Chapter 2
The air around Jeremy was frigid.
Melody stood stiffly in the living room, not daring to move a single muscle. She pursed her lips and even made her breathing shallower.
Everything about her was tense. It was as if she were a child who had done something wrong and was now waiting for her punishment.
As for Jeremy, he had promptly hung up the phone after speaking, then stood up to leave.
When he walked past Melody, he didn’t stop or even spare her a glance, only leaving a soft breeze in his wake.
The front door opened, then closed again. Only the light in the entryway was still on, attempting to bring some brightness into the dimly lit living room.
Melody was left standing alone in the middle of the living room. She knew that Jeremy had likely returned to the hospital.
It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. They lived together, and as careful as Melody tried to be, there were still times when she accidentally touched his things.
There was once when Melody was cleaning the house and accidentally touched the glass that Jeremy regularly used. He then had someone replace everything in the house with new ones. Melody’s belongings were also disinfected thoroughly.
Jeremy didn’t return to the apartment for a whole month after that incident.
At the time, Melody was still clueless as to why. It was not until she was at the hospital that she overheard a colleague teasing Jeremy for being so dedicated to his work that he had not gone home for the past few days.
Jeremy answered nonchalantly, “Someone touched my stuff and got them dirty.”
That was when Melody finally realized that Jeremy had such disdain for her.
Since then, she developed the habit of being extra cautious lest she touched anything of his again.
The rain continued for quite a long while.
Melody had assisted in a surgery earlier that day and was feeling quite tired. She didn’t even have dinner and went straight to bed after washing up.
When she woke up the next morning, the place was the same as the night before. Everything was still quiet.
Jeremy clearly had not returned after leaving.
While washing up, Melody stared at herself in the mirror. Simon’s words from the day before rang in her head.
Her hearing impairment wasn’t a birth defect.
The Wardolfs were actually quite good to her. Andrew Wardolf, her adopted father, bought her the hearing aids she was currently using. They were a gift to celebrate her acceptance into Jembina School of Medicine.
The Wardolfs were great benefactors to her. She would never dare to ask for anything more.
After Melody got to the hospital and completed the shift change, she went to her patients’ rooms to measure their blood pressure. On her way back to the nurse’s station, she saw that the doctors were preparing to start their rounds.
It was a Monday, so rounds started a little later than usual.
Melody immediately caught sight of Jeremy standing amongst the crowd. He was wearing his white coat, and his eyes were lowered as he listened to the person beside him speak.
In this department, the experienced doctors weren’t as young as him, and those younger than him weren’t as capable. Thus, despite standing in a crowd, anyone would still notice him at first glance.
After what happened the night before, Melody felt a little nervous to see Jeremy.
The group of doctors stood in front of the nurse’s station, blocking her way forward. So she lowered her head and stayed quiet, planning to wait for the doctors to leave before returning to her station.
That was when the head nurse saw her and called out, “Melody, are you done taking the patients’ blood pressure?”
Melody nodded. “Yes, there are no changes, but the patient in Bed 29 has a fever. The patient’s family asked me to get a doctor to check.”
“How’s the older gentleman in Bed 4?”
Melody checked her notes before answering carefully, “Everything looks normal, and he’s also not resisting treatment anymore. However, he is constantly asking when he can be discharged.”
Suddenly, a low voice sounded beside her. “The patient in Bed 4?”
Melody pursed her lips ever so slightly before she turned to Jeremy.
“Yes, the one with the acute cerebral infarction.”
“I know,” Jeremy interrupted, his dark eyes focused on her. “Why did you say he was resisting treatment?”
The older gentleman in Bed 4 was admitted after Jeremy had left for his conference. After resuscitating him, the man rejected further treatment as he believed that he was merely a burden should he continue to live.
Before Melody could respond, another doctor jumped in.
“Dr. Chesson, you don’t know how difficult that patient has been. We’ve dispatched nearly everyone in this department, but no one was able to change his mind, at least not until Ms. Wardolf here. Thank goodness for her.
“Ms. Wardolf has a good personality and is good-tempered, too. It’s no wonder all the patients in our ward like her,” the doctor praised with a smile.
Melody only lowered her head and didn’t respond.
After a while, though, she murmured softly, “It’s all part of the job.”
Though her head was lowered, she stood upright. Her scrubs were clean and neat, as if they were brand new.
Melody could feel a certain gaze on her. She pursed her lips and tried to appear calm and collected.
Since starting in this department, she had always been the most responsible one. It was because she wanted to do better whenever she was in front of him.
Even if that gaze would only linger on her for a second before shifting away, she still wanted to excel and be more diligent. At least, she wanted him to think she wasn’t that bad.
However, in the next second, Jeremy spoke up, sounding apathetic.
“As medical personnel, it’s our duty to do everything we can to save our patients. So there’s nothing to applaud here.”
The air surrounding them seemed to freeze. Melody unconsciously clenched her fingers as she responded softly, “I understand.”
By the time she looked up, Jeremy had already turned to leave. She only caught a glimpse of his cold-looking side profile.
Most working at the hospital knew Melody and Jeremy were engaged. After all, when Melody first started work, the Wardolf family had made donations to the hospital to bolster their reputation. It even ended up on the news.
A close colleague couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Dr. Chesson is too unfeeling. How could he say that?”
Melody pursed her lips while she worked on her paperwork. In the end, she still spoke up for him.
“He’s right. It is our duty to treat patients, so there’s nothing to make a fuss about.”
“Goodness, Melody. You’re always defending Dr. Chesson, regardless.”
Everyone in the department knew that Melody was Jeremy’s biggest fan. No matter what he did, she would always be the first to support him. Even when, most of the time, he didn’t even need her to do so.
Someone once joked that while others might be idealistic or materialistic, Melody was only ever Jeremy-istic. No one dared repeat these jokes in front of Jeremy because everyone knew that Jeremy did not like Melody.
More accurately, Jeremy didn’t even pay an ounce of attention to her.
