“Then should I keep it?”
I scrunched my nose. “On second thought, better not. It’ll hurt when you kiss me.”
His smile deepened. “Want to test that theory?”
“This is your office…”
“It’s fine. I’ve got half the day off today. No one will come in and disturb us. I was just about to call you, actually. Then I happened to see that you’d come to the hospital.”
Jonathan held my hand, his expression gradually turning serious. “Katie, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know it was your first time that day.”
We were sitting very close. The window was right beside us.
Outside, I could see camphor trees, and not far beyond was the garden. A faint floral scent drifted in with the breeze, lingering at the tip of my nose.
Light and shadows played across his sharp, handsome features. I could even see each of his eyelashes clearly.
There were faint dark circles under his eyes from working overtime. And at the corner of his eye, a tiny brown
mole.
He had once been the unreachable dream of my teenage years. My nose began to sting with emotion.
There were so many things I couldn’t bring myself to say. Maybe people always felt an uncontrollable sense of inferiority in front of the ones they looked up to.
But deep down, I couldn’t bear to push him away. I’d always known this about myself.
I was selfish and vain. Just like how I didn’t want my greedy, shameless family leeching off me or anyone close to me–I wished I could cut ties with them completely.
Chapter 11
+25 BONUS
And just like how, at this very moment, I wished the whole world knew that Jonathan was mine.
But I couldn’t say it out loud. Not yet.
Jonathan was such a bright, upright man. I didn’t want to drag him into the ugliness of my life.
As these thoughts raced through my mind, I smiled at him and said lightly, “What’s this? Are you trying to take responsibility for me?”
Jonathan didn’t smile. He answered seriously, “I want to.”
“Don’t be so serious, Dr. Clayton. You’re scaring me.”
I slowly pulled my hand from his. “We’re both adults. We can take responsibility for our own actions. There’s no need for all that, Dr. Clayton.”
“Katie?”
“Dr. Clayton, I’m in quite a bit of pain right now. Could we focus on the treatment?”
Jonathan looked at me, silent for just a few seconds before immediately switching to professional mode.
He carefully examined me again and adjusted some of my medication.
“Go for some physical therapy. The heat compress and massage will make you feel much better.”
I nodded and stood up to leave, but Jonathan grabbed a clean white coat. “I’ll take you there.”
During the heat compress and massage, I couldn’t help but close my eyes in embarrassment.
