Chapter 48

"Alvina, which one of you is Alvina? You can come in for your appointment now." A relatively young female doctor opened the door and called out gently towards the waiting area. "We are over here!" Upon hearing the name being called, Melissa quickly picked up her child and walked towards the consultation room. At the same time, Joseph also hurriedly made his way over, following closely behind Melissa into the room. "Excuse me, sir, if you're not a family member of a patient, I'll have to ask you to stay outside for the time being" The young female doctor stopped Joseph. Since he had walked in after Melissa, she had assumed that they were not together. Without any change in expression, Joseph quietly said, "I am Alvina's father." "Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't realize that you two were together" The female doctor said, feeling extremely embarrassed. A blush crept onto her cheeks, surprised that such a commanding and extraordinarily good-looking man was part of the same family with the flustered woman. Joseph gave a slight shake of his head, indicating it wasn't a problem. The female doctor's eyes remained fixated on Joseph, her expression taking on a somewhat lovesick quality, as if she was daydreaming. "What seems to be wrong with the child? Can you give me a brief explanation?" The doctor, now revealed to be a professor, turned his attention to the child in Melissa's arms and asked calmly. The professor's hair at his temples had turned white, giving him a distinguished and respected look, while maintaining an amiable demeanor. It was clear that he was an experienced pediatrician, having spent many years in the field. "Professor, Alvina sneezed several times while bathing tonight. When I put her to sleep, I found that she was burning up. I think she has a fever." Melissa reported, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at Alvina in her arms, distressed. The professor had the female doctor measure the child's temperature. The thermometer read 39 degrees Celsius. Indeed, the child was running quite a high temperature. "Hmm, were there any signs beforehand?" The professor wanted to determine if it was a typical cold or something more significant, such as a bacterial or viral infection. "No, it came on quite suddenly" Melissa blurted out. Upon reflection, she realized something wasn't quite right. "Oh, now I remember, Alvina was running around a lot before bedtime, sweating profusely. Then, she played with water and got all wet. Maybe it was a reaction to that." Melissa recalled the scene of Alvin and Alvina watering the flowers, and relayed it truthfully. "Hmm, that could be possible because it's not currently flu season," The professor asked. "By the way, has anyone at home been sick recently? Have you taken the kids to crowded places lately?" "No, sir" Melissa shook her head and admitted honestly. The professor nodded again. While they were talking, he had listened to Alvina's heartbeat, which was slightly fast. "Ma'am, has your child often been ill in the past?" "Well, we do have to visit the hospital three or four times a year. She gets stomach aches and toothaches quite often." Melissa said with a worried frown. All year round, she worried about Alvina. As long as the two children were not ill, it put Melissa at ease more than anything else. Luckily, Alvin has a better constitution than Alvina, which gave Melissa a small bit of comfort. "Ah" The professor drew out his response, deep in thought. "Was this child premature?" "I wouldn't say she was premature. She was just born two weeks early." Melissa admitted with a slight hesitation. She didn't understand why the professor would suddenly ask this. The professor seemed momentarily surprised and nodded intensely. "Carrying twins must have been quite the ordeal!" Melissa gave a shy smile "It was alright!" Now when recalling her experience of being pregnant, Melissa didn't feel it was that difficult. Looking back at the time she was pregnant, she felt a sense of pride. The professor couldn't help but chuckle a few times and then politely asked "Two daughters?" "No, one boy and one girl" Melissa shook her head in denial, continuing "Alvina has an older brother. Boys don't usually get sick as often. Maybe Alvina is sickly because we've allowed her to be picky with food and overly pampered her." "Well, children need to absorb various vitamins, otherwise their immunity will be low. You both need to look after her more." The professor kindly looked at Melissa and raised his head to look at Joseph. "However, it is a great fortune for a young couple like you to have such children. I'm rather envious!" Melissa turned her head and glanced at Joseph, with an appearance of disdain, knowing that these two kids had nothing to do with him. "Nurse Amelia, let Alvina have a throat exam." The professor gestured for Melissa to turn around with the child. Amelia woke up the sleepy Alvina. She picked up a thin wooden stick, placed it on Alvina's lips, and gently said to her, "Come on, baby, open your mouth, ah!" "Ah..." Alvina was already used to the hospital procedures and showed uneasiness as she knew she might have to get an injection soon. "Professor Johnson, the child's throat is a bit red and might be slightly inflamed" Amelia threw the wooden stick into the trash can respectfully commented to the professor. "Okay." Professor Johnson prescribed a fever-reducing and anti-inflammatory prescription and wrote it in the medical record book. Nurse Amelia was already entering the order on the computer, preparing the medicines. "By the way, ma'am, is Alvina allergic to antibiotics?" "I'm not sure because her previous treatments were abroad, I can't remember the names of those medicines" Melissa honestly answered, as this was her first time taking the child to see a doctor here in her country. "Then we should conduct an allergy test first" Professor Johnson suggested. He pushed his glasses up and handed the medical records and documents to Melissa. "Where can we conduct the allergy test?" Joseph asked the doctor. "Turn left at the central hall on the third floor, the first room is the allergy testing room" Amelia smiling, answered Joseph fluently. Stars were flashing in her eyes. "Thank you." Joseph said out of habit, without any emotion. Watching Joseph's retreating back, Amelia was almost ecstatic. Since there was no one in consultation room number three, Amelia ran to the next consultation room number two, and started whispering to her colleague "A super handsome guy just walked into my room, I'll call you when he comes back!" "How handsome is he?" The female doctor in consultation room two asked Amelia. "He's incredibly handsome!" Amelia excitedly clenched her fist and her smile almost reached her ears. "So what?" Most men who come to the pediatric clinic are with their kids, you should let it go, Amelia" advised the female doctor in consultation room two. Amelia, feeling disappointed, returned to consultation room three, thinking in her heart "He's so handsome, I don't believe he won't be unfaithful."