Chapter 53: A glint of playfulness
"Push, come on, you got this." She shouted repeatedly, encouraging, persuading, and then demanding.
So far, this was the most complicated case she had encountered during her fellowship. It was almost two hours, yet she had to see much improvement.
The pregnant mother was a first-time mom, and to make matters worse, she was delivering triplets through natural birth.
"Aaagh!" Her patient alternated between screaming and panting. "Uuugh!"
Originally, the attending physician handled delicate cases like this, but at that moment, her mentor was not available. As the fellow doctor, the patient became her responsibility.
"I know you’re exhausted, but if you don’t keep pushing, we won’t have any choice but to cut you open." She didn’t want to frighten her patient, but she was running out of options.
It was either that the mother delivered the baby naturally, or she would have had to undergo a C-section.
However, in this case, the mother refused the latter, opting for a natural birth.
Until.
"I can’t take it anymore." Her patient gasped as she tried to catch her breath.
"I’m so tired."
It was her husband’s fault.
How did she agree to become a Mom?
Triplets? Was she insane?
She would never get pregnant again.
So on and so forth.
She must have heard it all before. Every insane word that came out of a mother’s lips as the pain, frustration, and desperation intensified.
She might not have experienced the agony of childbirth, but she had certainly read all about it and witnessed it firsthand.
"You have to." But all she could do was urge her to push through the pain, to force herself to the finish line.
Since there was no other choice.
"Or else I would have to resort to..."
"No!" Her patient shouted, cried, shrieked, and bawled her eyes out. "I can do this." Changing her mind as soon as she heard that she was slicing her belly open.
For another hour or two more, she finally delivered the three babies safely. Two boys and a girl.
Her first successful delivery of more than one baby.
"Congratulations, Dr. Bennett, you did it." One of her staff nurses clapped her hands. Then, the rest followed.
"We should congratulate our new Mom." She said, diverting all their attention to the woman who had been the real superhero in this story.
Her eyes stared at the mother, who held her daughter for the first time, and then turned her head to the two boys who were waiting for their turn.
A few minutes later, she walked out of the delivery room with a wide smile and a little smug look on her face. After all, she had just successfully delivered triplets.
Her adrenaline was on a high. At that moment, nothing could dampen her spirit.
Until.
"Dr. Ashley Bennett." A man’s voice called to her.
"Dr. Bennett. This man has been waiting for you. I told him that you’re busy, but he insisted on waiting for you." The nurse manning the station informed her.
"I know I don’t have an appointment, but I really need to talk to you." The man said.
Without needing to look at the man, she already had an idea about who he was.
From the gravelly tone in his voice and those droopy eyes, he appeared to have been waiting patiently for some time.
"As you can see, Mr. Franco, I’m really tired." She pretended to look at the time, although she already knew that it was after dinner. "Can you come back some other time?"
Without waiting for his response, she turned toward the elevator, ready to make her quick escape.
"Come on... not now..." She internally chanted, pushing the button repeatedly, wishing she had the power to force the elevator doors to open.
"I’m already here. Why not now?" Jacob stood between her and the elevator, blocking her path. "Besides, I already waited this long."
For the first time, she stared at the right-hand man of the Mafia Don. Of course, she had heard of him, too. Who wouldn’t know his name?
Aside from his prestigious position in the Morton Group and the Iron Hand Cartel, his reputation as a womanizer was a common tabloid news item.
"I am tired and hungry." She answered him grumpily, not particularly thrilled with his persistence, but more irritated with his undeniable charisma.
Damn! She had to admit he was indeed a very attractive man. Other than a pretty face, he had a body that could probably match anyone. "So, if you don’t mind. Can you leave me alone?
His stance carried an authority that could not be ignored, and his presence would never be denied. He was not just a man who followed orders, but someone who also wielded a strength of his own.
Unlike Oliver, he didn’t earn the ruthless title. On the contrary, he was more like a smooth operator, dealing with things not with force but with his charm.
No wonder women swirled around him like a moth to a flame. Not caring whether his name and reputation exuded danger.
"I know you’re going to say that, so I came prepared." He said, raising a paper bag in his left hand that she hadn’t noticed earlier.
Again, she could only admire his tenacity. It couldn’t have been easy to sit in their waiting area for hours, especially with those hard, stainless, uncomfortable chairs.
On top of that, to come up with ways to capture her attention. Because honestly, his antics definitely didn’t go unnoticed.
"What’s that?" She abruptly asked out of curiosity. "But it doesn’t matter." She quickly retracted her question, realizing that she should not be entertaining this man.
Thankfully, the elevators finally opened. Skirting around his body, she slid into the elevator. However, he followed before the doors could close, leaving her with no choice but to stand close to him in the fully packed, small metallic box.
"Are you sure? I heard this is your favorite." He partially lifted the bag closer to her nose. With the compact space and limited room to breathe, she had no choice but to have a whiff of the delicious aroma of freshly baked lasagna sold in the Italian restaurant just across the street.
The next thing she knew, she could hear the rumbling of her stomach together with the ding of the elevator.
"Come on, a few minutes of your time in exchange for a free meal." Again, he followed her as soon as she exited to her floor.
At this rate, she wondered if he would ever give up. A few more steps later, she realized that it would never happen as he continued to follow her like a tail that she could not shake.
"Okay!" She finally turned to confront him. "I’ll give you five minutes, only because that lasagna really smells great. But I choose what questions I’ll answer."
After changing out of her uniform in the doctor’s lounge, she met him by the lobby.
A minute later, they sat outside the hospital and on a vacant bench near the emergency entrance.
"Okay, your five minutes start now." She opened her arms to get her food while looking at him with expectant eyes.
Although she already had an idea of his motives for seeking her out and had prepared her answers, she still felt uncomfortable.
What if she slipped? What if she said the wrong thing?
Frankly, lying was never her strong suit. Unlike Amelia, she could not easily string a series of lies. Once she started making up stories, she just couldn’t keep up.
Even if her parents were lawyers, she had chosen a different path. As a doctor, she didn’t have to lie.
"Don’t look at me as if I’m about to torture you." He suddenly said as he handed her share of the lasagna and some toasty garlic bread. "I’m sure we can talk like civilized people while enjoying dinner. Right?"
That man had the audacity to raise his brow and question her as if she were the aggressor. As if he had been the offended party.
"You know what, Mr..."
"Jacob... Just Jacob." He interrupted her before he took a large portion of his lasagna into his mouth. "Well, you’re not the only one who’s hungry." He said when he noticed her gaze at him.
"Fine." She finally said. "We can eat first. Then, you’ll have your five minutes."
"Mmm..." He nodded, saying nothing since his mouth was full.
A few silent minutes later, "Tell me, Ashley, do you have a boyfriend?" He suddenly asked.
The question definitely caught her off guard, making her swallow her food too quickly.
"Aaah! Aaah! Aaah!" She choked, feeling that the food had gone down the wrong pipe. "Water..." She quickly gasped, fighting for air.
"Here..." He quickly opened a bottle of water and pushed it across into her hand. "Drink it slowly." He warned her.
Gradually, she let the water push the food down her throat until she could breathe easily again. Then, when she felt a slight relief, she splashed a few drops of water into his face, clearly annoyed.
"What’s that for?" Jacob put his hands up to cover his face. When he saw that she had slightly cooled down, he started wiping his face dry.
"What sort of question is that?" She irritatedly asked. Obviously, she didn’t expect that.
Although Sophia had joked about that, she never truly took her friend seriously.
"Hey, I’m just making light conversation. There’s no harm in that." He explained, but there was something in his eyes that she could not explain.
A glint of playfulness.
Was he really hitting on her?
