Lin..." She mumbled lowly.

"Yes?" He smiled when he heard her displeased tone.

"Is it fun to tease me? You could've said that in the very beginning, but waited to the very end." She's been getting a feeling that this doctor was trying to play with her feelings. Every time she whined about her stay; he would suddenly appear out of nowhere. When she expected a positive response about discharging her to come out of his mouth, he would say the opposite.

"Oh? But I only answered your questions when you asked them. Anyways, if you want to be discharged quicker, then follow the diet plan that was set for you. I've already created a new plan from your previous complaints about carrots. Here, I added fish to the plan."

His fingers smoothly ran through the stack of papers in his hands and pulled out a stapled packet. "This is your one-month diet plan. It's a well-balanced three meals a day course. Ah, in case you forget to eat, I've already noted the fruits and vegetables that could be mixed for a delicious smoothie blend. Therefore, you would intake the right number of calories and vitamins."

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the packet in front of her, Lily looked up to meet his eyes. The way she tucked her small fist under her chin was childlike. At the moment, she looked vulnerable, making him want to dote and spoil her. With great resistance, he stared back at her calmly.

She said, "Compared to eating fish, I'd rather see you. So..."

Toby facepalmed and covered her face when she saw what her daughter was trying to do. 'Lily, this type of threat doesn't work on anyone. It only worked on me because I went along with it.' Toby thought to herself and couldn't watch how this was going to end.

Lily smiled, "So, you should let me get out of the hospital as fast as I could. Or else I'll bug you and follow you around wherever you go. I guarantee you that you will hide in the men's bathroom to avoid me."

For a second there, Lin Que's heart softened when he heard her flirtatious words in the beginning. The words that followed made his body sway a little and he almost lost his cool. It took a lot of effort to control himself from laughing.

"Then I look forward to seeing you everywhere I go. I have another patient to attend to. I'll come back later." He couldn't help but let out a small laugh before exiting the room, leaving Lily speechless.

As soon as he had left the room, she turned to her mom and pointed, "Mom! He's the first one to be more shameless than me! Forget eating a fish. I'll become a dead, marinated fish by the end of the week."

"Alright. Alright. Enough with the nonsense. You're almost twenty-three years old. It's only a few more days. You should be glad Doctor Lin took that so well. You think every doctor would stop by to his patient's room just to explain everything in detail? He's a very responsible doctor in my opinion." Toby folded her arms and nodded as she praised him for his professionalism.

"Fine. Fine. I'll be good and stop my complaints. Then, can you help me bring my laptop over tomorrow? I want to do some work while I am hospitalized." Lily pulled Toby in for a warm hug.

"I'll bring it to you, but you must promise me that you won't overwork yourself. I have to attend an event later, so I'll stay with you for a bit more. Remember to listen to the doctor and nurses." Toby patted her back before releasing her from the hug.

"If you have something to do, then you should leave earlier. I don't want you late." Lily urged her mother to do what she needed to do.

"Mm.. okay, then. I'll pack my stuff and leave for the day." Toby said after checking the time and traffic condition. In a few minutes, she finished packing her bag and rushed to leave. Lily got off the bed to walk her mother to the first floor.

Lily's phone had been vibrating in her pocket, but she didn't want to pick it up while her mom was with her. After seeing her mom leave, she checked to see two missed calls and five unread messages from Hawk. Before she could unlock her phone to respond to his messages, her phone started to vibrate again.

Seeing Hawk as the caller ID, she let out a sigh and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Why didn't you pick up the call? Are you avoiding me?"

"No. I was busy. What's up?"

"Let's have a talk. I'll come to you."

"Okay. I'm at the Lin Hospital right now. You should have my shared location."

"I'll be there."

- Call ends -

Scoffing at the blackened screen, she whispered, "You didn't even have the heart to ask why I was at the hospital. Silly me, why would I even expect you to care?" Walking back to her room, she wondered if she should change into her normal clothes to make him feel less awkward when he comes to see her later.

Smoothing out the wrinkles on her blouse, she shook her head slightly. "Why should I consider how he would feel when he doesn't care for me? Whatever, I'll just stay in this outfit."

Around twenty minutes later, she received another call from Hawk. "Okay, I'll meet you at the garden."