Trapped with a Doctor

Stanley held his own when it came to defending against criminals, which was not to say that it wasn't a spectacle to watch. Not far away from him, a dagger dripping with blood clanged to the ground. Nancy leaned up Angela's arms, choking and struggling to open her eyes. She mustered up all her energy to say, "Stanley... be careful!"

Stanley glanced at her. Nancy was under the illusion that Stanley worried about her...

But in the lapses of consciousness, she shrugged and thought, 'That's impossible. I must be losing it.'

"Nancy..." Angela was tearing up pieces of her shirt to cover Nancy's wounds.

However, Nancy stopped her. "No, Angela. Don't look at it..."

Angela was a strong person usually, but at the sight of her friend's lacerated stomach, she fell back, and gradually fainted.

She closed her eyes, wheezing. With nothing to support her, Angela too craned back. Rolling her dizzy head around in the dirt, she tried to keep her mind clear. "Angela... you can't pass out... Nancy... needs you!"

Her kidneys began to ache, her chest moved up and down rapidly, and she found it difficult to breathe. She needed to sit up if she hoped to breathe.

When she was about to give up, someone appeared and jumped into the scrap. She saw a man in a suit, and he was handsome. He seized the knives from the gangsters.

Angela struggled to open the eyes, trying to figure out where she was again. Then she saw the man. What was his name again? When she saw the familiar pearl brooch on his suit, she slipped back into unconsciousness, relieved that it was him.

Nancy had been struggling not to pass out, but without Angela, there was no hope.

...

VVIP inpatient department of Yao Hospital.

At three in the morning, two men were standing in the ward where the women were lying, not talking, but standing ever vigilant.

Lucy had peeped her head through the door many times to check on their condition. She couldn't believe her eyes. Finally, after confirmation, she was sure that their vice-director was looking care of Angela. In the next room, an armed policeman was watching Nancy.

Lucy turned around and found two colleagues. They asked Lucy cautiously, "Why is Doctor Gu still here? Why is he watching Angela? And why are they here?"

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know."

Arvin had warned that nobody was allowed to enter No.2 ward where Angela stayed without his permission.

"Aren't you in the same group as Angela and Nancy?" The two nurses were not satisfied with Lucy's answer.

"You can ask them when they wake up."

When Arvin had conveyed Angela to the ward, Lucy clapped her hand to her mouth. She failed to respond to the situation well.

But when Nancy appeared blanketed in blood, she guessed that something might have happened to both of them together. Since Arvin sat brooding over them, she dare not ask them herself.

No. 2 ward

Angela opened her eyes gradually, dispelling the vague morphine-induced fog, and saw Arvin's emotionless face.

Upon reflection, she recollected the misfortune, and cried, "Big wing..."

Angela's tears made Arvin's heart ache. He sat by her bedside, caressing her left hand - the uninjured one - and asked, "Are you all right?"

Fortunately, the wound on her right arm was not severe. The nerve damage was minimal, and though the knife had passed her muscle, it had only nicked metacarpals, so no serious harm had been inflicted. She rocked her head side-to-side. "Where am I?"

"Hospital," he answered briefly.

Angela remembered something important. She sat up and asked, "Where is Nancy? Ah!"

Pain surged through her right arm when she pushed up on it too quickly.

Arvin pulled her arm worriedly and said to her, "Don't be impulsive! You are injured!"

Luckily, they had stopped the bleeding.

"I'm fine. What about Nancy? Is she all right?" Angela was about to get out of bed, regardless of her injury.

Arvin held her back. "Don't worry. She's had an operation, and is recuperating in the adjacent room."

"I want to see her," she said impatiently.

Arvin was unable to stop her. He relented and took her to the next room.

No. 3 ward

Stanley stroked Nancy's soft face. In his mind, Nancy was a weak girl. He didn't expect her to block the knife.

Although she was weak... she never needed him.

Because of her family background, there were so many boys like him around, brave ones who nursed dreams of becoming policemen or firemen.

When Nancy was nineteen, Stanley had requested her half sister, Grace, to deliver a bracelet to her. Nancy responded by throwing it in the trash disgustedly.

On her twenty-first birthday, he was there too. It took place on a luxury cruise, no spared expense, and another man had covered the ship with roses as a display of his love for her. Although she didn't say 'yes' she didn't refuse.

Later, he got transferred to another city. Grace told him that Nancy had promised herself to that rich man.

On her twenty-second birthday, Grace told him that the present he sent had been thrown in the trash a long time ago.

She had changed her mind, he assumed. But he hoped that he was wrong. He might never understand her, he reckoned. By right, Nancy had since always disliked Grace. She threw away her presents too. When Nancy had asked Stanley to be careful, His dead heart came to life.

'Nancy, do you really care about me?' he wondered desperately.

'If you do care about me, I'll forget the past and stay with you forever.'

Suddenly, the door blasted open. Stanley took his hands back, recovered his expression and turned around.

Angela and Arvin stepped in. Angela had only one thing on her mind, and didn't even notice Stanley.

Arvin discerned Stanley's irregular expression and then looked at Nancy in bed. Then, he understood the relationship between them.

"Nancy, Nancy..." Angela caressed Nancy's moon-white face.

"It's all my fault! Nancy, I'm sorry... I didn't protect you..."

She cried. It was all her fault. She had brought this on Nancy.

Angela restricted her view to Nancy's face, out of fear that she would pass out again at the sight of her scar.

Arvin totally understood her recrimination against herself, but wished to comfort her.

He placed a firm hand on her shoulder, gave it a paternal squeeze of consolation, and said, "It has nothing to do with you. It was not your fault."

According to Stanley, Nancy was the target of a gangland conspiracy. Angela's injuries were a result of her getting in the way.

"I'm good at taekwondo, I just can't understand where I went wrong. But now, I can't even protect Nancy! Am I really such a failure?"

"You're strange. Your thoughts are too... critical," said Arvin. Deep inside, he couldn't understand the motivations of her mind.

Angela rubbed her eyes, "Why would you call me strange?"

"Would it still be your fault if there were 100 gangsters? Would it?" Arvin wiped her tears from her cheeks and rubbed the back of her neck therapeutically. 00☐☐☐☐☐☐