Chapter 330 I Don’t Bite
“Tessa! Tessa! Stay with me! Don’t sleep!”
Oliver continuously called out Tessa’s name throughout their entire journey to the hospital. By the time he finally arrived on foot, it was close to dawn.
“Doctor! She was stabbed on the left side of her chest about twenty minutes ago.”
After Oliver accurately described the size of Tessa’s wound, the type of weapon used, and her condition, the emergency room physician hastily rushed Tessa into the operating theater. Meanwhile, Oliver sat frozen like a statue in front of the theater for the entire two hours of surgery in which he did not move from his spot at all.
At nine o’clock in the morning, Courtney finally arrived at the hospital.
She overheard from the conversation between Harry and Scott earlier in the morning that James was taken into police custody. Furthermore, she had also heard about it on the morning news and realized something terrible happened at the storage center.
Meanwhile, Alexander had gone to Sunhill Enterprise early in the morning. She called him, only to discover that it was a plan secretly concocted by him and Oliver. Instantly, she fumed and unleashed a tirade at him over the phone.
“Oliver can be forgiven because he’s still young, but how could you have gone along with his nonsensical decision?! How could you not inform the authorities on such a major issue but instead allowed him to take matters into his own hands? What would you do if there were major consequences because of this?”
Meanwhile, Alexander remained silent and allowed her to vent her anger. Then, he replied, “I’ll head to the hospital once everything is settled at the company. Could you go over and take a look first? Oliver’s unharmed but the team leader in his group has suffered some injuries.”
As soon as Courtney arrived at the hospital and heard that Tessa was only stabbed because she wanted to shield Oliver from harm, Courtney’s anger simmered. “Can’t the two of you use your brains before taking any action?! This is such a major issue! Tessa’s only nineteen years old! What if things end up badly?! If something goes wrong, how are you going to explain this to her parents?!”
He stood at the entrance to the ward and while she raged at him, he hung his head low and listened to the lecture without a single rebuttal.
“Are you imitating Alexander?!” Then, she pinched him on the arm. “Men are all the same! All you do is keep silent and act dumb when you’ve made a mistake!”
As soon as she said that, Courtney slapped him with her bag. “Why are you still standing here?! Go and get some food! Buy something that’s suitable for a patient.”
It was only at that moment when Oliver came to his senses and replied, “I’ll do that right away!”
Meanwhile, Courtney heaved a sigh in helplessness as she looked at the back of the awkward teenager sprinting off. He usually analyzes problems in a logical manner with a clear thought process. Besides, he is as mature as an adult. Why is he so clueless when it comes to relationship matters, though? He’s been standing guard by her side the whole night and it’s fine that he doesn’t feel the need to eat or drink, but he should at least get something for the poor girl! Gosh! He’s slow in his learning indeed!
Inside the ward, the whole room was white. She already knew when she arrived that the operation had ended and Tessa was hitherto transferred to the normal ward, which was why she wasn’t too worried. She even bought a bouquet of flowers while on her way to Tessa’s ward.
As soon as Courtney entered the room, she saw the young girl reading a book on military weaponry lifting her head and staring at her for quite some time. Then, the young girl broke into a smile.
“You’re… Oliver’s sister.”
“Yes. Do you still remember me?” Courtney smiled and placed the bouquet of flowers by Tessa’s bed. “My name is Courtney and I’m only older than you by a few years, so you can address me by my name like how Oliver does.”
She didn’t mean anything much by saying those words, but Tessa somehow had a wild imagination and suddenly blushed in the color of beetroot. Subsequently, Tessa lowered her head and tightly gripped the bedsheet. “I-I’m just Oliver’s comrade and classmate. We’re n-not…”
Courtney was caught by surprise, but she didn’t make things awkward for Tessa either. She merely smiled and responded, “You can address me directly by my name. We’re quite close in age anyway.”
“Oh?!” Tessa hesitated for a moment. “I think I should still address you in a more respectful manner.”
“Is your name Tessa?” Courtney asked.
Tessa nodded. “Yup, everyone addresses me as Tess. My given name is Tessa Reid, though.”
“I heard that you were injured this time because you shielded Oliver from harm?”
“No.” She shook her head and corrected Courtney, “He’s a member of my team, so it’s my duty to protect him.”
“Is that true?” Courtney raised her eyebrow quizzically. “I guess I must be mistaken then. My friend previously wanted to introduce a girl to Oliver, but I thought that the two of you were dating each other, so I rejected her. I should give my friend a call as soon as possible and make arrangements.”
“Umm…” As soon as Tessa heard that, she panicked and nearly leaped out of bed.
However, Courtney had reacted quickly enough and grabbed Tessa by her arm. “Don’t move! Be careful of your injury.”
“Don’t make any arrangements!” Tessa was frantic. “Oliver isn’t allowed to date anyone.”
At this moment, Courtney teased, “Why is that so?”
Meanwhile, upon hearing Courtney poking fun at her, Tessa blushed redder and admitted with a flourish, “It’s because I like him.”
As soon as she finished her words, the door was pushed open from the outside with a resounding bang—it was Oliver entering with a bag of food. However, it was likely he never eavesdropped on the conversation because he strolled in nonchalantly and placed the food by her bedside before asking, “What do you like?”
Then, Tessa bit her lower lip and stared at him for a few seconds. “You.”
Oliver was about to lean forward when he suddenly froze; it was a position he remained in for quite some time.
Meanwhile, Courtney teased him from the side, “Give a response, Oliver.”
“Huh?!” He seemed to be in a stupor as he slowly stood up. Then, he gave an answer that didn’t make sense. “There’s no soup. I’ll go and get you some soup.” As soon as he said that, he hastily ran out of the room.
Tessa yelled at his back, “Stop pretending! I’m sure you’ve known this for quite some time now. If I didn’t like you, why would I even shield you from being stabbed?”
Her voice boomed as she yelled with passion. She didn’t sound like an injured girl who had just endured six stitches to her wound.
It was only then when Courtney finally realized why Tessa was described as a valiant cub.
She found herself thinking about Oliver and Tessa—one was less agile but brainy whereas the other was adept at fighting but overly simple-minded, which made them a perfect match for each other. Courtney could even envision a campus love story between them whereby the domineering cute girl wooing the cool brainiac.
“Courtney, why did he flee at such speed? I don’t bite.” Tessa frowned as she was significantly unhappy.
“You looked like you were about to devour someone.” Courtney couldn’t help laughing out loud, although she gave Tessa a thumbs up. “I still think that you did great, though!”
“Well, even so, he’s not interested in me.” Tessa seemed slightly dejected as she lowered her head and tightly gripped the bedsheet, after which she heaved a sigh. “Courtney, what sort of girl do you think Oliver prefers?”
Upon being asked this question, Courtney was momentarily silent. Suddenly, something flashed across her mind and her eyes brightened. “I’ve heard him mentioning this before, so I have some insight.”
“Really?! What is it?”
She couldn’t fully recall the exact details, but she distinctly remembered asking him about this when they met up for tea at the Public Security University earlier. That was the reason why she remembered what he said that day.
“He said that he prefers someone like his mom,” she repeated with confidence.
“Huh?!” Tessa couldn’t quite believe her ears and her surprise was evidently portrayed. She stammered, “H-His mom?!” What?! I couldn’t tell all this while that he has an Oedipus complex! This seems kind of perverted.
Meanwhile, after running out of the hospital, Oliver suddenly sneezed twice. He somehow felt a cold breeze on the nape of his neck and quickly zipped up his hoodie.
He lamented in his heart, The weather’s much colder after a bout of snowfall. As it had just snowed the night before, the bitter cold made him feel like his bones were frozen.
