Chapter 442 Five Years Is a Long Time
“Who’s that doctor?” Jordan, who had been quiet the entire time, suddenly questioned Alexander after Eric left the office. Then, his calm gaze landed on Alexander, revealing his unconcealed intention to obtain an answer from Alexander.
After he heard Jordan’s question, an annoyed and impatient Alexander muttered with his brows furrowed, “This has nothing to do with you. Focus on your meal.”
“A woman?” Jordan’s expression darkened even more.
As Alexander continued to feign ignorance, Jordan placed the cutleries and reminded, “You’ve been involved in lots of scandals lately. You better keep it under wraps.”
“What have you heard about?” Alexander asked with a frown.
Sitting on the couch with an upright posture was a twelve-year-old teenage boy. Although he wasn’t tall and had rather childish features, his gaze was that of a mature person. “That woman, Miss Yves, has been coming over often. If you fancy her, you should take her to visit Great-Grandpa to relieve him of his worries. If you don’t like her, at least try your best to prevent the rumors from spreading like wildfire. You’re embarrassing me, you know.”
“What? What did you just say?” Alexander thundered with a grim look. After being enraged by the news that Eric had brought with him, Alexander was now pissed off by the words that his son had said.
“Dad, you are no longer young. It’s absurd for you to be involved in so many scandals at this age.” Jordan rose up to his full height and pretended to be calm as he tidied the sleeves of his suit while continuing, “I’m no longer a little kid. Go ahead and get married if you want to; I won’t stand in your way.”
With that, he puffed out his chest and left without looking back.
Alexander, who was standing behind his desk, was rendered speechless.
This son of his, whom he had taken care of for the last decade, was a living example of an ingrate. Although Jordan had chosen to live with Alexander when he had to make a choice between Alexander and his own mother years ago, it was evident that Jordan had missed his mother a great deal over these years. When it came to matters surrounding Alexander’s relationship, it was also common for Jordan to give an attitude. The boy had even smashed things as a young child whenever anyone came over to introduce Alexander to a new partner.
Nonetheless, Alexander never cared about the way Jordan behaved and was even glad that his son could keep all the unwanted attractions at bay. However, Alexander was indeed wronged this day because that doctor was, in fact, Jordan’s biological mother!
Alexander’s chest felt like it was squashed by a thousand-pound bolder when he thought about the date that Courtney and Caleb had. As a result, he was so enraged that he could barely breathe.
After the lunch break, the physical examination resumed as normal.
What Caleb had told Courtney during lunch had caused her such a headache that she almost injected the needle in the wrong area several times when she was extracting blood.
When the line gradually became shorter, Eric suddenly showed up to inform, “Dr. Hunter, President Duncan has invited you to his office.”
The moment Courtney heard that, her expression changed, but she maintained her composure as her colleagues were still around. “President Duncan should look for the hospital administration instead if he needs anything. I don’t see the reason why he should ask for me.”
However, he was able to swiftly answer, as if he had foreseen her response. “President Duncan said that since you were the one who tended to his injury previously and in charge of the health checks for our employees, there’s no need to trouble anyone else when you can help him to change the bandage at the same time. He’s really swamped with his work and has no time to go to the hospital.”
When they heard Eric’s explanation, two other nurses, who were in charge of drawing blood, gaped while a few new employees standing in the line behind him felt excited to hear the gossip.
“Courtney, President Duncan has requested your presence, so you should get going. We aren’t exactly busy here.”
“Yes, there aren’t many people left.”
Two of her colleagues from the clinical laboratory urged her to leave as well; one of them, who was physically closer to her, even secretly pinched her and whispered, “You are actually acquainted with the president of the Sunhill Enterprise. That’s impressive, Courtney.”
I’m not actually given a choice to say otherwise now, no? And how’s this ‘impressive’?
The way the crowd had stared at Courtney made her skin crawl, leaving her with no option but to follow Eric to Alexander’s office in the end.
It was already late in the evening and the lights in the office were switched on to illuminate the space.
The furnishing still looked the same as it had been in the past without any obvious changes.
When she entered the office, she muttered, “There are plenty of hospitals and doctors in Melrose City. What’s the purpose for this?”
Alexander was in the midst of getting a glass of freshly squeezed fruit juice when she said that, so he turned to her and calmly responded, “I just want you to help me to change my wound dressing since you are already here. Are you not willing to help me?”
“Yes, I’m not willing to.”
“Okay, then you’ll have to watch my injury become infected and rot away. When that happens, I’ll just rock up to the hospital where you work and ask for you to tend to my wound.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Courtney was pissed. “What do you think a hospital is? A nightclub where you can ask for girls to keep you company? A place where you can request for a specific person to serve you?”
However, Alexander merely placed the beaker aside and changed the topic. “Would you like to have a glass of juice?”
His attitude had made her feel like her punches had landed on cotton, which gave her no choice but to swallow her anger.
The infection on Alexander’s injury wasn’t as severe after she had changed the bandage for him before this. This time, he had prepared the gauze and medicine in advance, as if he had expected her presence.
While Courtney was wrapping his injury with a clean gauze, she warned him with a cold expression, “You still have to go to the hospital tomorrow to change your wound dressing. You have to go there periodically until the doctor tells you. Otherwise, your arm will rot.”
“I don’t have the time for that,” Alexander replied as he wore his shirt and buttoned it up with one hand. His muscular chest seemed firm underneath his clothes. As he looked at Courtney, he suggested, “How about you come over on a daily basis starting tomorrow to change the bandage? I’ll pay you for it.”
“In your dreams.” She glared at him. “You don’t have time, but do you think that I have? Even if I do, why should I come over to tend to your injury every day? Do you think that I’m your nanny or your personal doctor?”
He raised his head and countered, “That’s because you are my son’s mother. If I die from an infection, your son will end up in an orphanage.”
“Nonsense!” Courtney maintained her glare on him. “Mr. Duncan will take care of Jordan even if you die, so he won’t be sent to an orphanage. Stop using this lame excuse to threaten me.” After not seeing him for many years, I can’t believe that he is now someone who can go as far as to curse himself.
“You are aware that my grandpa is not physically well.” A stubborn Alexander refused to change his mind. “I won’t go to the hospital anyway. You are free to decide whether you want to come and I won’t force you to do anything either. Similarly, whether I head to the hospital is my decision to make and you can’t pressure me to do anything as well.”
Courtney was so furious that her face reddened. After a while, she growled through gritted teeth, “You’ve changed. I remembered that you said five years ago that you despised people who took the moral high ground and threatened others with children.”
This was the first time that he heard Courtney saying anything about five years ago and the words that she used sounded dreadful to him. As his gaze was still on the woman standing before him, Alexander fell into a momentary daze before quickly returning to his senses. “Five years is a long time. Nobody can say for sure how much a person would change.”
There seemed to be an underlying meaning to Alexander’s words. As he peered into Courtney’s eyes, there was profound affection and deep love for her in his gaze.
Courtney avoided his gaze and clenched her teeth. “I won’t come.” With that, she turned on her heels and left without any words of goodbye.
However, Alexander was able to tell from her retreating figure that she wasn’t as composed as she was when she came; on the contrary, she seemed to be in a fluster.
