Me After Meeting You

“Do you think that you’re more experienced than Professor Nancy? How are you so sure that she won’t receive suitable treatment over there? If your method is indubitably the right one, then why hasn’t she improved even after spending such a long time in the hospital?

Amber, we’ve known each other for a while, and I don’t want to hurt you by being too blunt. You’re so young and so talented, and you’ll surely encounter many more men and patients in the future-why spend so much time on this one?”

“So, Mrs. Kenric, you really do think that I want to keep Elly here because of Calvin, don’t you?” Amber took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “You’re right. I’m still young, and there’ll be many more men and patients in my future. Men, I don’t care too much about. As for patients, while you might not understand my attachment to them, you should understand the disgrace and humiliation I feel from knowing that I can cure Elly but not being able to do so.

I don’t doubt my professor’s work, and I’m certainly not brash enough to claim that I know more than Professor Nancy. However, I’m also a psychiatrist in my own right, and I know what sort of treatment my patients need. That’s enough reason for me.”

After Amber finished speaking her mind, she got up, ready to leave. After taking two steps towards the door, she stopped again, turned around to Calvin’s mother, and said, “I didn’t think this in the past, but I feel like there’s something I have to say to you now. It’s really frightening that anyone can become a parent.”

Amber seldomly spoke harshly towards others, but today, she couldn’t help herself.Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.

Calvin mother’s extreme way of thinking had led to her abnormal condition; she stubbornly wanted others to follow the plans that she deemed to be the best, but she never respected their wishes.

When she was young, she had been weak and powerless, unable to protect Calvin and Elly. And now, she was still powerless to protect them.

***

After she left Calvin mother’s place, Amber contacted the officer who had initially brought Elly to her. “I’d like to see Mark Brown. Is that possible?”

“At this point, normally, only a lawyer would be permitted to see him. What’s the matter?”

Amber then left to find a lawyer. She had two lawyer friends, but coincidentally, neither of them were around. One of them was on good terms with Amber, but he was out of the country on vacation. When he heard her explanation, he couldn’t help but scold her. “Are you crazy? Why do you care so much about others’ affairs!”

And he even posted about it on his feed. “I just met the stupidest doctor of the year!”

But despite his obvious misgivings, he still helped Amber get in contact with a friend of his. “He’s a bigshot lawyer who doesn’t take on just any kind of case. See if he’s willing to help you. But I’m warning you: I don’t think that you stand a chance unless you can prove that your professor’s laboratory treats its test subjects inhumanely beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

‘How on Earth would she be able to prove that?’ And Nancy’s methods of treatment weren’t inhumane; most of them fell within the scope of standard treatment methods used worldwide. It was just that in Amber’s opinion, they were overly simple and too rough for Elly.

The lawyer that her friend recommended had some time to talk, and, coincidentally, he was even at Presbiterian right now. Amber rushed over and found him standing in the main lobby.

Surprisingly, she saw a familiar face, he was the lawyer that Ian employed, the one who had drafted that “relationship contract” for her and Ian.

The lawyer wasn’t particularly surprised upon seeing Amber, and he even smiled as he said, “We meet again. I’m just about to go see Director Axton. Do you want to talk on the way there?”

Amber’s current mental state wasn’t appropriate for her to see Ian, she was too fretful. The lawyer didn’t push her to do so either. “Then I’ll come find you afterwards.”

And so, Amber waited in her office. Because it was still visiting hours when went back to her office, a patient’s family member immediately came up to her and started talking to her. Without much of a choice, she could only tamp down her emotions and carefully help him analyze the patient’s condition.

Before she could finish helping him, her phone rang. It was Ian’s lawyer. Amber thought that he had finished his tasks, but it turned out that he actually wanted her to go to Ian’s ward. “Director Axton also wants to hear about the situation. Are you willing to come?”

Amber sighed, she could only acquiesce.

After sending the patient’s family member away, the first person Amber saw after stepping out was Calvin. He was wearing a sky blue dress shirt and holding a similarly colored jacket draped over his arm as he gracefully stood by the nurses’ station and chatted with the nearby nurses.

Maybe it was because he was paying close attention to the area around him, but he turned around at almost the same instant that she stepped out. When he saw Amber, he momentarily stilled before taking big strides toward her.

Amber recalled Calvin mother’s words, and couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the situation.

Calvin was already standing in front of her by the time she reacted. “I’m here to see Elly, Amber … I heard that my mother’s trying to transfer her away. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

His forehead scrunched up. “Why?” But after looking at Amber’s calm gaze, he realized that he had asked a silly question. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you that. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to my mom about it. Elly’s doing very well here, and I don’t feel like she needs to be transferred.”

Amber looked at him. The concern in his gaze hadn’t been diminished at all by the souring relationship between the two of them. She knew that, as long as she asked, he would definitely talk with his mother and use every means at his disposal to stop it from happening.

But since Calvin’s mother already thought that Amber was using Elly to deepen the feelings between her and Calvin, none of Calvin’s words would work. Also, she didn’t want to intensify the conflict between Calvin and his mother.

So after briefly thinking about it, Amber said, “Thank you, but you don’t have to say anything to Mrs. Kenric. As Elly’s birth mother, if there’s anything that needs her attention, then I’ll let her know myself.”

Amber was feeling thankful for the slight break she had just now, as she had been able to calm down considerably. At the very least, it had been enough that Calvin hadn’t detected anything unusual.