Mendes' eyes suddenly lit up. He put the iPad aside, leaned forward towards Rachel's ear and
whispered, "Rachel, I want to tell you something. I saw Lucas kiss a girl."
The smile on Rachel's face suddenly faded away. She was stunned with what she heard and then
turned to Mendes. "Did you see who it was that he kissed?"
"A beautiful girl."
Mendes rolled his fingers as he tried to describe the girl with his hands. "She has such big lovely eyes!
She is fair-skinned, and they kissed each other on the corridor! And then she hugged him tightly!"
Rachel's face became a little blushed, and she quickly reached out and covered his lips. "Okay, I
understand now. But, you can't tell anyone else about this, okay?"
"Why?" Mendes asked in an almost muffled voice since she had her hand on his lips.
Rachel didn't know how to explain it to a kid, but she felt annoyed by Lucas' thoughtlessness. 'How
could he do it in front of a kid?' she thought.
"If someone else finds out, they will laugh at Lucas. It needs to be kept a secret. So, don't tell anyone
else, understand?"
Mendes nodded. "It's our secret?"
"Yes, you're right."
"Okay!" He suddenly clenched his fist and looked excited all of a sudden. "Our secret! And no one else
can be told."
The excitement in Mendes' face made Rachel feel a little awkward.
The boy was so excited as if he had found something extremely valuable.
'So, Lucas has a girlfriend?' Rachel wondered to herself.
Mendes suddenly leaned to her as she thought about it some more. "Will you kiss someone too?"
Rachel felt a rush of blood to her ears and cheeks when she heard Mendes' question. "You little brat,"
she snapped.
But Mendes merely winked at her innocently. His face looked as if he was offering to give her some of
his candies.
The idea lingered long in Rachel's mind and it made her speechless for a long time. How could a boy
ask such a question at his age?
The mix of innocence and seriousness in the boy's expression made Rachel feel embarrassed. She
suddenly raised her hand to cover her face when an image suddenly crossed her mind. An image that
she knew she should not imagine.
She couldn't understand why the image of Jack suddenly filled her mind. She cleared her throat to help
ease her embarrassment. She felt lucky that a child could not yet identify the expression of
embarrassment that was obvious on her face.
Rachel stood up and ruffled Mendes' hair. "Don't talk about it anymore, okay? No one will want to be
friends with you if you keep asking that kind of question."
He nodded to show that he understood what she said. He was still young enough that it was a simple
thing to coax him into following her words. When he saw the serious expression on Rachel's face, he
quickly realized that it must be something that kids were not allowed to talk about yet.
There was an immediate feeling of relief in Rachel's heart when she heard his agreement. It could
really be tricky to deal with kids nowadays, she thought. They ask more and more difficult questions.
She cleared her throat once more to change the topic. "You can sit here and watch cartoons while I go
and work. Then we can go home together when I get off work, okay?"
"Okay!" Mendes agreed immediately and then took a bite from his apple.
"Listen to the nurse and tell her whenever you go out, okay?"
Mendes was about to raise his hand to swear that he would never leave without letting the nurse know,
but he suddenly remembered the visit he once had to Rachel's house. He immediately remembered
Jonathan.
Before Rachel was out the door, he quickly turned to her and asked with obvious excitement, "Well, is
Grandpa Jonathan still at your house?"
"No, he went home," Rachel answered as she shook her head at Mendes.
"He's not there anymore?" A disappointed look masked his face. He thought for a moment and asked,
"Well, what about that uncle... Ah, no, is Jack still in your place?"
He was about to call Jack uncle, but he suddenly remembered that Jack asked him to call him his
name instead, so he quickly corrected himself.
Rachel quickly noticed that he quickly changed how he referred to Jack and it made her smile as she
tried not to laugh. "He is not in my place either."
Mendes looked very disappointed. He then thought for a while and his expression changed as if he just
thought of an excellent idea. "Can I talk to Grandpa Jonathan on the phone?"
Rachel thought for a while and searched in her office for an old phone that she seldom used anymore.
She then showed Mendes how to use it.
Mendes was so smart that he quickly understood how to use the cellphone. There was no other
applications installed on the phone so it was safe enough for a child to use. So, she decided to give the
phone to him as a gift.
Mendes was very happy and was about to call Jonathan. Rachel smiled before she went back to work.
It was not long and she quickly became busy with work. A few minutes later, a patient with heart
disease was brought to the emergency room. A short while later, a nurse came in and was looking for
Rachel.
Rachel was about to help a wounded patient when the nurse rushed to her. The nurse called her
attention immediately. "Rachel, Kevin needs your help in the operating room. There is a patient in
critical condition!"
Kevin Lin could not control the critical condition of the patient and they could lose the patient without
Rachel's help.
Rachel tapped another doctor to take over for her on the wounded patient as she rushed to the
operating room. She scrubbed her hands, sanitized them and put on the operating robe, gloves and
mask. She then hurriedly followed the nurse into the operating room.
Meanwhile, Mendes chatted with Jonathan on the phone. He seemed very happy as they spoke like
there was no age gap between them. Their phone conversation lasted for nearly an hour.
Jonathan was elated that he could even make a child happy across a considerable distance through a
phone call. When they have almost finished talking, he suddenly had an idea. "Someone is here that
has something to tell you. Do you want to talk to him?"
"Who is that?"
"Jack."
Jack was surprised when his father placed his phone in his hand and lifted his hand to his ear. There
was a puzzled look on his face as he turned to his father.
His father patted him on the back and whispered, "Please talk to him. I need to answer another phone
call."
Jack was stunned when he found out that his father had been talking to Mendes and was even more
surprised now that he had to continue their conversation.
Meanwhile, in the operating room, the patient's condition deteriorated rapidly. Kevin's face became
more desperate with each passing second. Sweat started to build up on his forehead.
His hand slightly trembled as he dizzily worked on stabilizing the patient. A nurse greeted him as she
entered the operating room. "Kevin."
"Please be quiet," he greeted back. He calmed himself down a little and got back to the same nurse.
"Where is Rachel?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a confident female voice answered back at him. "Here! How's it going
so far?"
Kevin Lin heaved a sigh of relief. He started to visibly relax as Rachel walked to his side. But he did not
stop focusing on what he was doing. His voice sounded a little nervous. "We have a slight problem and
the patient is not looking good right now."
His words made everyone's heart sink. They almost took a deep breath at the same time. But they
knew that it was a critical time and the patient would be better off if they wouldn't let the grim situation
weaken their resolve.
Rachel bent over slightly and took the operation record from a nurse. She frowned and said in a soft
voice, "Nurse, attend to the patient's bleeding. Kevin, please brief me on the patient's situation."
Rachel's cool manner helped calm Kevin's nerves. He turned slightly to her and saw the serene look in
her eyes.
She was young, headstrong and had a spirit that could soothe people's worries.
Meanwhile, in Rachel's office "Jack," Mendes called out.
Jack had a straight face when he replied to him. Mendes felt uneasy talking to him because of his cold
manner over the phone.
Mendes was obviously confused when Jack did not say anything. "Jack?" Mendes called out to him
again over the phone.
"Yes?" Jack replied back. It was so simple that Mendes felt uneasy. Jack decided to start a
conversation. "What are you doing right now?"
Mendes felt a little relaxed when he heard Jack say more than a single word. He was so curious about
Jack, and he held him with such reverence and affection.
Mendes never experienced this kind of nervousness when he spoke with his father. The way he felt
with Jack was similar to sitting side by side with his kindergarten teacher. He wanted to talk to him very
much, but did not dare to.
Mendes was feeling a little excited now and slightly stuttered, "I-I'm watching TV in Rachel's office."
Jack remembered her paying extra attention to Mendes. He concluded that she must really like
children.
He thought about it for some time before he spoke again.
"Where is she, anyway?
And is it okay with her if you play and make a mess there?"
he asked in a playful tone of voice. Mendes scratched his head.
"She is out working now," he replied back to Jack.
Meanwhile, back at the operating room. Everybody was relieved after the suturing. The patient's
situation was temporarily stable.
A nurse raised a clean cloth immediately and wiped off the sweat on Kevin's forehead. She then turned
to look at Rachel and checked if her forehead was sweaty as well.
But to her surprise, Rachel's forehead was completely clear. There was no sweat there at all. Everyone
was so tense and nervous in the operating room that nobody dared to even breathe. But not Rachel,
she looked like she had everything under control.
Not only Kevin's forehead but also his back was already sweaty. Everyone was so busy with what they
were doing that no one noticed the look in Rachel's eyes. The nurse glanced at Rachel's eyes and
noticed that it was calm an uncomplicated unlike Kevin's.
Rachel bent slightly forward and focused on cleaning the wound of the patient. Her young eyes were
expressive and reflected her confidence.
"The patient needs to be brought to the ICU to be observed for the next twelve hours. We can't take
any chances, we almost lost her there," Rachel said in a serious tone.
Kevin felt completely exhausted. He panted as if he had just fought a fierce battle.
He had never encountered such a dangerous situation. He had less experience than Rachel when it
came to dangerous situations and it easily made him feel anxious.
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