Chapter 28. TORRENTIAL GOSSIP
Once she understood what he was saying, metaphorical black lines streaked across Amber’s face. “Why?”
Had her story made him misunderstand something?
Ian’s expression was innocent. “Aren’t we a couple?”
… Amber’s only response was to be more innocent than him. “But a couple doesn’t need to ask each other before hand when doing something like that. Asking implies that the feelings between us aren’t deep enough, and suggests that we should return to being regular friends.”
After hearing Amber’s explanation, Ian looked at her, deep in thought, not saying anything.
Amber thought that this episode was over with that, and didn’t pay it any mind. The next day, she went to the hospital immediately. Surprisingly, Elly wasn’t buried under her blanket, and was actually sitting straight up in bed, her gazedully inspecting the sunlight that was filtering in through the window blinds.
Amber tried to get close to her. When she was about five steps away from the bed, Elly turned around. Her expression was frightened, her spine taut, her eyes wide, and her mouth was grinding her teeth hard, almost as if she were about to turn violent at a moment’s notice.
Amber didn’t approach any further. She passed the sketchbook that she had bought on the way to the hospital to Elly and said, “Can I give this to you?”
She opened the sketchbook, and drew as she explained, “It can produce many things that you want, just like that little bunny who just wants a hug.”
Her drawing skills left much to be desired, but while critically inspecting the four unseemly bunnies that she had drawn, Amber blinked, hoping that Elly had a vivid enough imagination to look past her drawing skills. “Look, the little bunny is waiting for you to hug it.”
Elly was expressionless, and seemed completely wooden. However, her body hadn’t loosened up at all, remaining anxiousand fearful. Amber’s trip to her hometown made Amber somewhat able to understand her gut reaction, and so she left the sketchbook and pencil on the far side of the bed before slowly leaving.
When Amber returned to the nurse’s office, she looked at Elly via the security camera. In the camera feed, Elly didn’t move. She completely ignored the sketchbook and instead turned her head to look outside the window, her mouth mumbling something that Amber couldn’t quite make out.
After realizing that they weren’t going to make much progress today, Amber decided to head over to the clinic area. However, before she could open the door, someone stopped her. That person’s hand held a recording pen, and she asked, “Excuse me, are you Dr. Camille from the psychiatry department?”
Amber looked at her warily. “Sorry, who are you?”
“I’m a reporter from XX website for the XX department. May I interview you for a moment with regards to the incident in which your wealthy boyfriend booked all of your appointment slots?”
‘Fuck!’ As soon as she heard the reporter introduce herself, Amber, who never cursed, couldn’t help but do so in her mind. How long were they going to harass her for this incident?
Amber rejected her brusquely. “Sorry, I can’t.” Turning around, she quickly walked towards the exit.
The reporter followed behind her. “You’re the female lead implicated in the incident, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“But, it has to be a young, pretty doctor in the psychiatry department of Presbiterian Hospital. I checked, and the only person who matches that description is you ….”
…
“Seriously, it’s you, isn’t it? I don’t have any bad intentions. It’s just that the netizens are quite curious and want to understand more details.”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
“If you’re willing to be interviewed, then I can also conduct the interview anonymously ….”
“Sorry, you can’t enter this place.” Shocked, Amber quickly walked into a restricted area that the public couldn’t enter, leaving the reporter behind.
Finally she had some peace and quiet. Amber released a breath that she had been holding for a long time. She thought that these people were making a mountain out of a molehill, as reporters were even beginning to crowd around her.
When she turned her head around, she suddenly found her self facing a slightly pale face. She was startled and stepped back unconsciously.
Standing in front of her was a female doctor in her forties. She was tall and skinny, and her face was stark white.
“H-Hello!”
The female doctor frowned. “Which department are you from?”
“The psychiatry department.”
“The psychiatry department … Amber Camille?”
“Yes.” Amber didn’t expect to actually be recognized, and smiled respectfully back. “Good morning, doctor.”
But that doctor ended up saying, “You’re that doctor whose appointments got booked, aren’t you?” She looked her up and down. “Since someone wants to pamper you, why are you out here being a doctor?”
After saying that, she left swiftly, leaving Amber standing there alone, stunned speechless.
At this time, a few more doctors and nurses walked out. Amber quickly turned around and followed that female doctor out of the room. After exiting, she couldn’t help but turn back around, and look at the department sign clearly-it turned out that she had wandered into the gynecology offices.
Amber was somewhat dispirited, and didn’t hurry back to her office. She got on the phone and checked in with her colleague. “Am I still on vacation?”
Her colleague laughed. “You can still come to work. The head of the department, who was just swarmed by a horde of reporters, probably wants to have tea with you and talk about your life.”
“….”
She firmly decided to continue her break. Besides visiting Elly, she barely stepped foot into any other work location. Even so, Amber couldn’t escape the fate of constantly being teased and mocked by her colleagues in the department. The teasing really started to make her hate Ian, the instigator of this whole fiasco. The key was, even though he knew that he had caused trouble for her, he was still unwilling to cancel the appointments. When she asked him why, he responded, “It’s too troublesome!”
Amber really wanted to ask why he didn’t find it too troublesome to make the appointments in the first place.