"You are never my burden..." Bill's voice become very low. He picked up the note again and read it
word by word. The blue veins on the back of his hand popped out in a shocking manner.
"I'm sorry."
A mixture of shame, guilt, and regret overwhelmed Rachel like a tide. "If it weren't for me, maybe such
a thing wouldn't have happened."
After a long silence, Bill seemed to have calmed himself down. Without looking at her, he said, "This
has nothing to do with you."
He threw the note on the floor and walked to the hospital entrance. Rachel bent down and picked it up.
Andy's handwriting was strong and powerful. "Bill, I have reached retirement age, but I have been
worried about you so I haven't mentioned it. Now, I can take this opportunity to retire. Take good care of
yourself, and don't worry about me. I'm going to take advantage of the next two years to move around
and go to places I have always wanted to go to. Maybe I can live a more free and unrestrained life than
now.
You should pay more attention to your health. You can find a girlfriend. If you want me to come back
early, you should get married as soon as possible. I will definitely come back for your wedding."
Andy had prepared this note in advance. It was not written only at that moment, but was instead
burning a hole in his pocket all this time. It looked like he had no intention of getting examined and only
found the appointment to be the perfect opportunity to leave.
How could he be so cruel, just leaving like that? What about Bill?
After putting the note back into her pocket, Rachel walked out of the hospital. Bill was waiting for her in
the car, his face now back to its normal expression. He said lightly, "Rachel, get in the car. I'll drive you
to work."
Rachel replied, "There's no need. I drove here by myself."
Seeing the worry and uneasiness in her eyes, Bill forced a smile and turned to comfort her, "I'm fine.
Don't worry about me. I will keep looking for Andy."
"Okay."
Rachel nodded and told him to be careful on the road.
However, she didn't head toward the parking lot. Instead, she turned around and went back to the
hospital. She knocked on the door of the monitoring room and politely asked, "Hello, my family has
gone missing. Can you get the surveillance video for me?"
Although everything was planned by Andy, Rachel couldn't help but wonder —if she hadn't persuaded
Bill to let Andy go to the bathroom alone, would he have the opportunity to leave?
No matter how she looked at it, she had something to do with Andy's disappearance.
The security guard looked at her up and down and said, "I'm sorry, but if you want to check the CCTV
footage, you have to get the instructions from the superiors. If everyone was like you, coming here
demanding to see footage just like that, the hospital would be in a mess. This place is not a market."
Rachel knew that what the security personnel said was reasonable, so she didn't retort even if the
man's tone wasn't pleasant. After all, she was too anxious about Andy's disappearance.
Seeing how she didn't make a fuss like those people, the security guard's voice softened. "Miss, don't
worry. Try to look around first. If you still can't find your family, go and ask permission from the higher-
ups. Then I will help you."
From the security office, Rachel walked around the hospital lobby.
There were so many people entering and leaving the hospital, and Andy had been gone for some time.
It was impossible for her to look for him this way.
She wanted to check the CCTV footage to see if Andy really had left the hospital, and if so, through
which door and which direction he went. With these clues, it should be much easier to find him.
However, she didn't know anyone in this hospital. It was quite a predicament.
Suddenly, she heard a man's clear voice say, "Rachel? Is that you?"
Rachel turned around and looked up at the man who spoke. His bronze skin and features looked
familiar, but she could not recall his name. She asked weakly, "You are...?"
The man did not get offended and instead chuckled. "I can't believe you look the same after all of these
years! Have you forgotten who asked you that question during your graduation presentation?"
As expected, the mention of academics jogged Rachel's memory. Her eyes lit up, and she said, "You're
Jasper, right? I remember now!"
"Yes, I am." The man held out his hand and said with a faint smile, "Jasper Zhang. There, I introduced
myself to you today. Don't forget again."
Rachel took the proffered hand in a firm handshake and smiled up at him more brightly. She had met
Jasper Zhang only once before.
That year, he disagreed with a point raised in her graduation thesis, so he questioned it during her
presentation. Rachel was able to counter his argument and prove that his idea was wrong, but he
never was totally convinced at the time.
Rachel didn't take that encounter to heart at the time. Little did she know that she would meet him
again after so many years.
Rachel suddenly noticed the name plate hanging on Jasper Zhang's right chest. "Jasper, are you a
doctor in this hospital?"
"Yes, I am the director of surgery department," said Jasper Zhang, unknowingly puffing up his chest
with a trace of pride. Then, he asked, "How have you been?"
"Not very good,"
Rachel replied, uncaring about how her reply might sound to the man. She opened her mouth a few
times to speak. When her words failed her, she pulled at Jasper Zhang's sleeve and walked quickly
forward.
Jasper was surprised. "Hey, Rachel, what's going on?"
"Jasper, I need to ask your help about something. Since you are a director here, it should be easy for
you to go to the security room to check CCTV footage, right?" Before Rachel could say anything more,
Jasper Zhang shook off her hand just as she was about to drag him into the room.
He pulled at his sleeve to straighten out the wrinkles and said to Rachel in a mildly admonishing tone,
"Look, Rachel, you may be my junior in medical school, but you can't just ask me to help you look at
our CCTV footage. I'm a director of this hospital; you have to tell me the reason first. "
Upon hearing this, Rachel snapped out of her thoughts. She was so anxious just now that she pulled
him over without explanation. She immediately apologized and explained the reason.
Jasper Zhang shook his head and said, "Oh, I see."
He stood still, as if frozen.
Rachel couldn't figure out what he was thinking, so she asked, "Can you do me this favor?"
"Given your reason, of course I will help you." Although Jasper Zhang looked very sexy, he was like an
old man inside. He sighed and said, "Rachel, although I'm only your senior, I still have to tell you that
you can't be so impetuous when you do something. You should know that as doctors, we should be
careful..."
Rachel didn't know what he was going to say, but she couldn't wait any longer and interrupted him,
"Jasper, if you want to help, please tell the security guard now. If you don't want to, I have to find
another way."
Jasper Zhang also realized that he had talked too much just now. He smiled awkwardly and finally
walked to the security room.
With the help of an acquaintance, things went much more smoothly. In ten minutes, all surveillance
records that could possibly show Andy were checked out.
Sitting in front of the monitor, Rachel rubbed her tired eyes from time to time, but she tried not to close
them. She still didn't want to miss any shot.
Finally, when she felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier, she finally saw Andy's figure appear in
the lower right corner of the picture when she watched Bill drive away. Then, he went out from the north
gate of the hospital and turned right.
She thanked him in a hurry and immediately ran to the parking lot. Then, she slowly drove to the
direction Andy took to look for him.
As night fell, some shops on both sides of the street had started to close their doors. The flow of people
gradually decreased, making it easier to look for someone, but Rachel still didn't catch a glimpse of
Andy.
She stopped the car at an intersection, with her forehead against the steering wheel. 'Where would he
go? Where would he stay this late at night?'
She was at a loss.
At this time, the phone on the passenger seat rang. When Rachel saw Jack's name on the screen, she
hesitated for a few seconds, raised the corners of her mouth, and said as if nothing had happened, "I'm
on my way."
As usual, Jack left the company half an hour earlier than usual and drove to the hospital. He arrived
just in time for Rachel to get off work. He waited for a while, but he didn't see her, and her phone was
unreachable. He thought that she was busy, but Celia told him that Rachel had filed for a leave that
morning.
But even she didn't know where Rachel was.
Jack looked at Rachel, who forced a smile when she entered the house. With a slight frown, he walked
up to her and took her bag. "You seem to be very tired. What did you do today?"
Seeing his inquiring eyes, Rachel had to hold back the words at the tip of her tongue, then finally said
with a shake of her head, "One of my classmates had an accident, so I went to see him."
She bit her lower lip, not knowing how to bring up the subject of Bill and Andy.
Jack had always been hostile toward Bill. She was afraid that they would get into a fight if she told him.
That was why she chose to hide it.
Rachel rolled her stiff neck and gave Jack a slight smile, saying, "I'm going to take a shower."
Jack nodded and followed her retreating back with his eyes, which were brimming in confusion. There
was something odd going on with Rachel today, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.
He reasoned that Rachel was feeling too tired today, which was why she didn't say much. However, in
the next two days, she went out early and came back late. Her mood was getting bleaker by the day,
but she always shook her head and said nothing whenever he asked her anything.
This made Jack suspicious.
That day, as soon as Jack had finished his meetings, his mobile phone rang. It was Henry calling,
inviting him to dinner and to discuss the cooperation that Jack had helped him score.
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