Chapter 264: She Didn’t Have To Refuse
"I know, Stanley." She still felt like things were surreal even when she got home.
She really had not expected Stanley to remember her.
Come to think about it, they weren’t exactly close back in medical college, but she would meet him time to time because they had the same mentor.
Unexpectedly, even after so many years, Stanley still recognized her.
Yvonne was in a good mood all of a sudden.
While this was going on, her phone buzzed. She took it out and glanced at the screen. It was a message from Stanley that said, "Yvonne, have you made your decision yet?"
She pondered over this for a while. Considering that she had been unemployed for too long, it was probably about time for her to find a job to settle down. Since they intended to hire her, and Stanley was such an outstanding colleague, she did not really have a reason have to refuse this job.
With that in mind, Yvonne texted him back, replying, "Okay, I’ll go to the hospital tomorrow."
Stanley’s message came in. "I’ll be waiting for you."
"Thank you, Stanley." Yvonne sent over an emoji and put down the device. The thought of entering Tomaville Hospital the next day as Stanley’s colleague made her giddy with excitement.
As that was happening, her phone rang once again. Assuming that it was another message from Stanley, she wasted no time on opening the message. To her surprise, unfortunately, it was from James instead. "Yvonne, what do you think about going to dinner with me?" The message appeared on the screen.
Yvonne frowned as she typed out her response. "I don’t have time."
James text popped up after a while. "Well then, let’s do it when you’re free."
Yvonne did not bother to entertain him any further and she flung her phone aside.
On the other end, James held his phone, feeling upset.
If he couldn’t invite Yvonne out, he wouldn’t have a chance to meet her.
Deep down, an uncomfortable feeling surged within him.
"Mr. Taylor, there’s a document that requires your signature." His secretary knocked on the door and entered, but was shocked and turned to leave after noticing James’ cold expression.
"Where are you going? Come back," James said while reaching out his hand.
Then, the secretary proceeded to turn around and walk in as she handed over the document.
James took it, flipped to the page in question, and signed his name off swiftly.
His secretary reclaimed the papers and stood in her place for a long time, unwilling to leave.
James frowned as he asked, "Why are you still here?"
With a conflicted expression, the secretary answered, "Mrs. Taylor called just now. She said that she wasn’t feeling very well and asked you to return home."
James was left a little speechless. A doctor’s duty was to tend to their patients; how could people recover if they were just sent home like that?
However, no matter how much he complained, he returned home ultimately.
"Mom, do you feel discomfort anywhere?" he asked his mother as soon as he arrived.
James entered the Taylor family’s old mansion and found his mother sprawled on the sofa in her pajamas, looking listless.
Hearing her son’s voice, Mrs. Taylor immediately sat up and said, "James, you’re back. I’ve been panicking and feeling uneasy these days. Come with me to the Tomaville Hospital tomorrow. I have to look for Chief Gray."
James grimaced. He was under the impression that she was going through something serious. Fortunately, it was just mild heart palpitations.
However, his mother had mild neurasthenia all this time. It was indeed time to get it examined.
He nodded. "Got it."
"By the way, James, how are things going with Miss White?" Mrs. Taylor suddenly asked.
Only then did he recall what had happened from the start that instigated their relationship. He travelled back to the memory when his mother insisted on arranging a blind date for him, and he was so anxious that he reached out to Yvonne for help.
His mother had not brought it up for so long that he assumed that she had forgotten about it, but here she was, mentioning it again unexpectedly.
He rubbed his nose, feeling a little guilty. "Well, everything’s going pretty well."
...
Mrs. Taylor felt relieved after hearing her son’s reassuring words. "That’s great. You can invite her over to have a meal in our home whenever she has the time."
"Okay, I know," murmured James. He did not linger around for too long and he left soon after.
On the way back, he felt extremely fretful.
<Have a meal together? I can’t even get the opportunity to meet with her right now, what else does my mom think I can do?> He mumbled to himself in his head.
As the image of his increasingly estranged relationship with Yvonne emerged in his mind, he became very upset.
Night fell and the lights illuminated the street; he didn’t want to go back to the company for the time being. He fished out his phone and dialed Daniel up. "Danny, are you in the club? Let’s have a drink."
It didn’t take long for him to park his car in front of the club. Then, he sauntered into their private room as usual.
When James entered the room, Daniel had not arrived yet.
He sat down on the sofa, and not long after, someone could be heard knocking on the door. A woman strutted in, the embodiment of an ideal mature lady.
"Greetings, Mr. Taylor. I’m Mr. Pattinson’s assistant. He will be slightly late, so he instructed me to let you know," she said.
James did not say anything in return, with only a scowl plastered across his face. "I see."
After she left, James picked up a bottle of whiskey from the grade in, pouring himself a glass, and gulping it down all alone.
Daniel walked in after a while. He glanced at the bottle that was placed onto the table and frowned. "Did you drink that all by yourself?" he asked.
With an unhappy look, James said, "I’ve been waiting for you for so long. I didn’t want time to be lost in vain."
Daniel heard his complaint and chuckled. "Something came up, so I was delayed."
Daniel explained as he sat down beside his friend. He held an empty goblet and poured himself some wine while apologizing. "Come on, let’s have a toast as my apology to you."
He raised the wine goblet in his hand.
James glanced at him casually. He did not do the same until Daniel finished drinking.
"Did you hire a new assistant?" James asked.
Daniel was astonished for a moment, and upon realization, he said, "Are you talking about Sam? She’s Rob’s elder sister. She’s here for a temporary transition."
James was left aghast. "Rob has a sister? Why did nobody tell me about this?" he asked.
Daniel added, "They were separated before and they’ve just reunited again recently."
"So, that was it." James nodded, showing that he finally understood.
"Then, you have to take good care of her," he said to Daniel.
"Of course I will." Daniel glanced at him as he continued. "Also, why the sudden request to go for a drink?"
James frowned as he said, "I’m in a really bad mood, so I wanted to have a chat with you." He raised his glass and clinked it against Daniel’s.
Daniel didn’t know what to say to that, so he teased James. "So, I become your emotional dumpster."
Hearing this, James scoffed. "Aren’t friends technically trashcans? Friends are there for you to dump your emotions on."
"I don’t think that’s an appropriate illustration..." Daniel suddenly felt the wine he drank was tasteless.
James ignored what Daniel had said and he lowered his glass cup while leaning on the sofa lazily, sighing. "Tell me, how do I chase after someone I like?"
Daniel saw his confused expression and snickered. "What? Wasn’t there nothing out there that you couldn’t achieve?"
"Come on, you know that I’ve never fallen in love with anyone," James said as he took a sip of the alcohol.
Daniel stared at him as if he had come upon some huge revelation.
"So you stayed abroad for nothing all these years? Haven’t you experienced dating a hot foreign girl?" Daniel asked astonishingly.
James snorted and added, "I don’t care about them. Aren’t the women in our country better?"
A smile spread on Daniel’s face as he said, "Come on, James. You’d better not talk about this anymore. I am afraid that others would think that you’re either incompetent or gay."
...
As he listened to Daniel, James spat out a mouthful of his wine.
"What? Who’s gay? I’m a straight man!" He slammed the glass on the table in frustration.
Daniel tried to hold back his laughter.
As this was taking place, Sam knocked on the door and entered in.
"Mr. Pattinson, Mr. Valen is waiting for you outside. He said that he had a prior appointment with you." She announced to him.
Daniel nodded in response as he turned to James. "Stay here, I’ll be back soon." "Go!" James demanded as he pretended to be disgusted by Daniel’s words.
Daniel chuckled silently and walked out. Sam was about to follow him, but she was called by James.
"Are you Rob’s elder sister?" James asked suddenly.
She turned around and replied. "Mr. Taylor, do you know my brother?"
James frowned as he added, "You don’t have to be so courteous to me. You can call me James. Rob and I are good friends."
Sam paused and said, "So, do you know if my brother has had a girlfriend?"
James was stunned for a moment. "I don’t."
"I apologize for my rudeness."
She bowed regretfully to James and then turned to walk out of the room.
Daniel left, leaving James sitting there all alone while boredom took over his whole soul. So, he took his leave as well.
He called for a driver since he drank, which meant that he couldn’t drive.
However, the driver was spinning the car around downtown several times because James had not told him his exact destination. At the end, James was spotted and the car was stopped by the side of the road.
"Sir, I have others to attend to tonight. Please tell me your location so that I can send you back," the driver said.
James sat dizzily in the back seat. When he heard the driver’s words, he scowled and stared out of the window.
"Where should I go?" He wondered.
He himself didn’t know.
After a moment of hesitation, he got his phone out and started dialing again.
On the king-sized bed in the bedroom, Christopher was lying there, and Janice was next to him.
"Honey, should we have another prenatal routine for the baby tonight? It seems to love your voice, since every time you speak, it moves very intensely," said Janice.
Christopher couldn’t stop himself from chuckling when he heard her say that. "Okay, I’ll do it."
He took the prenatal education book from Janice’s hands, opened the book and began to narrate it with his deep, attractive voice.
Soon after, Janice’s belly began to bulge from time to time.
"Look, I was right! Our baby’s so active, it moves so well." Janice squealed in excitement.
As Christopher went through the book, he turned to look at her. As expected, he noticed that her belly was undulating prominently like waves.
He did not reply her and continued reciting.
Before he could complete even a story, his phone on the bedside table rang. He frowned as he threw a glance at the screen. Once he found that it was James, he hung up at once.
However, it buzzed again right after he did so.
While listening to his phone reverberate throughout the room, Janice couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Who is that? Why don’t you answer the phone?"
Christopher replied, "I’ll finish this for the baby first."
After that, he continued to read aloud, but the ringtone never ceased.
At last, Janice couldn’t bear it any longer.
"Let me do it. You answer the phone, otherwise the baby’s prenatal education music will turn into a ringtone in the future," Janice said.
Only then did Christopher hand the book over to her. He grabbed his phone and went outside to get the call.
"What’s the matter?" he asked once he answered the phone.
James pouted and complained on the other end of the line, "Why did you hang up one me? Are you still my brother?"
Realizing that he was drunk, Christopher frowned as he asked, "Did you drink too much?"
"I’m not drunk. Chris, you’re so mean. You can’t even do me a favor," James said.
Christopher scowled at his response. He knew that James was referring to the time when he didn’t let him know about Yvonne’s residence.
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