Thorough Work
“Of course. I wouldn’t dream of running away from my responsibility,” the woman promised with a
trepidatious nod.
Tom looked away from her, turning instead to stare fretfully at the doors to the emergency room, hoping
that Toby would be wheeled out soon.
After getting Tom and the woman’s statements, the police left the hospital for the accident scene to
retrieve the car. The police added that he would return as soon as the patient was awake to work out a
settlement between the patient and the woman who caused the accident, but that would all have to wait
until the car was taken care of.
In the event that no settlement could be reached, the police would have to pass the case on to the police
station and let the law take over.
Just then, the woman in the wheelchair maneuvered herself over to where Tom was standing and called
out gently, “Excuse me, mister.”
Tom looked down and eyed her with no small amount of hostility. “What do you want?”
There was a gleam in her eyes as she asked curiously, “I was wondering if you were speaking to that
gentleman’s girlfriend while we were on our way here?” As she said this, she glanced at the emergency
room, indicating that the gentleman she referred to was Toby.
Upon hearing this, Tom frowned deeply and countered icily, “What’s it to you?”
She lowered her gaze and let out a sheepish laugh. “Nothing, I was just curious is all.”
“Huh.” Tom snorted, then pointed out in a withering tone, “Maybe you should devote your curiosity to
other things, like the consequences that will befall you now that you’ve sent my boss into the emergency
room!” Then, he broke eye contact and returned to staring at the emergency room doors, no longer
paying any attention to the woman.
She clenched her fists on top of the wheelchair armrests, and the fearful look on her face slowly faded
away, replaced by a cold and menacing grimace as she eyed Tom venomously.
However, she quickly retracted her outward hostility toward him and made as if she was unaffected by
the assistant’s icy rebuff, then lowered her head and stayed mute for the rest of the time.
For a while, the hallway was filled with a heavy silence, and the air grew eerily still.
After what felt like a long time, the emergency room doors finally swung open.
When Tom heard this, he quickly stood up and walked over to the doors with the woman wheeling herself
after him.
Presently, Tim was making his way through the doors, taking off his surgical mask as he did so.
At the sight of this, Tom reached out to stop the doctor so that he could ask about Toby’s condition, but
before he could get his words out, the woman in the wheelchair suddenly piped up, “Doctor, is everything
alright?”
Infuriated by the woman’s interruption, Tom frowned and shot her a hard look. But on account of the fact
that he had been about to ask the same thing she did, he decided to swallow his anger for now.
Tim looked down at the woman, and there was a strange glimmer in his eyes as he asked, “Who are
you?”
She looked down, then answered hesitantly, “I… I’m the one who caused that man in there to get into an
accident.”
A dark shadow passed over Tim’s face when he heard this, and there was no warmth in his eyes as he
gazed down imperiously at the woman. “So you’re the reason why Fuller is in the emergency room.”
“Yes…” The woman’s head drooped lower as though she was ashamed.
Tim narrowed his eyes at her and said with cool malice, “If these were old times, I probably wouldn’t say
anything if you somehow got Fuller killed; I wouldn’t even care. But now, Fuller belongs to someone who
is really important to me. He got injured because of you, and in turn, the person most important to me
has her heart broken over this. What do you intend to—”
“Alright, Dr. Lancaster,” Tom cut him off impatiently. “I know you’re upset on Miss Reed’s behalf, but now
isn’t the time to hash things out. What matters most is President Fuller’s condition; once he stabilizes,
you can do whatever you want with this woman.”
Naturally, Tom was only exaggerating to scare the woman. He wouldn’t actually leave the woman in
Tim’s hands. The doctor had a twisted mind and a perverse way of settling the score; there was no telling
what might happen to the woman should she become his victim.
Seemingly interested in the prospect of punishing the woman, Tim raised a brow and asked keenly, “Oh,
whatever I want, you say?”
Tom cast a sideways glance at the woman, who looked ashen-faced as she gaped at them in horror, and
nodded slightly. “That’s right.”
“Mister, are you actually—” The woman broke off, her red-rimmed eyes wide and glistening as she stared
at Tom in utter disbelief. “I can’t believe you’d just leave my fate up to some stranger. I know your boss
got injured because of me, but I didn’t mean for the accident to happen in the first place. You’d be going
against the law if you were to let someone else punish me in private!”
Tom did not spare her a look, pretending as if he had not heard her at all.
Tim toyed with his scalpel and appraised the woman with a somewhat eager gaze. “I must say, the
plastic surgeon did a rather splendid job with your face.”
“What?” Tom froze, obviously unaware of what Tim was talking about.
The woman, however, faltered as cold sweat broke out over her temples. She backed away from Tim
immediately, as if shrinking into her wheelchair. Her hands clenched tightly on top of the armrests, so
much so that her knuckles turned white. It took him one look to tell that I had work done on my face!
Tim ignored the look of askance Tom was giving him and quirked a brow at the woman’s evasive
behavior instead. “Why are you backing away from me? Plastic surgery is common nowadays, so why
do you look so afraid after I pointed out that you had it done?”
The woman stiffened in her wheelchair. It was then that she realized she might have overreacted earlier,
and she quickly lowered her gaze to hide the panic in her eyes. Forcing out a watery smile, she said, “On
the contrary, doctor, I’m not so much afraid as I am embarrassed that you proclaimed I had work done in
front of everybody. Any woman would prefer to have their looks deemed as natural, and what you did
would rub anyone wrong.”
“Is that so?” Tim hummed and nodded, seemingly convinced. Then, his gaze fell upon her legs. “Looks
like plastic surgery isn’t all you’ve done. You even got limb-lengthening surgery for your legs, and you’re
still in the recovery stage, which is why you’re in a wheelchair. Plastic surgery and limb lengthening,
huh? I can tell that you had a lot of work done on your face, judging by how much bone-shaving was
involved, and your legs are longer by an inch or so, aren’t they? Your calves are no longer symmetrical,
which means you won’t be able to run or jump even after you’ve recovered; you won’t even be able to
pull exaggerated faces, so you’d forever be a porcelain doll. Pretty harsh stuff to put up with just to look
beautiful, if you ask me.”
Having said all this, he began to look at the woman with interest. “I must say, I’ve seen more than my fair
share of people—of any gender and age—who have had plastic surgery done, but none of their
procedures were as thorough as yours. I’m well-versed in anatomy and the human bone structure, but
even I can’t tell what you used to look like, and believe me when I say I’m just dying to know. This is the
first time I’ve encountered something like this, and I want to know what made you decide to undergo
such an extreme overhaul.”
Having heard all this, Tom turned to look at the woman in bewilderment. He had to admit that it took
serious courage for her to have undergone all those procedures to look the way she did now.
He had no in-depth knowledge of plastic surgery, but he was familiar with limb-lengthening procedures.
He used to have a friend back in elementary school whose legs had been asymmetrical, and in order to
correct this, he had gotten limb-lengthening surgery done. The doctor had surgically cut through the
lower leg bone and thereafter attached an internal fixture between the two ends of the cut bone, which
added length to correct the previous discrepancy.
The procedure was as painful as it sounded, and most people wouldn’t dare attempt it under normal
circumstances. This woman is either really gutsy or some kind of masochist to go through all that.
Meanwhile, the woman felt a chill run down her spine as she gaped at Tim, stunned that he could tell
from one brief appraisal that she had had plastic surgery and limb-lengthening procedure done. Does he
have X-ray vision or something? How can he tell how much work I’ve done just by one look? As
incredulous as she was, the woman was also infuriated. Also, it’s one thing to know I had work done, but
to declare it out loud? What if they start getting suspicious?
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