My Darling, My Dearest

"Jack's not in a hurry. He's still enjoying the single life," Tracy quickly replied to her friend's message.

"Check this document, and send it back to me immediately."

After receiving the task from her superior, Celine nodded helplessly.

In the past two days, she had busied herself with trying to contact Jack, but every time her phone call was connected, he would simply hang up. Now, she was already thinking if she should wait by the entrance of his company once her shift was over.

It seemed that it was the only way she could get his attention.

Before she could think any more, her phone vibrated, snapping her out of her thoughts. Furrowing her eyebrows, she answered, "Hello, Aunt Tracy."

"Celine, are you free? I need to get my dress changed at the mall."

"I'll go with you."

Immediately forgetting the task that her superior had assigned to her, Celine got off work early and said her farewell to her colleagues.

One of her colleagues pulled her hand. "What are you going to do with the document?"

"It can be done tomorrow." Now, there was nothing more important than shopping with her future mother-in-law.

"But our superior asked you to—"

"He always says that, but he forgets it by the end of the day," Celine quickly interrupted, growing impatient with her colleague's inputs. Right now, her priority was Tracy. Besides, if she really did marry Jack, it wasn't as if she would need this job anyway. Celine was simply considering the bigger picture.

In the shopping mall, Celine and Tracy strutted in and out of different clothing stores to buy some more suitable clothes.

Tracy tried on a khaki cashmere coat. She stepped out of the fitting room and stared at the mirror expectantly. "How about this one?" "I don't think it matches you," Celine stated, peering at the fabric she had chosen.

"I agree." Tracy handed the coat to the saleswoman.

Celine sighed in relief. "You know, I didn't expect that we'd share the same sense of fashion." The older woman smiled in satisfaction. "I'm getting better and better at discerning, but I'm still not as experienced as you."

Tracy laughed.

If there was something Celine was good at, it was flattering people.

They had bought several bags by the end of the day.

The older woman glanced at her watch. "How about this? I'll have Jack send you back later on.

"Okay."

Celine tried not to get too ecstatic at the thought of Jack sending her home. Instead, she tried to stop her hands from fidgeting as she meekly nodded her head. Jack had just come out of the company when he received a call from his mother. Seeing as the mall wasn't that far away, he turned at the corner and looked for her.

Just as he was about to call her, he saw both Tracy and Celine coming out of the mall with many shopping bags.

Without another thought, he quickly texted his mother that he had some other things he needed to deal with first before heading off the other way.

"Rachel, where are you?" Lea whined, acting like a spoiled child.

Rachel closed the trunk of the taxi. "I just got off the plane. I'll take the taxi now, okay? Let's talk about it later."

As soon as Rachel had arrived at the hospital, she received a call from Lea. When she answered the phone, she heard nothing but sobs and sniffles from the other end of the line. "What's wrong? Did you and Henry got into a fight? What happened?"

Finally, her best friend burst into another round of tears. "I fell down the stairs and hurt my spine," she sobbed out. "I had so many stitches and...and..."

"Wait! When did you fall?"

"A few days ago."

She didn't even waste any time as Rachel quickly asked her director to give her two days leave to visit her friend.

However, as soon as she arrived, she was confused as to whether Lea really fell or if Henry was the one who was hurt.

Her friend was lying in the bed and staring at her iPad. On the other hand, Henry was sitting on the sofa by the window, looking incredibly haggard. There were shadows etched on the bottom of his eyes, and he looked like he could fall over at any moment.

She cautiously walked over.

"Are you okay?"

Lea squealed, clasping her hand. "You're here!"

At that time, Henry's body suddenly shook from her loud screech. He jumped up from the sofa and whirled around, as if his body had been placed on auto-pilot. "Honey?" he yelled. "What's wrong?" When he saw that it was Rachel, he breathed a sigh of relief. "It's you. Don't just stand there. Have a seat."

"I'm sorry," Lea murmured guiltily.

"It's fine. I'll be out for a while." Without another word, he took his coat from the rack and walked out of the ward.

Staring at his retreating figure, Rachel blinked uncertainly. "Um...tell me, are you really sick?" she asked wearily.

"Of course!" Lea motioned to herself. "Didn't you notice how much weight I've lost?"

Rachel cocked up an eyebrow, motioning to the door. "He looked like he just rose from the dead. Lea sighed. "He's been here with me from the day I got hospitalized. After the operation, it hurt so much that I just couldn't sleep at night, you know? He sat beside me to keep me company and distract me from the pain."

With Rachel's help, she sat up. "I sleep well now, but he's still too much of a worry wart, you know? He still couldn't fall asleep after making sure I'm totally fine. That's why he's in such bad shape."

Who knew that the couple who quarreled all the time would have such a deep relationship?

Rachel couldn't help but feel envy in her heart, wondering what her and Jack would be like if they hadn't gotten a divorce.

"Is something wrong?" Lea furrowed her eyebrows, noticing that her friend wasn't answering her.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rachel shook her head and took a banana from the cabinet. She quickly peeled and handed it to her. "Tell me, what happened?"

"The housekeeper just finished mopping the stairs, so it was slippery. I was wearing Henry's slippers that day, so I lost my balance." She smiled sheepishly.

Although she was already a mother, she still retained some of her child-like tendencies.

After chatting for a bit of what had gone on in both of their lives, Rachel said her farewells and left.

Since she was off duty in the day time, she needed to work in the evening. This was why she needed to head back immediately to her night shift.

Although she was exhausted, it was all worth it.

But Rachel wasn't as young as she had been. After the night shift, she stared up at the sun, feeling her head pounding from the exhaustion. She didn't waste her time as she hurried back to her home and slept the entire day. When she woke up, she saw that her director had posted the schedule for the following month.

Since two doctors from the outpatient department had asked for a leave, Rachel was transferred there to fill in the gaps.

The outpatient department might be incredibly busy, but it was a better alternative given its fixed work time. It meant that she didn't need to take on some nights shifts.

"Rachel, this is your last patient for the day."

Upon hearing the nurse's words, Rachel allowed herself to smile. After talking to numerous patients the entire morning, her voice had become hoarse.

Just then, a male patient that looked about forty was pushed into the office. "Is it my turn?" he yelled out. "I've been waiting for hours, and you're just chatting there?"

He wasn't the most polite patient, that was for sure.

Pretending that she didn't hear a word that he had said, Rachel peered closely at the X-ray he had brought with him, and the medical record the hospital had of him. "Sir, your condition has worsened." She frowned. "You should be hospitalized for observation purposes."

"I've always been like this. You can prescribe some medicine for me." The man waved his hand impatiently.

"Considering your condition, the medication wouldn't be effective on you," she tried to explain.

"I know what I'm capable of! Why are you taking so long? Just do as I say!"

The man stretched out his hand and began to throw a fit. "If you won't give it to me, then I'll report you and find another doctor."

Just as Rachel was about to say something more, the nurse patted her on the shoulder. "Rachel, just let him do whatever he wants."

The nurse began to act as a peacemaker. "Please sit down, sir. The doctor will prescribe you some medicine."

"Make it quick!" After the man left, the nurse quickly explained to her the situation. "Rachel, the patient has been coming for a check-up every week. Dr. Wang has already advised him to stay in the hospital for observation, but he refused to accept."

Rachel nodded. However, when she saw him again the following week, his condition had already grown worse. Forgetting what the nurse had said, she tried to persuade him to stay in the hospital.

The man had grown aggressive. He grabbed Rachel's collar and lifted her up, as his other fist waved at her threateningly. "If you don't prescribe me some medicine, then I'll beat you!" he spat.

"None of you doctors care for the patient anyway! You just want me to be hospitalized so you could profit from me! Aren't your salaries enough?"

The man was so furious that his face turned beet red.

Author's note

G°°se fiSEQ

Translator: Scarlett5555