Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion >>
“I’ve already talked to Dr. Ledger and got you a few days off to rest at home.”
“It’s nothing serious,” Danika said helplessly. She hadn’t even considered taking time off, but Morgan had gone ahead and arranged it for her.
Morgan continued to support her and disagreed, “Danika, I know you’re fit and in good shape, but you can’t do this. You need to rest when you’re supposed to rest.” Danika had saved her this time, so Morgan felt indebted to her. If she couldn’t even apply for leave on her savior’s behalf, she’d be ashamed of herself.
Danika was touched by Morgan’s concern for her, but she didn’t say anything more. Resting for a few days would do her good, as she wouldn’t be able to perform surgeries on her patients for some time.
Just then, her phone rang. She saw that it was Eustace calling and furrowed her brow in response. What’s wrong?” she asked as soon as she answered the call. Eustace was supposed to be with clients at this time and shouldn’t have had time to call her. Danika immediately jumped to the conclusion that something bad had happened.
Eustace breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing her voice and quickly asked, “Where are you?”
“I-I’m out eating with Morgan and on my way back,” Danika replied, not intending to tell Eustace about her injury. There was no need to increase his worries for no reason. The wound had already been bandaged; if she covered it with her clothes, it would be hardly noticeable.
“Where are you? I’ll come to pick you up,” Eustace said. He couldn’t just sit at home and wait; he couldn’t wait to see Danika.
Danika refused him outrightly. “You don’t need to do that. I’m already on my way back.”
“Send me your location, and I’ll come to pick you up,” Eustace said, hanging up the phone without listening to Danika’s refusal.
Danika looked at her phone and sighed helplessly. She knew Eustace’s personality; if she didn’t send him her location, who knew what he would do? If he asked someone to look into tonight’s events, he might find out about what transpired.
Putting her phone away, she looked at Morgan sitting next to her and said, “Someone is coming to pick me up. Are you going back by yourself, or do you need me to drop you off?”
“It’s okay, I can go back by myself.” She pointed to the car parked not far away and guessed who had come to pick Danika up. Although she was curious, she felt it would be better not to be a third wheel.
“Right. Drive safe then,” Danika advised.
Morgan nodded and waved her goodbye. “I’m going back now. Take care of yourself, Danika.”
“Yeah,” Danika replied and watched as Morgan left the hospital.
Eustace’s car reached Danika less than ten minutes after Morgan left.
“Weren’t you in a meeting with your clients? Why pick me up?” Danika asked as she got into the car.
Her movements were stiff due to her injury, but she still tried to mask it in front of Eustace.
Eustace started his car. “The meeting finished early. I had Vincent handle the drinking for me.”
“Vincent’s pretty occupied,” Danika murmured. Eustace often left his personal matters to his assistant, so with the addition of business meetings and handling clients, Vincent might really be overwhelmed with tasks often.
Eustace huffed. “He isn’t paid millions a year for no reason.”
“Millions?” Danika gaped. “That’s such a huge amount!” She wasn’t even paid that much for her post as deputy director at the hospital! No wonder Vincent was so busy.
“Are you jealous?” Eustace teased, to which Danika eagerly nodded.
“Who wouldn’t be?”
She wasn’t poor. In fact, she had several other streams of income aside from being a doctor. But millions of dollars annually were still admirable.
“If you work as my PA, I can pay you just as much each year,” Eustace added.
Danika gave him a look. “I know you’re rich. Don’t need to flaunt it.”
“Not very rich, just Parrington’s wealthiest,” Eustace responded.
Danika suddenly felt the urge to pinch him. She massaged her temples, realizing just how much of a show-off the man was.
They soon reached the apartment. As soon as Danika made to leave the car, Eustace stopped her.”
Wait.”
Danika gave him a weird look. Before she could say anything, Eustace had walked out of the car to her side. With a flourish, he opened her door for her.
“What are you doing?” Danika’s weird look persisted.
“What do you think?” Eustace didn’t give her a direct answer but continued to the elevator instead, with her in his arms.
Danika had guessed what he was up to. She bit his lip, not meeting his eyes. “You found out?” The atmosphere swiftly tensed up when Eustace said nothing. “I didn’t want you to worry you. I didn’t mean to hide this from you, Eustace.”
Eustace gave her a warm but tired look. “Do you really think of me as your boyfriend, Danika?” He had long grown wary of Danika never treating him as a serious partner. When she stayed silent, Eustace continued, “I want to be here for you, always. I want to be the first person you go to when you need help.”
Danika had always wanted to deal with her problems by herself, even hiding them from him.
“I’m sorry, I just…”
“Don’t be sorry. You never did anything wrong,” Eustace cut in, though he still felt upset.
Sensing this, Danika replied, “I really am…I didn’t want to trouble you, that’s all. I promise I’ll let your know first thing next time, okay? She hadn’t wanted to be a burden to him. But unexpectedly, he felt differently, which was news to her.
Eustace’s anger dissipated the moment she said this. He gazed at her lovingly. “Alright…alright.”
He found her too sweet for him to continue being upset at her.
Eustace gently placed Danika on the couch. “Where’s the injury?”
“Here. Waist.” Danika pointed at her side. Eustace wouldn’t be able to see it directly as her clothes had covered it.
Eustace’s brows furrowed in worry. He wanted to look at the injury, but Danika wasn’t letting him.
“Don’t worry. They’ve already taken care of it at the hospital.”
“Alright. I believe you.” Eustace knew Danika just didn’t want to undress, so he wouldn’t force her.
“How did you know I was hurt?” Danika asked curiously. Eustace wouldn’t have asked this out of the blue, right?
The man set a glass of water before her, then answered, “You said that you were eating with Morgan, but when you sent me your location, it was at the hospital.”
“Was it just because of that?” Danika asked incredulously. Did Eustace come to that conclusion just from the location alone?
Eustace nodded in assent. His intuition had always been spot on, so he immediately guessed something had happened to Danika when she made it known that she was at the hospital. The results from his digging turned up true.