Chapter 572 - Gathering Of Three
Jordan suddenly clenched his fists tightly.
Would he regret it…
If he didn"t confess his feelings to her, would he regret it in the future? Or would he regret it more if he chose to confess now?
Jordan was momentarily confused.
"You don"t have to feel inferior at all. You"re not an orphan who has nothing to your name. You are my best friend and my best brother!" Lucas looked at Jordan with a confident smile.
Ever since they got to know each other in Calico, the two of them had been through several life-or-death situations, during which they built their brotherhood. The ties and bonds between them were extremely precious to them.
Even though they now had a superior-subordinate relations.h.i.+p in the eyes of outsiders, who even thought that Jordan was just an underling working for Lucas, Lucas had always treated him as his best friend and brother.
Jordan raised his head and seemed rather touched.
He had always followed Lucas and was full of admiration for him. But after hearing Lucas say that he was his best friend and brother, Jordan still couldn"t help feeling a surge of emotion and zeal within him.
He was no longer just someone who lived all alone in the world without any kin.
"Thank you, Lucas!" Jordan thanked him from the bottom of his heart as tears welled up in his reddened eyes.
Lucas smiled. "Hey, you"d better think carefully about Maddy. Since you love her, are you going to watch her marry someone else just because you lack the courage to even confess your love to her?"
Jordan glanced at the woman talking to the director about medicine in his office. When he saw how attractive she was because of her confidence, a trace of admiration appeared in his eyes, but he soon lost his confidence. "She"s from the Stone family in DC after all. I…"
This time, Lucas interrupted, "So what? You should know that I don"t even take the eight major families of DC seriously. What"s the big deal about the mere Stone family? If you"re afraid her family won"t approve of it, I"ll personally accompany you to the Stone family and ask for Maddy"s hand in marriage for you!
"The only thing you need to consider is how to let Maddy know how you feel about her and make her fall in love with you. You don"t have to consider the rest!
"With me around, you don"t even need to consider those unnecessary things!"
Lucas"s words were extremely domineering.
Jordan was instantly motivated.
Indeed, Lucas didn"t even take the eight giants of DC seriously. Now, the Stone family no longer seemed that out of reach.
"Lastly, think about it again. Do you think Maddy is willing to become a p.a.w.n of her family and marry a man she doesn"t like or even know? Since you love her, you must want her to be truly happy, so think about what kind of life will truly make her happy!" Lucas said.
Jordan nodded and said more firmly, "Lucas, I understand! I won"t let Maddy end up living a miserable life. Only I can give her a happy future!"
Lucas had a heartened smile on his face.
At this moment, they saw through the gla.s.s windows of the office that Maddy had finally finished chatting with the diligent elderly director, who was also an avid learner. She walked out.
Maddy seemed to have lingering fears, while the elderly director said with a look of satisfaction, "Dr. Stone, your guidance today has really enlightened me and benefited me greatly. You are indeed a top medical pract.i.tioner with excellent skills in the field of medicine! Mr. Gray has informed me of your purpose for visiting, and I"ll proceed to help you with the procedures now. You may treat the patient diagnosed as a vegetable as a medical expert of our hospital. There won"t be any issues."
Lucas and Maddy both said in unison, "Thank you, Director!"
After leaving the director"s office, Maddy glowered at Lucas and Jordan. "And you two call yourselves my friends. You two left me alone to speak to the director while you ran outside to hide. So annoying!"
Lucas laughed. "You were discussing medicine. Jordan and I couldn"t understand anything. What would be the point of us staying there?"
Jordan looked at Maddy"s slightly fatigued face. Considering that she had flown back from abroad overnight and had rushed straight to the hospital without getting any rest after her flight, he reckoned that she was exhausted. It happened to be lunchtime, and they hadn"t eaten lunch yet.
Jordan suggested, "Lucas, Maddy, why don"t we go out for lunch? It"ll take some time for the administrative procedures to finish. Even if you want to provide treatment for Lucas"s father-in-law, you"ll have to wait until the afternoon."
Lucas nodded in agreement. "That"s right. I"ve already made a reservation at a restaurant. Let"s go there now. We"ll talk about the treatment in the afternoon."
After all, Maddy had just returned from a long trip abroad. Besides, she had always been a workaholic, so she would definitely start working on the treatment plan for William immediately. Once she started, she might forget to eat.
They headed to a restaurant called "Flavors" near the hospital and went to the private room that Lucas had booked.
Soon, all the food was served.
They were chatting while eating. Seeing that Jordan wanted to help Maddy to some food but was blus.h.i.+ng because he was too shy to do so, he couldn"t help being amused.
Since Jordan was his best friend, he naturally had to help him.
Halfway through the meal, Lucas suddenly pretended to ask casually, "By the way, Maddy, you mentioned before that your family wants to arrange a marriage alliance for you, right? What"s up with that?"
Jordan suddenly froze while eating and quickly turned to look at Maddy to listen to her words carefully.
Maddy sighed despondently. "Ah! I can"t help it. I"m already in my thirties, and in the eyes of many people, I"m an old woman. Naturally, tongues will wag at home. My parents can"t withstand the pressure, so they"ve been urging me to get married!
"But I have never wanted to marry a man I don"t like and then have children and spend my life raising them. I don"t want to muddle through the rest of my life. So I pursued what I was most interested in and started learning medicine. For this reason, I went to Calico, where I met you. One of my purposes at the time was to give myself a chance to put my medical skills to use and save the patients who needed to be saved. I also wanted to realize my own value. The other purpose is also to stay far, far away from home.
"Only in this way could I temporarily escape the oppressive environment where I was forced to get married. Only then could I feel like an independent person worth more than just being a p.a.w.n of the family or someone"s wife."
The light in Maddy"s eyes gradually dimmed, and she said in a low voice, "But I can never be a resolute person. The responsibility of being a member of my family, my parents" accusations, and so on have all determined that I can never be unfettered.
"So when my parents heard that I was returning, they eagerly told me that they had already found a great partner for me from the Smith family. They"re just waiting for me to return to DC to take a look. Maybe we"ll get engaged then if there are no issues."
Her tone was full of despondence and helplessness.
Jordan kept clenching his fists before releasing them again and then clenching them again. Finally, he couldn"t tolerate it any longer and slammed it against the table. Bang!
"How… how can they make arrangements for your life like this?"