"Don't mention it. The edema hasn't gone away yet. Don't drink too much water," Sheffield cautioned, then turned around and left.
Down the hall, there was a TV mounted on the wall. The hostess's sweet voice came from the TV. "Now, put your hands together for..." The hostess said the name, but Sheffield didn't take note of it. He was too busy on his rounds. He adjusted the oxygen tube for the patient in bed No. 9.
When he turned around and walked towards the door, he heard someone muttering, "Who is that? She's gorgeous."
"I don't know. I've never seen her before. Just now, I heard that the hostess introduced her as a CEO. She's holding a press conference for some modeling show. And her name is...Eve...or something. Um, I can't remember."
Suddenly, a familiar voice reached Sheffield's ears. It was like a firework exploding in the air. "Good evening, everyone. I'm Evelyn Huo, large and in charge..."
He stopped suddenly. The girl who followed him closely almost bumped into him.
Sheffield turned around and took a few steps back, afraid that he was hearing things. He fixed his eyes on the woman on the screen as if she would disappear at any second.
The woman was in a black evening dress wearing a priceless ruby. She had never left his thoughts, and now there she was!
'What did the hostess call her just now? Eveline Huo? Evelyn Huo?'
At this moment, Sheffield couldn't help but ask himself, 'Are you really surprised? Are you happy or sad? You finally found her, but she isn't who you thought she was. She gave you a fake name, even!'
A woman in her fifties next to him asked Sheffield with a smile, "You okay, Dr. Tang?"
Her partner laughed and said, "I think Dr. Tang is a little preoccupied at the moment."
The crowd roared with laughter.
On the TV, Evelyn nodded to the audience gracefully and left the stage.
Sheffield snapped out of his reverie. "I'm okay. That woman's beauty shook me, that's all."
"Ha-ha! Dr. Tang, do you have a girlfriend? I can introduce you to someone, if you like."
With a half-joking smile, Sheffield replied, "Okay. Thank you for your kindness, ma'am. I'll treat you to tea sometime! Back to work!"
The woman couldn't help but grin from ear to ear while talking to a handsome doctor like Sheffield.
After checking the patient in bed No. 3, Sheffield went back to his office, took off his white gown and hung it in the closet. Then he took out his cell phone and called Horace. "Hey, I know your shift is over, but I need you to fill in for me!"
"I just got off work," Horace said angrily.
"I saw your kid looking at my racer models. Ask him to head over to my place and pick one tomorrow."
There was a display cabinet in Sheffield's house, showing off his racer models. Once when Horace and his son came to visit Sheffield after his leg was injured by Carlos' men, the boy spotted the display case. Since then, it was all he could talk about.
Horace got impatient with him and decided to buy one for his son so that the boy would stop talking about it. So he searched online and found any of them cost a pretty penny. There was no way he could afford that on his own. He decided that he would never let his son go to Sheffield's house ever again.
Horace shut his mouth, immediately changed his clothes and rushed to the hospital to work another shift.
When he arrived at the hospital, he found that Sheffield had changed into casual clothing. Leaning against the desk, he looked at his phone. It seemed that there was a video on it. Horace didn't pay attention to the video. Excitement was written all over his face. He asked Sheffield with the utmost care, "A racer model from your collection? And you want me to give it to my kid?"
Sheffield put his phone in his pocket and nodded, "Yeah. I'm out of here!"
"Money's a little tight right now. Can I talk you down?" He had a house payment, and he sacrificed a lot to buy it. Sheffield knew it. But he didn't want to accept the expensive gift for free, so he had to offer the other doctor money.
"We'll talk about it later. You need to get to work. Don't forget that the patient in bed No. 7 is on dialysis and it's almost finished. You need to check on him."
"I know that. About that racer model..."
Sheffield had already walked to the door. He waved at him without looking back. "Come see me at home tomorrow."
It thrilled Horace more than words could say. But he still wondered the same thing he often did: how did Sheffield come into so much money so young? He had never heard him mention his family, nor had he seen any of his family members visit him. It was as if he was an orphan.
It would be sad if he was really an orphan!
Sheffield rushed to the parking lot, got into his car and rushed to the New District Exhibition Center.
Forty minutes later, he saw that security guards were swarming the place.
Instead of hurrying from the car, he suddenly remembered what Dollie had told him before. "I'm part of a fashion show. The launch is in a couple days. It's Glamour's autumn line, under ZL Group. My agent has just signed a contract with Glamour. Would you be my escort? How about I give you an invitation?"
Dollie wanted to be an actress, but she was scouted by an agent for her beauty and became a model.
The young model had risen quickly in the industry. She was famous even before she graduated from university.
He remembered that he told her he'd have to work overtime this evening, and that was why he had refused her.
At the thought, he took out his phone and dialed Dollie's number. She picked up quickly. "Hi, Sheffield."
Hearing her voice, Sheffield asked expressionlessly, "Are you on the catwalk?"
"No, I just finished. I'm heading to my dressing room. I need to change." It was a pleasant surprise for her to receive a call from him. She answered the phone before taking off her clothes.
"Okay. Call me back when you're free."
"Okay."
She gave the phone to her assistant and tossed the hem of her dress before ordering, "Remove my makeup now!"
However, she didn't know there was an exposed nail. When she tossed her dress, it hit a cabinet and snagged on it. She took a step forward. Ssshhriiip! Everyone heard the cloth tearing.
Following the sound, she turned around and saw a long rent in the hem of her dress.
The assistant hurried to help her with the dress. "Oh, no. It's bad."
The incident caught everyone's eye. Some were gloating, some felt regretful, and some didn't think it had anything to do with them.
The clothing designer was still giving an interview outside, and currently only the models and staff members were backstage.
Dollie was flustered for a moment, but then calmed down. "Don't worry. It's already served its purpose. It probably won't need to be worn again."
The assistant nodded, trying to say something. But thinking of Dollie's bad temper, she swallowed her words.