Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Veronica and Xavier-both of whom were in the public’s eye-were currently enjoying skewers at an open- air food stall.
“Well, since your parents have gone back home, when are you planning to come work at my company? By the way, what do you do at your company?” Xavier asked as he chewed his mouthful of skewered lamb.
Even thoughi Xavier, a young master from the Crawford Family, which was one of The Four Big Families of Bloomstead, had graced this humble stall with his presence, other patrons of the place could still easily tell that he was on a different level from them. He had a rare kind of elegant temperament that made it hard for others to approach him.
At his question, Veronica turned to look at him. Besides the pair of sunglasses that was gently tucked on the bridge of Xavier’s nose, he also had on a floral shirt and a pair of similar-looking pants. Even though he looked frivolous with one arm propped up against the window while the other held onto the steering wheel, his eccentric appearance still failed terribly at diminishing his good looks. It was an undeniable fact that Xavier was a handsome man. With his devilishly attractive features, he was a bad boy to the bone.
After a few moments of silence from her, he said again, “Hey, I’m asking you a question here.”
“I manage the marketing department,” she quickly answered after she was brought out of her reverie.
“Oh, just join the project department in my company, then,” he said. “Might as well learn something there.”
Her interest was obviously piqued at his nonchalant reply. “Can I really?” she asked just to make sure.
“I’m the boss. My word is the law.” His eyebrows were slightly raised as he replied with a pleased smile on his face.
Unbeknownst to him, Veronica wasn’t asking if Xavier would really take her in. She was, in fact, asking if she would be able to learn something worthwhile if she were to work in his company.
A smile then began to grow on her lips too Making do with tea instead of wine, she
raised her cup and lightly knocked it against Xavier’s. “Here’s to cheers for being my future boss then. I look forward to working under your guidance!”
And with that, their conversation for the rest of the night was filled with joyful laughter. It seemed as though being with Xavier was the only time she could let go of all inhibitions. After having their full of skewers, they both eventually parted ways to go back to their individual homes.
It was an instant knockout for Veronica–who had been giving her all at work for the past few days. After stepping into her room, she made sure to lock her bedroom door before going to wash up and finally hitting the sack.
She woke up in the early hours of the next morning, and after changing into her workout attire, she headed out for a morning run.
Morning runs had always been a habit of hers, but ever since Tony had fallen into a coma, she had to spend her days focusing on earning money for both–to take care
old home, a huge chunk of burden had been lifted off her shoulders. That was why, she could afford to resume going out for morning runs.
Just as she was resting on a bench after running for more than 30 minutes at a park near the river, a crowd started to form not far from her. A few people walking past Veronica mumbled as they approached the crowd, and she managed to pick up a few words from them.
“Oh no, what is going on over there? I’ll go take a look.”
“A granny has passed out!”
“Gosh, how did this happen?”
A bunch of elderly men and women who were doing their morning exercises in the park began to circle themselves around the unconscious woman, and yet, no one, other than an old man who dialed emergency, made a move to help the woman. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
Veronica stood on the tip of her toe to glance past the crowd, and she quickly saw a figure clad in a Tai Chi uniform sprawled out on the ground. Judging by how the older woman was foaming at the mouth, the situation was definitely more dire than the crowd made it seem.
Swiftly, Veronica took out her phone and started taking a video of the commotion as she squeezed her way in. “Make way, please. Coming through,” she repeated to the crowd.
She put her phone aside after she reached she unconscious woman, and as she flipped the woman over, she loudly instructed the crowd, “Please make space for us! She is foaming at the mouth. She needs air right now.” After saying that, she lowered her head to the woman, only to realize that she was…
Elizabeth!
“Madam?!” Veronica exclaimed in confusion. Who would have thought that they would meet under such circumstances? However, she knew she couldn’t afford to let her mind wander–she had to act fast!
To make it easier for Elizabeth to breathe, Veronica immediately turned Elizabeth’s head to one side as she unbuttoned the collar of Elizabeth’s Tai Chi uniform. She then started exerting force on two acupuncture points on Elizabeth’s back of the torso.
“Lady, do you know her?” someone from the crowd asked.
Another person, too, spoke as they looked on, “Be more careful, okay? She is already foaming at the mouth. It will be troublesome for you if anything happens to her.”
“Just do what you can to save her. I will be your witness if anything were to happen.”
“You are doing good, girl!”
The crowd was in the midst of showering Veronica with compliments when Elizabeth unexpectedly began to twitch.
Her convulsion was getting worse by the second, and yet Veronica was calm when she removed her hair tie from her hair. She then rolled the small piece of cloth and put it into Elizabeth’s mouth to prevent her from accidentally biting her tongue. The situation was so dire that she didn’t even have the time to worry about whether or not there was sweat on the hair tie.
Throughout the whole process, she never ceased her massage on Elizabeth’s acupuncture points. Even though she was drenched in her own sweat, she managed to keep her heart calm as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Having nothing better to do, the crowd started making noise again.
“This is so scary.”
“I know right? She is convulsing and foaming at the same time!”
“Lady, are you sure you know what you are doing? Why did she start twitching so much?”
“Don’t do anything if you don’t know what is wrong with her!”
Elizabeth showed no sign of recovery even after Veronica had been pressing on the acupuncture point for quite some time, and that gradually made the crowd doubt her credibility.
Despite the commotion and distrust from the onlookers, Veronica kept massaging Elizabeth at the same spots. It took another 10 minutes before an ambulance finally arrived and brought Élizabeth to the hospital. Veronica, too, followed along.
Elizabeth was rushed into the emergency room as soon as they arrived at the hospital. Veronica stood there pondering for a moment, and even though seeing Matthew was the last thing she would want to do, she decided that calling to inform him regarding his grandmother’s situation would be the best course of action.
The call got through almost immediately after she dialed Matthew’s number. “What is it?” came his curt question.
“I found Madam unconscious in the park. She was foaming at the mouth and convulsing. It was pretty bad. Come to Central Hospital as fast as you can,” she informed without beating around the bush.
“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”.
Matthew was suspicious as to why Veronica and his grandmother had been together, but he knew better than to ask questions now. Therefore, he immediately went to his car and drove straight to the hospital. =
About half an hour later, he finally arrived outside the emergency room only to find Veronica sitting by herself in the corridor outside.
He stood in front of her and, without missing a beat, questioned, “What happened to Grandma?”
Her head popped up at the familiar voice, and she quickly noted the appearance of the man who seemingly had just woken up from his sleep. Donned in black silk pajamas, Matthew had a worried expression on his handsome face–even his usually-perfectly-styled hair was in an unkempt state as he stood there looking at her. Despite the mess, he still looked as beautiful as always.
“They are trying to save her,” she briefly said, referring to the medical personnel in the emergency room.
Unsatisfied with the lack of explanation, hd let out a frown as he stared at her with cold, prying eyes. “Why were you with Grandma?” he asked again.
Her face fell the moment she caught the accusatory tone he was speaking to her in, and she glumly replied, “It was just a coincidence. Now that you are here, I will be taking my leave.”
In fact, she did not want to spend another minute longer with this man. However, just as she was about to turn around, Matthew grabbed her by her arm in one swift motion. “You want to leave? You will have to at least wait until Grandma regains her consciousness.”
He didn’t have to say the words out directly for her to know what he was implying. Him asking her to stay until Elizabeth was awake would mean that he was suspecting Veronica of having something to do with Elizabeth’s condition!
“You…!” she spat. She was so angry to the point where that was all she managed to say. At that moment, she was extremely grateful for the fact that she had recorded the video before she attempted to save Elizabeth.
Just as she was about to take her phone out to show him the recording, the doors of the emergency room were suddenly pushed open from the inside.
Matthew immediately let go of Veronica’s wrist and strode toward a doctor who had just come out of the room. “Doctor,” he called out. “How is my grandma?”