“You will be in charge of coordinating volunteer sign-ups. Anyone interested in participating should contact you. “
“All right, I get it,” Nodding, Anna put away the file and was about to leave for the meeting room.
***
About an hour later, the meeting was over. After that, almost everyone left the meeting room quickly. Patrick, however, didn’t leave as most of them did. Instead, he approached Anna and Nancy as they exited the conference room. “Good morning, Dr. Wright and Dr. Moore,” he said.
“Yes? What’s wrong?” Nancy turned around and asked.
“I heard Dr. Wright was back from vacation. And I happened to have a few cases to ask her about,” Patrick smiled and replied, “She won’t be able to talk to me once she begins working later.”
“Sorry, she’s busy right now. You can ask other doctors for help,” Nancy said, waving her hand.
Patrick immediately asked, “Why? I heard the hospital is sending volunteers to Fleosil. Is that the purpose of today’s meeting?”
Anna felt conflicted after hearing him say this. As she handed Patrick the file, she said, “If you have nothing else to do right now, you can sort this out and stick posters on the bulletin board for me. Don’t forget to ask the interns how many of them would be willing to volunteer.”
Smiling joyfully, Patrick took the files and exclaimed, “Really? Yeah! Are you going there, Mrs. Wright?”
Hearing that, Anna instantly frowned tightly as she herself was also debating this issue then. On the one hand, she wanted to volunteer in Fleosil to help the suffering civilians there. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be separated from her family for so long as she had promised them she would try to spend more time with them.
Nearly rolling her eyes at him because of what he said, Nancy gave Patrick a stern look and said, “Keep your mouth shut! Do as Ms. Wright told you, and don’t ask any more questions that are not of your concern!”
“Doctor Wright, won’t you go there? Aren’t you going to help the people there,” As if he hadn’t heard what Nancy said to him, Patrick persisted.
“I don’t think it’s any of your business,” Anna grumbled, wanting to end the topic and leave with Nancy as soon as possible.
“How could it possibly have nothing to do with me? Because you’re my mentor, whether or not you go to Fleosil will directly influence my decision. In addition, I heard that one of our hospital’s retiring doctors has signed up for the project. You…”
“Patrick!” Nancy cut Patrick off in the middle of his sentence, thinking, Would it kill you to listen to me and keep your mouth shut?! Can’t you see that both Anna and I are reluctant to continue the topic, especially Anna? It’s a voluntary project; not a mandatory project! Why do you have to make it sound like Anna must sign up for the project? Damn it! You really pissed me off, Patrick! I must teach you a lesson today!
Just when Nancy was going to speak her mind out loud, Anna raised her head to Patrick and asked expressionlessly, “What exactly do you want to say to me? Say it.”
Clenching his teeth, Patrick plucked up his courage and said, “If you don’t go, it means you’re scared of dying. You once said doctors are expected to save lives and treat as many patients as possible. But now, you just chose to turn around and walk away from those who need you. You hypocrite!”
There was no one else in the hallway except Anna, Nancy, and Patrick. He didn’t say it loudly, but every word he said was clear and shocking. Knowing Anna was already quite annoyed even before Patrick came to talk to them, Nancy worried that Anna would lose it and scream at him.
“Are you done yet?” Anna turned to face Patrick, saying indifferently, which was much to Nancy’s surprise.
Patrick froze. Before he came back to his senses, Anna said to him, “If so, then make the posters as soon as possible and hang them on the bulletin board, Mr. Rich Boy. Also, send me the list of those who sign up for the project within three days.”
After finishing her words, Anna walked away, totally ignoring Patrick, who was still in shock.
Crossing her arms, Nancy gave Patrick a stern look and said, “Do you know what you’re talking about? It is up to Dr. Wright to decide whether or not to go to Fleosil. What makes you think she should listen to you? Besides, even if she doesn’t go, she can still help save patients at the hospital. What on earth were you thinking? Don’t you EVER think that you have the authority to tell others what to do simply because you learned something in school, MR. RICH BOY!”
Nancy then took a quick step away, attempting to catch up with Anna. “Don’t be angry, Anna. Patrick is young and stupid. Don’t take his words personally.” She exclaimed as she dashed into Anna’s office.
Without looking up, Anna placed the file on her desk and said, “I’m fine.”
Nancy asked, “Are you sure you’re not going?”
“You heard me. I’m not signing up for the project. Nancy, don’t ask me that question again. I’ve already missed so much precious time that I could’ve used to spend with my family. I can’t just go away as I want. My family needs me,” Anna raised her head, looked Nancy in the eyes, and said.
After realizing how determined she was, Nancy stopped trying to persuade Anna. She said, “Well. To be honest, I was hoping you’d be appointed associate dean through that project.”
“It’s ten o’clock now, Nancy. Shouldn’t you be taking care of your patients right now?” Anna asked.
At noon, Anna went back to her office for a break after finishing her shift. Soon, Patrick appeared at the door, asking, “Mrs. Wright, may I come in?”
Anna glanced at him and replied, “You’ve already entered my office before I can answer you. What happened?”
“I finished the poster you asked me to work on this morning. I printed the first draft, as well as some flyers. I’ll make some changes if you find anything wrong with it,” Patrick raised the stack of papers in his hand and said.
“Take a seat,” Anna said, pointing to the seat beside her. Patrick, you can be rude sometimes, but I got to admit that you’re a hardworking guy as you never failed to finish the tasks I assigned you. Anna thought to herself.
Taking a look at the posters, Anna said, “Great! You can later post them on the bulletin board. Send the flyers to your coworkers and collect the list as soon as possible.”
“This is just a first draft. Don’t you want to make some changes to that?” Confused, Patrick asked.
“That’s not necessary. Besides, you did an excellent job. Those who want to go will sign up, while those who don’t will not, regardless of how good your flyers are. Tomorrow afternoon, the dean will tell everyone about this at the pep rally.”
Standing there silently, Patrick opened his mouth a few times but eventually shut it. As sharp as Anna was, she knew what Patrick was thinking. Then she dropped the posters in her hand, saying, “You can go there with Nancy if you want. I’ll speak with her about it later.”
“That… That’s not what I meant,” Patrick said after a brief pause, “I came here to apologize to you, Mrs. Wright. I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said those words to you in the morning. Dr. Moore told me you hadn’t taken a vacation in a long time and you have been so preoccupied that you didn’t even have much time to spend with your family. Again, I sincerely apologize for what I said to you. I shouldn’t have judged you like that.”
“It’s okay,” Anna nodded, “I didn’t take it personally.”
“How about I take you out to lunch, Mrs. Wright? There’s a new Spanish restaurant nearby, and my friends say the food there is excellent.”
“No, thank you. I’ve got plans for noon.”
“Are you still upset with me?” Patrick didn’t leave, as if he needed Anna to forgive him badly.
After a brief pause, Anna said, “Okay. I’ll take you somewhere later.”
“Sure!”
“Don’t you even want to ask where I’m taking you before answering me? Aren’t you worried I’ll kidnap you?”
“You’d never do something like that! Besides, I totally trust you.”
“All right, pack your belongings and come with me,” Anna said with a smile.
Half an hour later, Anna stopped in a building in a medical school
“What are we doing here?” Patrick asked. He had many doubts in his head; nonetheless, he got out of the car and helped Anna with her stuff.
“Thank you, but I can take these myself. I need to get some stuff from the lab and give it to the volunteers,” Anna said, pointing to the laboratory building in front of her, “Actually, I’ve been preparing for the volunteer thing for years. And recently, I’ve been visiting the lab for six months to conduct experiments to study Fleosil’s infectious disease virus. Although I decided not to go there, I still want to do something to help you guys. And I want to share with you the information I gathered with my other colleagues. In any case, I want to be a part of the action.”
Astonished by what he heard, Patrick gasped and said, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, Mrs. Wright? If you had told me earlier, none of the misunderstandings would’ve happened. I…”
“Just let bygones be bygones, okay? There’s no point talking about it now. Go get my stuff and follow me,” A bit impatient, Anna interrupted Patrick and said.
“Alright! I’m on it!”
***
As she entered the lab, Anna waved to a gray-haired man, greeting, “Hi, Dr. Foster!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.