“What? What do I think?” Feeling headache and dizzy, Lynn pressed her fingertips against her temples. Her hands were wrapped in bandages.
“Let him off or sue him? What do you want to do?” Eliot asked.
Lynn paused for a moment. She said in a hoarse voice, “Just let him off. My parents won’t consent to sue him.”
Sydnee frowned and was about to interrupt when Eliot asked, “What about you? And what are you going to do?”
Lynn shook her head slowly. She wanted to leave, but her parents would never agree. If she insisted, it would be locked in a seesaw struggle, so she was reluctant to go home.
“If you have any worries, I will help you to deal with them, even your parents. So, what do you want? For example, how to deal with your fiancé? Just tell us what you think.” Eliot said in a deep voice, which sounded reassuring. Sydnee, sitting next to Eliot, looked up at him. She noticed that Elliot’s eyes were bright as he stared at Lynn, who was lying on the bed.
Lynn slightly shook her head and said, “My fiancé won’t go to jail because his family was rich and powerful.”
Sydnee understood Lynn’s words and interrupted, “Do you want him to go to jail? Just say it. We’ll help you.”
“Can we really put him in jail?” Lynn doubted it.
Sydnee looked at Lynn and said, “According to Article 234 of the Criminal Law, a person who intentionally inflicts bodily injury upon another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention or public surveillance of not more than three years. A person who commits a crime under the preceding paragraph and causes severe bodily injury to another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of between three to ten years… Of course, it needs an appeal from the victim.”
Lynn gazed at Sydnee in amazement. Sydnee continued imperturbably, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Sydnee, Eliot’s personal lawyer.”
Eliot didn’t contradict her.
When a delivery man came in, Lynn was exhausted and fell asleep again.
Eliot and Sydnee sat by the window and ate their takeout quietly. They couldn’t leave Lynn alone in the ward. Worrying that the smell of food would wake Lynn up, they opened the window and ate in the chill wind.
“Are you serious?” Eliot asked.
Sydnee picked up a piece of meat to eat. “Of course! I never joke.”
Eliot was talking about what Sydnee had just said to Lynn. When Sydnee knew that the person lying on the bed was Eliot’s cousin, Sydnee’s first thought was whether Emily knew this person, and whether Emily knew that this person was in hospital.
With this in her mind, Sydnee sent a text message to Emily, and Emily replied with three words, “Please help her.”
Sydnee got Emily’s point from her text, although because Eliot was beside Sydnee, Emily didn’t call to tell her what to do.
Then, Sydnee talked to Lynn on behalf of Emily,
“When you get better, I’ll take you to City Y.”
Eliot saw that Lynn liked meat, so he put all the meat in the takeout container in front of her. He asked, “Lynn is a girl. How are you going to settle her down?”
In fact, if Lynn went to City Y, the Britts, as a host, were supposed to take care of Lynn. But Eliot had left the Britt family, so he couldn’t decide for the family. But Sydnee must have had a plan when she said she would take Lynn to City Y. Eliot didn’t know what the plan was, or if it was a plan made by Emily.
“My family has a tea house and we are looking for more workers. If Lynn wants a job, I can hire her and give her free board and lodging. If she wants to leave, she can go to the town at any time.” As Sydnee spoke, she suddenly felt thirsty and regretted forgetting to take her water bottle.
Seeing that, Eliot went to get a cup of water. There was only one disposable cup left, so Eliot handed the cup of water to Sydnee. Then, after Sydnee finished drinking, he drank from the same cup.
Just as Sydnee was about to speak, she was stunned for a while when she saw Eliot use the same cup.
“Anything wrong?” Eliot asked.
Sydnee shook her head. “Nothing.”
She could vaguely remember that someone at school had said that Eliot hated to share a cup with others. So, Sydnee was surprised to see Eliot drink from her water bottle in the car. But at that time, Eliot explained that he was a little sleepy, so Sydnee ignored it. But now, she felt there was something strange about his action.
“It’s too late. We’d better stay here.” Eliot put the cup down and looked at his watch.
“Sure.” Sydnee didn’t mind and just told her family.
Besides a bed for a patient, there was only one camp bed for them. Eliot unfolded it, and Sydnee took a towel from the bathroom to clean it. Although the air conditioner was heating up, if there was no cover, they would be cold when sleeping. Sydnee took a quilt from the patient bed, folded it into two layers and put it on the camp bed.
Eliot stood at the side and watched her making up the bed. When she turned around, Eliot asked, “Why are you looking for me today?”
“I found a good job for you, wondering if you are interested in it. I’ve put the profile about that company in your car. You can have a look when you get home.” Thinking for a while, Sydnee continued, “Your job is too menial. Both your position and salary are low, and there is no career advancement for you. Only the owner’s relatives get promoted, not other workers.”
Eliot had never thought that she would come to him for this. “Why did you do that?”
“It is a pure coincidence. I was out today and then I heard a boss mention that their company is hiring. I thought it would be a good job for you, so I came to you. If you want an interview, I’ll call that boss.”
It was a coincidence once again.
Eliot knew that everything she did was just for Emily, not for him. He forced a smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll get two more blankets.” Eliot walked out into the hallway and the cold wind calmed him down. Probably he just met her at a low point in his life, and imagined that Sydnee loved him. It was ridiculous that he felt depressed and upset.
It was funny that when he thought Sydnee liked him, he was thinking about how to decline, but when he discovered that Sydnee didn’t like him, he felt depressed.
Why was that? Was he too weak to accept the difference between imagination and reality? Or did he lose his courage after being banished from the Britt family?
Eliot pursed his lips at the thought of being banished. Neither the Britt family nor the Britt Group had anything to do with him.
‘I need to look ahead and move on!’
He took a deep breath and walked forward again.
**
Jaquan and Allen took Stony to the hospital for examination without Felice’s knowledge. They told a silly lie and were found out within half an hour.
“Where are you?” Felice asked on the phone.
“We’re in an amusement park.” Allen lied for the second time in his life. The first time he lied was more than twenty years ago when his secret money was discovered and he said he didn’t know who hid the money. Finally, he lost all his money.
“Which amusement park?”
Allen hardly went to the amusement park. There were only a few visits with Jaquan when Jaquan was a child. Now, after more than twenty years, how could he remember the name of the amusement park? But he couldn’t tell a random name. A nurse was drawing Stony’s blood and Jaquan was with him, so there was no one to help him. Allen had to act. “Hey! No! You can’t play that! Don’t go there! I have to hang up to stop them. It’s too risky!”
Felice believed it and said, “Well, just play with them.”
Just as she was about to hang up, she heard someone shout, “Patient number XXX, please go to room 103. Patient number XXX, please go to room 103.”
Allen screamed and said, “Did you hear how loud they were shouting?”
“Allen, I’ll give you another chance. If you dare to lie, I’ll let you know how miserable you’ll be,” Felice said word by word.
Allen was too tired to cover up. “I don’t know. Jaquan and Stony ran away.”
“No way! Why are you going to the hospital?” Felice was sharp-eared, and she knew they must be in the hospital as soon as she heard it.
“I don’t know. They took me here, and I….”
“Enough,” Felice said unpleasantly.
Allen had to keep silent and looked sad.
“Which hospital are you at?” Felice asked.
Allen whispered the name of the hospital.
When Jaquan and Stony came out, they saw Allen was gloomy. Jaquan asked from afar, “Did Felice call?”
Allen nodded.
“Did you tell her everything?”
Allen nodded guiltily.
“It’s OK. We have expected that.”
Allen had nothing to say and felt sad again.
