Chapter 221 She Must Have Surgery
Chapter 221 She Must Have Surgery
In the car, Maria struggled to speak. "Excuse me, miss. May I use your phone?"
"Sure. What's the number? I can dial it for you."
Maria relayed to Meagan a string of numbers and the call was quickly connected. Meagan propped the phone next to her ear. "James, I'm finally dying. Are you happy now?" If she was out of the picture, no one would pester him like she would. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
James didn't bite the bait. Instead, he asked her where she was in a flat tone.
"All you need to know is I'm on my way to hell," Maria snapped. Without waiting for a response, she dropped the call.
Then, she called Lawrence's number, but someone else picked up the phone. She asked the receiver to inform him that she had left already.
A couple of minutes later, James tried to call back the number Maria used, but to his surprise, a young woman answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Where is she?"
Meagan looked out the window to check where they were. "We're nearing the No. 6 Hospital."
The man thanked her.
"You're welcome. It's just that she's in bad condition and will need surgery. Are you her boyfriend? Please hurry."
Those words surreally echoed in James' ears over and
over again.
When they made it to the hospital, Maria was placed on a stretcher and was wheeled to the operating room.
Meagan left after that. After all, there was nothing left for her to do.
In the dark of night, a Harkim was racing on the wide road, speedily making its way towards the No. 6 Hospital.
Just then, James' phone rang. He glanced at the screen and saw Lawrence's name blinking on it.
If it were someone else, he wouldn't have answered the phone. He pressed a button on his Bluetooth earpiece. "Hello? It's me."
"James, something happened to Maria," said Lawrence worriedly. When he had gone back to look for Maria, he found a trail of blood, with Maria herself nowhere to be found.
But they didn't hear any gunshots, so it was possible the perpetrators used silencers.
With his eyes fixed on the road, James kept silent for a while. Finally, he asked, "How did you know?"
"Did you already know?" Lawrence countered.
"Yeah."
"I met her on a mission tonight," Lawrence said after some thought.
James pressed his foot onto the pedal, speeding up the car. "I'll call you back later." Now he needed to focus on driving.
"Okay."
After Lawrence ended the call, one of his subordinates ran over and said, "Sir, someone called you. If I'm not mistaken, it was the woman we met just now."
Wasn't Maria's phone turned off? Lawrence took his phone from him and checked his call log. Sure enough, minutes earlier, he had received a call from an unfamiliar number. After confirming with his subordinate that this was the number Maria used to call him, he tapped on the strange number.
The call connected almost immediately. A young girl's voice came from the other end of the line, very clear and pleasant to the ears. "Hello, are you looking for the girl who got hurt?"
Meagan's tone was polite, but she felt a little confused. If the previous man who called her was that girl's boyfriend just now, who was this guy?
"Yes, I am. May I know who you are?"
"She was injured. I saved her before it was too late, I think. She is undergoing surgery right now at the No. 6 Hospital, but I've left already."
'Surgery?' Lawrence was shocked. "How was she hurt?"
"I checked and found that she had three gunshot wounds." For a moment, Meagan idly wondered if those two men behind the calls were good looking. Their voices were so pleasant to hear, so she was under the impression that they were pleasant to look at.
'Sure enough. Friends of beautiful girls are good-looking too.'
Lawrence fell silent for a moment. "I see. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Again, I'm sorry, but I've already left. You can go to the hospital to see her for yourself."
"Okay."
When she dropped the call, Meagan let out a yawn. She was so sleepy; all she wanted to do now was to go home and sleep.
She had gone to her grandfather's place earlier; she didn't expect to come across a seriously injured girl there. Actually, it was lucky she had found the poor girl. If she was found minutes later, she most probably would've died before reaching the hospital.
Meanwhile, James finally made it to the hospital.
He was the first one to arrive. In the quiet corridor of the hospital, he was like a lone ranger. He stood motionlessly before the sign that said "Operating Room."
Nothing but a door stood between him and the woman, yet the life on one side of the door was teetering dangerously on the edge.
The man stood in silence, eyes fixated on the door of the operating room.
After a while, the door swung open and a nurse emerged. "Oh, excuse me, sir. Are you related to the woman inside?"
The man nodded stoutly. "Yes, I am."
"Here is the thing. The patient is in a critical condition now. The doctor is operating on her as we speak. Please sign here." The nurse handed James several assorted statements detailing the procedure of the operation.
After skimming through them roughly, James took the pen from the nurse's hand and decisively signed his name on the documents.
The nurse looked at the man with admiration. 'Wow, he's not only good-looking, he also has perfect penmanship,' she thought to herself. She couldn't help but feel envious of the woman inside the operating room.
When he saw the question of the relationship between him and the woman inside on the statement, James paused hesitantly for a while before finally writing down a single word on the document —''spouse.¹'
The nurse's eyes had been twinkling. When she saw that one word, the light was instantly extinguished.
James then handed her the signed documents.
The nurse nodded. "Thank you. Please pay at the cashier's counter."
"How is she doing?"
The nurse shook her head remorsefully. "I'm sorry, I don't know the details. Please wait a little longer."
The man nodded and didn't say anything more. He thanked her curtly and then turned around to head for the cashier counter.
Hours had passed. James stood rigidly at the end of the hall, looking out the window. He watched in silence as the night sky gradually turned into day.
The sign of the operating room was still brightly lit.
Not far away from him stood his assistant who had arrived in the middle of the night. He was the one responsible for having Maria transferred to another hospital, and he had already taken care of the paperwork.
As the sky was gradually turning pink, the light of the operating room sign finally went out.
James, who had not slept all night, had bloodshot eyes and a stubbly chin.
Soon, a group of people trickled out of the operating room. Someone shouted, "Who is the patient's family?"
The assistant trotted over and said, "Doctor, thank you for your hard work. How is the patient?"
The middle-aged doctor took off his surgical mask wearily. "The situation has stabilized. Are you a family
member?"
The assistant glanced at James, then stepped aside.
"I am," James cut in flatly, walking over.
"The bullets in her body have been removed and her condition has stabilized. However, there is still poison remaining in her body, thanks to the bullets. As of now, we can't determine what this poison is, and we need to consult—"
"What's the poison's effect on her?" James frowned.
"I’m not sure yet..." The doctor had never encountered this poison before, so he dared not draw any conclusions.
The man's eyes were full of displeasure, but he didn't say anything. After all, they had just saved Maria's life. He then turned to his assistant. "Ask them to come over."
"Yes, Mr. Xi." The assistant immediately pulled out his phone and made a call for the arrangement.
The moment when Maria was wheeled out of the operating room, she was led to a special ambulance from the private hospital run by the HL Group. Because she wasn't in the best shape, she was sent to the ICU first.
It was the second morning after all the procedures were completed.
As soon as she got the phone call from James at the crack of dawn, Summer rushed to the hospital.
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