Li Chuntao was busy treating a young boy who had hurt himself. She tended the child"s right leg and with a hushed voice, a.s.suring him that he would be fine and would be able to play again once his wound healed. His mother, who had pa.s.sed out from the shock of seeing him bleeding profusely, was now being tended by his father. The boy had a laceration on his leg from an accident.
"Doctor, would it hurt?" The boy sniffed and watched as Li Chuntao prepared to suture his wound while a male nurse put a numbing gel on the top of the boy"s wound before he began cleaning the cut with sterile water, which was squirted into the cut to remove harmful germs and dirt.
The boy was obviously terrified seeing Li Chuntao holding a needle in her hand. It also didn"t help that there was no warmth whatsoever in her face as if she didn"t care if he was afraid or not.
"No, it would not. You won"t feel much at all," Li Chuntao a.s.sured him with a small smile.
Although the wound had been treated promptly, the injury on the boy was too deep and Li Chuntao was sure that it would leave a shallow scar once it"s healed.
Once the nurse finished cleaning the cut, using a very tiny needle, Li Chuntao sewed the cut using the sutures with a precision that left the attending nurse speechless by her skills. It was as if she"d been doing this for a long time that there was no hesitation in every movement. No wonder she was the top of her cla.s.s.
"Although your wound is numb, you might feel a tug as I pull the st.i.tches together. Do you feel any pain?" Li Chuntao asked the boy but he shook his head, refusing to look at the cut that was being sewn by her. Instead, the boy looked at her beautiful face, seemingly enthralled by her.
"Remember not to get it wet, okay? I"ll tell your parents to get you some antibiotics and bandages later. It"s important that you don"t tug or pull on the st.i.tches, even if they get itchy. And don"t ever try to take the st.i.tches out by yourself, or I will have to st.i.tch it again." She continued.
Half an hour later, Li Chuntao finished the procedure and had a short talk with the parents of the boy. She couldn"t wait to finish her s.h.i.+ft so she could go out and wait for her twin sister"s arrival. She wasn"t even able to sleep last night from antic.i.p.ation.
"Ying must be on her way to the airport by now," she sighed as she checked the time on her wrist watch. She was halfway through her s.h.i.+ft and wouldn"t be able to leave anytime soon.
Fortunately, today the emergency department wasn"t as busy and crowded, unlike previous days where Li Chuntao was forced to do longer s.h.i.+fts to treat some patients while other patients who needed immediate treatment were rushed to the operating room.
Ah, time was really too slow for those who waited like Li Chuntao but she was also aware that good things take time to arrive so she"d rather patiently wait than rush it. She was a very impatient person, and standing in a slow-moving line drives her crazy. So as she waited for the time to pa.s.s, she set out to understand the psychology behind her frustration.
It"s unfortunate, though, that she was oblivious to the tragic situation her twin sister was in, that she was waiting for nothing. Li Xiuying wouldn"t be able to see her later and she would be the one who would be going to send her twin sister off for the last time.
By the time her s.h.i.+ft came into the end, Li Chuntao couldn"t contain her excitement to leave the hospital. She had waited long enough and she was curious as to why she hadn"t heard anything from her sister nor Song Zexi yet.
"Tired, Doctor Li? You seem happy today." The nurse at the front desk asked her as she signed on the dotted line, nodding her head to the two other doctors on their way out.
"My sister"s arriving today. I haven"t seen her for a long time," she replied nonchalantly before excusing herself to leave.
She pulled out her phone from her side pocket and frowned when she saw that there was no message from her sister. What was taking Ying so long? She wondered.
Li Chuntao made a long trek to her car and sighed at the coldness of the night. Her breath created a fog, blurring her sight. She unlocked the door of the driver"s seat and slid inside, turning on the heater, s.h.i.+vering a little as she snuggled the scarf on her neck.
She drove in silence and it took her an hour before she arrived at her place. She pulled into the garage below her apartment, stepped outside and locked the doors behind her with a click. Her dark apartment greeted her as always but the thought that she wouldn"t be alone anymore after this day ends made Li Chuntao"s mood better.
She pulled off her coat and boots before striding towards the kitchen to get something to drink. The long s.h.i.+ft she had almost exhausted her but she was starting to get used to it. Shen Zichen had told her once that she wouldn"t be able to have enough time for herself once she becomes a doctor like himself.
Li Chuntao snorted at that thought. Ah, no wonder that Young Master Shen was still single up to this day. Not only because he wasn"t able to completely move on from her twin sister, his job was also occupying most of his time, forbidding him to seek romance outside the sanitized and disinfectant smelling hallways of the hospital he was working in.
Li Chuntao decided to start preparing dinner while waiting for her sister. Waiting without doing anything would drive her crazy and she would rather do something useful while waiting. Ying would probably be tired and hungry once she arrived with Song Zexi.
However, two hours had pa.s.sed and there were no signs of Li Xiuying and Song Zexi. The dinner on the table was starting to get cold as she waited.
Li Chuntao couldn"t take it anymore and pulled her phone to call her sister but Li Xiuying was out of reach. She couldn"t even connect with Song Zexi much to her frustration.
"What the h.e.l.l is happening?" She grumbled to herself.
She was so deep in thought when the doorbell rang loudly, startling her. Thinking that it must be her twin sister, Li Chuntao rushed to answer her door only to find two men wearing air force uniforms standing outside her door.
"Are you Li Chuntao?" the gruff voice of one of the men made her arch a brow.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"We"re instructed to retrieve you and send you home by General Li." The man explained the reason for their sudden visit.
Li Chuntao frowned. Why would her Uncle Yuren send someone to bring her home? Did something happen while she was gone?
Seconds later, the color on her face drained and she was as white as a sheet of paper when she realized the reason for her Uncle"s decision.
Something bad had happened back home. Something bad had happened to her twin sister.