Chapter 8

At that moment, Nathaniel could no longer hold back his rage. Yvonne was half-kneeling beside Louie, checking his injuries. When she saw Nathaniel walking over, surprisingly, she was the first to criticize him. "Nathaniel! You could've taken the attacker down. Why didn't you act sooner? Louie's arm is hurt now!" Nathaniel wanted to slap her across the face. Still, he held back his anger and tried his best to sound calm. "Yvonne, that shove you gave me just now almost got me killed." "You know self-defense. You were never in real danger. If I hadn't pushed you, we would have just stood there and watched Louie get stabbed. And you have the nerve to blame me!" Nathaniel let out a bitter laugh. He didn't even want to argue anymore. Since Yvonne had never truly cared about him, there was no point in debating on who was right or wrong. Clearly annoyed, Yvonner snapped, "Why are you just standing there? Louie's arm is injured! You're a doctor. Aren't you going to help bandage him up?" Ignoring her, Nathaniel bent down, picked up the books he had dropped, and walked to a far corner away from the two of them. He then rolled up his pant leg to reveal a gash on his calf about two inches long. When he had kicked the knife away from the attacker, the blade had grazed his leg. As a doctor, he knew that he would risk making the wound worse by moving too much. The first priority was to stop the bleeding and wait for the ambulance to take him to the hospital for stitches. Just as he was tearing a strip from his shirt to use as a bandage, Yvonne stormed over in a huff. She was about to lash out again, but she stopped when she saw the blood-soaked wound on Nathaniel's leg. Her expression shifted to one of panic. "Why didn't you tell me you got hurt too?" Nathaniel didn't respond. Yvonne hesitated, clearly conflicted. Then, she finally muttered, "I'm sor—" Before she could finish apologizing, the sound of an ambulance siren echoed from outside. Yvonne then rushed out and guided two paramedics carrying a stretcher over to the injured Louie. Her eyes stayed on Louie the entire time. Only after they got him onto the stretcher and into the ambulance, she rushed back to Nathaniel. "Sorry, Nathaniel. There were only three ambulances, so they took the most severely injured patients first. "Just hang on a bit. Once they're done, the ambulance will come back for you." She ran off as she loudly continued, "I'm going with Louie to the hospital first. See you there later!" Fortunately, Nathaniel's wound wasn't a deep one. Although it bled a lot, it hadn't hit any major arteries, and the bleeding had stopped. Nathaniel forced himself to stand before he limped out of the mall. He didn't wait for the ambulance. Instead, he hailed a cab and went straight to the hospital. As he hobbled into the emergency department with his leg wrapped in a makeshift bandage, one of the young nurses started crying. "Dr. Stillman, your leg is seriously injured! Lie down and don't move. I'll patch you up." However, she held back her words as she looked at him. Nathaniel was the head of the emergency department, and many in the hospital knew that Yvonne was his girlfriend. But now, Yvonne was in the hospital with another man. Plenty of people had seen it. Still, the nurse didn't dare ask about Nathaniel's business. Nathaniel knew exactly how things would escalate and what people were going to say behind his back. He didn't want to hear any of it. Once he confirmed that the wound wouldn't affect his ability to walk, he took another cab home to recover. Around 5:00 pm, Yvonne returned home with bags of groceries. The first thing that came out of her mouth was a complaint. "You didn't go to the hospital! I guess the injury wasn't that bad. And here I was, worried for nothing." Without even looking back, she went straight to the kitchen to start cooking. Nathaniel didn't want to talk to her, but the pain in his leg kept him awake. After tossing and turning a few times, he pulled out a book to distract himself. Half an hour later, Yvonne knocked on his locked bedroom door with two lunch boxes in hand and some warm clothes. "Louie is pretty badly injured. He has to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. Since he doesn't have any family here in Shoretown, I'm going to stay and take care of him. "The food I made for you is in the pot. Heat it up when you're ready to eat." Nathaniel said nothing. Soon, he heard the loud slam of the door as Yvonne left. Not wanting to touch the food Yvonne claimed she had cooked for him, he opened a food delivery app on his phone and ordered something for himself. That meal was made for Louie, and Nathaniel wasn't so pathetic as to eat someone else's leftovers.