The nurses exchanged a glance among themselves, and one of them thereafter swallowed subconsciously before unlocking her mouth.
“The operation was successful, sir,” she pronounced her words tentatively, which brought a slow yet bright smile onto Noah's face.
“Although she had lost a lot of blood, but I'm pleased to tell you that nurse Jasmine is out of danger now, and she would definitely regain consciousness by tomorrow,” the nurse continued.
“Thank you so much, nurse, but can you please tell me what exactly happened to her?” Noah asked cautiously in a gentle voice.
“It's a knife cut, sir. It's a good thing the cut wasn't deep,”
Noah heaved a deep sigh of relief and looked back at Jasmine's sleeping face.
He put down her hand and gestured at the nurses to start moving, but gently held back the last nurse, who had reported to him just now.
“I need your help,” he began, while he let go of the nurse's hand.
“What's it, Mr. Cooper?” the nurse asked with interest in her eyes.
Noah licked his dry lips while he rubbed his palm against his night dress.
“I'm sure what happened to Jasmine isn't an accident, but a murder case. Believe me, if I have my way, I wouldn't leave her side until she regains consciousness. But then, my child is alone at home,” as he spoke, his voice trembled without him realizing it, and the nurse couldn't help but feel compassion toward him.
“I can't trust anyone with Jasmine now, but I want to trust you,” he continued, looking so helpless.
“I'll be back as early as possible in the morning and until then, I would like you to keep checking on her. Please,”
“You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Cooper. I promise to check on nurse Jasmine constantly, remember she's a staff here,” the nurse said with a reassuring smile and her words seemed to put Noah's mind at peace as his lips curved in a gentle smile.
In the private ward, the LED lights glowed with a yellowish halo, shimmering down in circles.
There sat Noah on the bed where Jasmine was lying. He was sitting very close to her and holding her slender hand, caressing the back of her palm.
“You're going to wake up in the morning, right?” his voice was hoarse, and he was looking so dispirited.
“You need to tell me who had done this to you. I'm feeling guilty badly, Jasmine, and I'll continue to feel bad until the person who did this is called to book,”
He paused for a long time, only staring at her beautiful face, which always set his mood to a bright and colorful one every day.
However, he couldn't comprehend who he had offended for them to have wanted to hurt the woman right next to his heart.
In Mrs. Antonio's apartment, she could be seen pacing the length of her room, holding her phone tightly.
It seemed like she was waiting for a call impatiently.
Suddenly, the phone buzzed, and her eyes lit up at the caller ID. It was a call from the only person she had been expecting.
“Yes, tell me,” she spoke impatiently into the phone, her fast pace coming to a halt.
A tired sigh met her ear from the other end of the line and the person's voice followed, “I flunked my target, ma'am, I'm so sorry,”
“Are you out of your mind? What on earth are you saying?” Mrs. Antonio exploded with rage, her round eyes bulging outwards.
“I thought you said you were good at your job, and I paid you in ransom. So, what in the hell are you trying to say now?”
The person sighed again, discarding his phone from his ear, as it seemed Mrs. Antonio was going to block his earbuds with her noise.
“It turned out that the lady wasn't asleep when I went in, and she was even conscious of my presence. So, I just had to do something quickly and fled out of the place,” he explained calculatedly.
“I just had to do something quickly and fled out of the place,” Mrs. Antonio mimicked his tone then became serious almost immediately again.
“Robert or whatever in the hell your name is. If you refused to get your job done in two days and think you can come up with lame excuses again, then believe me, you won't imagine the outcome,” Mrs. Antonio blurted out angrily. Her eyes were like a dark ocean, full of ferocious waves.
She hung up directly and then carelessly tossed her cellphone to the bed, groaning in discomfort and curling her hands into fists.
*
Aurora watches her father, who was wrapped in an all-black suit, looking valiant and noble.
He looked very magnificent and handsome under the tiny ray of the sun that was permeating through the curtain in the dining room.
Aurora continued to stare at her father's face while she scooped her spoon of cereal into her mouth.
She watched as he arranged the big food flask that was containing some porridge and vegetables.
Observing her father's mood since when he had dressed her for school, she could tell that her father wasn't in his cheerful mood, even though he had been trying to hide it behind his smiles.
“Is that for Jasmine?” she raised a question, gesturing her head toward the flask in front of Noah.
Noah had stayed silent all these, his mind had left the presence of the mind as a lot of thoughts kept reeling through his mind.
However, his daughter's words seemed to revive him back to reality.
Wearing a genuine but light smile on his face, he nodded his head as soon as he registered Aurora's question.
“I slept off last night when you were speaking to her over the phone. I wanted to ask her when my birthday preparations will start,” Aurora asserted her words with a pout.
Noah opened his mouth and stared at his daughter's face, he didn't want her to know anything about what had happened to Jasmine.
Smiling so big, “Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll tell her, and I'm sure she already has plans for your great day,” Noah said reassuringly, which inflicted a wide smile to break out on Aurora's face.
“Really, daddy?” she grinned, forgetting completely about the sad mood he had noticed earlier on her father.
“Yes, sweetheart. Now please, let's hurry to school,”
Noah arrived in the hospital thirty minutes later after he had dropped his daughter off at school.
With long strides in the hallway with two or more people passing by occasionally, he finally arrived at Jasmine's ward, holding a paper bag in his right hand.
However, seeing the tall frame that was backing him, he quickly recognized it to be Xavier's, and anger immediately rushed up in his heart, but he forced himself to restrain as he began to calculate his footsteps toward the bed. Every step was firm and steady.
“I don't quite appreciate you being together with my girlfriend, doctor Xavier,” he said calmly, but a trace of disgust could be seen flitting behind his beautiful eyes.
Xavier looked up at him, studying his face for some moment. He then spoke up, “She's my patient,”
“Under whose authorization?” Noah retorted, glaring right into Xavier's eyes.
Xavier scoffed in disdain and put forward a few paces toward him.
“You see, I don't know the connection between you and the chairman or founder of this hospital. But I should tell you that you're crossing your limit now. How dare you barge in here and start questioning my rights? Are you out of your mind?” Xavier's temper skyrocketed. His brows were tightly knitted, giving off the impression of annoyance.
“Now you're questioning my effrontery, Xavier. Because I had given you the permission to operate on her last night doesn't give you the right to flock around her, do you understand?” Noah seethed, his eyes glaring holes into his body.
“Just pray you have no hands in what has happened to her, Xavier. Just pray Jasmine wakes up soon and tells me you weren't the one who had tried to hurt her. Otherwise…” he broke off.
Their gazes collided, it was more powerful than ten thousand words and ten thousand fights.
Xavier was now fuming steam at this point, he felt that he had tolerated him so much.
He evacuated where he was standing and disappeared out of the door.
After he was gone, Noah released a sigh he didn't realize he was holding.
In his opinion, he didn't think he had hated anyone from his past, but presently, the hatred he had for Xavier was immense, and it grew every day, most especially whenever he saw him with Jasmine.
He got sick to the stomach.
He lowered the bag he was carrying on the nightstand and then sat down on the bed beside Jasmine, who was still sleeping so soundly.
Noah smiled gently, staring at her pint-sized face, her delicate nose, and her pink lips…every bit of her looked delicate.
He reached over and stroked a wisp of her hair and tossed it behind her ear. Without leaving immediately, he pressed his lips against her soft cheek for a long moment.
He sat upright again and took her hand. It seemed he enjoyed fiddling with her hands that looked so small in his wide palm.
He continued to stare at her face and suddenly, he retrieved his cell phone from his suit pant pocket and dialed Alicia's number.
“If you're not busy, can you come to George Michael hospital now?”
“Okay, I'll be expecting you,”
He disconnected the call after saying his few sentences.
“One thing I know for sure is that you're not returning to that place,” he said in a light tone, still watching every bit of her face.
Right after he said these words, Jasmine's long, thin eyelashes trembled a few times before she was able to slowly open them.
“Oh my God, Jasmine, are you awake?” Noah asked, peering into her eyes.
He was now feeling inexplicably excited.
Gazing at the familiar face in a daze, Jasmine didn't know how long she had been asleep, but she knew it felt like a long, never-ending dream.
Jasmine closed her eyes tightly for five seconds and opened them again. This time, she could clearly see the deep, penetrating eyes that were at her.
She smiled gently, “Noah,” she called out in a croaking voice and attempted to sit straight.
“No, no, no. Let me help you,” Noah jumped to his feet and carefully braced her up.
Feeling the sharp pain at the bottom of her abdomen, Jasmine shut her eyes in discomfort, taking in the pain.
“What's it? Are you feeling pain anywhere? Do you want me to get the doctor?” Noah asked a series of questions in a breath, and just as he intended to walk out to get the doctor, Jasmine pulled him back by his wrist.
She planted a smile on her face, “I'm fine now,” her voice was extremely low.
Noah stared from her face to the area where she was stabbed, “Are you sure?”
Jasmine nodded and made him sit back in his previous position.
“I'm sorry for frightening you,” she apologized, holding his hand tightly.
Noah sighed and lowered his head. He wouldn't deny the fact that he was terrified.
“Tell me what happened, Jasmine? Who did this to you?” he asked in a majestic and dictatorial manner?
“I don't know either. But I'm certain the person was a man. He broke into my house and stabbed me when I attempted to switch on the lights,” Jasmine explained, putting her bottom lip inside her mouth.
“Mrs. Antonio,” the voice floated to them from the entrance.
Both Jasmine and Noah looked over in the door direction and saw Alicia standing there with widened eyes.
Apparently, she had heard everything, Jasmine had just said.
“What did you just say, Alicia? Why did you just call my assistant's name?” Noah inquired in a domineering manner with a gleam flashing across his sharp eyes.