Love My Friends with Benefits

I vaguely heard Phoebe's voice through the receiver.

Leonard hung up after a short while and picked up his suit jacket before leaving. "I'm going to send Phoebe home."

I noticed that he'd had a change of clothes and asked cheekily, "Where's your shirt from yesterday?"

He didn't turn back, but his tone immediately became icy. "I threw it away."

He slammed the door shut.

I lay back down on the bed, thinking that he deserved it.

May brought my phone over during her lunch break.

I unlocked the screen to find five or six missed calls from Aunt Nancy.

She rarely called me so many times in a row. Had something urgent cropped up?

I closed the door to the ward and called her back.

"Hello?"

Aunt Nancy answered the phone after two rings.

"Aunt Nancy, it's me." I asked, "Did something happen? Why'd you call me so many times?"

Her voice changed instantly. I could hear her anxiety even through the phone. "Queena, I think I heard Phoebe on the phone outside at noon!"

On the phone again? And allowing someone to overhear her again?

I felt both angry and amused. How many people was she trying to trick with that show of hers?

Aunt Nancy was worried. "I didn't hear her clearly because of the distance, but I heard her saying something about Gail not agreeing and that she had to take her chance to marry Leonard. I don't know whether I was imagining things." She became more and more uncertain. "Maybe I was just imagining things."

The things she'd heard was almost exactly the same as what I'd heard the day before.

Phoebe was lying again.

I was about to tell Aunt Nancy the truth, but I caught myself at the last moment. "You're really sleep-deprived. I think you probably heard her wrong."

"Is that so?" Aunt Nancy was a little dubious.

"Yeah."

"That's good, then." She let out a sigh of relief. "I was wondering why Phoebe would be blurting out her plans in such a public place. Gail would never raise her daughter to be so naive."

I blushed at her words.

This had not occurred to me at all.

Aunt Nancy chatted with me for a bit more before hanging up.

I lay down for a while, still a little worried about Grandma.

Coincidentally, it was three o'clock. I changed into the clothes I'd worn to the hospital and headed to the ICU to see Grandma.

Aunt Nancy was on her own, as usual. She was probably so exhausted that she was deeply asleep.

Grandma was conscious. When she saw me, she put a finger to her lips and shushed me.

I nodded understandingly and sat down next to her.

Grandma smiled lovingly. "Queena, are you busy with work?"

It was getting to be a rare occurrence for her to be conscious recently. I had yet to tell her that I was on leave.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"You didn't even change your clothes." She pointed at me. "How would you have forgotten to change your clothes if you weren't too busy?"

It was a wake-up call.

I felt a little embarrassed and chuckled awkwardly. "I was busy with something else yesterday. I was exhausted, so I didn't change."

"Girls should pay more attention to their appearance," Grandma said. "No matter how busy you are, you should always remember to change your clothes and put some makeup on. It'll only do you good." I nodded obediently to show that I'd heard her.

"Remember to dress up neatly. Don't be like those young ladies nowadays, wearing all sorts of odd outfits..."

She suddenly stopped.

"Grandma, what's wrong?" I asked.

She was a little emotional. "When you're old, you tend to forget how annoying it is to nag at someone. You must be tired of listening to me say all these things, right?"

I hurriedly shook my head. "No, of course not. Also, you're still young, Grandma."

She laughed. "I'm still young at my age?"

"Of course

held her hand and said,

"Once you're discharged, I want you to move in with me. It's not the best,

but at least you won't have to see Gail and the others..."

Grandma beamed. "That's a promise."

Aunt Nancy was roused from her sleep at our voices and sat up.

When she saw me, she was taken aback. "Queena, you're here already? Weren't you at home just now? How'd you get here so quickly?"

I blinked, not knowing what to say.

To me, the neurology ward was only a walk away. To Aunt Nancy, I'd come here from home.

"Hello? Did you hear me?" Aunt Nancy peered at me curiously.

I fibbed, "I wasn't at home. I was at one of the hospital washrooms."

"I see." She nodded and let the

matter go. "Let's go get some water

to wipe your grandmother down. I

wanted to do this

y, but

Phoebe ruined everything.

"Yeah, okay," I answered and stood up.

Inadvertently, the sleeve of my clothes rubbed against my arm and a slight pain shot through me. My expression froze.

I'd forgotten that I still had the cannula in.

How was I going to carry a huge basin of water like this?

Aunt Nancy got to the door and was a little displeased when she saw me rooted to the spot. "Queena, why aren't you coming?"

I had no choice but to lie. "My arm hurts."

She asked, "Is it because of Phoebe?"

I couldn't speak and remained silent.

"Is that so?" She looked me up and down, then said, "Come out with me."

I followed her out.

The moment we were alone, she grabbed my arm.

I didn't cotton on and just stared at her.

"Your arm hurts, doesn't it?" She let me go and started running her hands over my arms. "I don't remember your arm being injured, though."

As she spoke, her hand pressed down on the cannula.

Pain shot through me. I opened my mouth subconsciously to let out a cry, but I managed to catch myself in the nick of time.

"What's wrong with you?" Aunt Nancy asked as she rolled my sleeve up.

The cannula was in plain sight. There were even plasters around it.

More importantly, I had a wristband on, showing that I was a hospitalised patient.

"Why do you have this on?" Aunt Nancy immediately recognised the cannula and cried, "Queena, have you been hospitalised?"

I slapped a hand over her mouth.

I didn't want Grandma to know about this at all.

Aunt Nancy removed my hand and shook her head. "Honestly, you. How'd you end up in the hospital?"

"I have a concussion." I brushed it off, pretending to be nonchalant. "It's not a big deal, really."

"You wouldn't have been hospitalised if it weren't a big deal."

Aunt Nancy glared at me, then went back into the ward to get the basin before dragging me over to the pantry.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐