Chapter 61: Touching Bottom Line!
"No... I’m... I’m completely fine!!" the woman said, eyes locked on Tony. "There’s no need to check anything!! I feel perfect!! Best I’ve felt in years!! Please don’t trouble yourself!!"
"You were running a mild fever— I need to check your pulse," Hikaru said firmly, reaching for her wrist.
The woman pulled her wrist away. "The fever is completely gone!! Totally!! I can feel it!! I don’t need any more treatnt, truly, I think I should check out tomorrow, actually today, maybe right now —"
"You haven’t finished your treatnt course!!" Hikaru said, exasperated.
"That’s fine!! I feel very healed!! Thank you so much for everything!!" The woman’s eyes hadn’t left Tony for a single second.
Tony waved at her pleasantly. She made a small, strangled noise.
Hikaru shot Tony a look, but she failed to say anything... so she moved to the next room.
Room two... An elderly man, thin and white-haired, leaned up on pillows with a book in his lap. He looked up when Hikaru entered— and then looked at Tony...!
"Moon Goddess," the old man said carefully. "I appreciate you coming. I must say though, I feel remarkably well today. Very well indeed. Considering."
"Considering what...?" Hikaru asked, already pulling out a needle.
"Considering everything," the old man said, eyes tracking Tony as Tony walked to the window and looked out at the morning sun on the mountain. "I really feel I don’t need any more treatnt. My body has healed on its own. It does that sotis. Remarkable, really."
"You have three needle points that need to be closed properly or your left arm will go numb by next week," Hikaru said flatly.
"Let it be... I’ll take the numb arm," the old man said.
"What?!"
"I’ll take it!! Both arms, even!! Thank you, Moon Goddess, you’ve been wonderful, please don’t waste your ti..."
"Enough!!" Hikaru’s voice ca out louder than she intended. Several people in the corridor outside went very quiet.
Tony turned from the window. "Should I wait outside?"
"YES!!" both Hikaru and the old man said simultaneously.
Tony nodded and stepped out into the corridor, closing the door behind him. Through the wall he could hear Hikaru completing the treatnt, the old man making small noises of discomfort that sounded less like pain and more like the relief of soone who had narrowly avoided sothing much worse.
The sa scene played out three more tis in the next four rooms. One patient pretended to be asleep so convincingly that Tony genuinely wasn’t sure if the person had passed out from fear.
Another asked Hikaru in a very polite whisper if Tony was there as punishnt for sothing she had done, and whether there was a different floor she could move to. A third simply pointed at Tony and said "No"— one word, firm and final and turned to face the wall.
By the fifth room, Hikaru had stopped reacting and was simply working with the expression of soone ntally revising her opinion of what a difficult shift looked like.
In the hallway between rooms, Tony moved close to her.
"I have an idea," he said.
"No," said Hikaru.
"You haven’t heard it yet."
"I don’t need to hear it. Whatever it is, no." She started walking again without answering.
The last two patients on the floor actually allowed treatnt— two younger disciples who either hadn’t heard enough about Tony yet or were too unwell to care.
Hikaru worked quickly, efficiently, Tony watching from the corner without any interest.
By the ti they ca back downstairs, the tower was quieter. Usually, Hikaru is the busiest doctor in the healing tower and people lined up with gifts to get treatnt from her.
But today, the world was completely upside down for her.
As ti passed, Hikaru felt bored and took out a few books to read.
Tony leaned close to her and took a glance at what she was reading. Hiakru felt his breathing over her ear.
She stood up and faced him with handed folded before her chest.
"You can leave for today," she said with a loud sigh. "Honestly, having you with
is scaring away more patients than I’m treating. It’s like bringing a fire into a paper shop and then asking why everything keeps burning."
"I have a better idea... Give
a dical room. I will treat my own patients." Tony said casually.
Hikaru clenched her fists. "How can you even ask for it? Can’t you see how people fear you?!"
"That’s because they never witnessed my miracle treatnt. Give
one patient... I will prove it to you." Tony said confidently while staring back into her eyes.
"Never... I won’t allow you to touch a single soul." Hikaru said firmly.
"Then what should I do? I don’t want to stare at you all day... You are not as beautiful as my wife." Tony said bluntly without thinking about the consequences.
Hikaru’s face burned with anger. He touched her bottom line. If not for Tony’s background, she might have kicked him like a doll at the sa mont.
Tony’s words hit like an arrow inside Hikaru’s brain. "This bastard..." Hikaru matured as she did not understand how to take revenge on Tony.
"What...?!" Tony asked as Hiakru was staring at him with killing intent.
"Do you think I am a Joke? I will show you how difficult it is to beco a doctor. Co et
tomorrow morning..." Hikaru said angrily and left her office room without looking back.
"Moon Goddess, don’t worry," Tony said, waving a hand. "I won’t be a burden to you. And if you want, I can go beat up a few people and drag them here as patients. Your numbers will recover quickly."
Hikaru turned and stared at him in absolute silence for three full seconds and left.
"What did I do? Why is she behaving like I raped her?" Tony muttered as he stepped out of Healing Tower.
It was still afternoon, Tony untied the snow leopard from the pine tree— it imdiately tried to bite him, he directly slapped and cursed it, The leopard stopped... he climbed on, and guided it towards the Academy food hall.
Reviews
All reviews (0)