章 28: Lover-boy or Dead Log

"What are you doing here?!" The furious voice came from the doorstep.

Gloria's heart fastened its beats as she heard the voice, and unknown to her, she slid her hand tightly onto Christon's coat sleeve as she looked down in fear. Christon's eyes flickered for an instant as he glanced down at the little hand that curled around his cuff, but turned back cold the next second as he heard the shrill voice of the woman that stood in front of them.

"How dare you come here, despite all the things that you've caused to my son!" Mrs. Marino marched toward her, fisting her hands, and grabbed Gloria's wrist tightly.

Christon stepped in as a barrier between both of them, blocking Mrs. Marino from attempting to hurt Gloria anymore.

"It is wise that you don't raise your voice, Mrs. Marino," he said coldly, looking right into the woman's gaze that glared behind at Gloria.

"What do you mean, Mr. Christon?" She snapped her gaze at him, but the hold on Gloria's wrist didn't loosen, not even a bit. "Look at my son." Her eyes instantly filled with tears at the mention of her son. "She was the cause of all that my son is now suffering, and she was the reason why the poor boy, Edgar, had to die, but you still expect me to lower my voice?"

Gloria nearly scoffed at the mention of her way of addressing Edgar that way.

What happened to her calling him an orphan? She thought, but soon hissed at the tightening of the hand in her wrist, nails digging into her skin.

"Ma'am, you have to understand that your son is a patient resting in here, and raising your voice could affect him in a lot of ways," he said as he looked into Mrs. Marino's eyes before he took off her hands from Gloria's hands, and just like that, the woman walked out of the room like an obedient puppy as if she were in a trance.

Gloria frowned at the closed door confusedly, and soon her eyes widened. "You compelled her, didn't you?" she questioned as realization dawned on her.

"Nah, I just instructed her mind on a few things, and she obeyed like a good puppy," he nonchalantly said.

"You can meddle with others' minds?" she questioned in horror.

"You could put it that way, but isn't that cool?" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Now, if you would step aside, it would be convenient for me to inspect this little dead log lying on the bed."

"Dead log? How could you address him that way?" She gritted her teeth, preventing herself from jumping onto him like a monkey and punching him hard. "And who are you, a doctor, a cop, or a scientist, to inspect him?"

Christon side glanced at her before he hooked the stethoscope into his ears. Though he didn't need the human device to check a body, not many knew he was a nocturnal creature, for he kept his identity quite discreet, not wanting to alert others, especially to jeopardize his peacefully running career as a doctor for the past four to five years.

"As you find lover-boy unsuitable, I thought dead-log would be fine. What do you say?" He questioned her, and the next minute, Gloria felt her feet in the air. A surprised gasp left her lips.

"Put me down!"

"Shhh! Now, now. Don't be too stingy to leave a thank you," he said as he put her back on the floor, away from the bed, and stood next to the patient. "I thought you were finding it hard to move your feet." He grinned before his eyes landed on the boy lying on the bed, barely breathing in and out.

"You better not do anything to him."

"What do you think I look like, little bunny?" he questioned as he opened the closed eyes of the patient and inspected their iris color. Strangely, everything seemed to be normal, he thought with a frown.

Only then, at his question, did Gloria take a glance at his attire and his side profile. A long white coat that reached his thighs and a black and silver stethoscope that had been around his neck and plugged in his ears, which he now took off and ran his beautifully long-nailed fingers over the bandaged wounds of her staff.

She saw him frown every now and then as he took in everything about his patient.

How could she not notice that he was just a doctor and had come to proceed with his duty? How stupid of her to assume he had come to attack them! She thought as she kept wandering her gaze at his every movement.

"Did you turn into a mute once again, Bunny?"

"Bunny?"

"Yeah, you look like a bunny; do you know that?" he questioned as he stopped what he was doing and glanced back at her. "You're scared yet; here you are with those rageful eyes, which remind me of a little bunny that I once came across," he said, but not with his usual smirk.

Gloria rolled her eyes as she crossed her hands over her chest.

"So..." he turned back and walked around the bed to stand in front of its footboard slat. He crouched in front of it and took hold of the hanging little notebook that had the pages filled with the patient's maintenance table. He flipped one of the pages that were already filled and started to fill the empty table.

Much to Gloria's surprise, his handwriting seemed to look more beautiful than any other handwriting she had ever seen. What surprised her the most was that usually, doctors had that scribbling handwriting that was barely readable, but his ones were totally opposite. She could bet even her friend, who had the most neat and beautiful handwriting, wouldn't beat him if challenged.

Christon caught her staring at the table he had filled, but ignored her and went toward Diego, inspecting his wounded shoulders once more. There were visible black marks near the bandage. Even the visible veins that went near it looked darkened in color. He wanted to see what it looked like underneath the bandage. But he didn't, for he had the girl beside him, and it wasn't pleasant to keep her beside him when doing that.

"It is best that you leave right now."

"Why, just so you could do something to him?" She questioned, not giving up her image. But it only seemed to tick him, unlike any other time.

"There's no time to meddle with you, girl. Just do as I say," he said in a strained yet cold voice with his closed eyes, scaring her. She could see his jaw clenching as if he were holding back from yelling at her.

Gloria took her little backpack and purse before she placed a note under the water jug and left the room hurriedly, glancing at Diego with a worried look one last time.

Christon took his phone out, tapped his fingers hastily over the numbers of his dial pad, and waited for the caller to answer immediately. His feet tapped over the floor nonstop, impatiently, and finally, the caller answered the phone.

"I need you immediately at the patient room 2-2-1. Send Amelia and Mr. Samuel too. It's urgent." As soon as he informed them, he texted frantically to another number before he put his phone back into his pocket and raised the bed, switching the golden lights before he slowly and carefully started to take off the bandage, hoping it wasn't what he thought it had turned out to be. But to his horror, it was exactly what he had thought.