After expressing his thanks, Jack quickened his pace. He frowned slightly as he felt his movements pulling at the wound in his abdomen.
He pressed the elevator button with one hand as his other hand clutched at his stomach. When he finally arrived at the administrative department, there was no sign of Rachel. He only saw a young woman sporting a ponytail eating something out of a bento. She was giggling to herself while watching what seemed to be a TV series on her tablet.
He raised a hand and knocked gently on the table, asking, "Hello, is Rachel Shen here?"
The girl put down her bento and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Shen stepped out of the office not long ago."
"Did she go to the canteen?"
The girl shook her head and said, "No, I heard that someone's treating her out to lunch. She went to a restaurant called Moo Shu on the street next to the hospital."
"Okay, I see. Thank you."
He turned around to head to the restaurant, but a nurse who entered the office behind him saw his pale face and the sweat beading his brow. Worriedly, she asked, "Sir, are you alright? Maybe you should sit down first and rest for a bit..."
"No, thanks." Jack just wanted to find Rachel as soon as possible.
He was thinking that there was something wrong with her so she couldn't come to the hospital to see him. However, if she were well enough to be going out to a lunch with other people, then maybe he had been overthinking things.
He wanted to ask her if he no longer held even the slightest place in her heart.
In the restaurant, Rachel looked at the many dishes laid o
completely healed yet. You can't get out of bed anymore, okay?"
"I understand,"
Jack replied tonelessly. He had rested for a while in bed, but his face appeared even worse than before.
The memory of standing by the restaurant door watching Rachel talking and laughing with that man was like a sharp knife stabbing into Jack's heart. In comparison, his bodily pain at that moment was not even worth mentioning.
He had hoped that Rachel could tell him that there was an unavoidable reason for her not to visit him, but she ended up calling him as someone of no importance in her life.
To her, it didn't matter if he were fatally injured or bled to death by the roadside—it was none of her business.
Jack's pale face was beset by fatigue and a profound sadness.
After leaving the restaurant, Rachel didn't go back to the hospital. Instead, she made a call to the director, asked for half a day's leave, and headed straight home. She lay in her bed, her mind a huge, confusing mess.
She thought back to what Jimmy had said. Was it really possible that there really was a misunderstanding between her and Jack? 'Should I go find him and talk to him to make things clear?'
After a long while of trying to make sense of her thoughts, Rachel got out of bed, put on the coat she took out from the cabinet, and headed downstairs. She was about to head out when the doorbell suddenly rang.
Julie came out of the kitchen in a hurry. She wiped her hands on the apron and opened the door. She stared at the man standing outside with a briefcase in his hand and asked, "Who are you looking for?"